Imagine you're embarking on a long-distance hike in an unfamiliar wilderness. Your goal is to reach a beautiful mountaintop that offers breathtaking views.

Along the way, you come across a signpost with clear markers indicating the path and distance to your destination. You follow these markers, one by one, step by step, knowing that each one brings you closer to your ultimate goal.

In this analogy, the signposts represent the clear action steps provided in a course. Just like the hiker, learners need these markers to guide their progress and ensure they stay on track toward transformation.

Join me with guest, Sarah Shoop, to explore the 3 essential ingredients your online course needs to power-up and ensure your students take action and get the ultimate transformation.

Don’t Miss Inside This Episode:

• Discover the secret ingredients for transforming your courses into action-driven experiences that leave a lasting impact on your learners. Dive into the 3 essential elements expert trainer Sarah Shoop swears by.
• Ever wondered why some courses fizzle out while others inspire meaningful change? Sarah Shoop shares her game-changing techniques to keep your audience engaged, motivated, and eager for more.
• Learn why less is more with online learning. And how you can actually add more into your course without overwhelming your students.
• Discover how to tap into different learning styles for all learners to achieve the highest possible rate In helping your students achieve the transformation you promise.

Links and products mentioned in today's episode:

Download the Checklist for Course Engagement to gain access to the tool that will empower you to take your courses to the next level. Get ready to supercharge your skills, captivate your learners, and embark on a thrilling journey of growth and success.

About Sarah Shoop (Bio)

Meet Sarah Shoop, an education enthusiast who is passionate about creating captivating lessons. With an impressive 20-plus years of teaching and corporate training experience under her belt, she's perfected the art of simplifying complex ideas while supporting coaches in creating online courses that bring transformations to their clients.

As a seasoned course designer, Sarah is all about crafting informative and entertaining content that truly comes to life. She loves incorporating interactive and engaging elements into her courses, ensuring that the material stays etched in the minds of your clients. Sarah has an in-depth knowledge of learning theories and effective instruction principles, allowing her to create courses that guide students toward achieving their goals.

Sarah's Website

SarahShoop.com

Connect With Sarah on Social

Sarah is not on social media. The best place to connect with her is through her website. She personally answers all emails through her contact page.

About Your Host

Melissa Brown, MD - Coach, Author, Speaker, Teacher, and Podcast Host.

After leaving medical practice in 2009, Melissa discovered the online world and never looked back! After coach certification, she began a healthy lifestyle coaching practice online and quickly fell in love with blogging, writing, and content marketing.

Melissa believes that coaches have the power to change the world. Unfortunately, too many coaches get discouraged by the amount of content they need to create for marketing their business and this can lead to overwhelm and giving up on their dreams. There's such a ripple effect when a dream dies, so Melissa is on a mission to help coaches and solopreneurs overcome the overwhelm when it comes to content creation so they keep those dreams alive.

Your content can impact massive amounts of people and positively change the world. You've got content in there inside you; let's get it out into the world.

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Thanks so much for listening to this podcast. It means the world to me to have you here on this journey! If you got value from this episode, please share it on social media, and recommend it to your business besties.

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We wanna give them everything because we're giving people, and we wanna just

here's everything I know. But on the receiving end of that, it's

too much your course or offering doesn't have to be

the end all be all. You can have another level. You

can keep building on it. So

don't give them everything in the beginning. Just let them take

baby steps as they go through. Just

pair it down to the essential things that they need to

know to make that change.

Hello there content creators. You're listening to the She's got

content podcast. It's all about creating content for

your coaching business. I'm your host, Doctor

Melissa Brown, and I'm here every week to help you get your content

out of your head, out of your heart, and out there into the

world, where that information and your services can

impact the most people. Get ready to take notes

today and then take action content creators. Let's dive

in with today's episode because you've got content to get

out there. Hey, and welcome back to this week's episode. I'm your

host, Melissa Brown. My guest today has an impressive

resume with more than 20 years of teaching and corporate

training experience. She's now helping coaches and online course

creators with her ninja skills by helping them simplify

complex ideas and concepts so their online courses

bring needed transformations to their clients. I

recently attended a class that Sarah Shoop taught about how to

get better engagement with your online students.

Sarah really knows her stuff and she's going to share with us today about how

to power up your online course. Welcome, Sarah.

Hi! So excited to be here.

Oh, awesome. Awesome. Well, I just really

got so much out of that course that you taught recently. And -- Oh,

it's so good. Yeah. It's just great information, and

I am excited about what you're gonna be sharing with us today. But

before we get started, I wanna know how

did you get started? How did you get all of this

started in your teaching training career? I would go back

to let's say 1st grade. I knew instantly,

I wanted to be a teacher. There are a lot of teachers in my family.

I swear it's in my DNA. all through

school, I was going to be a teacher. I never gave it a second

thought. My sister, on the other hand, wanted to be the

1st nun in space, like she wanted everything in all

weird combinations, I was always going to be a teacher. I went

to college, got a degree,

and for some reason didn't get into a classroom

ended up working at a company that does training with students

of all different levels. did that for quite a

few years and then wanted to have something different in my

life. So I wanted to travel. started doing corporate

training, and I've been with the same company

for 16 years now, And

I've done everything under the sun with training, whether it's live

training, I create courses now, I've done everything. I've come at

it from every angle. And I've always wanted to

have my own business and do coaching I'm the person that everybody

comes to with all of their problems. I knew it was something that would

be my next step, and I know a lot

about training, and I understand, especially adults,

how they do things differently. And you can be in

a classroom of twenty people and there's going to be

20 different ways that they hear you and that they need to be able to

process and there are so many

amazing coaches out there that have these brilliant

ideas, processes, things that can change

people's lives, and they just

maybe don't have the right way to present it so that

transformation happens. So that has become

my soapbox that I get on, and I want them to get that message out.

So I wanna help them be able to do that. And so that's how I've

ended up here doing this. What you

provide is so needed. You're right. There are

many, many online course creators, be they

coaches, be they some type of creative. They've

got the knowledge in there, but they -- Yes. Maybe difficult to

tap into it to actually get that transformation from the people

that they want to get the transformations from. It's so

needed. We all have our skills. Their skill is in that knowledge

and not necessarily knowing how to get that out. So I

wanna be able to help them do that because I have well, I've taken

many courses through the years, and some of them have been

really powerful and really amazing, and some I can see

have the potential, the knowledge is there,

It's just not coming through. I think there are a lot of people that have

these one on one sessions, and what they do is so

great And just that translation into a course that anybody

could pick up and run with, it's just not there, and it's hard

to do that. Yeah. That's a really, really good point

because oftentimes coaches may see,

oh, there's only so many hours in the day that I can do this

one on one coaching. So they're thinking about the

courses, but that the brilliance is really in that one on one,

and -- Mhmm. -- the transformation comes with that one on 1. There are

ways to do it. Oh, sure. Tap into that.

And that's sounds like it's one of your ninja skills.

Yes. And I see that a lot in our

communities where people are they know they

wanna level up. They know they're ready to take that big step, and everybody's

pushing them towards that. So you can kind of make money in your

sleep. How many times do we hear that phrase? Oh, yeah. But that transition

is challenging, and the focus is on your email

funnels and your marketing and social and

the sales page that has everything everyone wants. And

then people actually get into the course and the effort

isn't made there to have that transformation actually

happen. So people are left kind of like, oh,

I don't know if I got out of it what I want. Mhmm.

And instead, what we want to do is make them just those

raving fans where they are telling everybody. Oh,

you have to take this course. You have to do this. You have to follow

this person and let them

be your voice out there in the world and bring people to you

and wanna refer and do testimonials and

what else do you have? I just want it all. That's what I think everybody

wants to get to. And having a great sales page is fine.

Having a great email funnels, great. But if your

content isn't landing, then you're gonna

not get that big -- True. -- impact at the end.

Let's unpack. There's a few things here. Yes. We've got the

oh my gosh. I'm overwhelmed with the fire hose.

Mhmm. Which some people think they've gotta put more in to

create a better experience for their client, their student.

And then you've got others who it's hard to get

the student to engage with the material.

Maybe it's over their head . . well, there may be a whole bunch of

different reasons for that. Well, today, we're gonna talk about

powering up your course with three essential ingredients for action and

transformation because you want your student to take action.

You want them to get the transformation. You want them to get results.

and a fire hose is not the way to do it. Exactly.

Don't keep throwing more stuff into that course. There's a way to do

this. actually less is more. So

I'm just gonna let you start teaching because that's

what you do best. So tell us about these 3 essential

ingredients. Well, you're right when you say

they have to take action in order to really

get what they need out of it. But that action is different

depending on what your course is or what your program is or what

your offer, whatever it is you're putting out there, if

you're just doing information sharing, so

you have this bit of knowledge, you feel like, oh, there's no action they need

to take. There actually is because you want them to go

to the next level. Right? So you want them to take the

next steps to learn more and to figure out more. So give

them a way to learn more

when they get excited, like, oh, this is really interesting. You

wanna keep pulling them in. Come on. Let's keep going. Let's get deeper. Let's get

deeper. And when you're doing something like a specific

skill, for instance, I did a training with

Google forms and using that for surveys, So I

had a step by step guide. Here's how you're going to do it

because I can share that information. But unless you actually turn

around and do it, you're not really learning. It's just

knowledge in and knowledge out. And unless you actually

take that action. Do it yourself. It's

not really going to stick and you're not gonna use it. Can I

just interrupt you for one minute? You just reminded me of something. My

background is in medicine. And in medical school and

residency, We had this thing where we

said, see 1, do 1, teach 1 -

Oh, I like that. for

procedures. So you would see somebody draw blood

on a human being. You would have to do it

next and then you got to turn around and teach someone how to do

it. So you could read all the books about how to

draw blood. You could watch somebody do it. But

until you actually did it, then

that's where the learning comes in. You're right. And then it's

further solidified. It's further

helped by teaching someone else how to do it. Absolutely.

Because you have to be able to process it differently in your brain --

Mhmm. -- to be able to -- explain it and get it back out.

So if I'm doing an activity, that's one

part of your brain that's actually functioning with that. to be

able to explain it. Well, now you gotta get a whole another part of your

brain, and then it really does solidify. And I love that. And that's why

I'm not a doctor because I wouldn't wanna do the blood. But

other than that, I love that concept. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think

that goes with if you're doing a mindset change or you're trying to

get people to transform their lives,

it feels like, well, then they just have to journal or just think about

it. No they actually have to do something. So they

have to be able to if it is journaling,

have something where they can maybe be held accountable for that. Now

I'm not saying have them send you all their journals, but

have some way that they can have checkpoints of,

I'm actually doing this, hold them accountable in

some way so that you know that they're actually taking those

actions instead of just putting it out there and hoping

that what you said actually gets into their head and they actually

do something with it.

Yes. Mindset shifts especially. Yeah. If you could be reading about it, you might be

meditating on it, but this piece of accountability is

really, I think, important. Having checklist and and checking off things is also really

key.

Yeah. And you like to use the healthy eating example. I

know exactly what I should be eating. Mhmm. And I know

exactly how to be healthy. I know that. Do I actually do

it? No. So I don't have that

accountability to myself or to if I was in a program

I would want the guidance and the help and the

support, especially with mind shifting and habits and

things like that. They need support. and and ways to

do that. So you have to think about if you're building a course that's not

one on 1, how do you do that

if you have lots of people, if it's an evergreen

course where people are just coming in and out all the time,

how do you build that into your course so

that it supports people the same way you

would support them one on 1? And a lot of

it, you can automate and do different things. I

was doing the training with the surveys and having just

a way for them to be able to reach out and have a

connection that doesn't put the pressure on you as

the course creator because we do want your businesses to

grow. We do want you to be reaching more people

and still giving the same impact and that

growing and scaling is challenging.

If you're the coach who's looking. to scale your business by having

an evergreen course, you don't wanna be working all

the time, almost doing one on one coaching via email,

with people, but you wanna wait for people to be able

to reach out to you, to ask you questions, to help

get unstuck, for instance, the surveys

or forms is probably a good way

to do that. Right. We were

gonna talk about there are three ways that-- Well, there's more

than 3 ways. Well, let's talk about 3 of them where

you can help them take action. So it's not

always saying do this, but there are ways that you

can create your course to guide them to that. So

the first thing I would say is to have clear action

steps. They need to walk into that course

knowing exactly what is expected exactly what's

gonna happen when they are done. You mentioned this

earlier that fire hose. We, as creators,

have so many ideas. We have tried different things. We know a

lot. We wanna give them everything. because we're giving people, and we

wanna just here's everything I know. But

on the receiving end of that, it's too much I can't

process all of that. I can't make all of those changes.

And if you think about as you're building

your business, and you start getting into

bundles and groups and now you're just bombarded. Your

email is overflowing with different ideas and different things and you just,

I can't handle it. That's what your clients are thinking.

That's what your customers think. when they get into your course and then

they go, oh, I can't. So I'm not. And they

never open that course again. They never come back because it's too

stressful. It's too overwhelming. So if you make it

clear and then I would suggest

go through- write a big list. Everything that you wanna say.

And then just keep pulling out ideas

that Well, you know what? That could be a quick little these

$9 things are very popular now. These $9 offers. Pull it

out. Make it a little offer. pull this little chunk

out. Make it something - a freebie. Pull this out and

give people a taste of what you're doing without blowing

their minds with all of these great ideas and just pare it down

to the essential things that they need to know to

make that change. Your course, your offering doesn't

have to be the end all be all. You can have another

level. You can keep building on it. So

don't give them everything in the beginning. Just let them take

baby steps as they go through.

Can I interrupt here for a sec? Sure. This is great stuff, by the

way. This is great because clear action steps, knowing what your

results are, pulling out those things that

may be good, but aren't essential. I think these are this

is great. And having different levels, so you can get people into,

I call it the vortex, into the vortex of your world.

So course creators, should be thinking about

solving one problem. Yes. One problem

with their course. Is that correct? Should

we start there? That's like the bottom line is this is

the problem that I'm solving in this course.

Yes. And if you look through if you have your

list of things that you want to include, go through and say,

does this directly affect that one thing? Oh,

that's a good question. Okay. Because I think some of

us may think, well, yeah, that's kind of related.

And so I wanna include it. Oh, that's really important. Oh, I love this part.

I really want them to know this. Have that be a

bonus. Have that be something else that they can do. Have

it be a pre-step or a post-step or whatever,

but keep focused on that one thing because

the other part of this, these clear action steps is that you're

gonna have to repeat yourself. People hear

it once. Okay. They need to hear it

twice. They need to hear it three times, and they need to hear it in

different ways. So if you realize that you are going to

be repeating, the size of your

course now really expands. So if you're trying to do twenty

steps, It's too much. Too much.

Mhmm. Back it up. And thinking of that one thing that you wanna

teach them, and if you have 20 things you

wanna teach, then they have 20 different courses.

Do something. Spread it out. Let them pick and

choose what's relevant for them and what

isn't because maybe they feel really confident in one area.

then they don't need to do that. Let's focus in on the one thing

they wanna solve right now. And that

creates your course vortex. Your whole -- Exactly. --

vortex with all of these different places where people can come in

and stay in inside your world and learn from you. And you're

right. They can self-select. They can decide, I wanna learn

a and b. not so much c, d e,

and f. Yes. So that helps them self-select as

well because it's all kind of broken down. Mhmm.

And I think if you put all of that in one course, what tends to

happen is people are like, oh, yeah. I'm learning. And then they get to the

point where they're like, yeah. I know this. And that's when they just

drop off and they kind of give themselves an out like, okay. Well, I

must know everything, and they don't go past that point.

They just drop out. You don't want them to drop out. You want them

to stay in and get through it, especially when

we're talking about mind shift and transformational kind of courses,

they need to go through the whole thing. So give them

realistic goals in order to be able to do that. Nice. Okay. And

then the second thing I would say as you're going

through it, you need examples

and stories so that they can relate to

those ideas. We do well

hearing it from someone else's perspective. And I think a lot

of people are great. I know this for myself.

I'm great at solving everybody else's problems and seeing what's

wrong. Not so great when I look at myself. So

if you can get them to see somebody else

going through that same mind

shift change or trying to create

that habit, transform something in their

life, if they can see it through somebody else's eyes,

it's easier for them to realize, oh, yeah. I do that.

Oh, yeah. That's me. and then they can connect to something

rather than connecting to just words on a screen

or you telling them this is what you should do.

We're humans. We wanna connect with other people. Give

them a person to connect to even if it's

a made up person, and it's a story that yeah. Like,

right. Yes. And then they can

really connect to that story. They can

learn from that. Now they get it. Now, okay.

I see what we need to do. I'm not alone. I'm not the only one

who's feeling this way, then they can really

make some big changes. example, stories,

case studies of some of the coaches' experiences,

helping people through this transformation. Lot of

times newer coaches who are creating courses or what have you

may not have as many case studies to be able to pull from, but there

are composites And you can also use yourself. You don't have to say

this was me, but you could. Right? So -- Or family, friends,

people, you got to where you're at because you experienced

it with other people, even if they didn't pay you

to to help them.

Okay. And I think metaphors are also a good way to

relate something that might be a little too up in the

air, bring it down into reality with a metaphor or

some other type of story so they can get it, like,

Oh, I understand what you're saying. And that's why

I say also you have to repeat things because that one story they

may not connect to, but something else they may. And

some people do really well with visuals. Some

people do really well when they hear it, and some people, it

depends on what day it is, what they connect to. So you

have to give them different opportunities. Right. Yeah.

I know that for me, there are some days where do not make me watch

a video. I just wanna read it. I can't hear. I

don't wanna hear anybody. and other times where I just I don't

wanna read. Just tell me. Let me listen to something, and you have

to be able to give them options with that. Yeah. The different

learning styles doesn't have to be individuals

who have different learning styles. It could be the same person on

a different day who needs to hear something in a different

way. And going back to these metaphors, This is

something that I've just discovered that chat GPT and these AI

sites, you can put your content in

there and they can give you metaphors or

analogies or parables, which will help reinforce

that learning and This has just blown my mind because I don't

think that quickly about, well,

which one of Aesop's fables does this lessen here that I'm trying

to teach resembled, but the chat GPT or

any of those AI spinners can actually come up with it so

fast. It just that blows my mind. And that's a good

way to think about it as well. You know

what you know. That's why you're teaching it. You have to have different ways

to explain it, and maybe you don't know those stories. You haven't heard it

that way. And to hear somebody, even if it's an

AI, put a different spin on it opens you

up to, oh, I didn't think of it that way. And

then the person that can connect to it actually

is able to hear that because you can add that in, and you can

add that as another layer to what you're already teaching

them. True. Yeah. Artificial intelligence is

just opening up so many doors. Oh, I know. I can't

believe it's only been. I mean, really what, like, 6 months or something

that we've been in this little world, and it's

amazing. Yeah. Well,

we don't need to fear it. Right. Not

yet. Okay. So we've got the clear action steps.

We've got examples and stories or

telling things in a different way. because you need to be repetitive.

Mhmm. That was number 2? Yes. That's number 2. And

then number 3 whatever opportunities

you can create, and this is gonna differ depending on what your topic

is, ways that they can reflect

and do a self-assessment. Typically, we're not training

anything where you need to give them a test and they get a score.

That's not what we're doing here. But they

do need to have an opportunity to reflect on

where am I at in this process. What have

I learned? What do I still need to work on?

and if you can add something at the beginning

of your course to give them to realize this is

where I'm at right now. Not where I wanna

be. That's why I bought the course. That's why I'm in this program, but

have them have a point that they can go back to say

oh, I really did learn something because with

all of our memories, every time you remember something, it changes

because we have all of this knowledge that has happened and that hindsight

is 2020. If we don't have that point where we can

look back to we think, oh, I you know what? I don't know if I

got anything out of that when in fact we have.

So have something in the beginning of your course to just give them a

chance to reflect, do a little self-assessment. Here's where you're at.

No judgment. Just right now, here's where you're at.

Yeah. That's what I'm gonna ask. So self assessments are good,

like, right from the beginning. Let's take this self assessment as we all get

started And then at some point during the course

or at the end, and certainly at the end of the course to -- Mhmm.

-- compare where you were at the beginning and where you are now --

Right. -- as the student. Could be journal

questions that they fill out. They don't need to turn it in. They need to

hold on to that. or even just a scale here at 1

through 5. How are you feeling about this? Have

several of those don't overwhelm them with a whole bunch of things. This

isn't a personality test. Mhmm. It's just here where are you

at? And have those absolutely link up to those

action items that you are going to do in your course, have

that directly tie into what you're

about to teach them So create yourself

assessment, your reflection points

after you finished your course. So you know exactly where you

want them to be at the end, have them

have a reality check-in the beginning of here I am. This

is Again, no judgment. This is just where I'm at right now.

Then you're right. As you go through, you could have little checkpoints and

especially if you have a really long program, you wanna have little checkpoints

in there so they don't get disillusioned. Like, I'm not getting anywhere in

this. Have them realize why I am making some progress.

I am feeling better. I have started doing this habit

that I really wanted to do. or have those moments of,

you know what? I need to recommit because I'm not where I

want it to be. Right. And then absolutely at the

end, do that as well so they can really see growth

has happened. About 3 years ago, I bought this

course where it's run

live twice a year. And after the

first time when I only got through part of it,

but that was -- As we all do. Well, but that was okay because the

teacher was all about listen. Not everybody's gonna

finish this one the first time around. You have access to

this forever. its lifetime access. If you

wanna go through this with me again live, there

was an option there was another option to do a

lifetime deal. And every time it's

run, you can go through it with her. I bought that lifetime deal because I

just love the material, and I knew it was something I was gonna continue to

go back to again and again and again. And what I've

loved is that she actually at the end of each module

will have a little self assessment, that little survey that you go

take it And she started to see that people were getting stuck

at one point, and then she modified it

and actually redid some of the material at that

point, which has been so much better. That's a good point

because the reflection isn't just for your people

going through the course, it is also for you. So if you can have it

in a way that, again, depending on the topic isn't

too intrusive into their own personal lives, but a

way for them to share with you. This is what I'm feeling. This

is where I'm at. and then see that

as you go through, you're right. That's where you're gonna find the stuck

points. You can't always see depending on what your course

platform is, you can't always see where they stop

in a course or what they get through. So you need a little checkpoint

that takes it out of that platform and gives it

to you so you know, wow. I get all of these and

then I get nothing. they're all stopping here.

What what is happening here? Is the

content too challenging? Do I need to change it up? Do

I need to spread it out? What is it? And then

ask them. They're in the course. They

want to get help. Right? They pay for it.

Let's give them some help. So have a place where they can kind of raise

their hand and say, Yeah. I'm stuck. I don't know where

to go. And a lot of us don't have big communities

with sites that people are chatting back and forth or

Facebook group, where do people go to ask

questions? They're probably not gonna email you because I

think a lot of people feel like, they're not gonna read my email or

somebody else will get it or I'm not even gonna bother. That's a good

point. A lot of times, we put these people who create the courses on a

pedestal, then we think, well, they're off creating a new one someplace, and they don't

wanna hear from me. But we, as the

course creators, really want our students to succeed. We

want them to get this transformation. That's

probably a faulty thinking on the part of the student, but you're right.

Giving the student plenty of opportunities in places and ways

to interact with the course creator is the best way to do

it. Make it easy for them to reach out and say, I'm stuck. I

need help. What about this? I'm confused. Right.

Right. And have it be easy for them

and set boundaries. People will take advantage of

an opportunity to reach out. You're not giving away free therapy

or counseling or whatever. We're coaching. Right.

Set your boundaries. but give them a chance to

have a connection. because the other thing, especially when you're growing your

business, those connections are critical

because those are the people who are going to spread the word of

how amazing you are and how amazing what you do is.

You need them to feel connected. You're not buying

something from Amazon, who's this big

corporation that we don't even wanna deal with, you're a

person. Show them that you're a person. And I think we do a good

job of that in talking about our emails and making it

personal and showing that you're just like them and you're struggling what

you've gone through and in a course, then it

becomes separate in some ways. Give them a

chance to reach out, especially if you don't have that

community that they could talk to other people.

And that's okay to not have a community. especially

when you're first starting, give them a chance though to communicate

at least with you. Yeah. These connections, I think,

are really important. the, I guess, traditional

phrase, especially when you're trying to woo

people into your community, whether they've bought something or not,

the traditional phrase is the know like and trust factor.

And we often think of that as we're in the

selling phase, And then I like to think of the

3 r's after that. You want people to remember you. You want them

to rave about you, and you want them to refer and, be

your biggest bell ringers for what you're selling because

they got that transformation. So making those connections helps to

increase that 3 r factor. sure. Absolutely.

Yeah. And I think that gets lost a lot in

especially in our circles. that we forget about. We're

so excited to create,

and we just put it out there, and then we're on to the next

thing, and we just forget about what's already out there. And this is an

opportunity to go back to what you've already created.

take a fresh look at it, maybe go through, add

some different action items that they can do, add some surveys

in the middle, add in some stories. Break it up a

little bit more. Please don't have courses where there's an

hour-long video for them to watch. great

point. Just break it up because we're all

busy. We all are doing many things at the same

time and know that the people watching your content

are not like, I'm gonna sit down for 3 hours and go through

this course. They don't no one has 3 hours to do

anything. They have 15 minutes. I got 15 minutes before

the laundry is done, and then I have to Get the kids up or I

have to put them to bed or whatever. Oh, this is so true. And

that doesn't just apply to the videos where somebody's sitting and watching.

There's a lot of these private podcasts or -- Yeah. --

teaching through an audio course. And

one of them that I got access to had

at the most, it was 10 minutes, and it was perfect. Little

snippets. And it flowed. You didn't jump

around, but once you could say, okay. I got 10 minutes,

or I'm gonna go take a walk, and I'll listen to 2 or 3 of

them. It was great. So, yes, these really small

little snippets of a concept or

something. I -- Right. And especially -- -- your audio.

Yeah. Especially when you have to then process

that. Uh-huh. So if I'm listening to an hour long

thing, all of the stuff from the beginning, I have forgotten. I don't remember

that. So I'm losing out on chances to actually

grow and learn, but if you give me 10 little minutes or

15 or whatever, but one little concept

that I can then sit back and think about. And maybe you

give me an actual question at the

end. to write down or think about or just

then when I'm washing dishes or, taking the dog for a

walk or whatever, I'm thinking about that. I'm processing that

and then give me an opportunity to repeat it back or relearn it

in a different way. and memorize it. -- on that now. Yes.

Yes. Yeah. So if we go back and just think through these

three things, and, again, lots of other things you can do as well. But

If you have clear action steps, keep in mind, you

are very excited about all that you know, but you don't wanna

overwhelm people. make it clear and simple.

trim it out. trim it out. You can always add things to

your resources don't overwhelm them,

giving them a chance to leave. And I love what you said before about

you can maybe take that and put it in as a bonus. Right.

They can access that still, but it's not part

of the course. Right. And you'll have people who want

more now there is more for them to do. Mhmm. And you

can even add bonuses, especially if you're doing a live course

or program. Add it in at the end,

because you're seeing things as you go through, just add things at the

end. You don't need to tell them upfront. Say, I've got more for you. Here

you go. and then they're, oh, I'm really excited and I can

go back through. And along with that, add

examples, add stories, add metaphors,

bring those concepts to life, and make it

relatable for them. Make them be able to connect

to whatever it is that you're trying to teach. Help them feel

that they're not alone. They know others have gone through this.

They can really see through someone else's eyes, the

change that they wanna make. Give them those opportunities

and do that. Explain what it is. Give them the

story. Explain it again. multiple

times, have them hear things and hear it in different ways

with different words, different ideas

so that one of those is gonna click and then give them

those opportunities to reflect and to self

assess. Have something in the beginning, have things

throughout, definitely have something at least at the end

where they can realize, Oh, I have grown.

I have made changes. We are not great at

doing that on our own and saying, Oh, I've really grown in the

last week, or I've really progressed. We always see the negative

for, like, oh, I'm still in the same place I was. You need to

be able to have that opportunity to say, no. You know what?

I really did grow. Those moments for me are the moments

I journal occasionally. I'm not great at it. But when I

go back and read things and I'm like, oh my goodness. That's what I was

thinking, like, a month ago. how much I've grown and

changed, and I wouldn't get those moments if I couldn't look back

at that time exactly what I was thinking.

I call those when we focus on the negative, I call those the

ants, the automatic negative thoughts because that's really where,

unfortunately, most of us live in the a n t s's,

the ants -- Mhmm. -- automatic negative thoughts. Having those

journal pages or a survey or a checklist

or a a note that you took where someone asked you a question and you

gave a rating, a numbered rating, and then you look back 2

months later, and that number has changed, then you

see the progress that you've made. And it's

positive. Hopefully. Yes. It's positive progress.

And if not, then you can assess that and say, alright. Well, I guess I

need to do something different. Right. And if

you're teaching, I mean, we've been talking a lot about, like, mind shift things,

but if you're teaching an actual skill

of, okay, how do you create a

email funnel? Each step that they take, have

them put it in a spot or somehow acknowledge I've

done this. Slowly move them through the steps so that at the

end, they can look back and go Oh, yeah. Look at all

that I've really created. Give them that chance to reflect

on, I did do a lot of things. I did

build this or create whatever and give them

a chance to feel really proud for what they have done And that

means they're gonna be very excited for what you did for them, and

that's when you get the referrals and the people who wanna just sing your

praises because they can see it. Right.

Like the checklist. If there's a checklist, step 1, they did that

2, 3, 4, or if it you've got a series of videos, could even

have a checklist for the series of videos that they see. Wow. Look at all

this. I've done. And praise them as they go through it.

Have some way that you can add some fun into what

you're doing, assuming the content is appropriate for

that, but some way that have a funny gif in the middle of

it. If for this part of the course, it's just a fun

cat video or something to make them feel I can do this.

This isn't so serious. I can make my way through it.

Send them email even if it's just an

automatic email that goes out. Just say, keep going. I got your back.

What do you need? Just encourage them to keep moving forward.

Sarah, this is such valuable information. I am so

glad that you shared this with everyone. And I know that you've got

something else up your sleeve for everyone here. So

tell us about this checklist for course engagement that you're making

available for people. How do we get it? So

there'll be a link, and I have it on my site. And my focus

has really been engaging in courses. And so what

this checklist is going to do is let you take a step

back and go through and see. Am I

doing this? Is there a chance for me to step in and

maybe tweak some things a little bit and add

in. And then take a moment and praise yourself. You know what? I

already do this really well because I'm sure that there are things that you

are doing very well. And then the things that like,

you know what? I know I should do that, and I'm guilty of this as

well. I know I need to do that. Give yourself the time then

to actually go through and take action on the checklist

and actually make some changes in what you already have out there. And

then when you make your next thing, Have that kind of to the site as

a little reminder of what you need to include. Awesome. We will

have that link in the show notes. So

you don't have to remember anything if you're listening. Right. Right now,

you can just go to the show notes and get that. Tell us your website

Sarah, and what social media platform do you hang out

most? I am at sarahshoop.com,

s h o o p. very easy to remember, and you can

absolutely sing the song because that's what people do.

And I'm actually not on social media. I have backed off personally from

it. And I am really doing a lot of, well,

podcasts and bundles and things to get my information out, but the

website is the best place to find me. And there's a

contact page, and I absolutely it's just me. I

read every email. I will respond to anything, so I

would love to hear from people. Beautiful.

Okay. So it's sarahshoop.com.

And, again, I'll put in the show notes how people can get ahold

of checklist for course engagement. So we'll have that in the show

notes. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. This has been great, and

I really look forward to getting my copy of that. checklist

and going through that myself. So Thank you so much for

having me. This was so much fun. I could talk all day about this. And

I could talk to you about this all day. Alright. We may have to have

you come back on a different subject. Alright. Sounds good.

Thanks a lot. And thank you all listeners for tuning in again to

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