The truth behind why I am shifting my business model from courses based to high-touch 1 on 1

I am in a big shift right now and I want to bring you behind the scenes. After years of running courses and group programs, I am changing my whole business model. This episode is the real and honest story of why it is happening and what this new season is calling me into.

If you have ever felt pulled to change direction in your business but felt scared or unsure, this one will speak to your soul.

Inside the episode you will hear:

• Why my energy started craving deep one to one work again
• The difference in business models and how to adapt to the right one for you life. 
• The simple reason I am choosing depth over complexity in this next season

Transcript

0:05

Welcome to the Empowered Edupreneur Podcast. My name is Michelle Smit, and I'm a business growth mentor and subconscious transformation coach. I work with established women in business who are ready to scale beyond what they ever thought was possible, helping them grow thriving businesses that feel as good as they look. If you're ready to elevate your identity, unlock your subconscious power and combine it with aligned strategy to create limitless results with more ease, freedom, and impact, then you're in the right place. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of mindset upgrades and business expansion that will unlock your next level and help you thrive on your terms. We're going to have so much fun together. So thank you for pressing play today. Now let's dive in. Hello. Hello. I hope you're having the most fabulous day today. I am going to be talking to you about something that I am doing in my business that is very different to what I've ever done before. Now you may know me as the course creation gal, and that's for good reason since. 2018, literally since the inception, the birth of my business, I have created and sold courses, and I have focused on courses and group programs. So that is now about eight years that I have been creating and selling courses and focusing predominantly on, hybrid group programs where there's curriculum involved and it's scalable. It's literally one of my favourite models ever. I've always spoken about this being the freedom model, and I have made six figures for years with this model, and I'm shifting model this year for the first time. I'm shifting my focus and I'm moving away from the scalable model to the in-depth model, and this is not me saying that courses and group programs don't work. It actually works beautifully. It still is one of my favourite business models. It is scalable. It gives you leverage. It does give you freedom. I love it, but I've been doing it for eight years. And right now I'm in a season of life where I am craving depth and I have had this feeling, this niggle of wanting to work in much closer proximity and depth with people. Now this isn't to say you can't go deep with hybrid group programs. You absolutely can. The transformations are powerful. The group dynamic is very powerful, but really going deep with someone and really tailoring it and solving a very particular problem for someone can only really be achieved one-on-one. Where you really refine and tailor and you go deep with that one person, there is just a level of depth that you can't achieve that can only happen really with a one-on-one setting. Even if you have the most intimate group containers, they're still a barrier to how deep you can go. And so I really wanted to go more into specialization, more into tailoring the experience. I wanted to go into the nuance of someone's identity, their subconscious patterns their messaging, their unique money blocks, their limiting beliefs within business. And I really wanted to have this personalized experience that can shift someone at the root. And this is the kind of work that I felt could only really happen one-on-one. And there is really something sacred about sitting across from someone, whether in person or online and just going deeper. And that is what I've been having. There's been this niggle and this calling that I've been craving, and it's because I've never prioritized on high touch, one-on-one experiences ever. So for me it was a bit of a flip of the script because i've always been like, why would I work one-on-one? And it's been confusing for me for the last while to have this niggle of wanting to work one-on-one because I'm like, where is this coming from? And it's come from the desire to just have very deep, powerful transformations with people that I feel like could really only be achieved one-on-one. And the other side to this is I have shifted my business to working with a different type of client. So not someone who's a beginner in business, because obviously I've been working with beginners and businesses for many years, but because I've gone down the journey for so long. I am actually looking for someone who's already a business owner, you know, amazing women who are great at what they do, they're making money, they're a coach, they're a course creator. Maybe they're even a healer and they've got a business, and they're just struggling to get to that next level. Maybe they've plateaued, maybe they've got certain subconscious identity things that are holding them back from taking that next leap in their business and the strategy side, they don't understand what to do to get to that next level. And so for me, I have decided, okay, this is me living this experience in my business, and this is me telling you that this is what I would do in this situation. When you shift clients target audiences, ideal student, whatever you want to call it. When your dream client changes, I believe one of the best things you can do is go back to one-on-one work. Even if you know how to create powerful group programs, which I know how to do, I know how to do all of this. I know how to launch, I learn how to sell. I know how to market them. I know everything to with it when it comes to that model. But when you shift to a new audience and a new client, it's so powerful to work one-on-one with them because it allows you to deeply understand them. You hear their exact language. You hear their exact struggles, their bottlenecks, and that is the most powerful market research you could ever have. Because then you can refine. You are not only your process for that client and improve your method to get them amazing results, but you need to learn for marketing purposes. So your messaging would get a million times better. So when you are shifting audiences, instead of going and immediately selling a course or a group offering to that audience. My recommendation, and this is just from my own lived experience, is go back to one-on-one. Go back to the basics. Go back to working in depth with these people. Learn exactly what they need. Learn exactly their struggles, learn exactly their obstacles, and refine your method, and refine your process to really getting them an amazing result. And then once you've done this and you've had a good amount of one-on-ones under your belt, you've really refined your process. Now it's ready to be recorded and made into a curriculum that you could sell at scale. But your product is going to be so much better if you just go back to the basics of one-on-one. And that's where I'm at right now. So I am not saying one-on-one model is the right business model. It depends on where you're at in the season of life you're in. What's satisfying to you? It depends on many, many factors. But what I am saying is if you are shifting audiences, I do recommend going to one-on-one, so if you are an online business owner and you are wanting to make more money. A lot of people think, okay, let me create a low ticket product course or let me create some sort of digital product because then I'm going to make more money. And yes, I have been able to do this. I'm a strategist. That's what I do. I'm a business strategist, so I know business strategy down to a T. That's literally what I help people do. So when I'm doing it, I'm doing it following a very particular strategy. I'm being hyper intentional, hyper strategic, and so it can work, when you are doing that. If you are not doing that, it really rarely works and making more money becomes. Very difficult. If you are a strategist, you understand funnels, you understand launching, you understand the intricacies of it, then yes, you can create a course and you can scale it to beyond six figures. And even beyond. You can get one scalable course to seven figures. But if not, it can be challenging. And this is what I've learned is that for many people it's very hard to scale to the 20 k, 30 k months with just digital kind of product type things. So let's say you want to create 10K a month. You could create a $500 course and sell it to 20 people a month. To hit that 10 k, 20 people is a lot of sales, okay? Every month to make, especially if you don't have a big audience. Now, if you look at the one-on-one model, instead of charging$500 for a course, you charge. Two and a half thousand dollars for a high touch, one-on-one experience where you solve the problem very deeply for that client. Very specific problem, and you're solving it very specific way and you're getting them a very specific result and you're charging two and a half thousand. Now it's hit the 10 K you need for sales a month. So what's easier? Selling 20x $500 courses or selling four, $2,500 dollar high touch one-on-one experiences. For people who are not like business strategists who understand the intricacies of launch launching and the strategy around launching and course creation and all of that. For most people, it's going to be easier to sell a two and a half thousand dollars one-on-one high touch experience. Four times a month to hit that 10 K. These are very different business models and they require very different steps and strategies to hit the result. But with a high touch premium, one-on-one model, you will always need to make less sales. So it would require, not like a launch model where you have to have all this marketing and you have to have this live launch. You have to fill up this program. For people who can do that. It is incredibly profitable. But for a lot of people it's complicated. And it's a lot of work upfront for future gratification. Now, if you want profit quickly. And more simply than just selling a premium one-on-one offer is easier because all you need to do is just have conversations with people. And sell offers on calls with people, which has way less moving parts. You just basically need to create content, generate conversations, get people booking on calls, and then you just sell your offer on a call. And then in terms of the skills you need, you just need to learn how to have sales skills. So you need to firstly have content skills to generate the people wanting to work with you, the leads. And then you would need sales skills to actually close those leads and sign clients. So it really depends on where you're at and what kind of business model you want. But in terms of a high touch, one-on-one experience, even though you are trading your time, it's often a lot simpler to achieve. Is making four sales at two and a half thousand a month versus 20 sales a month for a digital course. And so this is the thing when you go one-on-one. There are quite a bit of benefits. So the first one is depth of transformation. Obviously when you work one-to-one with someone, you go straight to the root of their problem, their unique problem, not the collective group problem, their problem. And you can really work through it in whatever way it is, and you can really tailor your experience and process, let's say. To solving the problem for that client and getting them a result very quickly very efficiently. You can't really beat it. Then because it's tailored, you're not wasting time on things that she doesn't really need to apply to her. Because obviously in a group model you've got steps and not all the steps everyone needs to take. Some people need to do different steps slightly, and so you're taking a process and you're applying it to the collective, but yet it loses a little bit of its effect. Whereas if you are working one-on-one, you literally tailor the process to her. And then she can focus on exactly what she needs to move the needle in whatever it is that you're helping them with. So the speed of the result is there with one-on-one. And then of course the desire. A lot of people want one-on-one. So we're moving into a time where AI is happening. The world is becoming a more disconnected, there's a lot of courses and programs out there and people are really craving the one-on-one. They're craving the one-on-one experience, the tailored experience, the depth of the experience. Yes, they're craving community and that's something you can facilitate within a group program, course model, but a lot of people are actually wanting to pay more for one-on-one. And it's just what I've been observing. People want that tailored attention. Especially if you're charging a premium and you're solving a very particular problem for a very particular type of person. They're willing to pay a premium and they want all eyes on them. They don't want to have this generic one size fits all program. They want a tailored experience. And so that's what I've noticed in my work. Obviously, being a business coach and strategist. I've been seeing a lot of people just wanting that one-on-one, and that's been interesting for me as well. And then of course, profitability. So I think a lot of people think, okay, the one-on-one model, it's trade your time for money. Which I've always spoken about, like why work one-on-one when you can work in groups like that has always been my belief. And I do still hold that to a certain extent, but it depends on where you're at in your life and in your business and what's going to be most satisfying to you, and what model's going to get you to living the life that you want to live and doing the work that you want to do. Because it's different. Every model requires different things. So for me, the one-on-one model, I didn't love it because I didn't want to trade my time. But now because I've been doing courses in group programs for so long, I have this desire to work one-on-one with people and at a premium price point and really solve particular problems and get particular results for particular type of person. And when you do that, you can charge a good amount for it. You can charge a premium. And so one-on-one at a premium price point can create such powerful cash flow because you don't need a huge volume of sales. You don't need a huge audience. You just need to solve problems that people are willing to pay to solve, and you need to articulate that well in your messaging and your content to get people who are interested to work with you. And then honestly, you just need a couple of sales to hit your 10K or 20K a month. And so it's actually really simple. And then you also don't need to run ads. You don't need to have a lot of team. There's a lot of things cost-wise that drop when you are going with the one on one model. The profit margins are pretty epic. Obviously it depends where you're at. I'm in a season of my business where I want depth and I want high touch experiences, and I want to work deep with people and I want to work with less people. I want to work with much less people than what I did. So previously I'd have thousands of people buying courses. And now I actually just want a handful of clients that I work with and I just work much more deeply with them. That's just where I'm at right. Now this one on one model, I would say is very good for you. If you're completely new to business and you don't yet know how to get someone a proper result in something. I would work one-on-one with people first. Make sure you refine your process and then you can create a course later or a group program later based on that. So if you're completely new, I recommend one-on-one is the easiest way to start now. And then if you're further down in business and you're doing the digital product thing, you're doing the low ticket item thing, and you're exhausted from marketing and you're not seeing the profits you want to see and you're exhausted from launching. I honestly just recommend adding a high touch premium one-on-one offer to your business. To create quick profits and breathing space because if you're trying to sell a membership for $27 a month, or even$97 a month, you need a lot of members to make the money you want to make. Now, if you just solve a very particular problem in your audience and you charge$3,000 for that, and you create a very powerful one-on-one experience with them, you need three sales, and that's a lot easier than having like a hundred members in a membership. So if you've got a business and you're wanting profitability and you don't have a one-on-one offering, I recommend paying attention to that because one-on-one high touch premium offers create great profits. And if you're solving a very particular problem and you're getting a result that people want it's not that hard to sell. You just need to have sales skills and do sales calls, but you don't need to have a full blown launch. You don't need to do all these things. It really depends. Now I'm sharing this with you because I've been the course creation, scalable, girly, for like ever, right? And I still absolutely love that model. I absolutely love it. And I will go back to it, this isn't forever. I absolutely intend to go back to it. But for now, for this year at least, I'm just focusing on depth. I want to refine my work on a personal level. I want to work deeply with women. I want to help women with their subconscious stuff, because of my mind shifting, I want to work with them breaking through their subconscious blocks, stepping into their power tailoring their business strategy to really fit them and their energy levels. And that, for me feels really fricking good. And so sometimes going bigger and having more is not the flex. Sometimes going deeper is the flex. So sometimes working with five women at a very high level and watching them transform their income and identity is more powerful than running a container of, I don't know, a hundred people and impacting them, but at a much lighter level. So I'm really feeling called to that depth versus that bigger is better kind of energy in business. I'm interested in profitable, embodied, simple business, simple success. This is what the season looks like for me, is simplicity. And when it comes to selling one-on-one, it is so simple, right? You have conversations with people, you sell them an offer, you tailor that offer for them. And you give them a powerful experience and you get them a result. It's just very natural versus, the whole launch model and all the funnels you have to build. You don't need all of that. You just need to have conversations with people and solving something. And I'm just as in a season of simplicity right now. I'm not in a season of that masculine, let's graft and create a 10 step funnel. I'm in a season of let's have conversations with badass women and let's create magic together and let's solve some big problems and let's move them to the next level in their business simply. So this is just what I'm doing, this is my perspective on it. Take it, leave it, run with it. Be inspired. If you are craving that one-on-one, go for it. If that is draining you, if you're working one-on-one so much, then it's time for a price increase, my friend. But that is another story for another day. Alright, so if you're listening to this and you're an online business owner you're wanting to make more money, wanting me to make profit. Think about your dream client. Look at your offers. See do they need more information? Or do they need deeper support? Do they need tailored support? And if there is an opportunity for that, create a one-on-one offering because it's actually so much easier to inject profit when you have a high touch, one-on-one offer that you can offer your audience. All right. I hope this inspired you or made you think differently. I guess it's a bit of a different message for me because I'm normally like woo-hoo, group programs all the way, scale, scale, scale. Now I'm like, let's go deep. Let's go deep. And let's get intimate. And it's feeling good, it's feeling grate. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day, and I'll chat to you soon. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you are an established woman in business who's ready to scale their business to the next level of success, and you don't just want strategy, you actually want deep, subconscious reprogramming and powerful identity shifts, then email me mind shift, and let's see if you are a fit for my Millionaire Mind Shift one-on-one container where I help you rewire your subconscious so you can become the woman who can create and hold incredible success visibility. And wealth with ease. I appreciate you so much, and I cannot wait to connect with you in the next episode. In the meantime, go create a business and life you love.