Often, I see clients who start out on their course creation journey all fired up and excited about creating their course. Only for them to falter halfway through.
It’s happened often enough that I’ve come to think of it as a rite of passage for course creators. Like sailors, if they can just make it through the doldrums, they’ll be well on their way to success.
When I follow up with them, they’re usually apologetic and hard on themselves – feeling like they’ve let me, or themselves down. But the reality is that there isn’t anything to apologise for – it’s a part of the course creation journey.
Over the years I’ve offered various solutions that seemed to have helped my clients get unstuck, so I thought I’d share them with you.
Here are 5 tips to help you get back on track when you’re halfway through creating a course and are stuck.
Tip #1 If you feel like you’ve taken on something that’s way too big – for example creating a Signature course as the first course you create. Can you repurpose some of what you’re already done into a mini-course? Sometimes just being able to finish something and sell it is enough incentive to continue with the bigger project. If it makes sense for your topic, you could always complete a series of mini-courses then join them up as a larger course offering at the end. Like the saying “The only way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.” This makes a seemingly insurmountable task a lot more manageable.
Tip #2 If you’ve run out of steam halfway and feel like you need a break from it all. Can you put it aside for a bit and work on something else course-related, like your email sequence or sales page or even some ad copy to promote your course? Shifting your focus and envisioning what you’ll say to sell your course can help inspire you to get moving again.
Tip #3 Spy on someone else’s course – not to steal their work – but to get some inspiration. Even a course in an unrelated field can help. You can study how the course is set up, how the content is sequenced, and consider how you could do the same with your course. And sometimes all it takes is a bit of “If they can do it, why can’t I?” to relight the fire and free you from the course creator’s block.
Tip #4 If you’re just not coping with the amount of work that’s involved – hire some help. Even if it’s just your neighbour’s teenage daughter who can do some research or collate some of your existing blogs or podcasts for you to repurpose into course content. This frees up time for you to work on what’s important to you – the stuff that lights you up. While someone else handles the boring and repetitive stuff.
Tip #5 If you feel like you’re all over the place and keep starting and stopping and don’t know what to do next – then perhaps you need something like my Doable Course Creation Planner. Something that guides you step-by-step through the process, so you always know what to do next because you’ve planned and scheduled it all.
And, of course, you can always schedule a free 15-minute Course Chat with me or a paid 60-minute Strategy Session. You’ll get to talk it through with someone who understands course creation and can guide you through the challenges. Sometimes that’s all you need to gain clarity on the way forward so you can get that course done!