In this week’s podcast we will be talking all about using a challenge in your business! We will be covering a step by step guide on how to run a challenge in your business and how to make it as effective as possible.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• The price of my academy is going up, forever! Now is your last chance to join at this amazing price.
• It is very easy to get overwhelmed when you have your own business, especially when you are attending lots and lots of different courses and content.
• A challenge can really demonstrate a product or service at the end of it – it gives people a taste of what is to come!
• What are your customers struggling with that you can help them with? Try to think of something that needs more detail than a PDF or 5 minute video.
• Make sure you include actionable steps they can follow along every day.
• It is a good idea to have a private Facebook group for your challenge to help with accountability and understanding more about the people who take part.
• Go live in your Facebook group to check in with everyone – this adds a lot of value.
• You could add in some prizes along the way and pick winners who are getting on well.
• Your sales pitch will be on the final day – you could do it on a Facebook live.
• Encourage people to join your live with exclusive content.
• Try to have a limited time offer or a discount to encourage people to sign up straight away.
• Follow up your challenge with onboarding emails.

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…

If someone has come into your challenge, they are still going to need more information. By doing a challenge, you are giving them a taster but also leaving more for them to learn so they then buy from you!

HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

• Everything you need to know about The Academy - 04:05
• Why do a challenge? - 11:51
• How to set up a challenge for your business - 13:58

Transcript below

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? It feels like I haven't recorded an episode for ages because I batched so much content and now it's time to do the next lot of rebatching. If you don't batch content, then I would highly recommend it because it really helps to keep you focused and get ahead of the game. So it's very unusual for me to have a podcast so close to when it's coming out. So I'm actually recording this the Tuesday before it's released on the Monday. But what is quite nice is it means I can talk about stuff that's happening at the moment or it seems really, really kind of up to the moment and on the minute type of an episode, which like I said, ordinarily they're not that close because I do batch and I get ahead, which helps me make sure that we've always got an episode for you.

And I am not causing my team to have an absolute nightmare trying to rush to get something done. So at point of recording this, we are still in a kind of semi lockdown situation. And it's really funny because my husband and I were talking just the other day about this and how we felt and basically about the fact of when it first all kicked off. We were fine, we were okay, we kind of cracked on and got on this stuff. And actually it's getting harder the longer that the time it goes on. Whereas actually I've spoken to some people who really struggled at the beginning and are actually now doing okay cause they're getting into a routine. But the problem is the things that my husband's and I are really pining for other things that are going to be the last to come. So our life, like I said, I worked from home so I didn't ever go out to an office so that there's no change.

But what we do in our life for fun is we go out for dinner and go to the pub and have a cocktail somewhere nice and we travel. Last year I flew an awful lot. I think it was about 26 flights in total. We went to some amazing places and this year it's May middle of May and I've been nowhere and and that does make me feel a bit sad because travelling is something that we just absolutely love. However, I try not to dwell too much on that situation and as we speak, my garden is being renovated. Is that the right word? Renovated landscape is probably the more appropriate word. So I am very looking forward to very much looking forward to having that finished and being able to enjoy the summit in the garden at home. It will be wonderful even if I can't go to some amazing and I'm so desperate to go back to the States. I can't tell you.

Anyway. So there's a couple of things I want to talk to you about today before we crack on with today's episode, which by the way is all about using a challenge in your business. And the reason I want to talk about this today is because I used one a few months ago and I am currently right in the middle of running another one. So I want to just talk you through how that might look in your business if you want to use a challenge cause they are very effective. But also I want to tell you about the Academy and about the fact that the price is going up. Now I know that there'll be some of you sat there listening who have been on the fence for a little while thinking I really do need to make a decision whether I'm going to do it one way or next.

Everything you need to know about The Academy

And I know about how that feels. I know about the facts of views of should I get there? Shouldn't I get this? Do I get it at a FOMO? Do I not get it? So let me just want to touch on that for a minute before I tell you about the price increase on the Academy. But one thing I've noticed since lockdown via Academy members and other people that I've been speaking to is that people have been doing lots of learning and taking in lots of information and that is really good. I am going to, you know, put it out there. This is a really good positive thing to do. And obviously if you are going to start something new, if you are going to learn how to promote your business, then that is nothing but a positive thing. However, her comes with a slight caveat that there is a point when I, I think that maybe you might be learning too much.

And actually that sounds like a complete oxymoron, if that's the right word, but it sounds completely wrong because how could you possibly learn too much and you can't in one way. But what I think I'm trying to say not very eloquently is that there comes a point where you're trying to put too much in your head and you're not actually doing anything really with it other than getting yourself into a bigger panic and overwhelm and we all know in our businesses that it's overwhelming at the best of times, let alone my, we're pouring more and more things than I had that all right, I Muslim had to do Facebook ads. I must learn my content isn't quite right, is my avatar right? Should I do a blog? Should I do a podcast? When can I start a podcast? How do I do it? Should I launch now?

Should I wait? How do I do a sales page? There's so many really important things that we can learn for our business, but the problem is is totally overwhelming and I am hearing more and more and more people going into this group joining this free challenge, joining this free thing, doing this course, buying another course, joining another membership and not obviously I have an online membership. I signed like a real hypocrite talking about this but as you well know I'm a very honest person and and I think as much as obviously I think they were amazing and I have built my business through attending these things myself. One thing that I think we need to be really careful is is high, thinly spread. We are, I'm much we are trying to take in and how much we're trying to do and whether we should just pull back a little bit or put more of your eggs in one basket.

So I had someone joined very recently who emailed me and said why am I doing it now? And she identified, you know, wonderfully before I said anything to her about the fact that she had been in this group and done this thing and adjoined this course and had done and she just wasn't moving forward and she decided that she was going to go all in on one thing. And very luckily for me and hopefully very luckily for her it's the Academy and it's with me because one thing that we do, a lot of which I think is so important is the coaching calls and the quarterly challenges and the lives around taking action are huge in my world. And I literally, I've just got off a coaching call today actually before I did this episode. And I literally have sat there and gone, have you got on with that thing?

Right here is your next action and it's baby steps and it's even smaller than for some people. And then it's big steps for other people depending on where they are in their business and what they're doing. But the important thing is it's about that accountability and a bait moving you forward. It's about ensuring that all this information you're taking in, that you're doing something with it and, and it's the right information you're taking in. Cause believe me, I've spent a lot of time taking information that isn't right for me or my business. And that's a learned that the long and hard way. So like I said, I wanted to mention that the price is going up, but I also wants to mention the fact of if you find yourself doing so much stuff, maybe now is the time to a think about how are you going to put that into place and be think about where you're going to put your focus and who's going to help you because we all need it.

I need it. I've been in groups, I am in some amazing groups and I have my coach and I have people who can hold me accountable and you need that too. And that's what the members get. So the price is going up from 39 to $49 per month or if you buy annually, it's going up from 390 to $490 for the year. I'm a just want to tell you what's in that also, you know, I love pretty things. If you've ever seen anything of mine, which I'm sure you have, you know, there was a particular look and style and feel of things and I've just done my new signup page for the Academy. I love it. I know that's so sad, but I actually love my own signup page, but I spent quite a long time making it look pretty and I do love it.

So first of all, I would definitely want you to go and have a look. So Teresa Heath wearing.com forward slash Academy that's where you go and you find out all about it and basically on there you're going to find everything. Need to know about the Academy. But let me just in brief tell you what's in there. So first off, the coaching calls. Now a lot of the members, when you ask them, they say that's worth the money in itself because you get to join me every two to three weeks on a group coaching call where you get to pick my brain and ask me questions. And I literally answer every single question. I don't come off until I have because I want to make sure that you're getting that help that you need. So like I said, every two to three weeks we have a coaching call.

We all jump on, we're all on screen, we all get to speak. And everyone gets to ask a question if they have on, if not, there are lots of people that just sit there and listen and take in what everybody else is saying and picking up ideas. We have training courses so I have lots of amazing courses in there but quite honestly are worth a lot of money on their own. So content creation for social media. Identifying your perfect customer profile, secrets to an effective sales page to hide to get started with Facebook ads hides to create the perfect lead magnet. That course is awesome. I love doing that one. I also loved in the sales page one as well, getting started with Instagram, get a complete guide to blogging, sales, webinars, Facebook overview, so many good courses in there. Then we do the quarterly goal setting, so every quarter everyone sets goals and actions and I keep people accountable.

Twice a month. There is a Facebook live, one by me and one by my lovely colleague Anne, who is super creative and can show you how to do amazing things on social media. And then we do things like social media updates and then there's the private Facebook group where basically you get to have access to me in the group and I answer your questions and the community is just amazing. I love them and I promise I'm not just saying that I genuinely do. It's one of my most favourite things. So when you get to be a member of the Academy, you get your question marks turned into action points. I help you get clear on what you need to do and support you to do it. So like I said, I didn't want to literally spend the whole podcast just telling you and selling the Academy to you.

But I wanted to let you know before that price goes up because on Friday the 29th of May at midnight, so this Friday coming, if you listened to this on Monday, the price is going up and it won't come down. I am adamant about that. And if you listen to anything I say, you'll know it's very important that you never come back down on your price. So the price will go up to $49 and $490 and will continue to rise from there. If you get in now at $39 or 390 it will never go up for as long as you stay a member. So you don't need to worry about any further price increases. Okay, so that's it. A sales pitch I've with, but to go check out my sales page because it really is beautiful. I love it. I love it. Okay, that's [inaudible] dot com foods, that Academy right now, I can focus on telling you some content.

Why do a challenge?

So I want to talk about a challenge because like I said, I've been doing one and they're really, really effective. So why would you do a challenge in the first place? Well, one of the beauties, well if you think about all the different ways in which someone can come across and find you and find your products and services and interact with you, you've got things like sales pages, you've got things like webinars, you've got other different things like if you're doing lives or if you're doing a private Facebook group or whatever it might be. But the beauty of a challenge is you get to almost teach them in real time and you get to have a, the community of the challenge, people come together for a short period of time where you are communicating with them regularly. So instead of just doing a one hour webinar where you just hit them for an hour and then you're gone.

The beauty of doing the challenge is especially with something like a five day challenge for five days, I am front and centre. So for me, I haven't really done one before and I did one a few months ago and I loved it because I love teaching and also for me, and this is what I want you to think about is it really demonstrates the product and the service at the end of it. So it really shows people that if they liked the challenge, if they liked the motivation that I give them, if they like my energy and inspiration, then they're really going to love joining the Academy. So that's why I do it. To almost give them a taste of what's to come if they join. And also the other really important thing of me to me about a challenge is that I move people forward because I don't know about you, but sometimes you do things and I've signed up for a lot of things as I'm sure you can imagine.

How to set up a challenge for your business

I basically am the queen of signing up for stuff because of the fact of I am very interested in what other people are doing. I like to see the funnel they use in the emails they use and all that. I know I need to get a hobby, but so I signed up for lots of things and there's nothing more disappointing than putting your, and I know it's just your email, but you've got to think about how I instil investing my time, which is the most valuable thing into something and it not being very good. So when I did my challenge, I was really adamant that it was going to be amazing and I was going to put a lot of time and effort into it. So let's think about how you could do a challenge for your business and how it works. Well, the first thing you're going to need to do is think about what is the challenge going to be about.

What is it that your customers are really struggling with that you could help them with? That might take a little bit more support than just doing a PDF or just doing a five minute video. What is something that you know that people are going to need help with, but they're going to have questions about? Because building your email list and I teach it and I'll tell you the steps I go through, but I teach it through lead magnets and doing that sort of thing. Building your email list is a big process. This is a big thing. This isn't a, Oh, you just go to this website, you put this thing in, and then it works. Not at all. You know, there are many steps to it and even a five day challenge cannot go into the sort of level of detail that we really need to get into.

However, it certainly will give them a way better understanding than if I just did a PDF or if I just did a five minute video. So for me it's about giving them something that they're asking for, but giving them in more detail with some actionable steps that they can make a decision on. That was really key. I didn't want them to come at the end of this thinking, well, I haven't done anything, because again, a challenge is something where they're working alongside with you. So rather than something like a webinar or a training or alive where they're just listening and they think, Oh that's a good idea. You want them to actually do the work. So this is great. If you're in the knowledge industry, this is great if you are a coach or some sort of trainer, this is also good if you are teaching people to bake or cook or flower range or yoga or whatever, you know you can do things where they follow along every single day.

So let me tell you how I planned my challenge and and what went into it cause it was a fair bit of work if I'm honest. So the first thing you're going to do is once you've decided yes I've got that subject is you're going to decide over the period, how long am I going to do it for? So I naturally had five steps to my process. So five days worked great. And the first one I did Monday to Friday. And I have to say, I can't really give you a, and I've talked about this on the podcast, what I can't give you a how successful it was because the Friday in which it finished was locked down and basically the world started to implode a little bit. So it was really hard to judge whether it was effective because it wasn't normal circumstances. So the challenge is five days, Monday to Friday.

This one I started on a Sunday because I wanted to see a finishing on a Thursday has any effect, and I'll let you know in the future, cause like I said, it hasn't finished yet. Once I decided that I got five things I was running over five days, I then had to think about what's the deliverable method, what do I want to do a, do I want to deliver this? So I decided that I wanted to deliver it through videos, alongside worksheets. So every day everyone in the challenge gets a link to a video. So I email them a link to a video and they watch that video. And on that page there's also a button to download the worksheet or the download, cause sometimes I just did a download of the information so they didn't have to keep rewatching the video, but they got the content that they needed that day through a video and a download.

And then what I did is they have one of them every single day and then I decided to do Facebook lives alongside it. So let me just talk you...