I’m not going to show you how to make a course that sells, but exhausts you and hurts your soul.
I’m going to show you how to make a course you love, and then I’m going to show you how to sell it.
You may have heard some controversy on the topic of online courses lately. People have Strong Opinions, and they are exchanging them. Strongly.
I have taken the liberty of distilling the relevant perspectives.
In the red corner, we have the “Courses Are The ONLY WAY, Silly” camp. The core premise of this camp is that making $50, $500, or $2,500 for work you did two years ago is the only respectable way for someone in our industry to earn income. Courses are where the money is! Books? Coaching? God help us, service? Fetch me my smelling salts. What is this, 1952? Those things went out with the ark! Make a nice, neat funnel of three courses – low, medium, and high priced – throw some money at some ads, and rig a jig jig, you’re on your way. Silly.
In the blue corner, we have the “Courses Are Dead” camp. The core premise of this camp is that nobody buys courses, they’re overdone. Like Yogi Berra saying, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”, this camp either thinks nobody buys courses, or they are buying courses, but soon they won’t, and then… doom! All those poor people selling courses will be sleeping in their cars. Depending on temperament and skill set, these people either think “the money” is in continuity programs or high-end coaching.
I don’t fit in either of those camps, and I’m not in the middle, either. I have my own camp over by the bar lake.
Here’s my take:
Well, my first take is that if you ever hear anyone utter the phrase “the money” – as in “where the money is” – run like hell.
But other than that, here’s my stance on The Camps:
If you’re in the teachy-coachy-healy sphere and your exclusive goal is to maximize money at all costs, you may want to follow trends closely. Tiny edges in what’s trending, what’s new, what’s au currant can add up to significant gains, and yes, you might want a mentor to do the research for you. If they tell you to make a continuity, or a high-end coaching program, or a course, and they can make a valid business argument for that, yes – you may want to listen to them. (One guru at a time, though, okay? Otherwise you’ll just get conflicted.)
However!
If you are in business for any other reason at all, your situation is different. If you just want to make a living wage helping people, with a reasonable amount of control over your time, you don’t have to concern yourself with this argument. You can keep your eyes on your own paper and let them fight amongst themselves. If your financial goals are anywhere in the $20k-$200k range, you are absolutely free to not worry about where “the money” is ever again. There’s plenty of money.
If my camp is something that appeals to you, then read on, you rebel, you.
In my opinion, the most reliable and flexible way for a person in this sphere to earn income, gain and retain credibility, and maximize their future options is online courses.
Not cookie-cutter online courses at with formulaic outlines and stratospheric price points. Those? Actually, yeah, those were probably a bubble, and they are probably doomed.
But we’re leaders. We’re guides. We’re mentors. We’re teachers.
Teachers teach. What do they teach?
Courses, usually. :)
"It's the best, most practical content out there."
“I have been reading IttyBiz and taking classes now for over a decade. Even as a seasoned business, I always learn something new. It's the best, most practical content out there by a mile.”
Chris Zielski, Copper Leaf Studios
Why courses? Why not membership programs or books or seminars?
As technology has become more affordable and accessible, online business owners have the ability to distribute their information in all sorts of ways that were never available before. Thinking outside the box is a good idea, and it’s worth considering any available medium or method if it might be a good fit for you. So seminars, continuity programs and books? They’re all worth considering.
Here’s my answer:
First, membership programs.
Membership programs require a huge investment of time, energy, and trust on the part of the consumer. We’re asking them to agree to give us money for the entire foreseeable future. That’s a big ask, which means we have to market the hell out of them to make them work. If you’re into funnels, a membership program is usually the last item, because the psychological commitment involved requires the highest level of knowing, liking, and trusting.
Memberships also require a lot of participants to make them worthwhile. Most ittybiz owners don’t yet have the audience size to make a continuity program viable. So if someone is considering a membership program, I usually advise they launch it after their third successful course.
Memberships are best for those who are either very confident marketing, or who have a huge list.
What about books?
Ahh, books. My first love.
Where membership programs are often an end-of-funnel offer – after they’ve already come to seriously trust you – books are good at the beginning. Books are widely distributable, come in a number of formats, and yeah – they’re a lot of people’s first love.
They also make about three bucks.
Books are wonderful, but as a rule, they’re marketing materials, not revenue generators. Books get you customers and clients, not money.
And seminars?
Seminars are courses, they just have a different name.
“IttyBiz makes serious courses that don’t take themselves too seriously..."
...and they always have actionable steps to keep you moving forward in your business. (And there’s always something in there to make you smile.)”
Karyn Claflin, BodyMind Coach
Courses create opportunities nothing else can.
Courses give you a chance to shine, to show expertise and authority, to put everything you’ve learned and found and discovered in one concrete place.
Courses give you a place to deepen – to deepen your students’ understanding of the topic, and to deepen your connection with them.
Courses allow students to work through a process, take their time, and do the important work of change.
Courses are robust but contained. They allow you to give your students a chance to immerse themselves in a topic they care about, but they put that immersion in a container that says, “This has boundaries. You’re making progress. See? You’re halfway there!”
(And, yeah, let’s go there.) Courses make money. They make money during launch, when students are excited about something new. They make money in timed promotions, when students are in the mood to invest in something a little bigger. And they make money on the back end, when students are buying just the right thing at just the right time for them. If passive income is a priority for you, for the love of God, make courses. There’s no such thing as a money-making machine, but this is the closest thing I’ve found, and I’ve done a lot of looking.
"It was instrumental in helping me create enough income to support myself"
“I'm approaching my 10th anniversary of starting my business, and I wouldn't still be here doing what I love without IttyBiz. The first program I did was the Emergency Turnaround Clinic, and it was instrumental in helping me create enough income to support myself at a time when I was so scared of failing. Thank you IttyBiz for helping us little guys!”
Sage Grayson, Life Editor
I’ve had a lot of requests to make “a course about courses” over the years.
All of my clients were students first, and a lot of them are making courses of their own. I’ve made 41 products, classes, and courses over the years. I’ve covered launch, I’ve covered ebooks, I’ve covered list-building – why don’t I make a course about courses?
It’s a reasonable question.
I’ve always held back. I made excuses. (Some of those clients have called me on those excuses, for which I am very grateful.) I thought it was too big of a topic. I thought it was too much to distill.
But something happened this year that changed all that.
I got an email from my son.
Someone asked him if he’d be willing to teach them, and he wanted my help.
Um, teach them about what?
As far as I was aware, my son was a roofer. As in, he climbed up on peoples’ roofs with a nail gun and tried very hard not to fall off. Apparently, he’s also good enough with money that people want to give him some of theirs. This was news to me.
Without feeling the need to tell his mother, he had apparently been getting into internet business. Unbeknownst to me, he was taking copywriting classes, direct sales classes, and – yes – even my classes.
Oh.
He said he didn’t know how to make a course. He said he didn’t know where to start. He said he was struggling with some of the courses he’d taken, and he didn’t want to make one like that.
Could I help?
Well, then. There go my bullshit excuses. When your first-born son asks you to make a course about courses, you do it.
So I did it. Happy birthday, Gemini baby.
With that, I introduce:
Content you’re proud of.
A launch you feel good about.
This is my promise to you.
This is… Making Courses With Heart.
This course is everything I know about making courses that resonate with who you are. This is selling what you know without selling out. This is what I wish I knew every time I fell off the path, or struggled with a choice, or was so tired I wanted to give up.
This is what I would tell my son, taking his first steps on a journey that has given me everything I have.
Making Courses With Heart is a 10-module course-building intensive that covers every part of the course creation process from conception through to production, post-production, and launch.
It is self-paced, instantly downloadable, and yours for life. The course is laid out in chronological order, covering each step exactly when you’ll need it. You can work through the modules at any pace that works for you. Binge it, pace yourself, or anything in between – it’s designed to work with you, and the way you learn, and the way you work.
If you’re reading this, you’re in one of two positions:
One, you’ve never made a course, but you’ve thought about it. It probably feels a little bit exciting, but when it comes time to approach the idea, it’s intimidating as hell.
Two, you’ve made a course or two or ten, and you’re exhausted. The exhaustion, the overwhelm, the fear of failure – it’s become an exercise in going through the motions.
This course is designed for both of you.
If you’re new, you’re a beginner, and you can approach the material in Making Courses With Heart fresh. You can come to the course creation course without preconceived notions, without “the way things are supposed to be”. You can make your first course right from the start, even if you’re brand new to your sphere.
If you’ve been around the block a few times, this is your chance to set down the dogma and the cookie cutters, and approach your next course with a fresh and open heart. You can step into connection, empathy, and bravery and go back to the way it used to be. (“It used to be about the music, man.”)
In either case, Making Courses With Heart is made with you in mind.
"Naomi's courses really stand the test of time"
“IttyBiz courses are all value and no fluff. There's great, solid content, but they're also fun to read and accessible. I find I come back to them again and again – they really stand the test of time, which is more than I can say for some much more expensive online courses I've taken.”
Sophy Dale, FullyBookedPress.com
You can make courses you feel good about.
The only courses I haven’t felt good about were the ones where I was trying to be something I’m not.
My courses are goofy. I put pictures of me as a kid selling mustard in a farmer’s market. We’ve had a woodland creatures theme, a watercolor theme, a glam theme! (I regret the glam one.) The number and variety of cats has long past unreasonable.
My courses have this guy:
and this one:
and – yes – this.
I can be myself in an industry where everyone feels pressure to be perfect.
I charge a fair price in an industry that’s in a race to the stratosphere.
And I’ve succeeded. You can, too.
I have a loyal, fun, friendly, kooky list of fans and friends who like, or love, or graciously tolerate my quirks, and when the offer is a good fit for them, they buy.
I’m going to teach you how I make courses. Big ones and little ones. Flagships and fun little projects. When my CFS is acting up and I can only work for 10 minutes at a time. When I’m in the mood for a coffee theme. When I’m tired and making dad jokes. I’ll teach you what I do when I’m certain every word I say has been said before, when I’m consumed with self-doubt, when I’m convinced I have to throw the whole thing out and start over.
I’ll teach you how I make avatars, how I manage projects, and how I brand things for less than $50.
Every step, it’s in here.
"Naomi has a way of teaching that distills exactly what's needed."
"Naomi goes way above and beyond to help us get the concepts so we'll use them. She's so funny and down to earth - a fresh voice among all of the other people out there who take themselves way too seriously.
Naomi has a way of teaching that distills exactly what's needed. She truly, truly understands her students and can literally describe the specific real issues that get in the way. I can finally see a path forward and what I need to do.
This class helped me create a sound foundation compared to other classes that were really only about tactics with no strategies."
Christy Moore
There are 5 key principles in the Making Courses With Heart system.
Principle # 1: Your course has to appeal to two people: your avatar, and you.
There’s a lot of support in the digital marketing sphere for creating an avatar or ideal customer profile. Google “customer avatar worksheet” and you’ll be busy for quite a while. If you’ve ever done one, though, you’ll have noticed pretty quickly that it’s not intuitive what to do once you have it.
Knowing your avatar is pretty easy. Empathizing with her enough to know what kind of course she’ll be genuinely pleased to buy? The worksheets were never designed for that level of connection.
And where are you in all of this? She just has to take the course – you have to make the damn thing! Shouldn’t you like it, too? Shouldn’t you be allowed to wake up honestly looking forward to what you’re going to make today?
In my world, yes. Your joy matters, and I’m not done until you’ve found it.
Principle # 2: Small sellers’ greatest asset is loyalty. Loyalty comes from human connection.
There’s an old fiction adage that says, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader”. It means that if you’re seeking an emotional connection from your audience, you have to be emotionally connected yourself.
You may have noticed that emotional connection with your work and your audience is hard to come by when you’re drowning in shoulds, best practices, perfectionism, comparison-itis, self-doubt, impostor syndrome and more tips, hacks, and tricks than you can eat.
When you can get back to that place of connection, you can do anything.
Principle # 3: Happy, confident people create GREAT things.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and posit that you probably never thought to yourself, “You know what I want to do? I want to create a really mediocre product and market it like blazes.” I’m guessing you want to make something great. I’m guessing you’ve always wanted to make something great.
I’ve been a marketing coach and trainer for a long time. I’m all for great marketing. Marketing has given me a life I never could have dreamed of.
But it all starts with a great product. It has to start with a great product. And when your product comes from you, you have to be in a great place.
Principle # 4: Never unnecessarily do anything you don’t like.
I get a lot of questions that start with, “Do I have to…?” Do I have to launch on social media? Do I have to do a webinar? Do I have to have video?
In my world, if it starts with “Do I have to…”, the answer is no. Always.
For small sellers, your revenue requirements are modest, which means you don’t have to do anything. Up to around the $200k mark, there’s nothing you have to do. So if you don’t like it, I’m not going to make you do it. In fact, I’m going to emphatically insist that you don’t.
There are multiple ways to accomplish everything, and you’re empowered to choose the best fits for you.
Principle # 5: Your work has to fit your life.
I work with all kinds of people. An ADHD couple in Cyprus. An autistic single mom of 8 in Michigan. A coach in Canada battling schizophrenia. A writer in the UK with a mom in hospice.
We’re in the sandwich generation. We’re getting divorces. We have health struggles. We’re juggling doctor’s visits and taking kids on college tours and bailing our dads out of jail.
There is no time for work that doesn’t work for us. When you make your course, it has to work for you. I can help with that.
With these five principles in mind, I have created a workshop that will help you get in the right space, make a great product, and sell it to a genuinely enthusiastic audience.
That’s my promise.
“The magic of IttyBiz classes is that they're approachable...
...and they deliver huge value and information. I always learn a ton and feel more confident when I take one. They're an essential part of my business growth.”
Diane Whiddon, Clarity Coach
Your customers need you to be brave enough to be yourself.
Making Courses With Heart is a revolutionary way of approaching courses.
It takes paid content creation out of the land of shoulds and gottas and supposed-tos and gets to what’s real. Realness is what’s missing in this industry, and realness is what makes students feel seen, heard, and understood.
Customers crave authenticity. They crave sincerity. They crave depth.
If they wanted your topic filtered and sanitized and footnoted, they’d buy a book. People buy courses because they want what’s gritty, what’s underneath. They want you to go there.
They want you to cut through the cliches and the tropes and show them what they really need to know.
It’s okay. You can be brave.
There’s still space and time and room to make something you’re proud of.
So what are we covering in this thing?
There are three stages of the course creation process: conception, production, and promotion. Each part gets several sections to work through the process and troubleshoot any challenges or questions that come up,
Here are some of the things we’ll cover:
- Creating the right course for the context and stage of your business
- Deciding on your core theme, and designing a course that’s intuitive to make
- Discovering your course avatar, and connecting to them with empathy
- Dismantling the blocks that make you hold back, freeze, or get generic
- Project management and getting your ducks in a row
- Efficient production techniques so this doesn’t take forever
- Increasing production value with simple, powerful branding techniques
- Incorporating bonuses to boost your “thunk factor”
- Pricing that reflects value, gets you paid what you’re worth and doesn’t make you choke
- Promotion and launch that’s aligned with your values, your skill sets, and your resources
"Naomi structures her classes for all levels, so wherever you are in your business it doesn't matter."
"My favorite part of Naomi's classes is the simplicity - she is so easy to follow (and manageable with bite sized steps)... Naomi structures her classes for all levels, so wherever you are in your business it doesn't matter. She makes it soooooooo easy. (Plus her sense of humor - and being inspiring - helps!)
It will surprise you how FUN Naomi is... her insights are unique and surprising. She thinks of the entire group at all times and remembers everything/everyone, their issues, challenges, concerns, desires... uncanny!
It's so so so refreshing to listen to someone normal, down to earth and girl next door... not some stuffy "stick up their butt" business person. Naomi is refreshing and brilliant with a sense of humor that keeps you on your toes, you never know what is going to come out of her mouth and it keeps you listening!"
Amy Doublet
Your Exclusive Making Courses With Heart Bonuses
Including in your Making Courses With Heart registration are two exclusive bonuses I’ve made just for students of this course.
Bonus # 1: Launches with Heart
Launch is covered in the course, but it’s a big topic, and it can be helpful to see the behind the scenes of how they’re actually done. I’ve taken my last three launches – for Passive Income, Pivot, and Making Courses With Heart! – and broken them down for you step-by-step.
I’ll show you how I designed them, how I made my decisions, how I managed obstacles, and how I built my promotions around what was going on in my life, in the market, and in the world.
Bonus # 2: Healing a Broken Heart
The biggest thing standing in the way of creating anything with heart is when your heart has been busted, bruised, or broken. Creative wounds make us scared to be ourselves, to let ourselves shine, to let ourselves be seen. In these pages, I work through creative wounds – if you know my history, you know I’ve had a few – and show you how to find your way back from dark, difficult times.
When we look at how sanitized and formulaic the marketing world seems to be, it can be hard to imagine that it can be genuine, aligned, and real every step of the way. Lots of people are doing it, and you can, too.
"I have never needed to look further."
“IttyBiz is the first place I go when I need advice on marketing my swordfighting books and courses, and I have never needed to look further. The launch email sequence templates literally quintupled my course sales. Awesome stuff.””
Guy Windsor, Consulting Swordsman
Get your questions answered
How much time will I need to devote to the materials?
Making Courses With Heart is a self-paced, 10-module online workshop walking you through every step of making a course you’re proud of, from conception to design to production, pricing, and launch. The workshop will go deep, particularly in the first four modules. The time you take on the exercises is up to you, but I’d say you’re looking at about an hour per module.
Are there prerequisites?
While there are no prerequisites for this course, it assumes you have a foundational knowledge of internet marketing basics. If you have taken any IttyBiz product or course, you should be fine. If you are brand new to digital marketing, you can consider picking up something from the Karma Store first to see if you can understand what we’re talking about. If so, you’re good to go ahead and join us.
Do I need a mailing list?
Eventually, you’ll need some way to tell people your course exists, but it doesn’t need to be a mailing list, and it certainly doesn’t need to be now.
Do I need to have a business already?
Perhaps surprisingly, no. You don’t. I have several clients who are launching their business with a course as their primary offering. It’s pretty common, actually.
Do I need a social media presence?
No. I hate social media with the fire of 10,000 suns, and nothing I teach will ever require its use. Ever.
Do I need to be able to write?
You need to be able to communicate comfortably in some fashion.
Is this only for live courses?
No. I cover both live courses and DIY / self-paced options, as well as helping you decide what’s best for you and your students.
Will this work for in-person courses, classes, or seminars?
Making Courses With Heart works for anything that has a curriculum.
Do I need to do video?
No. This covers all major media, and gives suggestions for how to choose if you’re unsure. But if you have your heart set on a particular medium, you can just go with what you’re comfortable with.
Are there additional expenses?
You will need somewhere to put your course when it’s done. That will either be your website or a course hosting platform, all of which have free plans.
When it comes to the end of production, most people want to add a bit of fancy stuff – fonts, pictures, intro music and the like – to increase production value. The most I’ve ever spent on this was $150 – $12 for a custom font, $89 for music, about $20 for photos and $30 for a premium PDF layout template. All of these resources and many free alternatives are available in Module 7: Post-Production.
Are there live calls or presentations to attend?
Making Courses With Heart is entirely self-paced.
Can I get help if I get stuck?
Of course! You can email me with any questions you have, although you can do that anyway. :)
How do I get started?
Okay, you heart-centered rebel, you – you’re ready to make it happen. Your first step to joining us is to purchase the class. Once you do so, look out for my welcome email with your portal login and your next steps.
“I love these products enough to own every Ittybiz course there is.”
Autumn Mcarthur, FaithHopeAndHeartwarming.com
Sell what you know
without selling out
I'll see you on the inside! :)
100% Satisfaction Guarantee:
As with all IttyBiz products, Making Courses With Heart comes with a 30-day, no-questions asked money-back guarantee. If for any reason you decide that this product is not for you, just get in touch within 30 days of purchase to receive a full refund.
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