THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Amy Porterfield:
When I have a brand new student that has never created a digital course before, and really has never sold anything online, I’ll say, “We’re not going to spend any money on paid ads in the beginning because there’s other things you need to focus on, like creating a digital course from scratch.”Most of my students have never done that before, so I’m walking them through all those details, and then promoting it. So let’s say if you do a webinar to promote it, they’re learning that new talent. So also adding ads to the mix is a little overwhelming, and if they don’t have extra money, that’s not going to work. So you could absolutely launch your digital course with a small email list, small social following, and no paid ads, and you can make four to five figures. I’ve seen it over and over again.
Speaker 2:
It’s the Inspiration Place podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place podcast, an art world inside a podcast for artists by an artist, where each week we go behind the scenes to uncover the perspiration and inspiration behind the art. And now your host, Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. Hello, my passion maker. This is Miriam Schulman, your creator of inspiration, and you’re listening to episode 212 of the Inspiration Place podcast. I’m so grateful that you’re here.
Today, we’re talking all about teaching your art online. In this episode, you’ll discover some of the biggest mistakes first time course creators make, the best ways to promote a class, and some of the most popular online art classes available today, and what people are charging for them. Now, before we bring on today’s guest, I just wanted you to know that if you’ve been thinking about creating your own online class but you’re worried that the market is already saturated, let me tell you, nothing can be further than the truth. The data shows that the number of people signing up for classes grows by the millions each year, and the industry is projected to rise by the billions in dollars by 2025.
Also, art classes tend to be the most popular of all classes available online today. According to Skillshare, seven out of 10 of their most popular classes are all art related, so everything from calligraphy, to watercolor, to everything in between. And one of the ones that I didn’t count is art were blogging and video editing, so basically they’re all creative. And one more thing. According to World Economic Forum, there are over 200 million people looking to enroll in online learning right now.
Now because more than ever, people want to be creative and escape the chaos of the world and many are looking to learn from the comfort and the safety of their own homes. So if you’re looking for a guide with this data in it, plus crucial steps you need to get started, then download my just for artist creator playbook. Go to schulmanart.com/guide. Okay. Now on with the show.
Today’s guest is an online marketing expert and the host of the top ranked podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy. Before building a multimillion dollar digital course business, she worked with mega brands like Harley Davidson, and peak performance coach, Tony Robbins, where she oversaw the content team and collaborated on groundbreaking online marketing campaigns. Her action step-by-step approach proves that even the newest online newbies can bypass the overwhelm and instead, generate momentum as they build a business that they love.
And I’ve learned pretty much everything I know about creating online classes from this lady. She’s going to be dropping knowledge bombs all about how you can leverage your talents and build an online art class. So you can either quit your day job or give yourself the creative and financial freedom to work only on the art that lights you up. I wouldn’t trust just anyone to help you navigate around the course creation map. She taught me and I know she can pull a course out of you. Please. Welcome to the Inspiration Place, Amy Porterfield.
Amy Porterfield:
Well, hello there. So glad to be here. And listen, hearing all of that, I feel so honored that you’ve invited me here, but also you were a star student. So as much as I could talk about digital courses today, you also could give so much insight. So I’m glad we’re having this conversation.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. This is going to be so much fun. I love geeking out about the marketing side. I still paint. I’m still an artist, but I put so much creativity into my marketing and I’ve been having so much fun promoting your class with all the little videos. Have you seen any of them yet?
Amy Porterfield:
I’ve seen some and I love them.
Miriam Schulman:
A lot of them I have on my thank you pages, so you don’t even see them. For example, the guide I mentioned, if you’re listening, if you go download the guide that I mentioned at the beginning, schulmanart.com/guide, you’ll see on the Thank You page, one of the videos I made that talks about what Amy is going to talk about today. So I have a lot of questions for you, Amy. You want to get started?
Amy Porterfield:
Let’s do it.
Miriam Schulman:
We chit chat so much before I hit record, and I ran out of, what do we chit chat about?Okay. All right. So first let’s start off with the question I hear all the time, and I get asked the most, which is why would anyone pay for an online art class when there’s so many people doing it for free over on YouTube?
Amy Porterfield:
This is a good question. I get asked this about all the different topics that my students want to create, not even just art, but I love that we’re narrowing it down. If you Google anything, you will find tons of videos on how to do whatever you want to do. Google is the catchall for anything you want to know how to do. However, the reason why people will pay versus hunting and pecking all over the web, well, there’s a few. Number one, efficiency. Get it done. I want to go right to the source of someone I know who knows what they’re doing, teach me what I need to know and cut out all the fluff. So if someone wants to save time, energy, money, because time is money, they’re going to go to someone who’s going to teach them exactly what they want to know in this fastest way possible.
And so, of course, you can Google… Let me give you an example. This is not an art example, but during COVID, sourdough bread was a thing. Everyone was making these sourdough starters. Sourdough bread was a thing. And if you googled how to make sourdough bread, you could find thousands and thousands of videos of how to do it. However, I have a student, her name is Sarah. We call her Sarah Sourdough, and she was able to create a course for busy moms on how to make sourdough bread, how to do the starter, how to do all the details you need, what to buy, what equipment to use, all that good stuff. And Sarah was able to make over $12,000 with her digital course because people wanted to learn from Sarah. And that’s another thing. If you build an audience and you have a connection with your audience, they don’t want to learn from some stranger. They want to learn from you. They’re connected to you. So that’s another reason why people will pay for it to get access to you.
Miriam Schulman:
100%. And just think about would you rather just learn, let’s say it was fashion design, would you rather learn fashion design from somebody just because they’re doing it for free on the internet or if Brandon Maxwell, who is Lady Gaga’s designer, if he was offering an online class on fashion design, I think I would sign up for it even though I don’t really saw clothes. That’s just sounds so fun to me. So people who teach all these creative things, they want to learn how to do it like you.
Amy Porterfield:
Yes, exactly. So don’t discount the fact that you have a unique personality. You have unique stories and experiences and a way of teaching that people are going to be drawn to. Not everybody, you’re not going to be for everyone. That’s the whole point. The people that really like the way you do it and they like your story and your experiences, they will be willing to pay for it if you create the relationship with them.
Miriam Schulman:
And then as far as prices goes, I’ve priced classes at $497, and people have taken the upgrade. So people are dropping a $1,000 in one shot, and I’m not the only one. Kira Gilmore who was in both the Artist Incubator as well as DCA, Amy, she’s one of your star students as well. So she went through DCA and then she joined my program. So I know she had two successful course launches in a row that were both five figures and she was teaching abstract art. And I believe the price point she made, I think she had the early bird was $500, I think the full price was $997. And she’s been doing really well offering these classes at high price points.
Amy Porterfield:
I love that. I love stories like that. A lot of the times when I talk to my students about what type of courses they’re creating, I have many people in the creative sphere. One of them I’m thinking of is Aggie. And Aggie actually does watercolor.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, Aggie Armstrong. Yeah. Yes.
Amy Porterfield:
Yes, exactly.
Miriam Schulman:
She came through with me to you also.
Amy Porterfield:
Oh my gosh. I love that. Okay. So I love when people work with you and me at the same time, because I feel like we both have a lot to offer in terms of exactly what people want to know, how do I make money with my art online? And so with Aggie, she was actually working a corporate job and she was tired of it. She wanted out. And so she said, you know what? I’m going to follow my passion. So she decided to quit her job and she was going to follow her passion of painting. And right when COVID happened was when she was starting her in person workshops for painting and she thought, holy cow, I’m going to have to go back to my job. This is not going to work. Although, of course, she learned how to do online courses and she put her skill into a digital course and she was able to, her first time ever, make $2,000. Now, of course, she can make way more than $2,000, but I like to be realistic, first time out, $2,000. I’m pretty sure most people will be like, yes, please.
So there is absolutely a way to get your skillset and your talents into a digital course and reach far more people than you ever would in an in-person workshop.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. And I’ll make sure that we link to both Kira and Aggie’s website in the show notes, because I know artists love to check out other artists and-.
Amy Porterfield:
Cool.
Miriam Schulman:
… We’ll give them a shout out on Instagram as well. Okay. So then the question is how much people can charge for these classes. I already gave examples from myself and Kira, and it can be any creative industry, Amy, it doesn’t have to be painting, because I know you have people who are textile designers and graphic designers. And there’s a lot of people in my audience who are in those industries as well. What are people charging for classes?
Amy Porterfield:
So it really is all over the place, and it proves that you can absolutely do premium pricing, you can do really affordable pricing. I’ve seen it everywhere. And what I want to put out there is, first of all, let’s talk about this really quickly for those who are like, this is a brand new concept to me, I’m not really sure what I would create or how I’d create it. I always teach three different types of courses. Number one, a starter course. So this is the 101 jumping off basic course that you can create pretty quickly like, how to get started with watercolor. That could be your basic 101 course, all the things they need to know just to get started. And with a starter course, you create it quickly, but more importantly, your audience can get through it quickly in a weekend, which people love a good weekend course that they can get through fast.
And so usually you charge anywhere from a hundred to $200 for a starter course. Now the second type of course is a spotlight course. This is where you take one area of your expertise and you go deep. And one of the stories I always tell is my photographer student, Rob Green, he knows a lot about photography, but he’s really good at flash photography. So he created a course just on flash photography. So he went deep with one topic. And because you’re going deep with that topic, you get to charge more, because it’s a specialty. So usually around 200 to $500. And then the signature course is the Mac daddy of all courses, where you promise a total transformation and that takes you longer to create and longer for your students to get through. And typically you charge 500 to $3,000.
Now when you get into the higher price points, especially as we are going into a recession, what’s most important is to offer payment plans. And so a payment plan would be if it’s $300 and you do three payments of let’s say $120, it’s usually a little bit more than what the total cost would be if they paid in full. But that’s okay, because most people, if they want a payment plan, they’re totally fine with the paying a little extra. And I love payment plans because it takes away the barrier of, Ooh, that’s a little too much. I don’t know you very well. The trust might not be there. I’m not going to do that. If you’re just getting started and the trust might not be there with all the people that are looking at your course, offering a payment plan eases them into it.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. There’s so many things that I want to unpack for people who are listening that you said, so I’m trying to remember them all. Okay. So first of all, hell to the yes to the payment plan. And I actually found that the shorter payment plans work best, the three months, because any longer than that, people feel like it’s a membership. And if they’ve already gone through your whole class and now it’s payment month number four, they feel like I don’t want to keep paying for this membership, because in their minds that’s what they did. So we try to keep the payment plan periods short. But I do make exceptions of some, maybe I shouldn’t be putting this on the air, but I will make an exception of, see, I did have somebody come to me, this man who was in his nineties, who really wanted to take his class. And the only way he could do it with his fixed income was if I gave him six months and I said, of course-.
Amy Porterfield:
I love him already, 90 years old wanting to learn how to paint. Yes, please. That story just breaks my heart open. But absolutely I do the same thing. I have extended payment plans in my back pocket. And if somebody has a situation that they really need it, absolutely. At the end of the day, I am doing this because I want to help change people’s lives. If I can make it easier for those who genuinely need it, by all means.
Miriam Schulman:
Absolutely. And then the other thing you said that I know my listeners are wondering is Miriam, you already have a class in watercolor basics. How can I create one? And to me it’s just like Mexican restaurants. If you like Mexican food, you want to try them all. I know that even as a professional artist, I still like to take other people’s classes, even with skills that I know. They’re always going to learn something that is going to inspire you. So don’t think just because somebody already has what you want to teach means you can’t do it. There’s always room for another one. And when there already is a class, there usually means that there’s a market for it. All right. Go ahead.
Amy Porterfield:
That’s what I was going to say. Let’s talk about that.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. Go ahead. I didn’t mean to take away your thunder. Go ahead.
Amy Porterfield:
No, no. I’m so glad you brought it up. So two things at that. If you want to create a digital course in a topic that you look around and you think, oh my gosh, this has been done before every which way by tons of people. Wonderful. That means that there, like you just said, is a market for it. We call it the initial validation. It’s a great thing. But what I want to say is there are no original ideas. Nothing you can think of has not been done before in some fashion or some way. So let’s just take that off the table. So, that shouldn’t even be a concern, because there’s no way you’re going to create something that is 100% unique. That would be an outlier. It’s very rare. Number two. No, one’s going to teach it quite like you. And because I’m talking to creatives, that is especially true. You have nuances, you have a style, you have a technique that no one is quite like you and you know it.
And so with that, just know that you don’t have that competition because no one can teach it like you. So we’ve just got to go forward with what I call blinders, a horse in a race has those blinders on. They can’t look right. They can’t look left. They are focused on that finish line. That’s how I want you to run your business or your digital course as well. We’re not worrying about what everybody else is doing.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. And it’s like, there is Picasso, there’s Mary Cassatt, there’s Degas. Everyone does it differently. So that’s why I don’t feel threatened by other artists. And I’m proud to promote you. I’m not worried about somebody else stealing my business, because we’re all so different.
Amy Porterfield:
Absolutely.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. Let me just absolutely bring this document back up. It goes to sleep so fast. Sometimes I’m like, I feel like such an old lady, oh, this technology doesn’t work.
Amy Porterfield:
Amen sister. Same.
Miriam Schulman:
And then I figured it out and they changed the interface. Why did they do that? Okay. All right. Oh, this is a good question, because I know that people think this as well, a lot of people look at me and they think, okay, this works for you, Miriam, because you have a podcast or whatever they’re thinking that I have that they don’t which, PS, I started teaching online classes way before I had a podcast. What they don’t know is I started from scratch and what I also don’t always brag about was what a failure my first class was before I started taking your classes, Amy. My first one, I think I had 10 sales at $36 each and I had to split it with two other artists. Let’s just say something, that is because I didn’t have an email list. I didn’t understand that.
Amy Porterfield:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. I thought, oh, I’ll just post on Instagram. And that was back when people could see our Instagram posts.
Amy Porterfield:
What a concept.
Miriam Schulman:
I know. So I’m interrupting myself, but maybe I answered my own question here. What do you think people must do or have before they start offering an online class?
Amy Porterfield:
Okay. Let’s talk about it. So first of all, yeah, you need an audience. I can’t sugarcoat it like no worries, you don’t have an audience. You can still sell. Who the heck are you going to sell to? So we’ve got to have an audience. And social media is usually where most people start, especially Instagram for creatives. And I’m all for it. Grow that Instagram following with the right people by you sharing what you do behind the scenes and your magic. But social media is not enough. I always say, if you only build your business on social media, you are building it on rented land. You do not own that platform. And Mark Zuckerberg or Mike or whatever his name is, Mark Zuckerberg can change that algorithm like that and you are done. And I’ve seen it over and over again. Just recently, last week, Instagram came out and said, okay, we’ve heard the complaints. We know you want more images, less video. We’re going to fix this. And all of a sudden, everyone who is using reels consistently saw a decline in their reels getting viewed last week. Now hopefully it won’t last.
We have no control over something like that. What you do have control over is an email list. And let me tell you, everybody struggles with getting their email list up and running. I did. You did. It’s just something that’s like a rite of passage, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The best time to grow an email list was yesterday. The best next time is today. And the way you do that is number one. You got to start with an email service provider. So ConvertKit is one of my favorites. Which one do you use?
Miriam Schulman:
I actually use Mailchimp, which is so embarrassing, but the thing is-.
Amy Porterfield:
No.
Miriam Schulman:
… Okay. So no, I want to make sure the artists know, because a lot of people are going to like Miriam uses it. I’m going to copy her.
Amy Porterfield:
Okay.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. I do tell my students now, my artists love Flodesk-.
Amy Porterfield:
Oh, yes. That’s a good one.
Miriam Schulman:
So that’s a really good one for visual artists. I just am too deep in Mailchimp to switch. And that’s the honest truth-.
Amy Porterfield:
I hear you, I’m deep into mine too.
Miriam Schulman:
… too many lead pages, too many things, I would probably spend months just rebuilding. So that’s why I’m still there. Yeah.
Amy Porterfield:
Absolutely. So Flodesk is a great one to use, but you got to get an email service provider. So get that set up. The next thing is you want to create some really great freebie. So you had the guide that you talked about earlier on the podcast. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Something that people would find really valuable, but let’s talk about freebies for artists, because this is actually a question that comes up all the time. What am I going to give away for free to get people on my email list if I sell, let’s say art that people would buy and put on their wall? Can you speak to that? Because you are way more of an expert in this area than I am in terms of exactly what an artist would give away for free.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh 100%. Okay. The guide I was talking about, that’s getting started on building an online class, but you can create the art collector’s guide. People love that. You build it in Canva, it’s your guide. And you can just go onto your Instagram and say, hey, if you want me to send you my free art collector’s guide, just DM me and I’ll set you up. And it’s very easy.
Amy Porterfield:
And basically what’s in an art collector’s guide?
Miriam Schulman:
It’s really just a catalog, but we call it a collector’s guide because that’s going to feel more value add, which it is. You’re going to show, let’s say you’re a painter. You can show your art in room view so they can imagine how… Because people who aren’t artists, they can’t imagine how things are going to look. So if you’re a ceramicist, you can show your ceramics on a beautiful table, on a beautiful bookshelf. So you show how people can use your art in their homes if that’s the kind of art that you create. So, that’s just one of many examples.
Amy Porterfield:
I like that a lot. So you create some kind of freebie and then what you do is you’ve got to mention it everywhere that it counts inconsistently. One mention will never do, build it and they will come, does not work. So, that means you’re linking to it in your bios on social media. Every single week, you’re creating a reel or something new where you’re teaching something or talking about art and say, hey, by the way, did you get my guide? Go check it out and tell them where to go. If you get interviewed on a podcast, mention it at the end when they say, where can people learn more about you? Oh, I’ve got this free guide. Here’s where you go.
So it’s up to you to be mentioning it a lot, but this is something I promise you, if you don’t do it now, you’re going to regret it and say, I wish I listened to Amy a year ago, because I’m ready to sell. And I don’t have people to sell to. Your email list can make you way more money than any social media post if you do it right. And most artists will not grow their email list. Most artists don’t think that this is something they need to do. So it gives you a competitive edge.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh 100%. Okay. And that was the freebie, if you’re selling art, because a lot of people don’t know what that is, because if they listen to people like Amy or other marketing people who are teaching course creators or coaches, then you need to have something a little different. So if you’re looking to build an online art class, the easiest thing you can do, the easiest thing, and people love this, is an art supply list.
Amy Porterfield:
Oh, I love an art supply list. That is a no brainer.
Miriam Schulman:
Or if you’re a photographer, it’s your tools list. So whatever kind of art you create, it’s your list. People want to know what tools you have. And then once they get the list, they won’t know what to do with it. So it’s much easier than to sell them into the class.
Amy Porterfield:
I love these ideas. Absolutely.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. And I want to drop one more link for you. So Amy had put together this amazing guide on where to share those freebie links. And you can go get it at schulmanart.com/leads. Don’t worry, we’re going to have all the links for you in the show notes. And the show notes are in this, this is episode 212. So, schulmanart.com/212. And you can get all of those free, good stuff.
Amy Porterfield:
Perfect. That freebie you just mentioned. So basically you get your lead magnet up and then you’re like, I need more ideas about how to get it out into the world. I give you tons of ideas with examples from my students. So it’s really valuable.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh yeah. My students are loving it. A lot of them got a hold of it and they’re like, this is so good. Okay.
Amy Porterfield:
Okay. Good.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. So then, oh and you know what else? We actually did a whole podcast together, Amy, you and I, about building your email list. So they’re going to want to listen to that.
Amy Porterfield:
I thought so, I was like, we’ve talked about this on this podcast before.
Miriam Schulman:
We have.
Amy Porterfield:
So guys, if you’re like, okay, I’m going to create the freaking list. I’m going to do it. Go listen to that episode too.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So, it’s episode number 88. And I do mention other kinds of freebies that artists should create that I didn’t talk about today. So schulmanart.com/88. Okay. So now we have to talk about advertising.
Amy Porterfield:
Yes, let’s do it.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. What kind of advertising budget are they going to need for this?
Amy Porterfield:
All right. So when I have a brand new student that has never created a digital course before, and really has never sold anything online, I’ll say we’re not going to spend any money on paid ads in the beginning, because there’s other things you need to focus on like creating a digital course from scratch. Most of my students have never done that before. So I’m walking them through all those details, and then promoting it. So let’s say if you do a webinar to promote it, they’re learning that new talent. So also adding ads to the mix is a little overwhelming. And if they don’t have extra money, that’s not going to work. So you could absolutely launch your digital course with a small email list, small social following, and no paid ads. And you can make four to five figures. I’ve seen it over and over again.
However, if you have some extra funds to put toward paid advertising, all day long, because it works. And quite honestly, if it’s working for you, the more money you put in, the more money you get out. I remember when I was first starting with ads. If I put in a thousand dollars and I got great results, I had a business partner at the time and he is like, let’s put in 10,000 then. Let’s keep going if this is working. And I was so nervous to do it, but it was actually a great strategy the, if it’s working put more money into it. But how much do you usually spend on ads for a launch?
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, I don’t think my audience wants to know, it’s lot, but I want to say something-.
Amy Porterfield:
Because you’ve been at it for a while.
Miriam Schulman:
I have, I have, but I have some really good news for the artists. So our category is not as saturated. We pay way less per lead than-.
Amy Porterfield:
Lucky, lucky.
Miriam Schulman:
… also because you can very easily go after the 65 plus, the baby boomers. So Amy may not be advertising as much to that category, although maybe she should. I have had clients who are in their seventies who are looking to do all these things-.
Amy Porterfield:
So cool.
Miriam Schulman:
… never too late. But I’ve found that in the art niche, when you are targeting those categories, the competition is way less. So for those guides we talked about, you can get quality leads for under a dollar and-.
Amy Porterfield:
Wow.
Miriam Schulman:
… seven. Yeah.
Amy Porterfield:
Okay. So if you could get quality leads, let’s say for a buck, for me, it’s like $4 a lead. So it’s much more expensive in my industry and I’ve paid up to $8 a lead, but hopefully that craziness is going away. So let’s say you get a dollar or two a lead. So think about it. If you can put a few hundred dollars toward your promo to grow your email list, that’s really… Let’s back up a little. Where I would spend my ad dollars is on growing my email list.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes.
Amy Porterfield:
I’m not spending my ad dollars as much on, hey, buy this from me, because if I could nurture them first, it’s much easier to get them to want to be a customer. So I’ve got my freebie out there. I’m running ads to my freebie, sending them to a page to sign up for whatever it is I’ve created. And if you put a couple hundred dollars toward that, you can grow your email list pretty quickly. So, that’s the best use of ad dollars.
Miriam Schulman:
And that’s pretty much what I did.
Amy Porterfield:
Okay, cool.
Miriam Schulman:
After that failed class, I signed up for, this is dinosaur classes now, Amy, this was like Facebook profit lab. Do you remember you had a class called that?
Amy Porterfield:
Oh my gosh. Yes. So when she says dinosaur, that means I’ve created it years and years ago. I no longer have it on the market, but this is because you are an OG. That’s why I love ya.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s right. And it’s like, it doesn’t sound that long ago. Actually now it is 10 years, but online, these are like dog years. So, that’s a hundred years ago.
Amy Porterfield:
True.
Miriam Schulman:
So I was doing, as I mentioned before, I thought, oh, I just post on social media, tell people I have a class and they sign up and buy for it. That’s how it works. Wrong. So in that class, she taught us that you create a valuable free resources [inaudible]. So I didn’t know any of this before I found it. I didn’t know any of it. So if you don’t know it either, no shame.
Amy Porterfield:
No shame.
Miriam Schulman:
So I was going to sell a class about, I forget what my first one is. I think it was watercolor secrets. So I built an ad. Here’s the free supply list. And back in those days, it was like 35 cents, 50 cents a lead. But even then my leads were way less than everybody else’s. So it’s always the art for artists. This is such good news. Our leads will always be less and for a PDF it’s way less than for a masterclass or a webinar. So once you have those people on the list, then you can start talking about your masterclass, your webinar, or free video series, which is actually the way I started advertising my classes.
Amy Porterfield:
I think that’s so brilliant. When I think about back in the day, how different ads were kind of like, Ugh, it’s just bizarre, how much cheaper they were. But even though they’re more expensive today, I will tell you they absolutely work. I have built my business on running paid ads to grow my email list. And anytime I have extra money that I can reinvest in the business, you can bet that’s where it’s going. So those that are listening, they may not be ready to run paid ads, but keep it in your back pocket, because when you do want to reinvest in your business, the best place you can reinvest.
Miriam Schulman:
And I want to put things into perspective too about, with the money we’re talking about. So if you were to teach a class in person, you would have to rent a physical space. There’s definitely an investment in that. So spending $300 to get three to 600 people on your email list. And then usually you can expect to convert about between one to 2%. So, that’s about 10 people, let’s say, who are going to sign up for your $500 class. That’s $5,000. So doing that math for you that way, I am good at math-.
Amy Porterfield:
You are good. You are good at math on the fly, but I always say I run course math when I teach people how to do digital courses. And you run your course math and you’re like, wait a second. I don’t need that many people to buy from me in order for me to have a really good month. $5,000 extra this month, I think we’d all say yes to that.
Miriam Schulman:
100%.
Amy Porterfield:
And that is very doable.
Miriam Schulman:
So the class before eight, I did with Amy, I pretty much lost money. The first class after I made $8,000, just so everyone knows. And I think-.
Amy Porterfield:
That’s incredible.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, it was so much fun. Okay. We’re running out of time. Okay. So we got to get to some of these things. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see first-time course creators make?
Amy Porterfield:
Ooh, okay. So the first one is not growing an email list and you can grow your email list while you create your course. That’s how I teach it in my program, we’re growing our email list while we’re creating our course at the same time. But that’s number one, but we’ve already gotten into a lot of that. Number two is thinking you need to throw everything in the kitchen sink into your first digital course. The reason why most first-time course creators do this and make this mistake is because they want to prove themselves. And it’s scary to sell something online. So you’re like, oh, if I’m going to ask $500, then I better show them everything I know. And that is doing a huge disservice to those that you are serving, because when someone takes a digital course, they’ve paid money to cut through the fluff. They paid money to get results quickly, to learn fast. And so you putting everything in there is just slowing them down.
So I always tell my students, okay, so go through your outline, once I teach them how to create an outline for a digital course, go through, cross out anything that is not absolutely necessary. And they will always find places to do that. What it means though, is that you can get your course created quickly and your audience can get the results they want quickly. So don’t think you have to add everything in the kitchen sink into your course. Another thing is that most people wait too long to get started with their first digital course. They think they need to know more, get educated more. Maybe they’re not big enough online yet. They make all these excuses where I could tell you story after story of some of my students who have very small email lists, not a huge following on social, but they went for it and they sold 10 units, which let’s say that’s 2000 or $3,000 or whatever it is. And I can promise you it’s the start of something bigger.
So, that’s the thing. If you do not start, you can never get to the point that you’re making six figures with your digital course. You do not need to wait. You already have a digital course in you. If you’ve gotten results for yourself or for somebody else, and you’re willing to teach how you got those results, how you were able to do what you do, then you already have a course in you. You just need a 10% edge, be 10% ahead of those that you want to serve. And with art and with creatives, there are so many things that people have no idea how to do. And they’re looking to learn from someone who literally could do it in their sleep. That’s likely many people who are listening right now. So not having an email list, putting too much in your course and overwhelming yourself while you’re creating it and overwhelming everyone else when they go through it. And then this idea thinking you need to wait because you need to learn more. Usually the top three mistakes that I see over and over again.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So I had so many more questions and we could talk about this all day, but I know that you have a free masterclass that just got released as of this, when this will be airing, this is airing on… Yeah. So if you’re listening to this while it goes live, you want to make sure you hop on this right now, Amy, could you tell them what you’ll be teaching in your free masterclass?
Amy Porterfield:
Yeah. So the masterclass is all about how to recession-proof your business, or add more money to your life during these uncertain times with a digital course. The beautiful thing is you only need one. You only need one digital course to be profitable. And when you create one asset and launch it over and over and over again, that’s where you start to see that consistent revenue come in and you feel more confident about your finances. So in the masterclass, I’m going to walk you through the mindset shifts you need to make, and the actual specific techniques you need to get started with the digital course. And I’m going to flood you with a bunch of ideas of other people that have gone before you who have created a digital course out of nothing, meaning they’ve never done it before. So we’re going to talk about all of this and so much more in the masterclass.
Miriam Schulman:
And I love the title of your masterclass this year, because that is what I’ve been preaching why artists need an online class. When 2020 hit, my business was ready. And I think I had one of my best years because people were in lockdown, and they wanted to take art classes. And that has not changed. That hasn’t changed. People-.
Amy Porterfield:
No. That’s what so beautiful about this.
Miriam Schulman:
There’s more money being spent on art supplies than ever before, and they want to know what to do with it.
Amy Porterfield:
Absolutely.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s so perfect. I’m so glad that you’re offering this. So if you want to jump on that, it’s schulmanart.com/AP, as in the letters, AP for Amy Porterfield. So schulmanart.com/AP. And if you can’t spell Schulman, it’s in the show notes too. So you can just hop on over there. Just click wherever you’re watching this. All right, Amy, do you have any last words for my artists before we call this podcast complete?
Amy Porterfield:
What I want to say is you have a really special gift that other people would just die to have and your creative skills and knowledge and know how they are desirable in this world by many other people. And you are robbing yourself of an opportunity to have more financial freedom and lifestyle freedom, but also other people would really love to learn from you. I have no doubt in my mind, so at least explore it because you might just blow your own mind with what you can do.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. And one more thing, no starving artists mentality here. We have an abundant artists mindset. So if you enjoyed this episode, share it with the other artists that you know, they will thank you for it. Just take a screenshot, however you’re listening to it and you can tag me on Instagram, because I’d love to see that you shared it. I’m @schulmanart over there, or just share it with your friends. You don’t have to give me credit. All right. So thank you so much for being with me here today, Amy.
Amy Porterfield:
Thank you so much for having me. I just always love chatting with you.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. And thank you my friends for being with me here today. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Stay inspired.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for listening to the Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, at facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram @schulmanart. And, of course, on Schulmanart.com.
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