Replay: Creating a Successful Online Course or Business with Amy Porterfield

Today’s episode of the podcast is a throwback to one of my earlier episodes, where I got to interview the wonderful Amy Porterfield.

Amy is an Online Marketing Expert who helps entrepreneurs build successful online businesses and profitable digital courses.

This episode was my second ever interview and whilst some time has moved on since then, the conversation still stands.

We're talking about online courses and transitioning into an online business, and although some of my opinions might be different now from what I've learned, I think that's interesting is interesting to see how far I've come as a person.

 
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

Starting an online business or creating a course must be done in baby steps.
Make short-term goals. In this business, you must be able to pivot and make changes on the fly to keep your business relevant. Start with six-month goals and work up from there as you get more comfortable.
To start, get in the trenches and learn all you can about your target customer.
If you’re just getting started, try to create the course first and then market it. Creation and promotion are two separate beasts.
Consistency matters, no matter the size of your audience.
Keep your course simple at first and get fancy later. Your customer will care more about the content and knowledge than they will about whether you’re using fancy video all the time. You’ll never get to where you want to go if you don’t start.
When you reach a goal, celebrate! It’s important for you and your team (if you have one) to celebrate those milestones.


 
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
Don’t compare yourself to the big shots in the industry – use what they are doing as inspiration, learn from them, listen to their podcasts, read their blogs – but then start from scratch, and do it your way!
 
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

How to stay motivated when creating a course
The key to completing your course
Why it’s important to show your team how instrumental they are


 

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE

 

Amy Porterfield Instagram

Amy Porterfield Website

 
TRANSCRIPT
 

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. So great to have you with me again, as you may have known, if you listen to last week's episode, we are doing some replays. We are doing four in total. The first one was last week, which was Jasmine, which was just brilliant. I love that episode still one of my favorites. And this week is another of my favorites. Obviously they're all my favorites, which is why I chose them. But this week was my second ever interview. When I started my podcast and, and I talked to people a lot about podcasting, often people who join me for the 90 day program want to launch a podcast. I've launched a few podcasts now with people.

So we use that 90 day program to go through and launch their podcast. And one thing that people ask me, or one thing that I talk about, if you're thinking about one is what's the format going to be. Are you going to have interviews? Are you not? What style? And actually, one of the things I did when I started my podcast was I initially just did solos.

The first 20 something episodes were solo episodes and I did it because I think I heard Pat Flynn say...

Today’s episode of the podcast is a throwback to one of my earlier episodes, where I got to interview the wonderful Amy Porterfield.

Amy is an Online Marketing Expert who helps entrepreneurs build successful online businesses and profitable digital courses.

This episode was my second ever interview and whilst some time has moved on since then, the conversation still stands.

We're talking about online courses and transitioning into an online business, and although some of my opinions might be different now from what I've learned, I think that's interesting is interesting to see how far I've come as a person.

 
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

Starting an online business or creating a course must be done in baby steps.
Make short-term goals. In this business, you must be able to pivot and make changes on the fly to keep your business relevant. Start with six-month goals and work up from there as you get more comfortable.
To start, get in the trenches and learn all you can about your target customer.
If you’re just getting started, try to create the course first and then market it. Creation and promotion are two separate beasts.
Consistency matters, no matter the size of your audience.
Keep your course simple at first and get fancy later. Your customer will care more about the content and knowledge than they will about whether you’re using fancy video all the time. You’ll never get to where you want to go if you don’t start.
When you reach a goal, celebrate! It’s important for you and your team (if you have one) to celebrate those milestones.


 
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
Don’t compare yourself to the big shots in the industry – use what they are doing as inspiration, learn from them, listen to their podcasts, read their blogs – but then start from scratch, and do it your way!
 
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

How to stay motivated when creating a course
The key to completing your course
Why it’s important to show your team how instrumental they are


 

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE

 

Amy Porterfield Instagram

Amy Porterfield Website

 
TRANSCRIPT
 

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. So great to have you with me again, as you may have known, if you listen to last week's episode, we are doing some replays. We are doing four in total. The first one was last week, which was Jasmine, which was just brilliant. I love that episode still one of my favorites. And this week is another of my favorites. Obviously they're all my favorites, which is why I chose them. But this week was my second ever interview. When I started my podcast and, and I talked to people a lot about podcasting, often people who join me for the 90 day program want to launch a podcast. I've launched a few podcasts now with people.

So we use that 90 day program to go through and launch their podcast. And one thing that people ask me, or one thing that I talk about, if you're thinking about one is what's the format going to be. Are you going to have interviews? Are you not? What style? And actually, one of the things I did when I started my podcast was I initially just did solos.

The first 20 something episodes were solo episodes and I did it because I think I heard Pat Flynn say something about it. Anyway, I heard someone say about it, you know, if you're going to do a podcast, you wanna get really comfortable with doing it before you start interviewing anybody. So that's what I did.

I got really comfortable with talking to myself and recording myself and putting out the episodes. So for me, I didn't start interviewing until around episode 20 something. This amazing person was my second ever interview. My first ever interview, FYI, if you wanna go back and listen, it was Pat Flynn, which is a kind of crazy, amazing first interview.

But my second ever interview was Amy Porterfield, which I am confident, you know who she is. Cause I've talked about her before. It's it was amazing that I got to interview her second on my podcast because she's a very sought after. All these people are that I'm bringing to you in these replays. And the fact that I've interviewed any of them is, is unbelievable, but to have her as my second was amazing. And actually like I did last week with Jasmine's, I've just listened back to lots of it and. And I really enjoyed the conversation. It was a really lovely conversation. And obviously some time has moved on since then. Like, again, it's about four years I think, but it was the conversation still stands.

We're talking about online courses. We're talking about transitioning into an online business and some of my opinions and thoughts might be different now from what I've learned. And I think that's interesting. It's interesting to see how far I've come as a person, but again, the conversation was just lovely, really, really nice, really fun.

And I think what's really great about these replays. I'm giving you, they are all very charismatic people, so they're, they're great to listen to great to hear their stories. So I really hope you enjoy this replay. Again you might have listened to it, but it could have been a long time ago, but it's a good one. So I really hope you enjoy it. And I'll see you at the end.

Amy. Thank you so much for being a guest of my podcast. I am so excited to have you here.

Amy: I love that I get to do this every time you and I talk. It's like girlfriends are just chatting about everything, work and life and all the good stuff in between. So I think this is gonna be a lot of fun.

Teresa: Oh, I'm really excited about it. You are only my second interview. Oh, my goodness. My last interview was a Pat, he is just like a consummate professional. Isn't he? He's amazing. So that was awesome, but I feel like I'm getting all the best people to start, so it's just fantastic.

Amy: Well, uh, thank you for having me. I'm honored to be the second.

Teresa: Ah, thank you. So obviously I have followed you for ages. I've been very lucky to see you taught live. I'm in, I'm a student in courses that convert and I follow your content. I love what you do. And also your story. I feel like if I was to think of my future forward of how I want my story to pan out is your story.

So I would love it for my audience that may not have come across you. Although I've talked about you a fair bit, I would love it if you could just explain how you kind of got to where you are now.

Amy: Great. Okay. So I started my marketing career with Harley Davidson motorcycles, but it was at a local level. So it was in the States.

And I, uh, I say in the States, cause you're not in the States, but it was in California and I worked for Harley for a few years and that's where I learned marketing. So when you work for a company where people tattoo their logo on their body, I mean, that's crazy. It's a tribe. It's nostalgic. It was amazing.

And that's where I learned community. But from there I then went to work with peak performance, coach Tony Robbins. And funny enough, I got there because I broke up with a boyfriend. I was up late at night, couldn't sleep for weeks and weeks. And that dang Tony Robbins infomercial kept coming up on the television and I would see it every night.

And I thought, I need, I need some of that. So I went to the library, I got his tapes. I mean, this is how long ago it was. I got his tapes. I listened, I fell in love with this message. And then I thought I wanna work for this guy. So I left Harley Davidson, got a job with Tony Robbins and I was the content director.

So I got to work on the content that Tony would do on stage and in his digital products. And for six and a half years, I got the best education I could possibly get. Right. I mean, I got to learn from the master and I was really in it. Like I got to pitch and catch with him. I got to be in his proximity.

We traveled all over the world. I mean, I got that. My travel bug is out of me. I am done, we are on the road all the time. And so I finally realized I wanna be my own boss after listening to Tony over and over again, I wanted to do my own thing. And quite honestly, I was exhausted traveling that much and being on somebody else's time, you could only do that for so long.

And so I thought I wanna be my own boss. I wanna call the shots. I wanna create content for my own business, not for somebody else's. And I had just gotten married and the traveling all the time, just wasn't going to work. And so I, I, I took baby steps. So this is great for anybody to hear that is wanting to transition outta one thing into another.

I didn't just wake up one day and say, I'm quitting. I'm starting my own business, but instead I said, I want to move on. I wanna start my own thing. I'm gonna start taking baby steps. I asked to move from the content department to the marketing department and I had a lot of clout there. I'd been there for a while.

So they said, yes. And then at one point, I said, can I start working from home a few days a week? And then from there, can I go part-time and then from there. I took the leap and went out on my own. And I think when you're a good employee, I recently heard Marie Forlio interview somebody about being a good employee and how you want to just shine no matter what.

And I feel like I was a good employee till the very end. So they said yes to all those things. Then I finally took the leap and here's where I'll wrap up the story. My goal was to create online training programs around social media and online marketing and sell those program. That's how I had seen it done by the big guns that were making lots of money and a big impact.

I went out on my own, had no idea how to create an online course. Didn't have an audience and I was freaked out because I didn't have a big savings. So I started to take clients for social media. So I took about eight clients. I was doing their social media for small businesses and I hated it. I didn't realize that it wasn't for me.

I mean, it's great for other people. They kill it. I didn't enjoy it. And I had no idea how to set boundaries. So they were calling me at all hours of the day. Their expectations were wild because I didn't set any and I just was not loving it. But I did it for two years and being in the trenches with small businesses, doing their social media taught me so very much so I needed the education.

I just didn't enjoy it. About two years into my online business. It's almost 10 years now, about two years in, I decided no more. I do not like this business model I created, I'm starting over. And I started to create courses and let go of my clients. The day I let go of my final client. Oh, wow. Turned up the radio.

I danced it out alone in my little condo. Like I finally am doing it. And it was hard for a while. We actually went into debt a little bit when I let go of my clients and started my online courses, cause they kind of took a while to ramp up. So that wasn't ideal, but I'm here now. 90% of my revenue is made from three online courses I sell on evergreen every single day. And then I do some affiliate marketing as well.

Teresa: It's just, honestly, the story's amazing because I used to work the Land Rover. I did corporate marketing for Land Rovers. So again, a brand where, you know, in some parts of the world, that is the only vehicle they see, you know?

Amy: Oh yeah.

Teresa: And people love the vehicles.

Amy: I have a Range Rover. I love the vehicle.

Teresa: And, and it is, it's an amazing brand, a great product. And then obviously worked in marketing forever. Started on my own, but I did exactly same and I, you know, I had clients and I remember hearing you say once, which is exactly what I thought was you went from having one boss to suddenly having eight, like no, that's not what I wanted.

And they think, oh, I'm gonna have my own business so that I can have free time and I can manage my, and it's like, no, no, no, that didn't work. That isn't how it's working.

Amy: Never.

Teresa: I think with clients and you have them, you do feel like you are kind of tied a bit or you are responsible or gotta be around in business hours.

So if I come off to, you know, go off to the States, I feel a bit like, oh, how are we gonna manage these things? So, yeah, I feel like I hear your journey and think that's where I wanna be. That's where I wanna be in five years’ time. Let's say.

Amy: I love it.

Teresa: It's my fingers cross. Did you ever imagine in the early days when you started, did you think I'm gonna become this successful?

Amy: Oh, heck no, like never in my wildest dreams. Did I think that I'd have the business I have today. And here's something I tell my students, the business you have today will look dramatically different in just a few years from now. And so making big decisions, making pivots, all of that is okay, because it's going to look different.

And I wanted to sell online courses, but I didn't know exactly how it was going to turn out. And I think that's okay as well. I recently heard a friend of mine say she never sets goals like five years out. She does it about 24 months out and that's about it. And that's what I've always done. At first it was like six months out, then 12 months out.

Then I could look about two years forward, but no more than that. And that's allowed me to not have to make everything such a big deal because I could pivot as I go.

Teresa: Yeah. And I think that's so important again, when you said you started off on social media, I've thought about social media courses, but the problem with the social media world is you do something and 10 minutes later, it's out of date.

So I thought, you know, I could spend months putting together an amazing Facebook course and Facebook makes one change and that's it. I'm done, you know, that is no longer relevant. What is it that you love and are there still things that you dislike about what you do now?

Amy: Oh, yes. Okay. So what I love is I love the teaching part.

I absolutely love to put together content and teach it in a way that light bulbs go off and people think, oh, I get it. Finally, you broke it down. I'm best known for step by step in breaking things down and holding people's hand through the process. And, and that definitely is something that feels good to me.

So I absolutely love it. I mean, I of course love the emails that say it worked. I did it and look at my results. So I live for that. Now the stuff I don't love when I first taught Facebook, I had the same problem that you'll likely be up against where it was always changing. I had a Facebook program back in the day and I wanted to pull my hair out the second Facebook would make an announcement.

So I get that part. I don't love updating my programs. It's no matter what you teach, it's a pain in the butt. And I also feel a lot of pressure to support a lot of people, my community, I worry. I'm a worrier by nature. I worry about them. I wanna make sure they're getting the kind of support they need and that they're getting to the finish line.

And so I hold that a lot, like on my chest, like I can physically feel it sometimes. And so I have to be careful about my self care. Like I talk to a therapist type person every single week on a Friday morning at 7:00 AM. I do meditation. I have to, I, you know, I go on walks with my dog. I have to do a few things because I, I take everybody else's struggle and burden of building an online business and just put it all on myself.

And you do that when you have courses that teach people how to do stuff and they're going through it and they're struggling, it's building an online business is not easy. And so that's the part that I have to be very mindful of.

Teresa: And I think as well, There's a big difference between people who just put courses out to sell and people who want people to succeed.

Amy: Yes.

Teresa: And you know, you can't just, well, you can, but it's not, I don't think this would be my sort of thing. This definitely isn't yours. You know, you can just put together a course and sell it and who cares if they do it? You know, at the end of the day, that's up to them. But of course you don't want that.

You want people to buy your course go through it. In fact, I have a friend who has her own business who spoke to me just the other day and went, "Oh my God, Amy's done it again." And I was like, "What you mean?" She went, I I've bought courses. I she'd already got courses. She said, and I've gone and bought email and webinars that from her. Not, and she knows what she's doing. She can't, I can't help myself.

Amy: Oh. And I love her. But those are the people I think about because that's hard earned money they're spending with me and I, I get it and I want them to truly succeed. And you're right. There are people that just put out their courses and they say, it's up to you.

You know, you're a big girl. You're a big boy. You figure it out. I can't, I can't do it. And you can't either. I know you enough to know we, we care deeply.

Teresa: We do. And, and I want to, the, the bit that I love doing is adding value is, is being a help to...