Shownotes
In this episode, Tara gives it to you real and unscripted- how often should you change your tech stack and course platform? Just because there is a new shiny tool that someone is marketing, it doesn't mean you should jump ship- if there is something that isn't working in your tech stack- you don't start with the tool -- are you tempted? Sure- but this episode may give you another perspective. And it may not be what you expect...
About Me:
Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results.
I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business.
Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.
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Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com
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Mentioned in this episode:
https://taralbryan.com/step/15-learn-to-scale-call
Transcripts
Hey everybody, it's Tara Bryan, and you are listening to the
Speaker:course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO,
Speaker:the success of your team and clients is based on your ability
Speaker:to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the
Speaker:fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical
Speaker:real life tips that you can use today to build your online
Speaker:experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you
Speaker:can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding
Speaker:more time or team to your business? If you're looking to
Speaker:uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it
Speaker:to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey,
Speaker:course launchers. Welcome to today's episode. In today's
Speaker:episode, I want to talk about something that I see all of the
Speaker:time. And here's the deal. And maybe this is a little bit of a
Speaker:soapbox moment for me, but I'm gonna say it anyway, is that
Speaker:your tool, your platform, your system for your where your
Speaker:course or your program lives is not the problem. Right? And so I
Speaker:had a client, send me an email yesterday that said, hey, what
Speaker:about this new tool looks really cool. Should I move my stuff to
Speaker:this tool? And I my response was why? Why do you want to move to
Speaker:a new tool? Is it because there's something around the
Speaker:tool that you're using or the platform that you're using?
Speaker:That's not working for you? Is it because there's something
Speaker:that you want to include in your customer experience that the
Speaker:platform that you're using doesn't do? Or is it because one
Speaker:the it's the shiny new object that everybody's talking about?
Speaker:Or is it something that you want to try and fix a gap that you
Speaker:have in one of your goals? Right. So most of the time, this
Speaker:is in sales and marketing, where it's like, changing your
Speaker:platform is not going to sell your course or your program for
Speaker:you, right a platform is is the foundation that allows you to
Speaker:launch and package your program in a way that allows you to
Speaker:serve your people at the highest level and give them an
Speaker:experience where they're able to get your material on demand.
Speaker:They're able to interact with you in different ways. And
Speaker:you're able to build something that can be automated and can be
Speaker:created as an experience. It has nothing to do with the sales,
Speaker:the marketing, the shiny new object, all of the bells and
Speaker:whistles and all of the things now I will say the caveat to
Speaker:this is if you're using 52 million tools, instead of one
Speaker:system that actually helps you to fulfill on your on the
Speaker:promise that you've made your customers, then yes, you're not
Speaker:on the right platform, right, you need to really consider what
Speaker:your needs are and get on the right platform. But if you're on
Speaker:the right platform, and everything is operating, how you
Speaker:want it to from a customer experience perspective, just
Speaker:changing platforms, because somebody's talking about it,
Speaker:it's the new shiny thing, or there's one or two things that
Speaker:it will do it, your system won't do. It's not necessarily a slam
Speaker:dunk in terms of well, you need to change, right. And so one of
Speaker:the things I'm working with my clients on all the time is let's
Speaker:start with the right foundation. Let's start with the platform
Speaker:that makes sense for what your bigger and broader goals are. If
Speaker:you're trying to build a certification program, if you're
Speaker:trying to build a school, right, like a university or Academy
Speaker:where it's more than one course or program, then yes, there's a
Speaker:lot of thought that needs to go into that before you just like
Speaker:willy nilly grab a platform that somebody is selling, right? You
Speaker:need to really think about what you need from a business
Speaker:perspective, in terms of the requirements. That's one of the
Speaker:things that I help people do is like, let's get you on the right
Speaker:platform that makes sense for you. But it's a very strategic
Speaker:conversation. It's not a Oh, somebody sent me an email about
Speaker:a cool new tool. Like, there's got to be a compelling business
Speaker:reason why you would change platforms. So often people who
Speaker:aren't getting traction are focused on that, like, I'm just
Speaker:gonna, you know, add this platform or add this one or
Speaker:change to this one or change to that one, or I'm on 52 million
Speaker:ones because somebody has been talking about them. Anytime
Speaker:somebody's making a buying decision around what they need
Speaker:for their business based on a suggestion from someone else.
Speaker:They're not looking at it from a strategic you know, sort of from
Speaker:an ownership or strategic perspective. So I always help
Speaker:people kind of dial that back. So you're starting with the
Speaker:right foundation, when I recommend a foundation for a
Speaker:customer, it is very, like well thought out, right? It's not,
Speaker:I'm not picking a shiny tool, I'm not picking something that
Speaker:somebody is just has determined that this is the next best tool.
Speaker:So I have, I have another client that I work with who is moving
Speaker:to, to a different platform. And it's a well thought out
Speaker:transition from, you know, sort of the infancy or the beta
Speaker:program of where they were in their business to what they need
Speaker:now, right. And so she came in, she has built an enterprise, an
Speaker:empire, and now the than the needs she have, has, are totally
Speaker:different than when she started, right, she started with one
Speaker:program, and then now it's morphed into something that's,
Speaker:that's broader and bigger. So that is the time to change. It's
Speaker:not like I'm not getting enough sales. So therefore, I'm going
Speaker:to change all of my platforms to get more sales. That doesn't
Speaker:make sense, right? If there's a tool that helps you increase
Speaker:your awareness, or your visibility and your authority in
Speaker:the marketplace, that could be a great enhancement to your, your,
Speaker:your system toolkit. But it's not just like somebody sent an
Speaker:email, and there's a cool new product out there that you want,
Speaker:want to try. I really discourage people from doing that, because
Speaker:what happens then is, that's when you kind of get the
Speaker:disjointed tech stack, that becomes the thing that you're
Speaker:spending all of your time dealing with, instead of
Speaker:actually getting those customers and getting them in the door. So
Speaker:if you have that sort of tendency where you're just,
Speaker:you're like out an app sumo or you're out, you know, paying
Speaker:attention to what everyone's doing in the market, and you
Speaker:want to just grab the new thing, awesome. But do it in a way that
Speaker:serves your business, that doesn't dilute what you're
Speaker:trying to do, or just like, allow you to stay in the swirl.
Speaker:Because that is one of the key indicators of whether or not
Speaker:you're going to be successful is it Are you focused on the right
Speaker:activities at the right time, nine out of 10 times changing
Speaker:your your platform, from one to the other in terms of kind of
Speaker:your core business platform, right. So if you're creating
Speaker:courses, and programs, you have one core platform that's holding
Speaker:all of your assets, if you're just constantly changing that on
Speaker:a regular basis, then you're probably spending time and money
Speaker:and resources that you don't need to be worried about at this
Speaker:moment. If you're ready to scale and you're ready to really dial
Speaker:in that customer experience. And the platform that you have
Speaker:doesn't do what you need it to do, then that's the that's the
Speaker:reason to start moving in a different direction. Or if you
Speaker:feel like your whole thing is like put together with duct tape
Speaker:and paper clips, and you are looking to streamline how you're
Speaker:delivering and fulfilling on your promise, then that's
Speaker:another good good time to start looking at what your systems
Speaker:are, what your tech stack is, and how it will support you. But
Speaker:if your goal is sales, and you want to change your platform,
Speaker:because you think it's going to give you more sales, the two are
Speaker:do not have anything to do with each other, right? Like, if you
Speaker:can't get sales, they're not even getting into your course.
Speaker:And so it doesn't really matter what's in your course yet.
Speaker:Right? What matters is how you're how you're talking about
Speaker:it, how you're how you're able to fulfill on the promise that
Speaker:you is that you are fulfilling on to get them in the door,
Speaker:right, like two different problems you're trying to solve,
Speaker:get customers first, and then worry about what the platform is
Speaker:doing or not doing. And I'm going to tell you in this stage
Speaker:of the game in 2023, most of the platforms are going to do what
Speaker:you need them to do.
Speaker:From a standard sort of mechanics perspective, there are
Speaker:certain requirements that are that my clients sometimes need
Speaker:because of the complexity of their their business or how
Speaker:they're fulfilling on their products and they still want to
Speaker:automate 100% Absolutely. There are specific reasons why you
Speaker:would use one tool over the other. That's what we're experts
Speaker:in helping people do is when they have a complex need,
Speaker:fulfillment need, we help determine the right systems,
Speaker:right but when you're first getting started when you're
Speaker:creating kind of a basic customer experience in terms of
Speaker:your course or program, most of the tools will do what you need
Speaker:need them to do. And so it's just a matter of what your
Speaker:appetite is for, you know, kind of four different components or
Speaker:buckets of what you need in your tech stack. And I'm not going to
Speaker:go through that detail today, if you are one of those people who
Speaker:you want to make sure you're starting in the right
Speaker:foundation, and you may have some complex needs that you want
Speaker:to talk through, just give me a shout. And we'll talk through
Speaker:with kind of what those four pillars are. But in most cases,
Speaker:you're the you know, the rabbit that you're chasing when you're
Speaker:early in your business, is you need to be able to get customers
Speaker:to bring them into your program, once they're in your program,
Speaker:then you can fulfill on that promise, then, you know, as
Speaker:you're helping more and more people, you're dialing things in
Speaker:more and more and more, right, you go from the MVP to the 1.0,
Speaker:to the 2.0. to, to, you know, continuing to to add features
Speaker:and functionality and different things. But starting starting
Speaker:with the wrong foundation, or switching your foundation on a
Speaker:regular basis is just it just like you're just sort of just
Speaker:chasing, chasing your tail. So there you go. That is my sort of
Speaker:rant or soapbox for today is and I'll tell I'll tell you like my
Speaker:response to him was, you know, it's just a platform. And, and
Speaker:it could be a great platform, there could be some super cool
Speaker:things with it. But if you are working with somebody who is a
Speaker:specialist in in the tools and platforms that are out there for
Speaker:courses and programs, they should be able to make any
Speaker:platform work with the right requirements, but you pick out
Speaker:your requirements first, and then you choose a platform or
Speaker:then you customize the platform. You don't just choose any random
Speaker:platform because at this point, they're all sort of, they're all
Speaker:sort of equal in terms of sort of that base experience. And so
Speaker:it's it and so the I know that his objective was to get more
Speaker:customers, and changing platforms is not going to get
Speaker:more customers. So there you go, that is my lesson for you today.
Speaker:I hope that serves you. If you are tempted by the shiny object,
Speaker:like I need to change my whole tech stack, based on new systems
Speaker:that come out, I encourage you to go through the activity of
Speaker:determining what you actually need first, right outside of the
Speaker:tool, and then determine the proper tool for you because
Speaker:there's some awesome tools out there. There are some ways that
Speaker:some operate better than others. But at the end of the day, it
Speaker:needs to match your goals, not the other way around. So there
