57: Course Confident: Insider Tips from guest Amy Porterfield
Hey there, Squarespaceers! 🎉 Get ready for an extra special episode of Think Inside the Square! We're shaking things up and I'm thrilled to introduce you to my very first guest – the amazing Amy Porterfield!
Amy is the brilliant mind behind the "Online Marketing Made Easy" podcast, a New York Times bestselling author, and a self-made millionaire. But more than that, she's been my long-distance mentor and the reason Inside the Square is still in business. Trust me, you're in for a treat!
In this episode, Amy shares her inspiring journey into the world of digital courses. She'll walk you through:
What exactly a digital course is (and why it might be perfect for you!)
How she went from taking notes in Tony Robbins' meetings to running her own multi-million dollar business
Heartwarming success stories from her students (get ready to be inspired!)
The four key things you need to tackle to set yourself up for digital course success
Whether you're course-curious or ready to dive in, Amy's insights will leave you feeling empowered and excited about the possibilities. She even gives us a sneak peek into her upcoming "Course Confident" bootcamp – a game-changer for anyone thinking about creating their own course.
So grab a notebook, settle in, and get ready to think big about your Squarespace site and your business. Let's learn how to transform your knowledge into an amazing online course that could change your life (and your students' lives too)!
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Think Inside the Square. I'm Becca Harpain, Squarespace expert and educator and creator of InsideTheSquare. co. And in this episode, we are doing things a little bit differently. I am thrilled to present my very first guest, Amy Porterfield, from the podcast Online Marketing Made Easy. She is a New York Times best selling author, a self made millionaire, and a very talented teacher who's been my long distance mentor for years now.
[00:00:35] Amy is the reason I have a business, and that is not an exaggeration. The educational content that Amy shares with the world is what inspired me to start Inside the Square. She taught me how to share my knowledge and my skills consistently and uniquely. Amy taught me how to build my email list, how to create my courses, and she also taught me a lot about mindset and staying positive on the days when I wonder if I'm [00:01:00] really cut out for this entrepreneur thing.
[00:01:01] I will never forget the day I got a DM from her in a Facebook group. It was after my very first workshop. How to use Fluid Engine. She had helped me prepare the content for it by giving me an outline of what to have on the sales page, telling me what to include in my email invite, even what to do after someone registered.
[00:01:19] She set me up for success, and it worked. But what really stood out to me was that she saw my success post in this Facebook group and wanted to personally congratulate me. Me. Out of thousands of people in this group. She wasn't just over delivering incredibly helpful content in this program, she was genuinely there to encourage me and wanted to congratulate me on my success.
[00:01:41] I felt like a rock star. Amy Porterfield is the real deal, folks, and that's why I am so excited to have her on my podcast as my very first guest. Now to be clear here, We were not able to sync our schedules, so I wasn't able to kick this off full interview style like I wanted to, but she did record some [00:02:00] audio that I'm eager to share with you, and I hope you find it inspiring.
[00:02:03] Without further ado, Amy Porterfield, welcome to Think Inside the Square.
[00:02:07] Well, hello there. Thank you so much for having me. Friends, I'm so excited to jump in here and talk about digital courses because probably like a lot of you listening today, I'm For most of my career, I'd never even heard of digital courses before.
[00:02:23] And for the sake of the rest of this episode, let's get super clear on what I mean when I say the term digital course. So a digital course is an online training that someone signs up for, typically paying for a spot in the program that teaches them how to get a result in a step by step format. And this could be on anything.
[00:02:44] From something as simple as how to make a delicious vegan curry to something as complex as how to file your small business taxes or repair a broken marriage. But for most of my life, I knew none of that. I just didn't [00:03:00] know what this world was all about. I went to college, got my degree, and I got a nice, normal job.
[00:03:07] And I can tell you exactly where I was, maybe even down to what I was wearing when everything changed. So one day I was working in my marketing job. I actually was working for peak performance coach, Tony Robbins, which was a very cool job to say the least and a very hard job as well. But I was actually invited into a very special meeting with other internet marketers.
[00:03:34] See, Tony was starting to get out into the online, uh, world more with digital courses. He was starting to explore that landscape. And so with that, he wanted to bring in some internet marketers who were doing big things with their courses and programs and just get some insight. That's what I loved about Tony.
[00:03:53] He always did his research. Well, I was brought into the meeting not to contribute. But to take notes. [00:04:00] Yes, very humbling. But I was in the room and that's when everything changed. So Tony asked these guys, they were all men to go around and talk about their businesses. Now, each of them had digital courses or some kind of digital program.
[00:04:15] One of them was about dating, another real estate, another finances, another leadership, another relationships. Like, it was a lot of different topics in the room, but they all had similar, uh, formats in digital courses. And so they went around and they talked about their businesses, but here's what was so interesting.
[00:04:35] They all shared. about freedom. They talked about having time to be with their families. They talked about having the freedom to be more creative. They talked about the freedom of location, where they could go on a trip with their family and carve out a little time to work because they didn't have to be at their desk at home all the time.
[00:04:56] So as these men went around and talked about their businesses, [00:05:00] all I heard was freedom. They weren't working one on one and trading time for dollars. They didn't have a service based business that would always reach a cap because you can only take so many clients and there's only so many hours in a day.
[00:05:16] And so when I realized, holy cow, these men have this freedom because they have digital courses. I was hooked. I was obsessed to figure out, what do you do? How do you do it? What does this look like? So to me, I just knew I needed to learn this world of digital courses because I wanted what they had, which was freedom.
[00:05:40] And in that case, I was working a nine to five job. I was anything but free to call the shots. I So at that point, I had to figure out how to make this work. So pretty soon after that, I worked up my courage and started a side hustle. Then eventually I left my corporate job. And in the last 15 years, I've launched [00:06:00] eight digital courses of my own.
[00:06:02] I've taught over 90, 000 students. And I've generated over a hundred million dollars in my online business. Oh, and my team and I, we work a four day workweek. Now, mind you, I started from scratch. I started from zero. I wasn't an influencer. That didn't even exist back then. We never used that word, influencer.
[00:06:26] Instagram barely even existed. I didn't have an ounce of online business experience for my own. Like I had dabbled with Facebook and Twitter at the time. We were starting to market online in my department for Tony Robbins, but I didn't know how to build an online business at all. So if you're listening and today is a bit of a revelation for you too, and you think that maybe digital courses are something you'd like to explore, I want you to hear that you do not need a big audience.
[00:06:57] You do not need a bunch of marketing experience, [00:07:00] and you definitely don't need a bunch of money to get started. In fact, in just a minute, I'll explain what you do need to get started with a digital course. But first, I really wanted to tell you about a few of the digital courses that my students have created, just to give you a little inspiration.
[00:07:18] Okay, first I want to tell you about my student, Margarita. She was an Italian language teacher at her local university and she loved her students. But then traditional schooling was flipped on its head in 2020, as you probably recall, and this really made her question if a university setting was still right for her.
[00:07:41] So she decided to explore online teaching by way of digital courses. With my help, Margarita launched her first digital course with the goal of enrolling 30 new students. And she smashed that goal with just a pre sell, meaning she had students enrolling before [00:08:00] her course was even finished, which is something I teach.
[00:08:04] So by the end of her first launch, she had enrolled 136 new students and made over 45, 000. 45, 000. But it's never just about the money, is it? So here's what she wrote to me in an email. She said, Life as a course creator has allowed me so many more freedoms in my life, aside from my financial success. I can now visit my family in Italy whenever I want, and I'm no longer limited to only seeing them during school vacations.
[00:08:36] As I continue to grow my business as a course creator, I'm excited for my future. The possibilities feel endless. Ugh, how good is that? Remember, she was a local teacher, not a professional marketer, not a tech whiz, not a YouTube star, not an influencer. If she can do it, my [00:09:00] friend, so can you. Okay. Here's another one.
[00:09:04] I want to tell you about my student, Sarah, and I love to tell Sarah's story because Sarah teaches how to make sourdough bread. It's why I've affectionately started calling her Sarah Sourdough. I know, my creativity has no bounds, but I love telling her story because about one search on YouTube will return 10, 000 videos on how to make sourdough bread.
[00:09:31] But listen to this. Sarah had been leading in person workshops that taught people how to make sourdough bread. And these workshops required a lot of prep and a lot of her time and attention because Sarah was just a one woman show and needed to keep these in person workshops full and happening regularly in order to help bring in income for her family.
[00:09:55] But one morning, her son came to her crying, begging her to stop. [00:10:00] not to go to her workshop. If there's any parents listening, especially of young kids, you know what it feels like when you're leaving or you've got to work and your kids are like, no, please don't. It's like heartbreaking. And Sarah knew that when she was home with him, she kind of wasn't because she was always anxious over the next workshop she had to create.
[00:10:24] So, her mind was always on work. Can you relate? Now, this was a huge turning point for Sarah. She saw how her time and her mental load had been completely consumed by her work and it was at the expense of her son, who she loved most in the world. But she couldn't afford to let go. So Sarah put her thinking cap on and decided to try and see if her in person classes would possibly translate into something online.
[00:10:53] Her question was, could her digital course compete with the thousands and thousands of free videos that are [00:11:00] on YouTube teaching people how to make sourdough bread? And they're easy to find online. So Sarah linked up with me and she got to work on her first course. I love this. Sarah grew her email list from eight people to 1700 people, and she sold 60 courses at $297 each, meaning she earned $17,820 in total during her first ever digital course launch.
[00:11:31] I want you to really hear that. Yes, plenty of people will opt for the YouTube route. But there are still plenty of people who don't want to hunt and peck online when they're serious about getting quick results or proven results or both. Look at Sarah. It only took 60 people. There are over 7 billion people in this world.
[00:11:54] She needed 60 people to come into her community and say, yes, [00:12:00] I want to learn from you. So what I am saying is your market. is not too saturated. I promise you that you will find your people. They will want to learn from you exclusively. As long as you keep showing up for them, you are authentic and you do it with a service mindset.
[00:12:20] You are there to serve and support. They will find you and they will want to learn and purchase from you. Now, Sarah understood this and knew her sourdough expertise could make home baking easy for her students. And she knew she had built a community where they wanted to learn from her. And again, it wasn't all about the money.
[00:12:40] Sure. She needed it, but not even two months after her first launch. She wrote to me about her inbox full of love notes. People saying, you changed my family's life. Your course is just what I needed, so clear and precise. I would YouTube sourdough all the time, but I would just get [00:13:00] overwhelmed. You are the best teacher and I would recommend this course to anyone I talk to.
[00:13:06] And here's what Sarah told me. I get emotional every time someone sends in a review. This has changed my life. And now in the new school year, I get to be present with my kids every morning as I get them ready for their day. Yesterday, I was at the beach with my kids, and I realized something powerful.
[00:13:25] This beach time would have normally included constant thoughts of, OMG, we have to pack up and leave, I have to get to a workshop, or who knows how long it's going to take on the road, so I better get on the road now, let's cut this short. But this time, she said, I got to enjoy it. I had nowhere to be but right here.
[00:13:46] I love that. So you can see why I am so passionate about spreading the word about digital courses. It allows families like Sarah to have financial stability without sacrificing that [00:14:00] precious time together. It allows business owners to stop burning the candle at both ends and enjoy their businesses again without constantly chasing new clients or worrying about how they're going to cover the bills at the end of the month.
[00:14:13] And I know someone listening right now is desperate for that. Maybe it's you. I created my first digital course in the dark. There wasn't anyone to teach me what to do, so it was a lot of trial and error. My first course launch was not like Sarah's or Margarita's. I didn't know that there were things I needed to do first or next or in what order.
[00:14:38] And I made a whopping 267 on that first launch. It was disheartening to say the least, but now I've been doing it for 15 years. So I know what you need to do first and then next. And I know every action item you need to [00:15:00] take in the order you need to take it in. I've taught all of this to Margarita. I've taught all of this to Sarah, and I'd love to teach all of this to you.
[00:15:11] So if you're listening and you want to know exactly what creating and selling a digital course entails. I want to invite you to my upcoming bootcamp. The bootcamp is called Course Confident. It is live and it starts on Wednesday, September 11th. And I'm going to teach you the four things to tackle first to set yourself up for digital course success.
[00:15:37] You're going to discover what you should teach based on your expertise, your knowledge, and your 10 percent edge. We'll get into all of that in the bootcamp. Once you come up with your profitable and impactful idea, I'm going to help you figure out what to charge for it so that you can do some course math to see what's possible.
[00:15:59] I'm [00:16:00] also going to help you figure out what type of course to create. There's different types of courses. So we're going to make sure the type of course you create matches your bandwidth, your knowledge, and your revenue goals. And I'm going to teach you how to steadily grow an audience that's eager to buy from you.
[00:16:18] I'll teach all of this in four live trainings that happen inside a private community. There will be replays of each training. So every statistic strategy or story will be available to you. Even if you have a busy calendar. Also, by the way, the whole bootcamp is only 47 to attend. One of the cheapest offers I have all year.
[00:16:43] And I only offer Course Confident once a year. So it's either now or a year from now. Why would you ever wait? And here's the thing. After 15 years as a course creator. One thing I know for sure is that the steps to getting [00:17:00] started are important. But what's also very important is accountability and focus to get the work done.
[00:17:07] Everyone is just so busy, right? You might say, Amy, I don't have time to create a course. You do, but you've got to get strategic about it. So a major element of this live bootcamp is one on one or small group accountability groups where you'll work in short spurts of highly productive time and really have someone to hold you to it.
[00:17:30] In fact, one of the first things we'll do is to help you pair up with an accountability partner or group. I hate that when you sign up for something, something you're serious about, and then you have to rely on the Facebook algorithm to get your questions seen or answered. So this is our solution and bootcampers last year loved it.
[00:17:50] I recently read some of the comments from last year, and one of the women said that their small group not only aligned in terms of business model and goals, but they brainstormed together on [00:18:00] individual next steps. This bootcamper said their accountability partner was their ideal client and had literally just become a paying customers of theirs.
[00:18:09] That's kind of over the top, but I thought that was really cool. And another bootcamper said that they finally connected with someone who understood their B2B offer and was really able to help. This is what I love. When people think about starting an online business or creating a digital course or taking on any big project for themselves, You kind of picture yourself in your office or at your kitchen table, thinking in a silo, figuring it all out with Google or some expensive consultant.
[00:18:39] It's easy to not want to move forward because that's just not fun, right? That's overwhelming. So now you can start to create this really empowering tool coworking space with people all over the world who are sharing their experience and totally rooting for you. Plus, I'm very [00:19:00] much involved every step of the way.
[00:19:02] The goal is to safeguard you from slipping quietly into the background or allowing overwhelm or intimidation to keep you from something that could genuinely change how you work and earn a living forever. I want to tell you about Amy Lee, my boot camper from last year, because she summed it up perfectly.
[00:19:22] This is what she said. Had you asked me a year ago if I'd ever consider being a course creator, I would have told you, you were bonkers. It wasn't in my plan. Then I signed up for Amy's course creation bootcamp and found myself engaged in a community I'd never heard of or considered before, showing up for lives, completing each step, inspired and curious about course creation.
[00:19:47] Fast forward to two months later, I launched my first ever course to 26 students. If you're considering Amy's Bootcamp, you've got nothing to lose, but you have a whole bunch of possibility and [00:20:00] freedom to gain and a community where you can learn and be inspired. Ah, I love this Amy Lee. So thank you. If you're listening, that means the world to me.
[00:20:09] And really she said it so perfectly. Even if you've never considered a digital course, get into the bootcamp because this is your opportunity to see if you and your business or your future business is a good fit for you. For a digital course, if you're serious about a digital course, get into the bootcamp.
[00:20:27] But also I created this for those of you who are course curious. It's a safe place to bring your questions, your doubts, your hesitations, and your uncertainties. And I think you would agree with me. That's all entrepreneurs start, but in the bootcamp, you're going to discover whether a digital course is realistic for you.
[00:20:48] If it would be profitable for you, if there's an audience for your digital course idea, and you're going to make some very serious decisions to move you forward, we're going to wipe out the doubts and the hesitation so that [00:21:00] you feel confident about moving forward. So to kind of wrap up, if it's okay with you, I want to invite you.
[00:21:08] To close your eyes. I know, I know kind of cheesy, but just for a minute, if you can, if you're driving, okay, don't, but if you can right now, close your eyes, let me walk you through this real quick. Your course title is written across your office whiteboard. circled with a bright red marker. You know, you can teach it that your audience wants it.
[00:21:30] And you started pairing your know how into steps for your future students to follow. You count down the days till you launch, because you know what you're going to charge and how many students you need to enroll to blow your nine to five paycheck or that one on one hourly rate out of the water. You're clear on what your course promises.
[00:21:53] So too much content or too little content isn't a concern for you. You take 15 minutes a day to execute [00:22:00] your audience growth game plan. The one you understand that doesn't overwhelm you and that grows your following in step with your future sales goals. And you're proud of yourself for doing what so few are willing to do.
[00:22:15] And while you still have the occasional moment of imposter syndrome, you know, you're capable of creating a digital course. That your audience cannot wait to engage in. Okay. Open your eyes. Feels pretty dang doable, right? You can do this. It is. It is doable. And if there's anything that I want to leave your listeners with, those of you who are listening right now, it's that you are capable of so much.
[00:22:49] Your dreams are worth pursuing. And I promise you, I have seen so many people start from scratch and figure this out. And you too can do the same. [00:23:00] If a digital course is part of that dream for you of growing your business, whether it has been for a while, or you just became a little course curious. I hope you'll join me in the boot camp.
[00:23:12] I know that I will be there. So will you be there too? We'll get more done in a matter of days than most people get done in six months truthfully and remember it's only 47 And I am so excited to work with you in the group. So thank you so much for having me and sharing this space with me. And whatever that dream is on your heart, just go for it.
[00:23:34] You are enough. You deserve it. And I'm cheering you on every step of the way.
[00:23:40] Well, there you have it, Squarespace er. Inspiration directly from the Queen of Digital Courses herself, Amy Porterfield. If you're excited to learn more about her bootcamp and you're ready to sign up, check I set up a quick affiliate link for you at InsideTheSquare.
[00:23:54] co forward slash bootcamp. I wanted that to be easy to remember. That's InsideTheSquare. co forward slash [00:24:00] bootcamp to go check out what Amy has to offer. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Think Inside the Square. I truly hope that you're inspired. I've got a lot more to share with you about all the cool things that we can do to make Squarespace uniquely yours, including ways that we can present your new digital course on your website using the features built right into Squarespace.
[00:24:18] So if you haven't subscribed to my podcast yet, be sure to do so wherever you happen to be listening to this episode. Thanks again for tuning in and most importantly, have fun with your website. Bye for now.
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