Shownotes
Should You Invest in That Online Course?
Check #1
Does it fit with what you need to know now? [3:56] Online marketers use a strategy called scarcity. [5:33] Someday but not today. Filter things that you’re doing. [6:29]Check #2
How qualified is the person who put together and is teaching the course? [7:25] The instructor is the creator of the course, captured all the information. [7:37] The instructor actually lived and learned what they’re teaching. [8:41] Beware of scammers! [10:01] Make a choice through evaluation, intuition, research and knowledge. [10:58]Check #3
CAUTION! Do not equate number of social media followers with credibility of their stated qualification. [11:27] There is the ability to buy followers out there. [12:06] A little bit of research: Look at their website. [12:27]Check #4
What is the style of the presentation? [13:10] Review of the four checkpoints. [14:53]Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 146 Attention gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift.
Speaker:This here is your host gift biz gal Sue Mon height.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and thank you for joining me on the podcast
Speaker:today. It's the start of 2018.
Speaker:If you're listening to the podcast,
Speaker:when it's going live and the beginning of the year is
Speaker:a good time to reflect back on what happened last year
Speaker:and what types of things you want to do differently for
Speaker:2018. One of those I am hoping is investing in yourself
Speaker:and in the growth of your business.
Speaker:That is why I wanted to bring up the topic of
Speaker:today, which is how do you decide on online courses,
Speaker:whether they're for you,
Speaker:whether you should open your wallet and pay money for these
Speaker:courses or not,
Speaker:how in the world do you know when it's online?
Speaker:Think about it.
Speaker:There are so many different ways that you can invest in
Speaker:yourself and your business.
Speaker:You can join networking groups,
Speaker:you can attend a conference,
Speaker:you can listen to podcasts and read books.
Speaker:And of course,
Speaker:then you can also take online courses,
Speaker:but there are so many of them.
Speaker:How do you decide,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:just look at your Facebook feed,
Speaker:I'm sure you've experienced the same thing that I have there's
Speaker:courses on productivity.
Speaker:There are courses from every single expert of every social media
Speaker:platform of how to get the most out of the various
Speaker:platforms. There's photography.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:literally anything that you want,
Speaker:even on the personal end,
Speaker:weight loss,
Speaker:sleep, how to walk your dog.
Speaker:Right? I don't know.
Speaker:Just so,
Speaker:so many different choices.
Speaker:How do you decide it's a lot more difficult when people
Speaker:are online because they're not right in front of you,
Speaker:you might have a less of a connection initially with some
Speaker:of these people.
Speaker:And how do you make sure that you're not spending money
Speaker:for nothing?
Speaker:Is it really worth laying out the cash that hard earned
Speaker:cash of all of ours to get the result that you're
Speaker:looking for?
Speaker:And that you're so hopeful for when you first make the
Speaker:investment over the course of my professional career,
Speaker:I've taken my share of courses.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:I've taken courses that are $19 all the way up to
Speaker:several thousand dollars.
Speaker:I've gotten wiser and a little bit more when I'm trying
Speaker:to decide if this is something that I really want to
Speaker:invest my time and money in or not.
Speaker:I want to share with you now for checkpoints that I
Speaker:put myself through to evaluate is this the right course that
Speaker:I should be taking,
Speaker:that's going to help me do something different.
Speaker:I'm going to be wiser.
Speaker:I'm going to be able to affect the business in a
Speaker:different way,
Speaker:because it's something that I didn't know before one way or
Speaker:another, there is going to be some type of an outcome
Speaker:based on the course that I'm taking here are the four
Speaker:checkpoints that I use when I'm analyzing.
Speaker:If I should take a brand new online course that I've
Speaker:discovered you can put yourself through these same checkpoints as you're
Speaker:looking at a course.
Speaker:And you're just about to press that buy button.
Speaker:You can know with confidence that it's a good move for
Speaker:you because you've done your research and you've made a choice.
Speaker:That's right for you.
Speaker:Checkpoint number one,
Speaker:does it fit with what you need to know?
Speaker:Now as business owners,
Speaker:we have goals that we're setting for our business revenue goals
Speaker:or activities,
Speaker:achievements like maybe putting up your website or doing Facebook ads,
Speaker:whatever it might be.
Speaker:But we have certain things that we are focusing on at
Speaker:any given point in time is the course that you're looking
Speaker:at, taking in alignment with one of the things that you
Speaker:are trying to achieve.
Speaker:This is really important because if it isn't,
Speaker:if it's out of alignment with something that you're focusing on,
Speaker:it gets you completely off track.
Speaker:And if you start jumping from one thing to another and
Speaker:not stay in alignment with what you're currently focusing on right
Speaker:now, nothing's going to get accomplished a little bit,
Speaker:will be accomplished here a little bit will be accomplished there.
Speaker:And in the end,
Speaker:nothing really comes to completion.
Speaker:So is the result that's promised from the course going to
Speaker:fit in with something that you are focused on that is
Speaker:going to advance you and your business further because it's something
Speaker:you're focusing on right now,
Speaker:then that is a good reason to stand up,
Speaker:take notice,
Speaker:and continue looking at that course.
Speaker:If the answer is no,
Speaker:that doesn't mean that you will never take that course.
Speaker:Make a note of it dot down who it is.
Speaker:Who's offering the course,
Speaker:what the name of the course is the website.
Speaker:And that then is something that you can look at and
Speaker:readdress in the future.
Speaker:Now, a lot of online marketers,
Speaker:I'm sure you've seen use a strategy called scarcity.
Speaker:They're trying to prompt you to make the purchase right then
Speaker:and there,
Speaker:because they don't want you to forget about their offer.
Speaker:So scarcity could be carts,
Speaker:opening, and closing,
Speaker:or you can get it at a certain price,
Speaker:but only for a limited time.
Speaker:And that's not really bad because a lot of people I'm
Speaker:sure you're guilty.
Speaker:I am will think,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:this is something that I think I might want to look
Speaker:at, but I've got to do something else first and then
Speaker:I'll come back to it.
Speaker:And then you lose the website or it just slips your
Speaker:mind or whatever.
Speaker:So I don't think scarcity tactics are a negative thing.
Speaker:However, I don't want you guys to feel pressured if it's
Speaker:not in alignment with something that you really should be doing
Speaker:right now to have that scarcity make you think,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:if I don't take it now,
Speaker:it'll be never.
Speaker:One of the phrases that I've been using more and more
Speaker:often today,
Speaker:you've probably already heard it from me is some day,
Speaker:but not today.
Speaker:And the behind that is,
Speaker:you really want to filter things that you're doing and make
Speaker:sure they're in alignment with your goals.
Speaker:And if they're not,
Speaker:you could take the course later when it's right and appropriate
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:It might just not be right now.
Speaker:So don't get distracted with the latest and the greatest.
Speaker:It's not necessary Siri for you to jump in right away.
Speaker:If it's not correct for you at the D just the
Speaker:timing is not right right now.
Speaker:I know,
Speaker:I know FOMO,
Speaker:the fear of missing out.
Speaker:Just remember someday,
Speaker:but not today.
Speaker:Okay. So that was checkpoint.
Speaker:Number one.
Speaker:Does it fit in then with what you are currently focused
Speaker:on achieving within your business?
Speaker:Moving on to checkpoint number two,
Speaker:how quality fied is the person who put together and his
Speaker:team, Jean,
Speaker:the course,
Speaker:there are two different avenues.
Speaker:You can identify here.
Speaker:There are many people who will gather information,
Speaker:they're teachers and instructors.
Speaker:So they will find all the information that is required for
Speaker:the topic that they're teaching.
Speaker:They'll bring it all together,
Speaker:which is really useful,
Speaker:right? You're not having to go out and capture all the
Speaker:information. They'll take all of the photos,
Speaker:facts, examples,
Speaker:and organize it into a neatly framed course.
Speaker:And then they present that information and overlay their unique thoughts,
Speaker:comments, suggestions,
Speaker:and ideas for implementation.
Speaker:And they also may have students who've seen success.
Speaker:So they're able to use some of the experiences they've had
Speaker:from their students and share those with you to ensure that
Speaker:you get the best result possible.
Speaker:The thing that's missing here is that they haven't specifically done
Speaker:it themselves.
Speaker:And you just want to identify that and know that that
Speaker:is what you are getting in.
Speaker:The person who's offering this course.
Speaker:So that's one way courses will get created.
Speaker:The second one would be the person who is offering the
Speaker:course has actually lived and learned through mistakes of their own
Speaker:created systems,
Speaker:to overcome challenges and actually done and gotten Results through what
Speaker:they're teaching.
Speaker:Some people might say these instructors are more credible because they've
Speaker:actually been in the trenches.
Speaker:And I don't mean to say that one is more credible
Speaker:than another.
Speaker:The point is you want to really understand for yourself which
Speaker:camp, the course instructor falls under,
Speaker:did the creator of the course capture all the information and
Speaker:then overlay it with his enhancements,
Speaker:adding on student success stories,
Speaker:or were they one who actually did all of this themselves?
Speaker:And they're sharing with you what they've learned,
Speaker:things that they created to get the desired result that they
Speaker:wanted. And most of the time those people are saying,
Speaker:I learned this and I'm sharing this with you.
Speaker:So you don't have to go through the stress,
Speaker:the heartache,
Speaker:the financial outlay that I did,
Speaker:because now I figured this out,
Speaker:I've locked it down and I want to share it with
Speaker:you. And I think I want to add in a little
Speaker:caveat here.
Speaker:I personally don't think that one way or another is better
Speaker:or worse,
Speaker:but yes,
Speaker:there are scammers out there.
Speaker:There are people who will pretend like they've put something together,
Speaker:misrepresent themselves,
Speaker:take your money and really not have a process for you
Speaker:or are giving you bad direction.
Speaker:But overall,
Speaker:the majority of people who are out offering courses are like
Speaker:you and I they're business people.
Speaker:They're putting together programs with a genuine,
Speaker:sincere desire to help you see progress and see success based
Speaker:on whatever the topic is of the course.
Speaker:So this checkpoint number two of understanding the instructor and how
Speaker:they've gotten to the information that they're presenting for you is
Speaker:again, just a level of evaluation.
Speaker:You want to identify which one they fall in and then
Speaker:how believable they are,
Speaker:how credible they are in your eyes.
Speaker:And in the end,
Speaker:honestly, it's your choice,
Speaker:but you want to make that choice from a position of
Speaker:evaluation and intuition and research and knowledge.
Speaker:And right now I want to make a choice.
Speaker:And that is to take a short pause and thank our
Speaker:sponsor. This podcast is made possible.
Speaker:Thanks to the support of the ribbon print company,
Speaker:create custom ribbons,
Speaker:right in your store or craft studio in seconds,
Speaker:visit the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information,
Speaker:Moving on to checkpoint number three.
Speaker:And that is a caution.
Speaker:I have a warning for everybody.
Speaker:You want to be careful when you're looking at people online
Speaker:and looking at their social media platforms and not equate the
Speaker:number of followers that they have with the credibility of their
Speaker:stated qualifications,
Speaker:popularity online in any platform.
Speaker:Yes, it's social proof.
Speaker:And I would say in the vast majority of cases,
Speaker:it does align the higher number of followers.
Speaker:People have more likely the more successful,
Speaker:the more people who have endorsed that person are.
Speaker:But remember too,
Speaker:there is the ability to buy followers out there,
Speaker:artificially inflate your numbers so that you look more credible than
Speaker:you actually are.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:this is research and some thinking that you need to do
Speaker:as you're looking at somebody and investing in whatever they're offering
Speaker:online, do a little bit of research on them.
Speaker:Look at their website,
Speaker:look at a couple of other things.
Speaker:If you're not familiar with them yet,
Speaker:maybe they've done some podcast interviews and you get a chance
Speaker:to hear and understand them a little bit more.
Speaker:Have you gotten a referral that this is a great course,
Speaker:but in that case,
Speaker:the question of the popularity online is a little bit mute,
Speaker:but just don't think just because somebody has 10,000,
Speaker:a hundred thousand followers on Facebook,
Speaker:that they are going to know how to teach you how
Speaker:to do Facebook advertising.
Speaker:As an example,
Speaker:what are the other qualifications that they have that make you
Speaker:trust and believe that they're going to give you solid,
Speaker:incredible information.
Speaker:Finally, checkpoint number four is what is the style of the
Speaker:presentation? What format is the course going to be delivered in?
Speaker:Is it something that you just download as a PDF and
Speaker:follow along independently?
Speaker:Is there video attached?
Speaker:Do you get the entire course at once or is it
Speaker:dripped out to you week after week?
Speaker:Will you be going through this with another group of people?
Speaker:So there'll be some conversation back and forth between all of
Speaker:you a community is being built around that course,
Speaker:or is it 100% independent now,
Speaker:again, none of this is right or wrong,
Speaker:but it's a good way for you to layer on top
Speaker:of that,
Speaker:how you learn best,
Speaker:do you learn best by seeing in which case videos are
Speaker:good? Do you like to see everything and make notes and
Speaker:then also have a follow-up where you can go back and
Speaker:review everything in that case?
Speaker:Is there a replay,
Speaker:is there a download of the slide so that you're able
Speaker:to go back and review it again for yourself later?
Speaker:The other thing is,
Speaker:do you have lifetime access then to the course,
Speaker:or are you limited to a certain period of time maybe
Speaker:at six months or a year only?
Speaker:And if that's the case that,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:you ought to do it right away and take that course
Speaker:right away,
Speaker:because you don't want to forget about it and push it
Speaker:off, thinking that you would do it later.
Speaker:And that brings up the idea of time.
Speaker:Do you have,
Speaker:then the time within all the things that you have going
Speaker:on to actually spend and take the course?
Speaker:So these are the four checkpoints that I want you to
Speaker:consider. Every time you are looking at an online course in
Speaker:review checkpoint.
Speaker:Number one is the topic timely and relevant to something that
Speaker:you are trying to achieve an advance right now,
Speaker:checkpoint number two,
Speaker:how was the contents of the course obtained?
Speaker:Did they gather all the information or did they actually experience
Speaker:and see these results themselves checkpoint number three,
Speaker:if someone is classifying themselves as an expert in their field,
Speaker:make sure to validate that,
Speaker:not just through social media numbers,
Speaker:but on website,
Speaker:through referrals,
Speaker:through other people who've taken the program and have shared their
Speaker:results. And finally check point number four is the style that
Speaker:the course is being delivered in a style of learning that
Speaker:works for you.
Speaker:By going through these four checkpoints or filters,
Speaker:if you will,
Speaker:it will help you feel confident that the course is right
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:That it's worth the investment of your time and your money.
Speaker:Remember, it's just not a money play here.
Speaker:And then if everything is in alignment,
Speaker:if you're feeling comfortable and confident and excited about taking that
Speaker:course, then press that button,
Speaker:make the commitment and invest.
Speaker:And when you do purchase that online course,
Speaker:I will be the first to congratulate you because investing in
Speaker:yourself, learning more,
Speaker:getting better from people who have already done it is a
Speaker:smart thing to do.
Speaker:As a business owner.
Speaker:There is no reason to waste money and time trying to
Speaker:figure things out yourself.
Speaker:When there are resources out there to get you wherever you're
Speaker:trying to go faster,
Speaker:then once you've purchased the course,
Speaker:how do you make sure that you get the very most
Speaker:out of it that you possibly can?
Speaker:Do you know that the majority of people who buy online
Speaker:courses either never start the course or go through maybe halfway
Speaker:and then drop off.
Speaker:So they never actually take advantage of the investment that they
Speaker:made in the first place.
Speaker:Next week,
Speaker:right here on the podcast,
Speaker:I'm going to walk you through how to get the very
Speaker:most out of any online course.
Speaker:You take,
Speaker:I've put together a six step process that helps,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:regardless of what course you're taking to stay organized,
Speaker:work your way through,
Speaker:and even more importantly,
Speaker:be able to go back and resource the information that you
Speaker:need when you actually get to implementation stage.
Speaker:So that's all up next week on gift biz on wrapped.
Speaker:And I look forward to seeing you then This episode is
Speaker:all wrapped up,
Speaker:but your gift biz journey continues.
Speaker:It's your time to experience the pride and satisfaction of turning
Speaker:your passion into a profitable business.
Speaker:Join the gift biz builder program and access valuable lessons or
Speaker:worksheets, and a live Q and a sessions.
Speaker:Addressing your specific challenges.
Speaker:You also have the opportunity to connect with a community of
Speaker:gift biz builders,
Speaker:just like you head over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com/gift biz builder,
Speaker:and get started today.
