I totally love my work in many ways, but it can be hard to balance wanting to save the world with being creative and also wanting to make a living (duh). Having started my business on a shoestring I know what it’s like to be on a budget and to wonder wether you should DIY or hire someone for the millions of tasks we’re dealing with. There is so much that we can learn from free Youtube videos, but it takes time and a ton of commitment… So! One fine day I realised that I want to pack everything I’ve learned into an online school for people trying to figure out how to brand themselves and build a beautiful and functional website.
To be honest, this idea has been in my tummy for a while and it took about three months from recording the first videos to actually launching the baby. For the love of transparency I thought I’d share the step by step process of what I have done and what I would do differently.
Here we go:
- I wrote an outline for my two courses – DIY WordPress Magic and Branding with Canva
- Bought a light box and familiarised myself with the Nikon camera I already had
- Booked a hotel room to have a beautiful setting in which I shot all my camera-facing videos
- Bought a domain and build a membership site using PilotPress and Ontraport (best decision!)
- Edited the videos and uploaded all the content
- Made a launch plan and began procrastinating like crazy
- Finally kicked my own butt and set up a sales page, then posted on all my social media channels, offered early bird bonuses and a discount, emailed my list and ran a Facebook ad campaign with a free taster training
What went well:
- I love that I switched to Ontraport before launching the Online Awesomeness School because it really did make everything so much easier
- Enjoyed the process of making all the videos and thinking about how I wish someone had taught me what I know now
What I wish I had done differently:
- I wish I had had a firm launch timeline in place right from the start, would have saved be a lot of feeling bad about “not being ready yet”
- I deeply wish that once I did launch, I would have allowed more time to create my sales page. To be honest, the first version was pretty shit and has probably put a lot of people off. Ugh. It’s wild how blind we can be to things that are off when we work on our own projects rather than for our clients. I guess I had exhausted myself with the course production and didn’t spare enough energy for this bit.
- I also wish I had hired someone to help with Facebook ads earlier in the process as that would have probably saved a lot of money/brought in more sign ups
What my next steps are:
I will take a little break for now and appreciate how far I have come and how much love and energy I have put into the Online Awesomeness School. After that I will launch a new Facebook campaign, open registration for affiliates and organise a bunch of giveaways. Hurray!
