Should You Launch Your Own Online Course? Find out in this conversation with Amy Porterfield
Are you tired of sprinting on the old-time-for-money treadmill? What if I said you could do with the information … what Henry Ford did with cars?
Amy Porterfield — the host of Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast — and I talked about her Digital Course Academy and how she used 
it to generate an 8 figure business over 10 years. She wasn’t an overnight success … to me that’s a myth.
No get-rich-quick schemes here.
Far from it.
I’m telling you it takes work and focus. But it can be done.
The internet has created an opportunity that never existed before. You can ‘inventorize’ your knowledge in the form of information products.
If you’re considering launching your own digital course then this conversation is a MUST.
I LOVE helping heart-centered business owners grow their businesses profitably. I’d LOVE to help you too.
I’ve partnered with my friend, Amy Porterfield, on an amazing initiative. It’ll enable you to share your skills and knowledge with anyone in the world …. and get paid for it
Introducing…. The Digital Course Academy!
How much does Digital Course Academy Cost
Approximately $2K USD
The Digital Course Masterclass > JOIN NOW
Click here to check out these testimonials from people who have achieved success by doing the work, and have created and launched their online courses using Amy’s Digital Course Academy
Links Mentioned:
- www.productiveinsights.com/subscribe/
- www.AmyPorterfield.com
- www.GetMeToDone.com
- www.Productiveinsights.com
- www.YouTube.com/ProductiveInsights
Audio Books Mentioned:
Related Episodes:
- 175. James Clear On Atomic Habits: An Easy Way To Build Good Habits And Break Bad One
- 145. Amy Porterfield Video Strategies
- 200. Seth Godin On Marketing — With Ash Roy
- 170. Ryan Deiss From Digital Marketer Reveals The 5-Step Conversion Funnel That Turbo-Charges Your Business Growth
- 075. Joe Pulizzi — Founder of Content Marketing Institute — Does Your Content Fit Into Your Buyer’s Journey?
Ash Roy and Amy Porterfield Video Transcript (This transcript has been auto-generated. Artificial Intelligence is still in the process of perfecting itself. There may be some errors in transcription):
Amy Porterfield (00:00):
They wanted more lifestyle freedom, and financial freedom. I wanted to create when I wanted to create, what I wanted to create and how I wanted to create it. 88% of my revenue comes from just two digital courses. And so I really do believe in the power and the freedom that Digital Courses give you.
Ash Roy (00:18):
You’re not going to just be able to go and get results. It takes time, it takes consistent effort and the results will come, but you’ve got to keep working at it. Welcome back to the Productive Insights podcast. This is episode 201, and I’m delighted to have you back today. I am featuring one of my favorite guests, Amy Porterfield. I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but she is one of my favorites. And we spoke last year in episode 145. Now in that episode in one 45, which you can access productiveinsights.com/145. We were supposed to talk about content creation, but we ended up talking about our respective anxieties on video. And since then Amy has taken her video game to the next level. You’ve got to check out her content. It is really, really awesome. But today we hit a finish, a job that we meant to finish a couple of years ago.
Ash Roy (01:15):
And that is we are here to talk about Course Creation and how you can create your course and deliver it online to grow your business profitably without having to exchange time for money and do so in a scalable manner. So Amy Porterfield is an online expert and the host of the top-ranked podcast, “Online Marketing Made Easy”. I love it. And if you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend you do so. Before building a multi-million dollar digital course business, Amy worked with mega brands like Harley Davidson and peak performance coach Tony Robbins, where she oversaw the content team and collaborated on groundbreaking, online marketing campaigns through her best-selling courses and popular podcasts, Amy’s action by action approach proves even the newest online entrepreneurs can bypass the overwhelm and instead generate exciting momentum as they build a business they love. So welcome back to the Productive Insights podcast, Amy, It’s awesome to have you here.
Amy Porterfield (02:19):
Well, thank you so much for having me. I’m so delighted to be here
Ash Roy (02:22):
By the way, this episode is going to be published on our YouTube channel and I highly recommend that you go and check out the conversation on youtube – youtube.com/productiveinsights. All the show notes will also be available at productiveinsights.com/201. So Amy, I love your story. You started off doing a lot of client work and that was very much one-to-one work. And eventually you found your way into doing more online courses, which allowed you to stop trading time for money. And you really built a very successful business in the digital marketing world and you’ve done so, in a non-scammy way, which I love. That’s one of the many things I love about you and you’ve actually hit eight figures recently. So can you share this story with our listeners so they can learn how to do something similar?
Amy Porterfield (03:14):
Yes, I love that you too, really focus on the non-scammy, non-slimy way of marketing, because we’ve seen it done that way for many, many years. And so I’m really focused on making sure that I mark it with my heart and that I really take care of those that I serve. And really, like you said, it started with me doing one-on-one work. I got burned out quickly. There’s only one of me. There’s only so much impact I could make doing one-on-one work. And there’s only so much money I can make. And because I went from corporate 9-5 into my own online business, I left corporate because there’s a glass ceiling that is very much, very true for many people, and I didn’t want to be restricted by how much money I can make or when I work or how I work or how I’m creative.
Amy Porterfield (04:04):
So I left that and then started the one-on-one work and quickly got burned out. It was just too many clients, too many expectations. It wasn’t what I loved. So, I moved into working with creating digital courses. Now the thing is, I didn’t know how to create a digital course and I really fumbled in the beginning. I often talk about my very first digital course launch. I made a whopping $267, and I thought I was a complete failure and the reason for that is I had watched all these other marketing gurus make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. And I thought, how did I just make $267? I was devastated. But thank God I stuck with it because the reason I wanted to create digital courses is I wanted more lifestyle freedom, financial freedom. I wanted to create when I wanted to create what I wanted to create and how I wanted to create it and digital courses really gave me that freedom. So that is why I’ve always gravitated toward them. I don’t do consulting. I don’t do one-on-one. I don’t have a mastermind. 88% of my revenue comes from just 2 digital courses. And so I really do believe in the power and the freedom that Digital courses give you.
Ash Roy (05:18):
That’s pretty amazing. 88% of your revenue comes from 2 digital courses. Now, a couple of things I want to point out to our listeners, in my opinion, there is no Holy grail, there is no super fast way to do things. Sure, there are faster way to do things, but there’s no magic bullet here. You need to put in the work and as I was saying to Seth Godin, when we spoke recently in Episode 200, we talked a lot about the importance of empathy and generosity. And I believe that to be a heart-centered, ethical marketer and business owner, you need to start from a place of giving and the returns may not come to you straight away. So if you are listening to this or watching this on YouTube, which I recommend you do at youtube.com/productiveinsights, I think that you need to keep in mind the fact that you’re not going to just be able to go and get results.
Ash Roy (06:14):
It takes time, it takes consistent effort and the results will come, but you’ve got to keep working at it. As James Clear said in Episode 175, Effort is like compound interest. You got to do it gripped by drip, by drip, and eventually it will pay off, but you’re not going to see it straight away. He called it the theory of Latent -Potential. And if you haven’t heard that episode, I recommend checking it out and productiveinsights.com/175. He really brought a lot of valuable insights in that conversation. Thank you for explaining that to us, Amy. Now, can you tell us a little bit about this wonderful product you have and that I have used and that full disclosure I’m an affiliate for, and I’m not an affiliate for products that I haven’t used myself before. I have used Digital Course Academy. I think it is awesome, but I would like you to share with our listeners what Digital course Academy is all about and what results they can expect to get and how their lives can improve if they use the principles you teach and implement them successfully.
Amy Porterfield (07:20):
Yes. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk about it because I’m pretty passionate about this concept of creating digital courses. And like I said, because I really do believe it gives you the financial and lifestyle freedom and allows you to make an impact at scale, like reach more people in the way that you want to reach them. I created Digital Course Academy because this is literally the course I wish I had when I first created my first, what I call my failed launch that I did of a digital course. When I was starting out. I did not know how to record a course, how to outline a course, how to put together a webinar, how to write emails. I knew none of that. So I pieced it together – tried to figure out this, tried to figure out that had no idea, really what I was doing.
Amy Porterfield (08:07):
and I slammed it all together ,and then I was devastated by the results. And I thought, when I know how to really do this, when I hit the sweet spot, when I start seeing results after results, after results, in my own business, I vowed that I was going to teach it. So I waited until my digital courses hit the multi-million dollar mark. And then I thought I’m going to teach how I’ve done this. So in one course, what I teach is how to create a digital course from scratch. Most of my students have never launched anything online, let alone a digital course. But I’m doing something unique that years ago, I didn’t do it this way. And what I’m doing that’s unique is that I teach how to actually first promote and launch your course, and once you sell it, then you create it. Now this is a big deal for me, cause I haven’t always taught it that way, but the reason I taught it that way now is when you pre-sell, it, it allows you to validate the idea.
Amy Porterfield (09:02):
It allows you to get a quick cash injection. So you can put that money back into launching it with Facebook ads or anything that you need to spend money on to make it work. So that validation and that quick cash injection gives you a little confidence. Once you promote it, once you sell it, then week after week, you’re creating it and delivering it. I also teach it in a way that you don’t need fancy equipment. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on your first course. The greatest thing is we’re living in a world right now that people number one are, are more open than ever to learn online little did I know that as we moved into a pandemic, that digital courses would become even more popular than they ever were. And that’s two reasons why that’s so important. Number one, you now have an audience that’s more willing to buy something and learn something that before the pandemic, they weren’t interested in doing that online. It’s from creating, making sourdough bread, to learning guitar, to putting your toddler, to get, to do regular naps, to learning about nutrition, to everything in between. People are more likely to buy a course and learn it online than ever before. In our history. Number two, people are not looking for perfection. They don’t care if your lighting’s perfect, or if you have a fancy camera or if it’s flashy, no one even cares about that right now, just look at the news. People are doing the news from home and their lighting’s terrible. It looks a little bit weird, but it doesn’t matter the content’s good. So now more than ever, the content matters more than the delivery. And that is a great thing for first time course.
Ash Roy (10:40):
Absolutely. Amy, I want to share a couple of little exciting stories around my own journey. That corresponded to what you’re saying. I have a membership program and one of my members is a physiotherapist. When the pandemic hit, he was looking at closing down his practice because of regulations for a period of time. And he was very worried about the whole situation. And I said to him, listen, man, I understand that physiotherapy is a service that is very difficult to deliver online, but here’s the thing, your audience, your patients, I should say, they have no other option. They can’t access your physiotherapy services in person because of regulation. So they too are open to alternative solutions. For example, exercise-based treatments where previously you might have had to do massages or something. That’s no longer an option in a pandemic environment. So the second best option then might be having certain exercise classes.
Ash Roy (11:42):
So he started doing these exercise classes, which work. I mean, I’m not saying that transformed his business and he made billions of dollars overnight, but every little bit helps, right? And the point is the audience, the market is open to alternative methods of delivery because you’ve got a paradigm shift happening and it’s been forced by regulatory changes. I don’t know if you’re familiar with this industry analysis tool called a PESTEL framework, but we studied it when I did my MBA. We studied this PEST framework – P stands for Political/Regulatory, E stands for Economic, S stands for Social, T stands for Technological. So, these are four elements through which you can look at a market. So if you have a regulatory constraint imposed on the situation, for example, the pandemic imposes social distancing laws, then there are certain economic impacts, there are technological impacts, and there are social impacts.
Ash Roy (12:46):
Take a technological revolution like the iPhone because the iPhone came into the world and revolutionized the way we socially interact with each other or don’t interact with each other. It’s also required certain regulatory legislations to be put in place. For example, people have started videoing awful incidents, and now there are laws against that. Thank goodness. So the technology has led to political/regulatory changes. There’s been economic impacts – E-commerce has completely changed. There’ve been social impacts. So all of these things impact each other and it’s worth considering the fact that our entire economy, our customers, everyone has changed in their expectations of what can be done. I always felt that the internet has created an amazing opportunity for us as online creators because it’s allowed us to do with information what Henry Ford did with cars. Basically productized information and sell it like widgets that has never been done before. We can capture our knowledge in these capsules of information paid or free, and we can offer value and advanced content, and some of the content can be paid content. So absolutely, but now the market is ready for this and the market is far more willing to embrace information products. So, wow. That was a long winded way of saying, I completely agree with you.
Amy Porterfield (14:19):
But I like your examples. It really brings it to life. So 1000000% that this is the time for digital courses.
Ash Roy (14:28):
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Now let’s talk about some of the challenges and the fears that people have. You and I talked about our respective fears in Episode 145. At that time we were both anxious about doing video. Since then, kudos to you. You’ve just upped your game.
Amy Porterfield (14:48):
You too, friend! You’ve totally embraced it.
Ash Roy (14:50):
Okay. Thank you, I appreciate that. I’ve got some ways to go, but you have just really, have been an inspiration. So, a lot of people will probably be watching this or listening to this as they’re listening to the podcast and say, it’s all right for you, Amy. And I asked Seth the same question – it’s all right for you, Seth. You already have a brand, you’re already out there. People know you. What about me? I’m just starting off. I’m terrified. I don’t want to put my face on camera, right? What if people laugh at me? How do I start? What about little old me?
Amy Porterfield (15:25):
Such a great question. I want to remind everybody who might feel that way. And it’s a valid way to feel because I felt that way as well. We have to remember that everybody you see, that’s making a lot of money, doing big things – we all started with zero people on our email list, zero confidence to make horses or to get on video or to do any of that, and you know my story. So for years and years and years, I dreaded video. When Facebook live became a thing, like you and I have been around long enough that we were here before Facebook live actually even existed. So when Facebook live came out, I remember thinking, please let it go away. Please let it not work because I don’t want Facebook live to be a thing. I don’t want to jump on video. So, one I’ve been there. Two, for anybody saying, yeah, it’s easier for you to do it now that you make all this money and do all these big things.
Amy Porterfield (16:17):
But I would never be here today. If I didn’t allow myself to get insanely uncomfortable. So I often joke that the first two years of my business were uncomfortable, every single day, I wanted to hide under my desk. I didn’t want people to see what I was doing or how I was doing it because it was messy and I was clueless as well. But I just kept going because, and here’s what I want you all to hear, is that my why was bigger than my fear. My why was bigger than my uncomfortable feelings. Now the truth is my why wasn’t that altruistic or save-the-world kind of why it was, I don’t want a boss. I don’t want people telling me what to do, how to do it or where to do it. I don’t want to be on somebody else’s time or create for somebody else.
Amy Porterfield (17:09):
I want to do my own thing. That was my why. Now, my why today has changed dramatically. I think a man or woman sitting in a 9AM-5PM job feeling fully constricted and wanting to get out and knowing they’re made for more and they don’t know what to do, my why is to show them the way. But it wasn’t like that many years ago, it doesn’t matter what your why is, it just has too mean something to you and your, why has to be bigger than your feelings of being uncomfortable or afraid. That’s how you get to the next level.
Ash Roy (17:38):
Yeah, I agree. Look, just for those who are listening and watching and you can go and check out my conversation with Amy in Episode 145, productiveinsights.com/145, I talked about my anxiety about being a bully. I still don’t like it. I talked about my discomfort about having put on a lot of weight since when I was younger and is there’s a lot of things that are not perfect, but you know what it’s, if you wait for it to be perfect, it’s not going to happen. At some point, you got to just be willing to go with the best you got right now, have a listen to my conversation with Seth because in that conversation, we talked about a phrase that he uses often, which is “how to dance with fear”. And I said to him, how do you get rid of fear?
Ash Roy (18:28):
I think that was my question to him, from what I recall. And he said…
Amy Porterfield (18:30):
And what did he say?
Ash Roy (18:30):
Well, he said, well, I haven’t been able to figure out how to get rid of fear, but I just have learned where to put it. And then he gave me a wonderful example. He said, if you want to run a marathon, you don’t go to a running coach and say, how do I run the marathon without getting tired? The coach can’t teach you that. The coach will teach you where to put the tired but they won’t teach you how to not get tired. And I think it’s a very similar situation here. The fear ain’t going away, the fear ain’t going to disappear. You just got to learn to dance with it. And the degree to which you learned to dance with it is the degree to which you will be able to move forward.
Ash Roy (19:11):
Perfection isn’t ideal. It is not a realistic goal because it doesn’t exist in my view. I think you’re always going to be wanting to be better and better and better. So there’s no such thing, but it’s an idea to aim for. I also want to give Brendon Burchard a shout out because his book, High Performance Habits, which I’m listening to at the moment – brilliant! It helps you achieve a lot of these things. So check out that conversation with Seth. It was very poignant, particularly around how to overcome your fear and how to build a meaningful business and make meaningful change in the world without adding to the spam that there is out there. I’d love for you to share an inspiring story around how one of your students use DCA to go from scratch, to building a successful business. And by successful, I don’t mean guru, multi-million, dollar successful yet people get there, but I’m talking about successful where they could just replace their income and be happy.
Amy Porterfield (20:15):
I have so many, and I could tell you stories that people that are in the marketing world or they teach sales or social media, or they do things like I do. But I want to give you an example of someone totally outside of this world. Because when you teach in this world, people tend to think, well, it’s easy if you teach people how to make money. Well, let me give you an example of someone that does not teach that. Her name is Danira and she lives in Los Angeles. She’s a single mother of three and lives with her mother. So she, um, is a baker and she has been for years. And really when I say she’s a Baker, she actually bakes all the goods and people come to her house. They place their order. They come to their house, her house, pick up the order and they leave.
Amy Porterfield (20:57):
And she’s done that for many, many years, but she decided that she wanted to create a digital course and she knew how to create caramel candy apples. And I’m talking about beautifully done caramel candy apples. And I know for a fact they’re delicious as well because she gave me one. Now, when I first started, to learn about Danira, what I learned is that she created this course and quite honestly, she didn’t follow every single thing that I taught. She just did enough that she could, she was a single mom. She didn’t have a team. It was just her. So she’s like Amy, I just did as much of your courses I could. And I launched my Caramel Candy Apple course. And the first time she ever did this launch of this course, she made $62,000. Now here’s the crazy part of that story though.
Amy Porterfield (21:49):
I brought her to San Diego to interview her on a live stream during one of my launches last year. And I was talking about her story and realized I had her story all wrong. ‘Cause I said, okay, so Danira you have a secret recipe for Caramel Candy Apples. You know, things that no one else knows about how to cook up this caramel. And she’s like, well, to be honest, the caramel is a mix you can buy in the store. It’s just that people don’t know where to buy it and they really don’t know how to work with it. So I tell my students what store to go, to get the exact caramel I use and then how to actually whip it up and turn it into something spectacular. But she’s using a mix. It’s not like she had a special secret pass down recipe.
Amy Porterfield (22:31):
And that’s why her course worked. Her course worked because she’s willing to get on video, teach people how she does it and she put herself out there. And so she launched it again and made another $62,000 a little bit more than the first. So she’s done it more than one. She actually just did it for the third time. I won’t get into all of those crazy, amazing details past every goal she said, but she’s such a great example of somebody who just figured it out. And now her goal is to retire her mother. So her mother doesn’t have to work anymore aand talk about an amazing, beautiful why.
Ash Roy (23:07):
Yeah. Well, I just want to say that I have got a soft spot for single mothers because my father passed away a few days before I was born. And I was raised by my mother and her two sisters. And I feel very strongly about supporting single mothers. I have a few in my membership community and I go out of my way to help them as much as I can. I love this story because we’re just talking about something realistic here. She made $62,000, which is not a huge amount of money, but it’s a good amount of money. And that’s a realistic thing for our listeners and viewers to aim. For sure. You can get to the figures like you have Amy, but that didn’t happen overnight. This is what your 10th year?
Amy Porterfield (23:49):
No, 11th.
Ash Roy (23:49):
Yeah. Right? So let’s manage expectations here. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I’m just saying that don’t expect it to happen immediately.
Ash Roy (24:01):
Sure. The harder you work and the more sincere and focused you are, the faster you’ll get there. But it takes 10 years to be an overnight success. As one of my guests, once said. So just keep that in mind and we’re not promoting something that is a million dollar launch. We are saying that is something that is a very good reasonable path, but you must follow the process at Amy teaches. And one of the things that I love about what she teaches is the pre-launch runway. Now we’ll come to that in a second. But before we do, there is a very important date that I want you to mark on your calendars. And it’s the 9th of September. And we’ll tell you more about that in a minute. Amy, talk to us about the pre-launch runway and how you have seen twice as much in the way of results or revenue for people who have engaged in a pre-launch runway path of the launch versus the people who didn’t do that in your launches.
Amy Porterfield (25:06):
Yes. So the pre-launch runway is the 30 – 60 days that you actually do your webinar and sell your digital course. And what we found is that leading up to that if every week you would get on Facebook live or Instagram live or YouTube, or do something where you put yourself out there and you connect with your audience and you start talking about topics related to your webinar, into your course, this is building that know like, and trust factor. You’re showing up, you’re becoming their go to source and they start getting into the habit of watching your content. Downloading your freebies and really just engaging with you. So what doesn’t work is that let’s say you have a course to sell and you wake up on a Thursday and you send out an email, I’ve got a course to sell, sign up for it. We don’t do it that way.
Amy Porterfield (25:58):
I believe that you have to give before you ever ask for anything in return. And so 30, 60 days leading up to that, you’re giving, giving, giving, answering questions, engaging with people, getting in the direct messages. And you’re just there for them. So that when you were ready to sell, they are ready to buy. And what you do in the pre-launch is you meet them where they’re at. So you think, okay, before somebody is for ready to buy my course from me, what do they need to believe or understand or be aware of before they’re ever ready to take out that money and pay for my course. And so I’m always thinking, where are they right now? If they’re not ready to buy. And I speak to those objections, those concerns, those fears. That’s what we talk in the pre-launch runway. And so that’s the goal and it works like gangbusters because you’re giving before you ever ask.
Ash Roy (26:50):
Absolutely. In episode 170 with Ryan Deiss, one of the founders of digital marketer, he talked about value in advanced content. And I think the pre-launch runway allows you to do that. It helps you to demonstrate to your audience that you can offer them value because let’s face it. Attention is a rare commodity. And in some cases it’s more expensive than money, particularly these days with such a confused and noisy environment. So definitely a great way to start the conversation. As Chris Garrett said, in Episode 6, content marketing is a conversation that is happening between a buyer and the seller right now, whether you like it or not. The question is as a content marketer, do you want to be part of that conversation? So the pre-launch runway is all about creating that value and advanced content. And another important thing that I believe the pre-launch runway allows you to do. And I teach this in my 9-step business growth framework, which I’ll be presenting at the end of this month, alongside Ezra Firestone and Molly Pittman at Digital Marketers Down Under, yeah, I’m honored to be part of that group.
Amy Porterfield (28:02):
That’s awesome, Ash!
Ash Roy (28:04):
We’re all presenting on our individual things, but I’ll be one of the presenters in that conference. One of the cool things about my nine steps is really developing empathy for your target audience and understanding them. And in Episode 175, when I interviewed the founder of Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi, he talked about the importance of creating content that meets your buyer, where they are on their journey. So for example, if you’re manufacturing, washing machines, one manufacturer might be talking about how their washing machines are the best in the world made of stainless steel and lifetime guarantees and all that. Meanwhile, as she was looking to buy his first washing machine just wants to know the difference between a top loader and a front loader. So if your content is creating maybe a useful chooser or decision making tool that helps him decide, should he buy a front loader top loader, he’s more likely to buy the washing machine from that brand versus the brand that is just talking about their own products. So empathy allows you to create content that is nuanced and targeted to solving your customer’s problem that may lead to the purchase decision. And this is what I believe you teach us in the pre-launch runway. Would you agree?
Amy Porterfield (29:21):
A hundred percent? You actually said it better than I said it. It is about that empathy. And when you can tap into that, you have a wealth of knowledge to support your audience. And I think taking the time to really listen more than you talk to ask questions and really hear what they’re telling you, that’s where that empathy gets developed. Because start to understand them a little bit more
Ash Roy (29:42):
Like your dad is to say to you in school, right? Always listen more than you talk,
Amy Porterfield (29:47):
Right! You have the biggest heart Ash. You just really pay attention and you know, people, that’s why I love to come on your podcast. You care deeply. I mean, you should be teaching about empathy because it’s who you are at your core. So I love that. You know, that’s what my dad said,
Ash Roy (30:03):
Seth said to me, empathy is probably, or I think I said to him, empathy is probably one of the least used words in marketing and business and probably one of the most important. And he agreed completely. And he said generosity too. And you know what else he said to me, he said, and this meant the world to me. He said, you’re a fine corresponded and a good egg. And that made my, I don’t know if I did the right American accent, but that just made my day, man, because I’ve been a fan of Seth for a long time. And to hear that coming from him,
Amy Porterfield (30:33):
You get that kind of compliment from Seth? I don’t think he doles out compliments all that, but like, that’s impressive.
Ash Roy (30:40):
That meant the world to be a fine correspondent. I just thought, yeah, yes, I finally did. And I faced my fears of being on video and I did it. And I invite you if you’re listening to this or you’re watching this on YouTube, which I reckon is a better thing to do, you will hopefully feel inspired to do the same. Now once again, if you haven’t already heard this full disclosure, I am an affiliate for Amy’s Digital Course Academy and you’ll find out a lot more information. If you go to productiveinsights.com/DCA. That’s digital course Academy DCA, and there’ll be some wonderful bonuses there waiting for you as well, but Amy, tell us about the 9th of September and why we all need to wait with bated breath for this day.
Amy Porterfield (31:23):
Yes, I’m so excited. So Digital Course Academy will officially be open for enrollment on September 9th. And the window of opportunity will be very short, but it will be so exciting. ‘Cause like you said, you have extra bonuses, which is always fun to add to the mix and inside the Digital Course Academy, literally we will be teaching everything step-by-step-by-step, how to create a course and how to launch it. One of the things I’m most proud about about this course is that I have a project plan. I’m an organized kind of girl. You know this, I like to teach in steps and sequences. So we have an entire project plan that you get on day one where every single thing you need to do is in there. Now I cater to people that are just starting out people that might need a little extra help with the tech or want to get some how to videos and like really showing me.
Amy Porterfield (32:18):
Don’t just tell me, show me how to do this. So it’s a really show-and-tell kind of program, taking you through everything you need to know. And here’s why I think it’s so important that you at least check it out. If you want to create results quickly, if you want to be able to do it right the first time, unlike me, where I stumbled, stumbled, stumbled until I finally got it. You have a digital course in you. I believe that if you have thoughts for yourself or for somebody else, or if you’re a whiz at a certain software or application or technique or method that you can teach people how you did that, how you got those results, I’ll teach you how to put together the roadmap, the blueprint, the step-by-step. I’ll teach you how to record it and edit it and all that good stuff. But you have a course in you. And the most important thing is to believe that you’re worthy enough to get it out into the world. And that’s where we need to start. But let me promise you, you got it in you.
Ash Roy (33:15):
Well, I’m going to just summarize some of the key talking points and then we’re going to talk about action steps. So we start off talking about the fact that the world has changed, post-pandemic. The world is ready for online content more than they were ever before. There’s a whole lot of professionals that are sadly displaced from their day jobs and are probably looking at ways to productize their knowledge through information products, much like Henry Ford did with cars and are looking to generate an income. And your course may allow them to find their feet in a very difficult and changing world. And it also may well allow you to find your feet. So definitely worth considering creating a digital course. This pandemic environment has created a tectonic shift. We talked about the PESTEL framework where political changes, which in this case, the pandemic has brought in regulatory changes around social distancing, but they have economic impact, social impacts and technological impacts.
Ash Roy (34:28):
And we can take advantage of these in a way that is beneficial to us and others. We talked a little bit about my 9-step program. And if you want to know more about that, you can go to productiveinsights.com/subscribe, and you can download your copy of the nine-step business growth mind map with a free 9-day email course. We talked about the importance of making sure that your why is bigger than your fear. And we touched on a conversation with Seth Godin in Episode 200, but you can check out it productiveinsights.com/200 about how to learn to dance with fear. I also highly recommend you go and check out my conversation with Amy. The previous one we had on this podcast, at productiveinsights.com/145. It was an honest heart-to-heart conversation. It was quite raw, but we both talked about our anxieties, about anxieties around being on video.
Ash Roy (35:20):
And you can see the transformation that Amy has had since she spoke about her fears. And she is living proof that if she could do it by naming it and calling it out, you can too. I talked about the fact, this is not a make a million dollars overnight scammy thing, but I’m not. I want to be clear. I’m not saying that you can’t make a million dollars overnight. I’m just saying that I can’t definitely deliver on, but what I can tell you is that if you follow Amy steps, step-by-step and they are literally step-by-step in DCA, then you will get to a result and you will probably be happy with a result. I can’t say what it’s going to be financially, but you will be better off. You may end up with a course that you’re proud of at the very least.
Ash Roy (36:11):
And to me that is enough. We talked about the pre-launch runway and the importance of selling your course before it’s created, sounds scary but important because this is how you validate your offer and you don’t go and spend ages creating a course that is not going to sell. And if you go into Digital Course Academy, you’ll find that Amy teaches you to do these interviews where you learn about your ideal customer. And you basically do these exploratory interviews to understand what people’s needs are. And she really holds her hand and takes you through the whole process. And finally, I would say, go and check out Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Habits, the audio book, because the audio book is like a new level of goodness. And I think that that has got a lot of value in terms of helping you overcome your anxieties and your fears. That’s basically my suggestions around action steps. Amy, do you have anything to add
Amy Porterfield (37:02):
No, that was really impressive! You got it all. We covered everything in that.
Ash Roy (37:08):
All right. So if you go to productiveinsights.com/DCA, by the time this is published on YouTube and not, it may not be available right away, but we’ll try and make it, make sure it is, but we will very soon have all the bonuses and all the benefits that you will get by signing up for Digital Course Academy, via productive insights. I believe that they will be valuable and I hope you check it out. So it’s productiveinsights.com/DCA. If you want to access all the show notes of this conversation, including the video and the transcription head over to productiveinsights.com forward/201. We have some special stuff waiting there for you as well. Amy, how do people find out more about you?
Amy Porterfield (37:50):
Thanks for asking. So I have a podcast called online marketing made easy, full of free tips and tricks. And so that’s where I spend most of my time. So you can come check that out.
Ash Roy (37:58):
Well, that is an insanely good podcast. I’ve been listening to it for years. And what I particularly love about the podcast is that Amy has these free downloads that she offers on various episodes. And man, those downloads, some of them are like courses and they are so valuable. And this is my point. You know, if you create Epic value in advanced content, you will develop a loyal following over time, but you must be consistent and you must be honest and you must be sincere and the results will come. I believe that. Thanks so much for being on the podcast and it was really wonderful having you back on.
Amy Porterfield (38:36):
I just love you dearly. Thank you so much for having me too. It’s such a good time.
Ash Roy (38:41):
You’re welcome.
