Develop a Course People

Want to Buy

Takis Athanassiou
 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

Have you ever develop a product just to nd out that no one wants it? Have
you read all these wonderful concepts about how to develop a product, just
to nd out that none of these is applicable to your case? If yes, you are one
of the million people wanted to start a business based on a brilliant idea
and, failed!
This is a common case. If you focus on whats in your head and not verify if
your idea has any substance or signi cance for anyone, but you, then the
problem is yours.
To launch an excellent product you need to have knowledge, skills, focus
and most of all a way to know that you werent moving in the wrong
direction.

The Importance Of Understanding Your Business

Things are changing. As a matter of fact, people are changing as well. What
people wanted in the past is not the same thing as what people want today.
As a small business owner, a freelancer or an edupreneur, you are always
moving on quicksand. It is very easy to fall in, and never manage to get out.
Thats why you need the proper concepts, mindset, skills, and tools to help
you do what you have to do and avoid the problems.
Many entrepreneurs today are active in edupreneurship, an area matching
out fast forward era, but a tricky one. It needs a lot of knowledge to be
done right and provide multiple results for the people operate in it! (find
more information here and here)

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

As every business today, the one thing you should focus on is developing
trust. Most people in the area believe that authority is the key that will open
the door toward the heart of their prospects (and their wallets!!!), but they
have wrong. Before trust, even though you have all the required skills and
knowledge to provide the services you say so, you need to develop a trust
relationship with your prospects.
You need your prospects to trust you in many ways and usually. That takes
some time, but trust me, it worth the time.
The second most import things you should focus on (de ning trust as number
one) is to understand your business. As an IT consultant, instructional
designer, course developer and e-Learning expert I can tell you that most
people cannot understand their business (their prospects included)
When they start, usually are focusing on developing a product but the
outcome rarely matches the original plan. The most of the times they have
failed to de ne with clarity the 3 basic component of their business ( you
might want to check on my free course for some ideas):

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

What their business is (i.e. your business is not to develop a new course on
productivity. It is to make people more e cient to their life and work. See the
difference?),
What their products/services are (you product is not the course, or the
tutorial. Is to make someone gain the knowledge and skills to cope with the
problems facing in his/her job.), and
Who their prospect are (i.e. you dont sell to anyone. If you sell to anybody,
usually you sell to nobody. You address to an audience, consisting of men
and women from 25-65 years old, having a steady job and income, living in
USA, Europe, owns a house, have internet access, etc. You need to focus on
who you sell your products/service to, and nd out what their needs are to
customize your message product or service on his/her requirements.)
People usually believe that if they have a great idea about what they want to
teach and can implementing it in-house, it will be a huge success.
But, usually, this is not the case!

When Ideas Are Wrong

A great idea is, great! But not all ideas are equal not all ideas worth
become a reality. Obviously, you would have seen many goofy things around,
wondering why people get into the trouble of doing them.
Well, as in every business, there are good and bad ideas. And there are ways
to develop good ideas to provide value to the people you want to serve.
Because that is important.
As an edupreneur or entrepreneur you are in the business not just for
making money (of it is important as well but is not the major issue!) You are in
the business to provide more value to some people and these people are
the people you choose to serve.

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

From a strict point of view, there are not wrong ideas. There are ideas for
things that can be developed, employed or worth doing and ideas of things
are impractical, out of reach or time, half-baked, etc.
As an entrepreneur, though, you should focus on the ideas that produce
items (services, course, webinars, books, etc.) would enhance the capabilities
and the reach of people you are addressed to.

What Do People Need Most

There are many discussions on what do people need most. And it is an
endless discussion. To move forward, less presume that there are no any
people!
There is a small group of people you are interested in communicating with
to pass along your message(s). And dont get me wrong, but info-products
are also a product and a message! It is something intangible people want.
But not all the people. Only a small group of people with certain
characteristics, comprising an essential part of your niche market.
People in general, want many things. Most importantly though they focus on
2 things: goals beyond ones self-worth chased after and self-actualization (as
Maslows hierarchy of needs teach us).
As far as products concerns and speci cally education products, people
tend to focus on products:

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

making or saving money

helping them learn or acquiring newly needed skills
can entertain people, provide a new experience or provide them access
to people or places want to be
focusing on bettering ones life
making them more efficient
The same thing happens with courses and webinars. Same principles have
been around for while for products in digital economy applies to
edupreneurship as well.

How To Develop a Course People Want to Buy

As there are many wrong ways to develop a course (as I demonstrated
above), there are many good ways on how to develop an excellent and
successful course (Bryan Harris has documented one of the best ways to
develop a successful and profitable product).
A course is an info-product, and as an info-product, its success in the market
or its failure does not always relate to the how best is designed and crafted!
There are many factors at playing here including the marketing, the price
tag, the accordance to the speci cs need of your niche market, the
solutions its offers, etc.
Usually, we value products based on our own requirements, the availability,
the price, the learning curve for its usage and the time on which our
investment going to produce tangible results.
But the marketing issues is not something to be discussed in this article.
Here we are focused on how to develop a course people want to buy!

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

There is a small procedure for that. This procedure involves:

1. Idea Brainstorming. You need to listen to what the problems of your
audience you want to serve are and nd suitable ideas for
implementation. Suitable means appropriate, cost-e ective, suitable for
all members, etc,
2. Idea Collection & Filtering. First, you need to collect the ideas in one
place and filter the ones you think they can proceed.
3. Data Analysis. When you have 1-2 ideas tted for becoming a course
you need to dig up a little more to the requirements of your community.
You need to take back some feedback on the things you have
announced and you need the feedback to be pertinent to what you are
going to do. You will analyze all the input you are going to receive and
you use this input to fortify your idea and develop a Unique Training
Value Proposition which will lead your course development.
4. Idea De nition. This UTVP will lead your development e orts and it
will help you clarify your idea, its purpose and its application further.
5. Idea Validation. When you have defined your idea and know where it is
addressed to, you need to nd out if someone is willing to pay real
money in order to get a course based on this idea. It is not easy and
needs a little bit marketing skills to validate your idea properly, but if
this step is omitted you risk to develop something no one would buy.
You can do an excellent idea validation on the places the people you
serve usually gather (forums, groups, discussion, etc.)
6. Develop Prototyping. When you have veri ed your idea it is the time
to start outline your course and develop modules. In this phase, you
need to develop a functional prototype in order to show some
capabilities of your course.

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

7. Pre-Sale Your Course. Just before the nish, the previous phase should
start to develop a pre-order campaign for your course. It is a lot easier
to develop a product YOU KNOW many people want and paid for it,
rather than developing in the void and in absence of external feedback.
This campaign can have the form of an e-mail invitation, leading to a
landing page for pre-ordering your course, dedicated sites, etc.
8. Launch Full Course. The end of the previous phase will landmark the
continuation of the development process and the date of the o cial
launch of the project.
9. Feedback & Evaluation. As always, you should keep a keen eye on the
comments of your clients as well as on the campaigns, requests, etc,
loop them back the development process and enhance your course
effectiveness.

Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

 Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou

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Develop a Course People Want to Buy - Takis Athanassiou