There’s a lot of advice on the practicalities of making online courses here on my blog and on my YouTube channel and Instagram. But I haven’t said much about how you can get get in your own way. Because there’s no doubt, one of the big barriers to making an online course can be your own mind. Trust me, I’ve been there myself!

So I’ve made a couple of videos about how to get over those things that can get in the way when you want to make an online course.

In the first one I talk about how you need to set aside some time and space to make your online course. It sounds obvious, but so often we end up trying to cram our course creation into to tiny pockets of time after we’ve finished our client work.

Have you ever got about half-way through making a course and been struck by lots of negative thoughts? What if your course is no good? Why would anyone listen to you anyway?

In the second video I talk about these thoughts and suggest some ways of getting past them so you can finish your course.

Please note this was a Facebook live so the video and audio quality isn’t as high as would like it to be. This is something I’m going to look into for future live videos.

Quick reminder: my ‘Create your online course in 7 weeks’ course ends in October. For all the info on that, please click here.

Another week, another Facebook Live (and this time I had some people watching – very exciting!) This week I was talking about a really common challenge I hear about – how to  beat your online course creation overwhelm. Here’s the replay:

Here are the key points I mentioned:

1. Don’t get hung up on the technology. The chances are that whatever you want for your course (high tech, low tech, complex, simple…) you’ll find a solution, so thinking about the technology too soon will just overwhelm you.
2. Don’t go too broad. Focus on helping your audience solve a single, focused problem.  That means you can make a short, tightly focused course that’s less overwhelming for you and much more likely to grab the attention of your future students.
3. Think about how you’re going to market the course before you begin. There’s no need to put together a detailed plan and it’s perfectly fine if you only have a small audience or social media following. But thinking about how you’re going to reach your audience now will make it easier to ‘angle’ your course to the needs your audience members have and the language they use.  For example, a career coach may think of creating a course to help clients reach their full potential but the clients may be thinking in terms of getting a better job or getting a promotion.

If you’d like to see more of my Facebook Live broadcasts, please like my page: Facebook.com/totallycourses