This week on Should I Care? we (Sophie Griffiths & Ruthie Walmsley) get into the question doing the rounds at the minute: are courses dead? Is everyone meant to have a community now? Is passive income over? We've both been here long enough to have watched the pendulum swing all the way one way & start coming back, so we dig into what's actually shifted & what hasn't.
The thread running through all of it is that the transformation is the thing that matters, & everything else can flex around it. Sophie's sold the same course 5 different ways at 5 different price points. The gate everyone used to pay to get through is open now, so what people are actually buying is your perspective, & that changes what a course, a community & an offer suite need to do.
In this episode:
New episodes every Tuesday.
Follow Sophie: @sophiegriffithsco & Ruthie: @firstpersonnarrative
When you're ready, here's the next step:
Outrageous – for established women coaches and service providers who want one offer designed to hit 6 figures without them being the engine of every sale. [Find out more]
Welcome to this week's episode of Should I Care?
Speaker:With me, Sophie Griffiths
Speaker:I'm me, Ruthie Walmsley
Speaker:So how are you doing?
Speaker:Thank you, my love.
Speaker:on a Monday this week, so it feels slightly different.
Speaker:Doesn't it?
Speaker:Different energy.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:I'm always really productive on a Monday.
Speaker:It's my one day where I don't normally have any meetings, so, I get all the,
Speaker:like, stuff for the week out the way.
Speaker:So generally, I feel quite good on a Monday
Speaker:I, mm, no, I'm, - I think I was about to lie and say , I love
Speaker:find
Speaker:嗯
Speaker:challenging.
Speaker:, I've had a lot of coffee this morning, which I'm not, I'm not normally a
Speaker:coffee person, but I have had an iced coffee and I feel a little bit fizzy.
Speaker:So
Speaker:fizzy.
Speaker:If anyone's listening on 1.5, , maybe turn us down to 1.2.
Speaker:we might be a bit overexcited
Speaker:be put on 1.5
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I do have that question actually, 'cause I put most people on 1.5.
Speaker:and then someone said they listen to me on 1.75, and I was like, ", I
Speaker:can't even imagine how fast that is," because I know I talk really fast.
Speaker:So to put me on 1.75 is real, like that is real strong listening skills there
Speaker:when I listen to next week's episode, and I'm gonna report back.
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:on just 1X these days.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:at
Speaker:Oh yeah
Speaker:if somebody's a
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:but I often find, that some of the American podcasts and
Speaker:stuff that I listen to, they
Speaker:naturally speak slower, I think, than
Speaker:Whoo
Speaker:And
Speaker:I've gone right up to
Speaker:Fast.
Speaker:1.9. Just race through it, guys
Speaker:race through it.
Speaker:Just everything is speedy, fast.
Speaker:I need to be quicker.
Speaker:How, how's your week been?
Speaker:good.
Speaker:Yeah, it's been good.
Speaker:The summer holidays is officially in swing here.
Speaker:it's almost a relief.
Speaker:You know, when you're sort of like racing towards something … But
Speaker:actually I forgot that it makes the mornings a bit slower, which is
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:a little bit pressure.
Speaker:I've got my little spreadsheet sorted about what we're doing on what day,
Speaker:so I feel good now, and we're in it.
Speaker:it's nice.
Speaker:I like it when, my little boy's just posturing around.
Speaker:He's gone with my husband today, so they're out of the way for us
Speaker:to record, 'cause you just don't need him singing in the background.
Speaker:What
Speaker:I mean, I'm kind of here for that.
Speaker:yeah, we're good.
Speaker:My girls haven't finished yet, so I've got one finishing tomorrow lunchtime, and the
Speaker:other one finishing Wednesday lunchtime.
Speaker:I mean, when people hear this, , they will have finished.
Speaker:But this week is, , it's one of those really bitty weeks, you know?
Speaker:So I've got today.
Speaker:Today's a really good day, really nice and clear.
Speaker:We're recording on Monday, the 20th, so, , before most schools break up.
Speaker:And then I've got, yeah, Tuesday half a day, Wednesday half a day,
Speaker:Thursday they're both at home, and then Friday we go on holiday.
Speaker:So I feel… Yeah, I know.
Speaker:So, you know when you're like, "Okay, I've got four days."
Speaker:I did spend some time this morning doing my, like… I have hour one, which I have,
Speaker:, 9:00 till 10:00 every Monday morning,
Speaker:and I literally try and, , get down, , what exactly is it
Speaker:that's my priority this week?
Speaker:What's gonna get in my way?
Speaker:I mean, the list of stuff that's gonna get in my way is really quite long this week.
Speaker:There's a lot of stuff going on that's gonna get in my way, but I think I'm good.
Speaker:I'm back in my pod, which makes me feel quite settled.
Speaker:It's warm enough now that I can go for my walks without it being too hot
Speaker:that , the dog's gonna, like, keel over.
Speaker:So I feel like I'm getting a little bit of normality and back in day to day just
Speaker:as we're going into the summer holidays.
Speaker:But I agree, I think this week's gonna feel bitty.
Speaker:Then we're gonna go on holiday, which will be great.
Speaker:Then we'll be back, and then I think I will feel like, okay, we're in it.
Speaker:I'm settled.
Speaker:It's a new routine, but it is a routine, and I am definitely… for someone
Speaker:who's got ADHD, I mean, I do have suspicions that I'm autistic as well,
Speaker:'cause for someone who's got ADHD, I do struggle when I'm not in routine,
Speaker:even though I fight against it
Speaker:love a
Speaker:well
Speaker:we've had a really busy weekend, and I thought, "Oh, I
Speaker:can't wait to have a day at my
Speaker:You know
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:from a,
Speaker:sensory point of view, I know what
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:I've been around a lot of nine-year-old boys this weekend with two
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:and so I just was like, I'm gonna know it's gonna be nice and quiet.
Speaker:I'm just gonna
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:list of things to do." I did just wanna say, with your to-do list,
Speaker:I did last week where
Speaker:嗯
Speaker:had this really intense week of things to remember, once I'd
Speaker:written my to-do list, I read it out
Speaker:to Claude.
Speaker:actually, I might have
Speaker:Oh
Speaker:' cause
Speaker:I was on my phone.
Speaker:Yeah, it would've been ChatGPT.
Speaker:Read it out and said, "Right, I want you to hold all of this information, and
Speaker:I'm gonna check in with you about what I've done, and then I want you to tell
Speaker:me what to prioritize next, and I want you to remind me what I still need to
Speaker:do." it just meant that I didn't have to have the physical list in front of me.
Speaker:Honestly, and it was praising me.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:It
Speaker:that sounds ideal
Speaker:And on the morning of Will's birthday party on Saturday I was like, okay."
Speaker:And he was like, don't forget you need to take three party bags for
Speaker:the boys that aren't gonna be there.
Speaker:packed everything.
Speaker:You're good.
Speaker:He's gonna have a great time.
Speaker:Now's the time to just sit back and enjoy the memories." And I
Speaker:was like, "Mate, thanks." I was
Speaker:if you've got a lot to
Speaker:remember this week, give it a
Speaker:it
Speaker:Yeah Oh, I love that.
Speaker:Okay, I'm gonna try and do that actually.
Speaker:What I have started doing is, so writing it all out and then taking a
Speaker:picture of it and putting it in and getting Claude to put it in ClickUp.
Speaker:The trouble is I then don't look at ClickUp.
Speaker:So maybe I will get Claude to hold me accountable.
Speaker:Maybe I'll have an accountability thread 'Cause I do enjoy the praise.
Speaker:I do enjoy a little bit of feedback when I'm, like, ticking loads of stuff off.
Speaker:So
Speaker:on, on Sunday we had a football presentation and I
Speaker:needed to remember my laptop.
Speaker:And I just hadn't, I'd completely forgotten that it
Speaker:was gonna be on my computer.
Speaker:and I was just like, "Right, what haven't I got? what might I have forgotten?"
Speaker:And he was like, "Have you got your laptop?" I was like, "No,
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:See, loving this way of using AI.
Speaker:All right, I'm gonna try it this week and I'll report back.
Speaker:for your
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Me too.
Speaker:I know, I literally can't wait.
Speaker:Okay, so what are we talking about today?
Speaker:We're talking about , are courses dead?
Speaker:Are courses dead?
Speaker:are courses dead?
Speaker:Are communities replacing everything?, Do our office suites still work?
Speaker:Are we still in passive income vibes?
Speaker:, Or are we sort of over-delivering in communities?
Speaker:Does everyone want a community?
Speaker:Does every course need a community?
Speaker:We're just gonna dig into it, because I think
Speaker:We've been around quite a while now, and I think you said, when we were
Speaker:talking about this, you said, you know, to every pendulum swing one way, the
Speaker:pendulum will swing back the other way.
Speaker:And I think a little bit like fashion, we start to see things coming back around.
Speaker:I feel like I'm almost that, , elderly lady who's like, "Oh,
Speaker:we're going down this road again.
Speaker:Ah, well, I've been here before.
Speaker:Oh, I see." So , I think we're both in a really good place to talk
Speaker:about, , what's selling well, but also, , what are people enjoying, , why
Speaker:people are joining communities or not.
Speaker:Are people still , doing DIY?
Speaker:We're gonna dig into it all really.
Speaker:Where should we start?
Speaker:I think … Go on
Speaker:just think it's a, it's,
Speaker:such a good topic to dig into because we spent a lot of time and energy creating
Speaker:these offers, and it's easy to slip into the trap of either creating what everyone
Speaker:else is creating because you see that as like a trend, so I've gotta do that
Speaker:because that's what everyone's doing.
Speaker:Or creating something that you want to create without really spending
Speaker:much time thinking about is the audience appetite there for it.
Speaker:is this actually what people are wanting right now?
Speaker:So yeah, I think it would be really useful for our listeners to have a think about
Speaker:it, listen to what we've seen, like you said, as sort of part of the older guard
Speaker:in the online
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:we've seen work previously, what we think is working now.
Speaker:Just think it's useful to have these chats, 'cause
Speaker:when you're working on
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:or if you're working in isolation, you can miss out on some of the really
Speaker:important insight that comes from having chats about these sorts of things.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So I wonder if,, it might be useful for me to share my current offer suite,
Speaker:Cause mine evolves all the time, , 'cause I love a pivot, I love a
Speaker:new course, I love a new program.
Speaker:But as much as it is just, , me with my slightly ADHD brain getting a little
Speaker:bit bored and wanting to do something new, I do also think one thing I'm
Speaker:really good at is responding to what people want and how people kind of want
Speaker:to interact and what they want from me, and then kind of balancing that
Speaker:with, , how I wanna run my business.
Speaker:And we've talked about this before, if you've heard the podcast
Speaker:before, , I am, I'm definitely an over-deliverer, and, what I will do
Speaker:is always add in, like, one-to-one.
Speaker:That's my, like, main little red flag when I'm, , selling an offer or
Speaker:when I'm creating an offer, I will always try and add in one-to-one.
Speaker:And I had a really big realization, , , probably about a year ago, that,
Speaker:it's really not sustainable to add one-to-one to every offer all the time.
Speaker:And it then doesn't help me differentiate my offers.
Speaker:It then, , blocks up my diary and actually, you know, I had to learn
Speaker:to really trust that my knowledge was enough in some cases, and that
Speaker:actually direct access to me isn't always necessary to get the outcome.
Speaker:And as much as my ego didn't really wanna hear that, I think it was also,
Speaker:, confidence in creating content and being able to articulate, I guess, what I
Speaker:teach people and how I help them that will allow them to get that result on
Speaker:their own without them having to have one-to-one contact with me So at the
Speaker:moment I have, a totally passive course.
Speaker:So I have ABC, which is the audience builder course, which is literally
Speaker:how you set up ads basically.
Speaker:And, I'm pretty sure that's 197, and you can buy anytime.
Speaker:In all honesty, I don't really proactively sell a huge of those a lot of the time.
Speaker:The main one, if someone comes to me saying, "I wanna run ads, I wanna learn
Speaker:how to do it," is the Superfan Sprint.
Speaker:That's the one that I personally feel like benefits the most
Speaker:people because it's not just ads.
Speaker:It's like I will help you with your lead magnet, with your welcome sequence, . and
Speaker:then with your ads and making sure you're bringing in super fans, not just growing
Speaker:a list of people who aren't gonna buy.
Speaker:That one, I think that one's a really interesting offer.
Speaker:Maybe we'll dig into that one a little bit because I play with that offer a lot.
Speaker:Not because I'm pivoting and being boring, but because I try and read what people
Speaker:want at different times of the year.
Speaker:So I have the core course that's there all the time, and then I add different
Speaker:levels of support for different lengths of time at different points.
Speaker:So I think that one might be quite interesting to dig into.
Speaker:I then have Outrageous, which is my big signature program.
Speaker:That's the one that I think if you want to work with me and you wanna scale
Speaker:your business, if you wanna grow a group program, that's really the one that,, you
Speaker:come into because it's got the offer work, the ads work, and then the selling work.
Speaker:So that's the big one.
Speaker:But at the baseline level, you don't get one-to-one.
Speaker:You get me reviewing your content every week, your strategy or your
Speaker:offers or you get me reviewing.
Speaker:So I guess there is an element of one-to-one, though it's not on Zoom.
Speaker:and then there is a great community.
Speaker:There's group calls.
Speaker:. I guess, if you think of signature program.
Speaker:It's like the full all singing, all dancing program
Speaker:I'm inside
Speaker:You're in it, yeah
Speaker:them on their content, and it, I think view of that experience
Speaker:is it feels high touch as well.
Speaker:they are … You are not hands-off in there.
Speaker:Whilst it might not have one-to-one specifically, I don't think anyone
Speaker:in there would feel like they're not getting a lot of Sophie
Speaker:. Yeah, and , I guess that is how I really want it to feel.
Speaker:, I want to be present.
Speaker:, Obviously I have you, in there doing the copy coaching every week,
Speaker:and I have Christina, who does the self-leadership coaching every week.
Speaker:So there's definitely other coaches, which is really helpful for me, and I
Speaker:think also gives a better experience.
Speaker:But I wouldn't say, like, it's at the cost of me being there.
Speaker:It's like, it's additional support.
Speaker:It's not alternative support.
Speaker:and there is a VIP level to Outrageous where you get then, , a
Speaker:monthly one-to-one, either with me, with you, or with Christina.,
Speaker:And then I have actual one-to-one.
Speaker:And like my actual one-to-one, I either go have 30 days, which is a VIP day, and then
Speaker:30 days in Slack, or I have six months one-to-one, which is two calls a month.
Speaker:I'm in Slack literally Monday to Thursday every week…. , one of my
Speaker:lovely clients described it as like, "We want you on the bus with us.
Speaker:in the bus, like on the bus.
Speaker:This is not just us coming to you being like, 'Oh, can you check our
Speaker:ads?' This is you saying, 'Okay, what's our ad strategy for next week?
Speaker:How are we gonna get more sales?
Speaker:, Looks like sales are down.
Speaker:How can we, like, get that up?'" It's a real partnership model,
Speaker:which I really, really love.
Speaker:but again, you're not getting community there.
Speaker:You're literally just working with me.
Speaker:So , where are you at right now with offers before we dig into them?
Speaker:a, moment where I probably am really giving this some thought.
Speaker:And so a long time my office stack has literally being, has been like retainer.
Speaker:I've just
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:doing done for you services.
Speaker:, actually loved that.
Speaker:, For a really long time felt yeah, this is really good.
Speaker:loved the predictability of it, loved knowing that people have got me locked
Speaker:in, . So yeah, , I'd say for certainly the first, probably four to five years
Speaker:of my business, that's been the model.
Speaker:, Obviously the landscape has changed dramatically in the way that people
Speaker:create stuff for their business.
Speaker:So when I first started creating content for people, whether that be copywriting
Speaker:or whether that be, social media content or, for some of my clients, I create
Speaker:stuff for inside their businesses.
Speaker:So it'll be workbooks and courses and stuff like that, that
Speaker:their members have access to.
Speaker:That was, like, such an arduous task for people to do themselves.
Speaker:hours and hours of work.
Speaker:and you had to have a really broad skill set that often people didn't have.
Speaker:So , the way that I could deliver that for people was often like, "Oh my
Speaker:God, you're amazing. I cannot believe you've taken this off my plate."
Speaker:now in 2026, the landscape is, unrecognizable from where it
Speaker:was in 2020 and 2021, let's say.
Speaker:Where
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:" Oh yeah, cool." they know that they probably could've
Speaker:done it themselves with AI.
Speaker:output wouldn't have been as good.
Speaker:it's only ever as good as the person prompting it, they could do it.
Speaker:It's not hard to generate captions.
Speaker:It's not hard to generate graphics anymore.
Speaker:And so part of it's that.
Speaker:Part of it is that I'm an absolute glutton for praise,
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:part of it, genuinely, if I'm being completely honest, I think part of
Speaker:it's that, is that people aren't as impressed anymore because , they can
Speaker:whiz up an okay output on their own.
Speaker:so they probably don't need me writing it .. so yeah, I'm looking at my offers
Speaker:like the minute and trying to bring more of it back into my own autonomy.
Speaker:I feel sometimes that I'm at the mercy of people deciding whether or not they still
Speaker:value paying for someone to do that for them, I like the idea that I would have
Speaker:more control over it if it were my offers, , my programs, all of that sort of stuff.
Speaker:And, it speaks to the teacher in me.
Speaker:I love being the person, I love delivery, I love, you know, space.
Speaker:I love all of that stuff.
Speaker:It's in my bones at this point.
Speaker:So yeah, at the minute I've got, obviously retainer work at kind of the top end.
Speaker:At the lower cost end, I've now got my group program, which is like a 12-month
Speaker:program called The Bloody Good Story Club.
Speaker:and it just speaks to one specific problem, which is consistency.
Speaker:and so it's just
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:prompts to use on their own social media with a storytelling
Speaker:kind of feel behind it.
Speaker:we do co-working so that you can actually get it done.
Speaker:Once a month I do a master class where we dive a bit deeper.
Speaker:I'll help people improve what stuff they've already got.
Speaker:I love that, and actually that was a passion project that's come good.
Speaker:'Cause I was like, I really like the idea of it.
Speaker:it's only my first cohort at the minute.
Speaker:I'm launching it again in September.
Speaker:But proof of concept, like that works.
Speaker:and then I've got storytelling shifts, which is like a one-to-one,
Speaker:one-off experience, power hours.
Speaker:But as we speak now, I'm building out a new offer that kind of is more
Speaker:of like a one-to-one experience with me,- like content coaching, where
Speaker:I'm holding you to account, but helping you on a more regular basis.
Speaker:So at the minute, you've either got like a one-off experience or a 12-month
Speaker:experience or a retainer experience, but nothing in that middle space.
Speaker:So I'm trying to create something there purely because, as you say, I've seen
Speaker:an appetite for it emerging, where
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:aren't quite at the point where they want retainer or, if I'm honest,
Speaker:don't see the value anymore with AI of retainer, but still need more
Speaker:than , a one-off call would help.
Speaker:They wanna given personalized, so the group program might not be
Speaker:for them 'cause they want it to be specific to them with a total focus.
Speaker:And I've seen, I'd say really specifically the last couple of months on calls I've
Speaker:been on, I'm like, "Oh, they would really benefit from this." So I'm trying to
Speaker:shape and flesh something out at the minute as to what that might look like.
Speaker:Feel really excited about that.
Speaker:But my goal is to be in a place similar to where you are, where I've got clear
Speaker:sort of structure in place that I can then tweak and change to help meet the
Speaker:demands of the audience at the time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think it's so interesting when I'm, , listening to you because I
Speaker:think there's different people that would want, those different services.
Speaker:But I also think that the thing that has really come through for me over the last,
Speaker:especially maybe the last 12, 18 months, is that the more specific the problem
Speaker:you solve, the easier it is to sell.
Speaker:I mean, one-to-one it was, you know, always the case, but groups and
Speaker:memberships, that sort of thing.
Speaker:Back in 2020, 2021, even probably '22, but you could have a does-it-all
Speaker:overarching membership, right?
Speaker:That was the really common one.
Speaker:Or even like, you know, build your entire business.
Speaker:I will help you, you know, build your business and we'll do everything.
Speaker:And some of those are still running and still working really well, but others
Speaker:I have found over time it's much, much harder to sell that generalist.
Speaker:And actually people want specificity.
Speaker:Like , the Bloody Good Story Club, it solves one specific problem, consistency.
Speaker:It's not aiming to solve all of your social media needs.
Speaker:, It's literally just we're gonna get consistent, you're gonna put really
Speaker:great content out, and I'm gonna be there to support you with that as you do it.
Speaker:And actually, I think that means people are, whether they're investing
Speaker:more, I don't know, maybe this is just me 'cause I love investing.
Speaker:But I think then you have more things on the go.
Speaker:Because it's like, okay, so I'm very specifically supporting
Speaker:myself with consistency, let's say with a , Bloody Good Story Club.
Speaker:And then actually I wanna run ads as well, so maybe I'll do the Superfan Sprint.
Speaker:The two go really well together.
Speaker:There's no overlap really there.
Speaker:I would highly recommend people do both.
Speaker:And , Ruthie's workshop is in the Superfan Sprint.
Speaker:So , you know, specifically these go very well together.
Speaker:But I think more generally as well, you know, people are having a little bit
Speaker:more of a pick and mix approach rather than picking one coach, going all in on
Speaker:their mega membership or mega program, and then only working with that one.
Speaker:But what I do think it means is that people are looking for
Speaker:different things at different times.
Speaker:Sometimes I sign up to something and I'm like, "Oh, , I don't need
Speaker:a community for this." Like I really just want the information.
Speaker:I want to be able to dip in and grab the information and come out.
Speaker:But I also then I'll have another thing where I'm like, oh yeah, this is more
Speaker:of a community thing here because , I wanna hear what my peers are saying
Speaker:here, or I want to be inspired, or I want to see how other people are
Speaker:using this info that I'm getting.
Speaker:Like I'm in an AI one and I'm like, oh, I wanna see how, what
Speaker:user cases people are doing.
Speaker:What are you doing with AI?
Speaker:Like that's really interesting to me.
Speaker:I'm really glad there's a community there because I can go off and do the
Speaker:content, but I'm kind of limited by my own brain and like what's possible.
Speaker:But I think it depends in terms of what you're investing in,
Speaker:what becomes your priority.
Speaker:So for me,, like maybe I might be in the Bloody Good Story Club and then be
Speaker:like, "Actually, do you know what? I think Instagram is gonna be my number
Speaker:one focus the next three months. I'm gonna level up and go to the
Speaker:one-to-one offer," or whatever it is.
Speaker:But I haven't needed it before because that wasn't my number one priority, and
Speaker:then I like rejig my investments almost.
Speaker:think, So we were talking about community, weren't we?
Speaker:Because
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:in 2026.
Speaker:Loads of people are, talking about community, wanting community.
Speaker:The appetite is definitely there for community.
Speaker:And I think know, we were saying earlier, it's like the pendulum swing of what was
Speaker:this huge push over the last, some sort of two years ago and up until quite recently,
Speaker:on passive income, about creating these things that you basically have to
Speaker:have, next to nothing to do and they're just gonna generate income for you.
Speaker:Sounds great.
Speaker:we all love it.
Speaker:But I think the pendulum swing to that is people feeling like they might
Speaker:have bought things where maybe they could have done with more points.
Speaker:Maybe they could have done with, "Actually, I thought I wanted to
Speaker:self-study, but turns out I'm not very good at that, and maybe I do need, a
Speaker:little bit more of a community to drive me on." but I've been lucky enough to work
Speaker:on some amazing offers with my clients and so I've seen behind the scenes of
Speaker:so many offers now, hundreds of them, and when community works well, it's
Speaker:exactly what you just said, is when it has a very, very clear purpose and role
Speaker:within the broader sense of the offer.
Speaker:that AI example you used, that's sometimes what people are paying for.
Speaker:what I
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:what are other people doing with AI that I can just steal?
Speaker:Because I don't necessarily have… you are limited by your own
Speaker:imagination of what you can think of.
Speaker:And it's the same with the Bloody Good Story Club in that I was
Speaker:like, "Is community important?"
Speaker:Yeah, because other people's posts and iterations of a prompt,
Speaker:so seeing oh, that's how that person imagined that prompt.
Speaker:That's how they took it.
Speaker:Is so inspiring and can give you like, "Oh my God, that's how I'm gonna do it." know,
Speaker:we're really open about let's be inspired by each other's, because the beauty of
Speaker:storytelling is it's never identical.
Speaker:even if you've got the same hook, the thread that expands out of that
Speaker:hook can be completely different.
Speaker:And I think when people are thinking about community, I'd really advise
Speaker:against ever just shoving it in.
Speaker:Because actually, it needs careful attention, a community.
Speaker:A community can feel like a nightmare if it's not handled properly.
Speaker:but if you can really name and place the impact it's gonna have for that
Speaker:client, then when you're writing your sales page, one of my clients, we
Speaker:always talk about that community is so important to the offer, all the
Speaker:testimonials bring up the community.
Speaker:And we talk about like maybe you'll find your next client in there,
Speaker:that's one of the benefits of it.
Speaker:The network is so big maybe you'll find your next freelancer, maybe
Speaker:you'll find your next client, maybe you'll find your next accountability
Speaker:partner, whatever it might be.
Speaker:So .. i think if you can't name the purpose of the community outside of it
Speaker:just being like vibes, support vibes,
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:shouldn't put it in
Speaker:I, totally agree.
Speaker:And I think that's one of the biggest challenges that people have
Speaker:when they try and put community in, and it's just like, oh yeah, you
Speaker:know, A, like you say, to sell it.
Speaker:It just becomes like, "And a community of other women,, for great support."
Speaker:, It's not selling anything on the sales page, is it?
Speaker:, That's not being like, oh my God, you know?
Speaker:And, yeah, we're all looking for community, but I think , what
Speaker:we're looking for, like you say, is that very specific outcome.
Speaker:So , actually, is it other women who are scaling six-figure groups.
Speaker:, That actually is really specific for me.
Speaker:, That is like, oh, I want to see how she's scaling her group.
Speaker:, Other women that , have done it a, a bit ahead of you or alongside you.
Speaker:I also think when you then get people into your program, if you're not specific
Speaker:about how you use the community or what the community is for, it can just feel
Speaker:like a massive weight on your shoulders
Speaker:of like, "No.
Speaker:Oh my God, nobody's chatting.
Speaker:Oh, I promised a community, a buzzy community of women, and yet nobody's
Speaker:replying, and nobody's interacting with each other, and nobody's responding."
Speaker:And it feels just like tumbleweed is going across, and it's just
Speaker:messages from you, and then like the occasional very enthusiastic person
Speaker:that like kind of sometimes replies to your, you know, does a comment.
Speaker:But like, that feels frankly pretty shit.
Speaker:, I have had a few of those, , you know, when you're like, you think, "Oh,
Speaker:yeah, I'll add a community," and then I think the thing you've got to do is,
Speaker:A, make sure that you know why it's there, and B, you've got to set it up.
Speaker:You've got to give people expectations.
Speaker:So in Outrageous, like mine is really set up.
Speaker:Like, this is your space to, A, support each other.
Speaker:Yes, definitely inspire each other, share what's working, share what's not.
Speaker:But also, it's for you to give me info.
Speaker:, We have two prompts.
Speaker:We have a Monday prompt, which is your rose, bud, thorn.
Speaker:So something that's going well, something that's kind of okay but
Speaker:just a little bit we're keeping an eye on, and then the thorn is
Speaker:like something that's a bit tricky.
Speaker:, , those three sentences that people write every Monday are hugely important for
Speaker:me to, just to get a quick temperature check of where everybody is at.
Speaker:And then on a Friday, we share wins.
Speaker:Now, I think it's really interesting 'cause I've been in loads of groups for
Speaker:a really long time, and everyone does a wins post, and I think it's really, really
Speaker:common that nobody posts their wins.
Speaker:and yet, consistently, the majority of the group will post their
Speaker:wins and do the rose, bud, thorn because it's in the handbook.
Speaker:I set it up as something that's really important.
Speaker:, It's almost like if you want to be inspired, you have to be
Speaker:there inspiring everyone else.
Speaker:, You have to contribute if you want to get it back.
Speaker:And I kind of set that, I guess, as the standard when people come in.
Speaker:This is how we interact in this group.
Speaker:This is how we do it.
Speaker:This is the standard.
Speaker:And I'm not saying that like, you know, someone misses their wins and
Speaker:we're gonna , call them out on it.
Speaker:But at the same time, I am gonna keep an eye.
Speaker:If someone hasn't posted their wins for three or four weeks, I'm gonna check
Speaker:in on them and be like, "Are we good? Like, do we not have any wins? Are we
Speaker:thinking that wins is something that has to be completed or,, that has to
Speaker:be mega big?" Because to be honest, like, that can definitely happen.
Speaker:So- I think you've gotta set it up in that way as well, haven't you?
Speaker:I don't think you can just expect, your clients to, , make
Speaker:the community what it is
Speaker:And it's reciprocity, isn't it?
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:I want them to be able to be inspired by each other's delivery of the prompts.
Speaker:So I do the prompts myself sometimes, and I'll share them and I'll say, "Go
Speaker:and steal it," or, "Here's what I did.
Speaker:feel free to be inspired by it." So that you're setting the precedent
Speaker:And every time I share a prompt I'm like, "Remember to share yours in the thread
Speaker:so that we can celebrate each other." And it's just being consistent with the way
Speaker:that you want that community to operate.
Speaker:something we talked about as well is know, often when you want to
Speaker:create a peer-led space, because
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:exactly what I'm looking for.
Speaker:What I want, I know now from being in this space long enough, that one of
Speaker:the things that really works for me is when I get to spend time with people
Speaker:who are a bit ahead of where I am.
Speaker:I love to hear like partly some of the questions I ask on this
Speaker:podcast is like, I'm sure the listeners like it, but I wanna know.
Speaker:I'm like, "Yeah, let's go through your offer stack today, Soph, actually."
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because
Speaker:useful
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:oh, okay, that's how that person's doing it.
Speaker:That's how that person's doing it.
Speaker:And so That's really appealing to people.
Speaker:So then it's thinking about how do I build the community that allows to be peer-led.
Speaker:and then when you're writing your sales page, again, you've
Speaker:got that absolute clarity.
Speaker:When we were talking earlier about being really specific, when I wrote
Speaker:my sales page for Bloody Good Story Club, which incidentally writing your
Speaker:own sales page is hard when you're used to writing them for other people,
Speaker:so I'm not saying it's perfect.
Speaker:But when I was writing it, because it was so specific it was
Speaker:so easy to say what it wasn't.
Speaker:So I was like, "This is not for you if you are looking to go viral.
Speaker:This is not for you if you are looking to get your content done for you.
Speaker:This is for you just know you need a few more bits of
Speaker:inspiration, you need a little bit of encouragement here and there.
Speaker:You need someone to be able to pull you back onto the wagon when you've fallen
Speaker:off." so easy to name things when you are really specific on what you're doing
Speaker:and what the purpose of the things is.
Speaker:So the same with the community.
Speaker:If you're offering the community, you should be able to name
Speaker:completely what it is that the community's gonna offer people.
Speaker:Otherwise, I think it can just be this beast that can really escalate,
Speaker:where you're trying to create something and you don't really
Speaker:know what the output should be.
Speaker:Yeah., I think it's really, really important.
Speaker:I don't think it's thought about enough.
Speaker:And I think coming back to my clickbaity title of like, our course is dead, I…
Speaker:Again, this pendulum swing, like it was all about memberships back in the day.
Speaker:The whole like one to many approach.
Speaker:I would think like memberships were everywhere.
Speaker:Everyone was doing a membership.
Speaker:Then it swung to courses, and everyone was like, "Actually,
Speaker:we want a very specific outcome.
Speaker:We want very clear deliverables.
Speaker:Like, we do want it to be more specific.
Speaker:We don't just want , the membership that's gonna, gonna give you more
Speaker:and more and more and more to do."
Speaker:but I think the reason why the pendulum almost, I think, you know, Amy Porterfield
Speaker:probably started the chatter with
Speaker:Closing her real signature course that she's made millions from, almost like
Speaker:swinging it back the other way, is because information is so readily available now.
Speaker:You know, with AI, with, , the way that everything has shifted,
Speaker:suddenly it's Like you're paying for information I think presented in a
Speaker:certain way, packaged up in a way.
Speaker:You're paying for it to be simple, you're paying for it to be in a certain order.
Speaker:But I don't think that we necessarily are paying for information in the
Speaker:same way as we were before, and I think that's where , the whole
Speaker:community piece is coming back in.
Speaker:And I do think memberships or lower ticket offers are having a bit of a resurgence.
Speaker:, I'm seeing a lot more people starting memberships and creating them
Speaker:because it's like actually people don't, they don't need necessarily
Speaker:one-to-one or mega investment.
Speaker:But , like you say, they need accountability, consistency.
Speaker:They want up-to-date information.
Speaker:So they wanna know, not just what's working on social media, they wanna know
Speaker:like what's working for that six-figure coach who's doing what I'm doing.
Speaker:Like you said about you doing the prompts and them , sharing it.
Speaker:It's like I want… That's the kind of people I wanna work with.
Speaker:I want the people who are testing it themselves, who are probably only a little
Speaker:bit ahead of me, social media when I see people who are a lot further ahead of me.
Speaker:So say they've got, I don't know, what like hundreds of thousands , or
Speaker:millions of followers and they're like, "Oh yeah, I put this prompt
Speaker:out and it worked really well."
Speaker:I'm like, "Yeah, because you've got two million followers."
Speaker:Like, your post, generally your baseline is a hell of a lot higher than mine.
Speaker:does it actually work for someone like me?
Speaker:Whereas I think when someone's a little bit further on than you and they're doing
Speaker:the doing and you can just be a low cost way of being in their world, getting
Speaker:feedback, what's working, what's not, I just think that's bloody brilliant.
Speaker:we- what we're paying for now… what it all worked on, when I joined the
Speaker:online business space, it was like you were getting the key to the gate, right?
Speaker:gatekeeping their
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:paying to get a key to the gate, and I'm gonna study these modules and I'm gonna
Speaker:find out what it is that I don't know.
Speaker:Now, we can access it.
Speaker:, no one needs the key.
Speaker:The gate is open.
Speaker:Gatekeeping, is wasted.
Speaker:So we can't sell things in that way anymore.
Speaker:What we can sell is perspective, and what we can sell is experience,
Speaker:and they are unique to a person.
Speaker:So that's why, storytelling works on social now is because it locks into
Speaker:the things that still aren't available.
Speaker:What isn't available is a unique experience or a unique perspective
Speaker:that someone has learnt the hard way or done the hard yards for you.
Speaker:what you're locking into.
Speaker:And that's why creating relationships with people where they feel connection
Speaker:and they feel like there's a mutual understanding means that, they buy into
Speaker:your perspective, your unique experience.
Speaker:And so yeah, I just think knowledge, I don't think it's
Speaker:that courses are dead per se.
Speaker:I don't.
Speaker:But I think courses in the traditional sense of here's a load of knowledge.
Speaker:if you think about it even bigger than that.
Speaker:I was… I can't remember, it might have even been you, Soph, I was talking
Speaker:about, but how relevant are university courses gonna be for some subjects?
Speaker:Obviously there will always be, specific industries and
Speaker:specific careers that require it.
Speaker:But for some subjects, how is knowledge anymore?
Speaker:it's not
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:It's actually, from an educational point of view, a bit boring, but , the
Speaker:acquisition of knowledge is, the bottom of the learning triangle.
Speaker:There was something we used back in the day, it's called Bloom's Taxonomy, and
Speaker:at the bottom is just the, rote learning.
Speaker:so I just don't think it's relevant at the moment.
Speaker:I think AI can do so much of that now where you can find out how to X, Y, Z,
Speaker:but what people are looking for is can this person offer me a shortcut or an
Speaker:easier way of doing it, or a way that they interpreted that knowledge that
Speaker:made of sense to them and loads of money for them or whatever it might be.
Speaker:So it's not that I think courses are dead, just think that the way that courses
Speaker:have to be imagined is really different.
Speaker:And I
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:we also have to that, we're not in the same position we were 2020 where
Speaker:we had loads of time at because of the COVID bubble and stuff.
Speaker:And God, is there an appetite for sitting and watching long videos of learning?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I
Speaker:appetite
Speaker:Not really for me.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I mean, I don't think I ever had it.
Speaker:I d- that's not, not really my favorite way., And I think I've learned
Speaker:something about myself, like, as someone who's bought a lot of courses,
Speaker:been part of a lot of memberships, DIY, done with you, done for you.
Speaker:, I have bought it all multiple times, and we talked about this
Speaker:in the last episode, didn't we?
Speaker:Sometimes I buy it knowing that I probably shouldn't because
Speaker:I'm definitely not gonna do it.
Speaker:But I just think I have learnt now that actually I will
Speaker:either , get the knowledge I want.
Speaker:That's one thing, that's one thing I'm looking for.
Speaker:Do I need some very specific knowledge?
Speaker:And like you say, it's not the actual knowledge, it's the
Speaker:application of that knowledge.
Speaker:With AI, for example,, the reason why I bought into the membership is
Speaker:'cause I get AI, I understand how to use it, but I need someone to talk
Speaker:me through this application of it.
Speaker:How can I use it best?
Speaker:How can I understand, , how to use it in a way that…
Speaker:and how have you used it?
Speaker:And that's why I bought that.
Speaker:Or I will go for something with community accountability, something
Speaker:I can feel part of, something where I can see people who are inspiring me,
Speaker:who are doing the same thing as me.
Speaker:, I'm part of a mastermind, and I love seeing how everyone
Speaker:else's launches are going.
Speaker:, What's working with launches right now, and what's working with Evergreen
Speaker:and what's working with, , messaging.
Speaker:, I love seeing what everyone else does.
Speaker:I love those group calls.
Speaker:Or sometimes I will just go one to one because I'm like, I just actually need
Speaker:to move fast on this, and I just wanna work with that very specific person.
Speaker:I don't need to join their group program.
Speaker:I don't need to spend six months.
Speaker:I just need to, , jump in with them once or every month or just to get
Speaker:that very specific thing that I need.
Speaker:And I think having different ways , in offer suites, I think whereas before
Speaker:you could have, I know quite a few people who have built businesses on
Speaker:their, , one signature offer, and all roads lead to that one offer.
Speaker:, All roads lead to this one course or whatever it is.
Speaker:I think for some people it works really well, but I just feel like now people
Speaker:are looking for different ways , to cut that up, to take shortcuts, to
Speaker:be like, like you said, "I don't need to do the whole nine months. I
Speaker:actually just wanna jump in and cover this very specific thing with you."
Speaker:I just think, offer suites, like we used to have the ladder, didn't you?
Speaker:Where you'd like come in, and you have a low ticket and then a mid ticket and
Speaker:then a high ticket and then a one-to-one.
Speaker:And I'm not saying that we necessarily need to go back to that and everyone
Speaker:needs to have it, but I do think offer suites have been flattened
Speaker:almost into a big course and then maybe a few passive offers.
Speaker:Or done for you and then nothing else.
Speaker:And I think maybe they need to go back to being a little bit more like 3D
Speaker:hearing you talk about that just from a marketing perspective, we know
Speaker:that you like to purchase some stuff.
Speaker:You're a
Speaker:Oh my God, I love it.
Speaker:I'm a buyer
Speaker:to hear you talk about the different, needs and wants you've got when you're
Speaker:looking at things, and I think it's really useful for people to hear
Speaker:that and consider it when they're building their offers because, both
Speaker:of us are lucky enough to see loads of women building amazing offers.
Speaker:I've also seen examples of people building offers where they're building
Speaker:it because they want it, as in the
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:the business owner wants it.
Speaker:I want to be able to charge X amount,
Speaker:have
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:want a high-ticket offer because I want a high-ticket offer.
Speaker:And it's marketing 101 in a lot of ways, isn't it?
Speaker:always have your ideal client front and center.
Speaker:But what are people needing?
Speaker:if they were gonna go one-to-one, what would they be coming
Speaker:to you for one-to-one for?
Speaker:Because it'd be… it's why I haven't moved forward in my offer
Speaker:suite with one-to-one is because it's not quite straightforward
Speaker:with the space So I'm like, well, what would they for one-to-one for?
Speaker:What would that look like?
Speaker:How would that be actually useful for them?
Speaker:I want is for
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:load of one-to-one, and then either recommend me to someone
Speaker:else or continue because it's so transformational for their business.
Speaker:So I do think we have to keep , the purchaser's needs
Speaker:and wants at the heart of it.
Speaker:if someone is wanting to invest in something more high ticket to have
Speaker:high touch from you, what would be the useful elements of that?
Speaker:If they do just need knowledge, what knowledge do they need, and how can I
Speaker:package it up in the easiest way to digest possible with as many golden nuggets from
Speaker:my lived experience as possible to make it not something they could get on AI.
Speaker:And if I am building out a membership model or something like a membership
Speaker:model, how do I make it that it continues to be worthwhile month on month?
Speaker:hard when you're designing offers to not just keep yourself.
Speaker:okay, what can I realistically deliver?
Speaker:. What money would I like to generate from it?
Speaker:But I just think this space in 2026 where knowledge is so plentiful,
Speaker:knowledge, but there
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:know, you can for some big names type in, "I want you to act like Alex Hormozi,"
Speaker:and what would
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:this?
Speaker:So
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:also access some perspective.
Speaker:So how can you make it unique enough to really make it worthwhile
Speaker:for somebody with their wants and needs at the heart of it?
Speaker:'Cause it is so true what you were saying about what you're looking for.
Speaker:sometimes you know you just need one-to-one, don't you?
Speaker:I know at the minute I probably should be working with someone one-to-one.
Speaker:I'm just being too tight to do it because I'm like, "Well, I wanna go
Speaker:on holiday," and, "I wanna do this, I wanna do that." But I know that actually
Speaker:probably to up-level my business to the next level, I probably do need to
Speaker:work with someone one-to-one because I know that's probably where- where
Speaker:I make my biggest transformations when I've worked one-to-one before,
Speaker:I've actually got shit done.
Speaker:So yeah, it's just interesting to hear you talk about what you're
Speaker:looking for as a purchaser as well as how you operate as a business
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think, you know, , it is so interesting, and I think, you know, even
Speaker:if you've got a community that's been running quite a long time, a membership
Speaker:or a course you've been doing for a long time, there's always … Often
Speaker:I work with clients 'cause they come to me feeling quite overwhelmed.
Speaker:So when we're, , scaling , group offer, they'll often come to me 'cause they
Speaker:sort of hit a plateau in some way.
Speaker:So it's like I get people in, you know, people come in, people love
Speaker:it, people get great results, but I'm feeling like it's taking over my life.
Speaker:It's just so much.
Speaker:, And I feel like I'm constantly bringing people in and, and then, like you say,
Speaker:creating more content and making sure it's worthwhile staying and making
Speaker:sure they're getting the results.
Speaker:, And actually a lot of the time we will go back to their clients and almost be like,
Speaker:", what bits of this are you actually using?
Speaker:What bits would be helpful?" And so often the feedback is like, "There's
Speaker:already loads of content here.
Speaker:I don't need any more knowledge.
Speaker:I actually need the space and accountability and time to implement it."
Speaker:of having,, a new workshop every month, could maybe one month it
Speaker:be more like a planning session or a, you know, a hands-on session or
Speaker:implementation or whatever it is.
Speaker:, So often the actual feedback from clients is like, "There's loads of info here.
Speaker:I actually need your help, , doing it, not actually just learning it."
Speaker:And I think the other thing, I'll just talk a little bit about Superfan
Speaker:Sprint because I think, this is a real interesting balance between what
Speaker:I want versus what my clients want.
Speaker:So it was about, it was this time last year, I just, did Superfan Summer
Speaker:Sprint this time last year, and I did it as an eight-week hands-on course.
Speaker:All the usual stuff community, group calls.
Speaker:They had access to, , the course.
Speaker:I created the core course.
Speaker:and then they had, yeah, community in Slack, and then group calls,
Speaker:and then loads of other, you know, bits that they get with it.
Speaker:And it worked really well.
Speaker:Got really good signups.
Speaker:Worked really well.
Speaker:And then we're coming up to the summer and I was like, "Oh, I've got this incredible
Speaker:course here that I know works really, really well, which is really great,
Speaker:but I do not have capacity to, , run this again." It was only eight weeks.
Speaker:Like, I don't have capacity to run this again over the summer.
Speaker:However, I really feel like people could really benefit, especially
Speaker:If you're in an industry where you've got a bit of downtime or you don't have
Speaker:kids, you know, who are young or whatever, you've just got a bit more space.
Speaker:And so I was like, "Yeah, okay.
Speaker:People could actually do this over the summer.
Speaker:How can I make this available?
Speaker:And what do they actually need from me?
Speaker:, Do they just need the content?
Speaker:Can they just do it on their own?
Speaker:Do they really need the group calls?
Speaker:Do they really need, , the Slack?" And what I realized was there was,, three
Speaker:or four core things they needed from me.
Speaker:, To make sure they got really good ads that worked really well
Speaker:and brought in the super fans.
Speaker:They needed, my feedback on their messaging, so like their Goldilocks
Speaker:client and their trigger points, which I kind of work through, and their
Speaker:lead magnet . Because generally, the thing that's going to make the biggest
Speaker:difference about your ads, the input that you're putting in, is whether
Speaker:you're speaking to your ideal client and whether you actually have a lead magnet
Speaker:people want, your ideal clients want.
Speaker:Then the next thing was, , the ad copy and graphics.
Speaker:Definitely a thing that people really need some support on.
Speaker:And then the last thing was, , once they actually get to Ads Manager, because let's
Speaker:all be honest, it's a bit tricky, and, you know, it can be feel a bit techy, and
Speaker:you can come up with all sorts of issues.
Speaker:So what they really wanted then was for me to check their ads in
Speaker:Ads Manager before they went live.
Speaker:So those were, like, the three things I identified.
Speaker:And actually, that's all they need from me.
Speaker:So what I did was I created a one-off version to see if it would work.
Speaker:. I said, , "I'm selling five of these.
Speaker:You're gonna give me your feedback when you, as you do it,
Speaker:but I'm creating five of them.
Speaker:and you basically get access to the course, and you get these three
Speaker:submissions that you get to do to me.
Speaker:You fill in a form, it comes through to me, I deep dive into
Speaker:everything you've given me, and then I basically send you back really
Speaker:detailed and personalized feedback."
Speaker:So it sold really well.
Speaker:And I was like, "Oh, this is really interesting." , This is not like
Speaker:just DIY, just go off and do it, because I also know from DIY,, we
Speaker:all know, , accountability issues.
Speaker:And with ads as well, you can come across so many, , niggles and stuff that come
Speaker:in, just get in your way, and you're just like, "I'm just not doing it."
Speaker:So I sold it as that.
Speaker:Then I sold it in November, October time.
Speaker:I did it as a three-month course where they had group calls again and Slack.
Speaker:Then I sold it in April, where it was actually six months, where they got,
Speaker:, monthly call rather than fortnightly.
Speaker:And then I've just sold it as a three-week sprint, where actually
Speaker:we did three weeks together.
Speaker:and there was a weekly group call.
Speaker:and still the same three submissions and everything.
Speaker:And each time it sold really well, and it's been really interesting for me to
Speaker:know that I can have that core course.
Speaker:Like the course, it never changes.
Speaker:The course is there.
Speaker:The submissions are there.
Speaker:The core foundations of the course are always the same.
Speaker:But I can flex the level of community, the level of access to me, the level of,
Speaker:, time with me, basically for what I need.
Speaker:So, for example, I needed to do a three-week sprint because the summer
Speaker:holidays were coming up, and I don't want to be doing it over the summer holidays.
Speaker:But also, , it works really well for my clients because- These clients
Speaker:who've come in and done this three-week sprint have done the same amount of
Speaker:work as the people who joined and did the three-month one because, you know,
Speaker:short amount of time, they wanted to do it quickly, they were really committed.
Speaker:They just, , jumped in and just got it done.
Speaker:And now they're ready to have their ads running over the summer, which is
Speaker:the whole premise of the thing, right?
Speaker:So they can step back as well.
Speaker:So I don't know.
Speaker:I do think sometimes we can get really stuck in this like, oh, if I have a
Speaker:course, it has to be this one course that I'm doing, has to be delivered
Speaker:in the same way every single time, and has to have certain things,
Speaker:and actually, , it really doesn't
Speaker:questions here that I think
Speaker:would have.
Speaker:Go on.
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:I'm just wanting to highlight that basically what you're saying is the
Speaker:transformation doesn't change, but the delivery and operation can change.
Speaker:the price point?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I have,
Speaker:yeah
Speaker:on your time investment presumably, and how high touch it becomes
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:So , how many sessions they have with me.
Speaker:Yeah, how long it is.
Speaker:, Basically the more time I'm with them, the the higher cost it is.
Speaker:It doesn't flex massively.
Speaker:So the standard one is 1,500.
Speaker:and then the DIY I think is 997, and then I did the three-week one at 799,
Speaker:because it was, less kind of time over
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:period with me
Speaker:to think about actually, and got me thinking about some things within
Speaker:my business because I think you are right that there's a temptation
Speaker:to just like it's locked in.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:I can't do anything.
Speaker:But actually, what you're doing is speaking to different pockets of
Speaker:your audience each time as well.
Speaker:with doing that three-week sprint, that would appeal to me because I know I'm not
Speaker:particularly good at staying the distance.
Speaker:like a module
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:Module two, okay, now I'm still watching.
Speaker:Week three, got busy.
Speaker:Whereas if I knew I'd just got to show up for I love a one-dayer.
Speaker:I love
Speaker:a clearing my
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Getting it done in one day, time to get it actually physically done.
Speaker:the workshops that I do within the Bloody Good Story Club, I always
Speaker:under-pack them so that they can do a lot of it on the call so that they
Speaker:leave with at least some of it done.
Speaker:And so I think as well as you creating something that's gonna be working for
Speaker:your diary or needs at that time, you're also probably speaking to a different
Speaker:pocket of your audience who are like, there'll be some people that are like,
Speaker:"God, I can't do it in three weeks.
Speaker:God, that gives me anxiety just thinking.
Speaker:That feels rushed." But there were other people that are be like, "Yes,
Speaker:that's the type of action taker I am.
Speaker:I wanna get it done," or, "I've got a hard deadline for a launch coming up
Speaker:that means I need my ads live, so I can't do it over six months." So I think it's
Speaker:clever as well because as well as, know, responding to the needs of your time
Speaker:and energy, it's also responding to the time and energy needs of your audience.
Speaker:and the other thing I wanted to say- Is that when you were speaking through
Speaker:it, what I was thinking about is how often I review a lot of sales pages.
Speaker:I write a lot, but I also review them for people.
Speaker:And what I see is this preoccupation with features and benefits.
Speaker:"You are gonna get pre-filmed modules.
Speaker:You're gonna get, handouts.
Speaker:You're gonna get a workbook.
Speaker:You're gonna get prompts to use with AI." and there was a time
Speaker:where that was really appealing.
Speaker:think when you focus more on what you're talking about, what you're
Speaker:listing and what I always love to see on a sales page is the transformation.
Speaker:What am I gonna get what will have happened to me by the end of it?
Speaker:What will have been delivered by the end of it?
Speaker:It's so much more persuasive, so much more easier to digest.
Speaker:you know this from the workshops that you've seen me deliver.
Speaker:I love a transformational bullet point.
Speaker:Tell me what am I gonna do, what's gonna happen by the end of it.
Speaker:Put in brackets, like an even if you.
Speaker:even if you haven't got much time, even if you feel like you've done this all before.
Speaker:I love those sorts of phrases in there.
Speaker:What I'm not interested in, other than at a glance, I'm not saying
Speaker:don't include them, but at a glance, yeah, okay, what do I get?
Speaker:You're gonna get a community.
Speaker:You're gonna get this.
Speaker:You're gonna get that.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:But instead, tell me how I'm gonna feel.
Speaker:me what the output's gonna be.
Speaker:And actually, what you're doing consciously or, unconsciously with
Speaker:the Superfan Sprints and the changes you're making, is that you are
Speaker:staying completely focused always on the transformation, and you are
Speaker:experimenting flexing with the delivery and the features and benefits of it
Speaker:Yeah, you're so right.
Speaker:Yeah, I don't think I've… I mean, I guess I kind of did know that because
Speaker:I do have, like, fundamentally, I know that the content is really good, and I
Speaker:know it will deliver the transformation.
Speaker:, I know by the end of it, if you follow all the steps, you will have really
Speaker:good ads that deliver really good people into your world, onto your email list,
Speaker:and you will have people then who are there and ready to buy your offer.
Speaker:, I do know that really confidently, and so maybe it's that confidence
Speaker:that gives me the, the confidence, I guess, in the content that gives
Speaker:me the confidence to change around with, , the level of support.
Speaker:Because . i definitely believe that.
Speaker:you don't need the group calls.
Speaker:You don't need the Slack for accountability.
Speaker:You don't need that to get the result.
Speaker:However, I do also know that some people want that to get the result.
Speaker:Do you know what I mean?
Speaker:, So fundamentally, the content will get you there, but I am very happy to
Speaker:provide different types and levels of support for what you need to get there.
Speaker:make sense?
Speaker:I'm sure there are other people doing it, but it's really interesting to hear,
Speaker:'cause I've not thought about things in that sort of flexible way before, of
Speaker:thinking, being flexible with delivery, but keeping the, the transformation
Speaker:is always the same at the heart of it.
Speaker:And actually, when you were talking about the three things that you in, like what
Speaker:they do really need, what I was thinking is how shit would it be without those?
Speaker:And
Speaker:, might perceive that the course hadn't delivered because the ads didn't
Speaker:perform how they wanted them to
Speaker:have offered that.
Speaker:But
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:also doing is you are protecting and ring-fencing the output.
Speaker:So
Speaker:being what they
Speaker:Yes
Speaker:making sure that the quality of , the experience is safeguarded a little bit.
Speaker:You're saying, "I'm not gonna let people put shit ads out there, 'cause
Speaker:I'm gonna cast my eyes on them first.
Speaker:I'm not gonna let these niggles ruin someone's ad performance and them feel
Speaker:that maybe it happened because of the Superfan Sprint, because I'm gonna go
Speaker:into their ads manager and just check everything's, okay." So again, it's clever
Speaker:in that it's offering safety and security for the person, but it's also offering
Speaker:safety and security for the course.
Speaker:Because what I see, and, again, I think it's probably the teacher in me, is
Speaker:sometimes when I've bought courses, I've thought, "This is shit. This is actually
Speaker:not how people learn. This has not been built in a way that is conducive to
Speaker:people getting the output." And so it's also making sure, do I honestly believe
Speaker:that if they did this on their own, could they get a good enough outcome?
Speaker:Or are there touch points that they need that aren't necessarily one-to-one,
Speaker:but are there little touch points that they need with me in order for that
Speaker:output to be good enough for me to get the testimonials and for , them to have
Speaker:that amazing experience that we always want our clients or purchasers to have.
Speaker:So yeah, I found that really interesting hearing you, talk about
Speaker:the way that you've, altered things.
Speaker:And I generally started as a bit of an experiment, but I do actually
Speaker:really now believe that , it's a brilliant and, , flexible thing
Speaker:that I have in my offer suite now.
Speaker:, Generally, , if I need a, , a revenue, , input or a little, , top-up,
Speaker:I can do that, but also I can make it available to people in a way that
Speaker:really works for them at the time of year as well, that kind of works.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:interesting.
Speaker:I don't think it sounds like you think that courses are dead per
Speaker:se, but I think the traditional knowledge-based, module-based courses
Speaker:perhaps aren't the appetite, perhaps isn't there as much as it was.
Speaker:I'm sure there is still appetite for it, but I think it's that, that individual
Speaker:perspective, that individual unique experience that you can offer as a coach
Speaker:or as a person delivering the content that people are more interested in
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think , probably for me, one of the biggest things I think with clients
Speaker:that come to me and they have big signature group programs or they're
Speaker:running a group program and it's really great, and they're having people say
Speaker:to them like, "Oh, I can't afford it 'cause it's like higher ticket."
Speaker:They will often then say, " So what I did was I packaged up a DIY version of just
Speaker:the content, and then I offer people that, you know, as a downsell, but hardly anyone
Speaker:buys it." And I always say that's because they're not looking for the knowledge.
Speaker:They're looking to work with you.
Speaker:They're looking for that transformation.
Speaker:I find generally, there's a few outliers, a few clients who've
Speaker:managed to do it very well.
Speaker:But generally, I find if your main thing is the program and then you are selling
Speaker:just the content off the back of it, you will find it very, very hard to do that.
Speaker:You'd be much better creating a intentionally DIY offer with a very
Speaker:specific outcome that allows people to get to a point where they're then
Speaker:ready to come into your bigger program than you are just giving them the
Speaker:knowledge from the bigger program.
Speaker:Does that make sense?
Speaker:knowledge, and this is, straw poll of one, but for me, what I see where
Speaker:knowledge-based courses are still doing well, it's when the knowledge is brand
Speaker:new, where it's something that is super new… the information is out there,
Speaker:but it's really hard to break down, and so you're looking for someone who
Speaker:has already applied the knowledge that you can, still get chunking of it.
Speaker:because sometimes what you need is someone's expertise to say,
Speaker:"Do this first, then do that."
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:Knowledge-only courses can still be attractive to people, but I think
Speaker:it's one of those things where it has to be that thing of the moment,
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:that people are just learning about that you've got a little bit ahead on, that you
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:share that knowledge with them.
Speaker:I
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:of these, yeah, I just think with all of it really, it is just
Speaker:about this personal perspective.
Speaker:That's my view,
Speaker:I always buy person first.
Speaker:, Yeah
Speaker:I wanna know what they know, or I wanna do
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:do, or they seem to be working in a way that would maybe work for me.
Speaker:So I think it's recognizing… I say this with social as
Speaker:well, like what are you liking?
Speaker:If you wanna know
Speaker:social, have a look at , what's stopping you in your tracks?
Speaker:What are you engaging with?
Speaker:I think it's the same, what are you tempted to buy?
Speaker:tempted
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:at the moment?
Speaker:And then sit with it and be like, what was it about it that made me wanna buy it?
Speaker:Is it the person?
Speaker:Is it what they're offering?
Speaker:Is it their income?
Speaker:Like what am I attracted to?" Because then you can apply that
Speaker:to your own as well and see if you can make it work in the same way.
Speaker:yeah, 100%.
Speaker:So yeah, I think should we care?
Speaker:I think we should care that there's a noise about courses and community and,
Speaker:you know, I think we should care about our offer suites, But I don't think we
Speaker:need to buy into the fact that, , all courses are dead, or you have to have
Speaker:a membership now to scale, or that you can only run a course with a community,
Speaker:or you can only not run a course, you know, if it's not got a community.
Speaker:, I think we need to, , just take a look at your audience and take a
Speaker:look at what they're really craving.
Speaker:'Cause I think it, yeah, generally it's, like you say, it's personal perspective,
Speaker:and then it's accountability, and it's them, I think it's actually them feeling
Speaker:confident they're gonna get , the transformation that you're promising.
Speaker:And sometimes that is you giving them confidence they're gonna do it
Speaker:with accountability, and sometimes that's you giving them a community
Speaker:of other people to inspire them.
Speaker:Or it could be, with me, , the three submissions.
Speaker:, It could be that confidence comes from them having a way
Speaker:of getting feedback in some way
Speaker:that we should care about is the transformation.
Speaker:I
Speaker:less
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:what the vehicle for the transformation is, and more about what is the
Speaker:transformation and how can you safeguard that transformation,
Speaker:And then the you should be, the different ways in which you can
Speaker:still offer that transformation,
Speaker:ticket or whether that's lower entry point.
Speaker:as long as you're confident in yourself that you can offer that transformation and
Speaker:the quality will be there, then I think that's the thing that we should, always
Speaker:care about, is the transformation, and let the offer flex and fit around that
Speaker:Yeah, 100% agree.
Speaker:we do.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:we do
Speaker:Course we do.
Speaker:That's our thing.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:oh, that was really good.
Speaker:I really enjoyed talking about all that stuff.
Speaker:as always
Speaker:always, I was trying to get some free coaching here.
Speaker:I was just like,
Speaker:" Yeah,
Speaker:Making,
Speaker:You're welcome
Speaker:notes.
Speaker:but yeah, I think that hopefully loads of the people listening will get that
Speaker:too, where it's got them thinking about maybe additional offers they could put
Speaker:into their suite or ways that they could take something they've already got and
Speaker:reimagine it and, do what you've done with the Superfan Sprint, which is have
Speaker:different iterations of it that might have been putting off 'cause you're
Speaker:thinking now's not the right time.
Speaker:But maybe if you did a shorter version of it or, a one-day version of it,
Speaker:maybe that's such an interesting way to create newness without having
Speaker:to completely reinvent the wheel
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely., And if you do, , let us know.
Speaker:We love to hear when you're listening to the podcast and when you enjoy it,
Speaker:and if you, , take any action from it or change anything, , please do let us know.
Speaker:We absolutely love it.
Speaker:And if you haven't already,, please do go and rate and review because, it
Speaker:does help more people find us, and we really love getting all of your DMs.
Speaker:But, , we would also really like some reviews on, on Apple as well.
Speaker:That would be really great.
Speaker:Thanks so much
Speaker:helpful.
Speaker:And also, I would love to know, and, please feel free to DM us
Speaker:with this, if you've got an offer right now that is just killing it,
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:, What's been really good?
Speaker:'Cause I think that would be so interesting to hear, and maybe us
Speaker:be able to share about, offers that have been really working for people
Speaker:Yeah, we're very happy to give you a shout-out.
Speaker:So yeah, let us know, what's working really well, 'cause I
Speaker:think that's so interesting.
Speaker:And this isn't a conversation we'll just have once.
Speaker:, I have no doubt as we, , we do our own offers, and we go through launches, and we
Speaker:kind of see what's happening and towards the end of the year, , it always shifts.
Speaker:So, yeah, we would love to hear from you.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Have a
Speaker:lovely day, and we will see you next Tuesday