How I Kept from Getting Overwhelmed Creating and Launching My First Online Course

Ever since I pivoted my 20+ years as a music educator to include leadership coaching into my slash career portfolio,
I've been trying to find a way to make it more accessible to people who live paycheck to paycheck 
or have trouble making those initial investments in themselves.

Coaching is powerful stuff, and I wanted more people to be able to experience its benefits.

At some point, I realized that an online course could be a gateway to do all those things.

What was I most passionate about?  Helping overwhelmed overachievers create a work/life balance
consisting of peace, harmony, and joy.


As a leadership coach, I'd realized that I wasn't impacting burnout culture as I'd hoped -
most of my clients suffered from overwhelm brought on by their superiors,
yet they protected their own team from the trickle-down effect.

My solution was to focus on training those susceptible to overwhelm
to be able to set boundaries, change their mindsets, and realize their own worth
in order to protect themselves from predatory management and CEOs.

My course would ultimately be called "Overwhelmed to Overjoyed: A step-by-step roadmap
to realizing your value, forging compassionate boundaries, and working smarter
." 
I will take people from feeling anxious and overwhelmed to feeling valued and at peace,
and they'll be able to experience guilt-free boundaries while increasing efficiency at work and joy in their lives.


That's a tall order for someone who's never created or launched a digital course!

Here's what I did to keep myself from getting overwhelmed...

  1. Get help from the best.
    When you're doing something for the first time, it helps to get mentored or coached from someone with experience in whatever it is you're looking at doing. I enrolled in an online course from an industry leader with over a decade of experience.  This investment had paid for itself many times over not only because of the priceless knowledge that comes with experience, but also because of the support and the time and energy I was able to save through the knowledge and support I gained.  
     
  2. Invest in time-saving products.
    Spending money on systems, products, and services that save you time is an investment in yourself. This is worth your money.  You don't have to go with the gold standard. For example, the LMS (Learning Management System) I chose was actually a lot less expensive than the competition, but the technology was easier for me to implement and served my needs better than its more expensive counterparts.
     
  3. Pay for support.
    Live tech support was an important aspect for me, especially when I was deciding on a webinar provider since I'd never done a webinar before, much less a LIVE webinar, which is what my coach highly suggested. Most providers (LMS, webinar, email systems, etc.) offer live chats or support, but you may have to pay extra.  The expense is worth the piece of mind while you're building your online course. Time is of the essence.
     
  4. Delegate.
    Even though my business wasn't at a place that I could hire a virtual assistant for all the tasks that didn't require my attention, I was able to get support for some tasks. For instance, a friend offered to help run the webinars and a colleague wrote some guest blogs so I could focus my energies on other things. I'm already looking forward to my second launch; I'll be able to hire a VA to cover more duties since enough people enrolled in this first course to cover more of my expenses.
     
  5. Organize.
    This part came easy for me. If anything, I can be over-organized. Clear structure makes it easier to move forward and systems help you find things quicker. Even so, creating a digital course is A LOT, and then marketing it takes it to a whole new level of moving parts.  I'm taking notes as to what improvements I can make in my organizational structures for next time.  Everything has a learning curve, so be kind to yourself.
     

Interested in taking this course?  Click here to learn more.
You can also register for my FREE masterclass
"How to Say No: 5 Keys to Setting (and Keeping!) Strong and Kind Boundaries
 


Dr. Nancy Williams is a Music Educator and Leadership & Life Coach who's coached hundreds of elite students and managed an internationally -recognized community ensemble in addition to helping overwhelmed overachievers create cultures of joy and empowerment so that they can shine!

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