Why we don’t have to DIY our entire course (unless we want to)
When it comes down to it, we just don't have the time or the desire to DIY every part of our course creation.
Am I right?
We know we want a course. Or we at least have a sense that something like a course would benefit us and our community.
It’ll free up more of our time, more energy, prevent us from repeating things to each person, have a resource that people can use when we're not around, etc.
However, we feel some or maybe a lot of resistance when starting to think about all of the mechanics of setting up a course.
I get it! I feel it too.
How to (not) do it all:
Write out our content
Set it up in a way that's going to be engaging (and not overwhelming) for our students
Choose a platform we want to put it on
Record videos or audios
Create resources and worksheets
All of these kinds of details can make our head spin.
That’s totally fine. This may not be our zone of genius.
Our zone of genius is the actual stuff we are going to teach our students.
Because it's what we've already been doing with our clients (if we’re business owners) or people we lead at work (if we’re part of an organization). We’ve taught this stuff one-on-one, in-person, or in small groups and we're ready to design it as a course.
We have a strong sense it’ll have a positive impact if we get our work out in an easily accessible format for our students.
We are skilled, we have our expertise to share, and we are pretty darn sure that what we have to offer is going to be valuable. At the same time, there’s a LOT that goes into having a great course.
And so where do we start?
Think about our own course experience
Maybe we've taken courses and thought to ourselves, “Oh, I would love to do that! I would love to have a course that’s similar to this one.” That’s because we had a great experience learning.
It was engaging, we got to go at our own pace, and there were different modalities to learn. Perhaps some video or audio, some text, some worksheets, or some ways to engage with other students and form a community of learners.
They're all aspects that go into making a great course and not all of these aspects are needed for every course.
No need to do it all.
The important thing is to really figure out what it is our students will need and want in order to truly learn what it is we're going to teach them. To be able to take in and apply what they're learning from us. Not just getting a bunch of information and then moving on to the next thing. Right?
We want our course to actually make a difference in the lives of our students.
What it comes down to is that there are just so many things to think about, to plan, organize, research, and maybe not all of that is our jam.
Course creation does not have to be your expertise. What you already do, what you love, what you're going to teach. That is your expertise.
So what do we do, then?
Do we spend hours searching for articles, trainings, and YouTube tutorials on how to create our own course?
There's a TON out there. And maybe we've already invested in some resources. Maybe we’ve dipped our toe in that arena and realized this is just too much. I sure have!
It's too much.
We've got so many things going on in our life already, and this is just one more thing. One more thing we know we want to do, but it's just not lighting us up right now.
The idea of creating all aspects of this course on our own…it's just not exciting.
You know what? That’s totally okay.
So, I think the interesting question to ask is: What does light us up about creating our course?
Maybe it’s the research and creating the content of what we want to teach.
Maybe it's how we visualize our students interacting with our course or with us in the course (this one totally lights me up!)
Maybe it's the connections they make with other students as we form a community.
Maybe it's the changes they make in their lives as a result of learning from us (no matter how small or big that change is).
Maybe that vision we have in our minds is what is so crystallized and exciting!
That is what lights us up.
That is what keeps us coming back to this idea of creating a teaching experience for ourselves and a learning experience for our community.
So if you want my two cents…
I highly recommend that if you’re in this situation, start getting really clear on what actually lights you up about building your course.
Flesh it out, write it out, talk it out.
Talk about it with someone. Maybe the potential students you envision having in your course (or people you’ve already started working with).
If you’re a list person like me, write it out on a sheet of paper like a pros and cons list with “what lights me up” on one side and “what doesn't light me up” on the other side so you can get really clear on why you want to have this course in the first place.
Because courses are not for everybody. They're not meant for every person, but for some people, they really are a great next step in their professional development or business.
And that might be you.
So, getting really clear on what lights you up and what doesn’t.
Is it the details of picking a platform? Researching which platform is going to be the best for your needs?
Is it the process of setting aside time and writing out your content?
Is it learning about how to make that content engaging?
Is it recording videos? Does that just freak you out? Or maybe that excites you!
Is it the entire process from start to finish? Diving into a long-term project?
Course creation can take months, and in my experience it does.
This is not a quick project we can finish (and finish well) in a few weeks.
The high-quality, highly engaging courses take several months from start to finish.
(And there’s nothing passive about it! So don’t be fooled by the whole “passive income” thing — It’s very active.)
So what about this whole idea does not feel so exciting?
Really clarifying that for ourselves is such gold. And, I love talking it out with someone. That’s where I get a lot of clarity by getting it out of my own head.
Feel free to let me know your thoughts too. I'm happy to share my perspective if you want it.
So the last thing I want to say about this is that we're all busy and have at least some resistance.
Like most of us these days, there’s a lot we want to do and a lot going on.
And course creation is on our priority list, but it's not at the top of the priority list.
The reason is that, most likely, there is resistance. Pay attention to that resistance! It tells us something really important.
It's not something to push through, force ourselves to figure out, or do on our own.
That will suck all the joy out of it.
It's really about listening to what that resistance is and how we can minimize or completely remove it by getting creative.
Because there is one super crucial thing…
If you've ever taken a course from someone who is not excited about it, you feel it.
I definitely have, and it was really apparent. Even when they were trying to push past it.
As a student, we can feel our teacher's energy. So if we're not excited about this course we want to create (or continue working on), and we push our way through it, our students will feel it — unconsciously if not consciously.
And that is going to impact how our course is received.
So whatever doesn’t light us up, I bet there’s someone out there who’s fully excited to do exactly that!
How cool would it be to partner with someone who absolutely loves the things we don’t?
And take them off our plate!
Just think about that…
What would it be like to work with someone (or a group of people) who will take on all of the things we don't love?
So all we get to do is focus on everything that we do love and everything we are excited about.
I hope this is helpful. I hope this serves you in some way. Please take whatever does and just leave the rest.
And if this leaves you with questions about your course idea or anything related, feel free to jot them down in the comments below.
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Who wrote this blog post?
I'm Dori Iris, Founder of DIZI strategies, encouraging and supporting big-picture thinkers to bring their vision to life and contribute to a better world.
I welcome any of your thoughts or questions! Feel free to add them in the comments section below.
