Today we are talking all about course design and building systems around the development and maintenance of your online course with Ariel Schiffer, who’s the owner of Dreampro, and literally the course design queen. She is giving you the low down on how to systemize your course design for success.
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Meet Ariel
Ariel Schiffer is the founder & CEO of Dreampro, a boutique course design agency that offers DIY solutions and done-for-you services for entrepreneurs and small businesses that are looking to create or revamp their courses. Ariel has been creating courses for nearly a decade for Fortune 50 Companies, non-profit organizations, private companies, keynote speakers, and entrepreneurs. Her mission is to “take out the digital trash” and improve the quality of learning in the online business industry.
“I think the fact that we all have programs and educate others is a beautiful thing. And I think people need to be aware of how they can make their stuff the absolute best it could be. So that’s really my mission. And the way that we make decisions at Dreampro is, if it’s gonna help people, let’s do it.” -Ariel Schiffer
The Role Of Systems In Your Biz
If you’re a done-for-you provider, you need systems.
Evaluating your processes and building out detailed workflows allows you to scale your biz and grow your team.
Systems are ever-changing. In order for your business to successfully scale, you have to be continuously auditing and reevaluating those systems to support the direction or the vision of your business long term.
We get it, sometimes we get in our head and get overwhelmed with all that needs to be done to implement systems. But looking at your processes and your systems is an investment in your business. Because if you don’t do that, if you don’t invest the time, if you don’t invest the resources to do that, you’re actually losing money in the long term.
Systemizing For Success With Your Team
Having the right people and having leaders on your team who can make decisions for you, is crucial.
Ariel has found that trust and empowerment are key to team success. When it comes to trusting your systems, your people, your processes, you need to trust your team to make decisions and know what is best for your biz.
“When you empower people, and you show people that you trust them, and you show them that you know that they’re capable more, and you let them rise to the occasion, you will be so surprised that what you receive.” -Ariel Schiffer
What are some of the strategy steps business owners can take to evaluate whether or not a course will serve them in their business?
Ariel says there are no hard and fast rules, but there are definitely things to consider:
The big thing to ask yourself is are you actually qualified to create a course on that topic?
We hear you, imposter syndrome is real, but here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you figure this out.
- Is this something that you can talk about for days? Is this something that you’re already doing and implementing with people? Do you understand the why and the how behind what you’re doing?
- Is this aligned with my mission and my vision for my company? Is this something that I want to have as a long-term asset in my business?
Creating a course is a LOT of work and you definitely need to think about it before you just jump in.
Things to think about:
- Are you going to offer lifetime access to the course? If so, are you willing to stay relevant with it and keep it updated?
- Does creating a course align with the way that you want to make money in business?
- Are you going to offer a coaching component in your course? If so, are you truly committed to doing that?
When deciding whether or not to create a course, it really comes down to asking yourself: are you the right person? And do you want to make that commitment?
What are the steps biz owners should take to keep their courses up to date?
Ariel suggests looking at your program every 6 months.
For the first 6 months, Ariel says to give it a bandaid fix. Things to ask yourself include:
- Are there things that need to be removed?
- Should things be added?
- Do things need to be updated?
At the 1 year point, Ariel says to really evaluate your course and ask yourself:
- Does it need another bandaid fix?
- Is it fine as it is?
- Or does it need a full revamp?
The key to evaluating your course at the 1-year mark is to look at your client feedback!
Ariel builds this into all of her client’s programs by creating 2 evaluation points, one in the midpoint and then one at the end.
By looking at your feedback you are able to evaluate if your students are achieving the outcome that they paid for, where students are getting stuck, and identify the root cause of any bumps in the road.
Ariel says that depending on what your program is created on, and what industry you’re in, things might change more frequently. Some programs might need more frequent updates than every 6 months.
🌟 Hot Tip: Keep a Google Doc or ClickUp Doc to dump any ideas you have leading up to your 6-month check-ins! Having one central location and a system for organizing ideas will save you so much time when it comes to updating your course
What is the very first step to creating a course and what is the biggest mistake you see people making?
Ariel says that these are one and the same; she sees people not taking this first step.
The first step is doing intentional, deep market research to really understand your ideal client. You should be able to know exactly what your they are struggling with, what they’ve tried before, why they’re purchasing the course, and what they need.
Doing intentional market research makes your program that much more specific and less fluffy because you’re speaking right to that person’s pain points.
You also need to get super clear on your course topic and ask yourself what the one big problem you are trying to solve is.
Focusing on one goal will make your content way more niche-specific, less fluffy, and allow you to go way deeper with things because you’re hyper-focused on one goal.
Ariel Schiffer, founder & CEO of Dreampro, is seriously the course design queen. To learn more about the strategy behind Dreampro and systemize your course design, you can connect with Ariel at the links below!
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Systemizing Your Course Design With Ariel Schiffer
September 8, 2021
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