Today, I am going to help you to package up that expertise and learn how, by having your own course, you can elevate your brand and also gain added expertise. I have today someone who is a pro when it comes to creating amazing online courses. I have today Jennifer Kennedy of TeachGoodStuff.com. She is going to help break down what it takes in creating a good course that will benefit your brand. Jennifer is an educator who provides training and coaching for women who are ready to take action on their goals so that they can have more freedom in their lives. Here are highlights from our conversation:

• Jennifer started her business having a teaching background, as she had been an elementary teacher for 8 years. She didn’t want to get into teaching (as she has a degree International Studies) and she wanted to be diplomat and travel around the world, but then she got into teaching. She really wanted to take her stuff online and she wanted to take entrepreneurs create digital products that matter using solid teaching practices. TeachGoodStuff helps entrepreneurs design ebooks, online classes, webinars that will have an impact on other people’s lives.

• She never wanted to be an entrepreneur initially. She loved seeing people learn and seeing their faces light up and get excited to learn about something. When she started, she was happy with creating programs but she felt like she was stuck and there was no longer any room for promotion to move up to the next level. She thnk that the biggest factor was that she was wasting time in her life just helping another person pursue their dream. She wanted to use her life hours to pursue her own dreams, hopes and goals. This meant for her to step out in her faith and dive full time into her business.

• Now that she can look back, Jennifer realizes that every space and place she has been to is part of her journey. She is grateful for all the skills she has learned and this has taught her skills on how she could create webinars and work books and training for people. She says it is important that you look on your skills and see how you can translate that into your own business and how you can use those skills into what you really want to do in life.

• As she talks with her audience and clients, Jennifer realized that there are two things that keeps or delays entrepreneurs from creating their own courses. One is perfectionism, where you keep on comparing yourself with other people and that you have the notion that you need to have everything perfect like the way you see it in your mind. It is not until you realize that all you need is to provide amazing value. If you provide that, then that is the most important thing to do. Another thing is overthinking about who is going to buy your course. There is a voice inside our head that keeps telling us that we are not doing well in what we are doing. It is all about taking action. This doesn’t mean that it is final. This just means that you have moved one step further and closer.

• Jennifer also advises that people should create something that they enjoy. It is important when you create these products, you are doing it in such a way that it brings you satisfaction, accomplishment and a feeling of awesomeness. Creating products establishes you as an expert but you need to also create products that excite you. People can tell when you put your heart into something.

• She gives out three quick tips in creating your course: the first one is to identify the problem that you wish to solve. You need to think of a course that not only makes you excited to share, but also allows you to solve a problem. You need to figure out what problem you are solving because people want answers. Make sure that what you want to create aligns with what people want to have solved. The second thing was not to stuff all of your information into your course. A lot of people want to over-deliver and provide tons of value to their course but ends up having a bloated course. You want to just have the right amount of information on your course so that you don’t end up overloading information to your audience. The third thing is to tweak your content as you go. This can be done by introducing your course first to a small group of people and just get feedback. Feedback is key for your course as it allows you make changes and tweak your content.

• If someone wanted to create a course, a great ideas is to flush out and getting ideas out of your head by researching and putting things on writing. After you have researched, you can put things in a logical sequence or outline that will get you step by step to the end goal. You can figure out a way that works for you, but you need to outline the key takeaways you would like people to get out of each of your lessons, the main idea you want them to get and actions you want them to take.

• Jennifer runs her courses on her own website and she uses the plug-in Wishlist Member. She is also considering to try out Zippy courses next time. You can also use a sub-domain website so you can test out your course plugins and how you can fit them in your system.

• She says that how courses can help create a sustainable income source for you will depend on how you position it within your brand. Having multiple streams of income is the goal for every entrepreneur, and having a course allows you to tackle different problems people are having and meet them where they are. It allows you to have passive income as it meets people on where they are as they come to you. It would just depend on what you offer, how you offer it and what you have in vision for your business.

You may reach Jennifer on her website at www.teachgoodstuff.com or email her at [email protected]. You may also connect with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/TeachGoodStuff).