Although there are only 8 pages, please know that this will take some time. So please, if possible, set aside at least an hour at a time to work through your next steps until this is complete.
When you finish, you’ll have exactly what you need to begin creating your course or potentially validating the idea with your target audience. Think of the final outcome here as a prototype, one you can take and share with others before you spend the time and money building out your course and selling it to more people.
Let’s begin by doing some simple fill-in-the-blank exercises, starting with the most important one of all:
1 | ONLINE COURSE TARGET AUDIENCE
Who are you going to help? What are their pains and problems? What do they wish was different? How do they want things to be?
2 | ONLINE COURSE TARGET AUDIENCE (REFINED)
Using your previous answer as guidance, describe your target audience now in one clear and concise sentence. Who are you ultimately serving here?
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3 | ONLINE COURSE TRANSFORMATION/PROMISE In a paragraph, describe the promise of your online course. What’s the transformation you’re offering your student, the ultimate outcome that’s on the other end of the course material? Be specific. What will they have that they didn’t before? Read it outloud, and consider how your target audience from above would respond to that.
Using your previous answer as guidance, describe your target audience now in one clear and concise sentence. Who are you ultimately serving here?
5 | FILL IN THE BLANKS BELOW WITH YOUR PREVIOUS ANSWERS TO COMPLETE
My course helps...
Read your answer to #5 out loud. Read it to other people, too, and gauge their reaction. How does it feel? What’s your personal reaction like?
If you can’t get excited about this, how will you get others excited, too? Don’t think you have to be bouncing off the walls though—you’re likely experiencing a little fear at the same time, and that’s okay. But generally, you just need to make sure you’re happy with what this course will do for people, and when you are, move on to the next step where we’re going to begin defining what this course is like and how it’s structured, which will make it even more real, and more exciting!
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Brainstorming Your Online Course Content Before we start, first, let’s transfer your answer from #5 in the previous section here to remind us what we’re doing, and who we’re doing it for:
Below, you’ll find a lot of blank space. This is your space to play. Take any ideas you have in your head about the content that should be in this course, and write them down in no particular order. This is brainstorming, we’ll edit this stuff later.
Go wild. Anything that comes to mind, add it below. Scribble, get nasty, do anything to get that mess out of your brain and onto paper, because it’s only when we can see it, we can deal with it. (note: if you prefer, use Post-It Notes instead (one idea per Post-It Note) and use the room around you to brainstorm even bigger.
BRAINSTORM SPACE
Next, we’re going to want to cross out anything that doesn’t belong. You’ve probably added ideas that just don’t seem to fit in with the rest. If you’re confident it doesn’t belong, scratch it out.
Also, if anything new pops up that should be added, feel free! Write it down.
Finally, let’s begin to create clusters. You can use a numbering or lettering system (A, B, C), or even highlighters or markers to group similar ideas together. These “clusters” become the modules of your course. Don’t worry about getting them in the right order yet, that’ll come next. We just want to see what should be together, so we can organize them and keep our students on similar topics or strategies one at a time.
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Creating Your Course Structure and Outline On the last page, you began organizing the material that will eventually make its way into your course. We have groups, or clusters of content, which is a perfect start. On this page, we’re going to put order to those groups and clusters, and by the end, you’ll have an outline that makes sense, and will be your roadmap to creating your course, too.
In this final exercise, you’ll see a templated area for your course’s modules and lessons. Don’t worry about how you’re going to film your course or what’s inside each lesson at this point. All we want is the right order of information. You know better than anyone what people should start with, and how they should progress through. Likely, all the information is on the previous page, let’s just use the template below to carry things over, and put them in the right order.
Also, real quick, MODULES are like parts, or sections of a book. Lessons are like chapters within that book. Typically, each module has multiple lessons. How many you ask? However many you need to help people through that part of the course.
Here’s an example:
Module: Planning Your Podcast
Lesson 1: Podcasting Equipment Lesson 2: Podcasting Software Lesson 3: Your Podcast Show Name and Description Lesson 4: Your Podcast Cover Artwork Lesson 5: What You Should Podcast About Lesson 6: Is an Interview Show Right For You? Etc.
As you can see by this example, this Module has to do with all the pre-planning aspects of a podcast, while the lessons get into separate specifics about that.
How many modules might you need? Again, there’s no right answer here—it all depends on the course content you have for your specific audience, and what exactly you’ll be teaching. Some courses I’ve taken were only 3 modules with a couple lessons in each (short, but highly valuable and convenient), while others are on the longer end (12 modules, multiple lessons each, very thorough). There’s no wrong answer, SO LONG AS YOU CAN HELP YOUR TARGET MARKET ACHIEVE WHAT YOU’RE PROMISING. That’s the most important part.
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Now let’s fill out your course structure. I filled out the first module for you as a guide / sample. You’re welcome to use it if you wish.
Module or Lesson Name
Module 1 Welcome Students!
Lesson 01 Introduction to Name of Course Lesson 02 How to Best Plan and Work Through the Course Lesson 03 Additional Housekeeping Items (Facebook Group and more)
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Module or Lesson Name
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Congrats! By this point, you should have an outline for your course already finished! Or at least the first draft of it. This isn’t set in stone, of course, and over time you’ll find more to add to it, and realize some of it should be removed.
Well done though! You’re already progressing more than most people who decide they want to start an online course.
Please look out for more information via email to help you further along on your online course journey, and be sure to subscribe to the Smart Passive Income Podcast on your favorite podcast app, because we talk a lot about online courses to help people like you!
Cheers, well done, and I hope to chat with you soon!
