The Course Mentors Podcast
Hey there, future course creator!
Ever feel like turning your know-how into an online course is like trying to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded? Well, grab your headphones because "The Course Mentors Podcast" is here to be your secret weapon!
Meet Aimee and Odette (that's us!), your new best friends in the course creation world. We've been in the trenches for over a decade, and for the last five years, we've been rocking the online course space. Now we're here to spill all our secrets in bite-sized, 15-20 minute episodes that'll fit perfectly in your coffee breaks.
No fluff, no filler - just real, actionable advice that'll take you from "um, what's a landing page?" to "holy moly, I just hit six figures!". We're talking everything from crafting your course to marketing it like a pro and building a business that'll have you pinching yourself.
Whether you're dreaming of ditching the 9-to-5 grind, adding a sweet extra income stream, or just want to trade demanding clients for students who think you're the bee's knees - we've got your back.
Think of us as your personal cheerleading squad, but instead of pom-poms, we're armed with proven strategies and a healthy dose of "you've got this!" energy. We're here to give you the straight-up truth (with a side of fun) to help you crush your goals and create that freedom-filled life you've been daydreaming about.
So, ready to turn your expertise into course gold? Tune in to The Course Mentors Podcast. And hey, once you're done implementing our awesome advice, swing by Instagram @thecoursementors and show us what you've created. We can't wait to celebrate your wins!
Let's make some course magic together, shall we? 🎉
The Course Mentors Podcast
Creating Online Courses - Is An iPhone Enough To Make Millions?
Stuck in the "I need better equipment" trap? Been telling yourself you'll start your course once you can afford a fancy camera? In this myth-busting episode, we're exposing one of the biggest lies in course creation - that you need professional video equipment to succeed.
In This Episode:
- Real examples of successful courses filmed on phones
- When to upgrade (and when to keep it simple)
- The truth about what equipment you actually need
- How to make the most of what you already have
Whether you're filming on a phone or balancing your laptop on kitchen supplies (we've all been there!), this episode will give you the confidence to start with what you have. Because your knowledge is too valuable to keep waiting for perfect tech!
Ready to ditch the tech excuses? Hit play and let's get you recording! 🎥
#CourseCreator #CoursePricing #OnlineBusiness #DigitalProduct
Want to create your own 6-figure+ course? Apply to join Online Course School https://thecoursementors.com/application
Got questions or want more free content? Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/thecoursementors/
Catch us every Wednesday for your weekly dose of course creation wisdom. Got questions or loving the show? Let us know on IG @thecoursementors. For more on our courses and mentorship, check out Online Course School's website https://thecoursementors.com/application.
Welcome to the Course Mentors podcast. I'm Odette, I'm Amy and today we're getting into a myth busting episode. It's going to be short, sharp, to the point, because we want to bust a myth that often holds people back from actually starting their course. These are the things that we're going to change your perception on, so that there's nothing holding you back from getting into it and succeeding in the course creation game okay, myth or fact?
Speaker 2:do I need professional filming equipment to start filming my course?
Speaker 1:No, you do not. That is a myth, big old myth. That's a big old myth. A lot of the time people think, before I start, I'm going to need a whole video crew, how am I going to set up equipment?
Speaker 2:What is my background going to be? I'm going to need a professional camera. I'm going to need to buy the latest and greatest filming equipment.
Speaker 1:I'm going to need a tripod. I'm going to need To put a huge investment before you've started selling your course. So it's a really good one to bust, because you can pretty much use things you've already got at home as your first set-up. Maybe a couple of small purchases not the thousands, but barely even the hundreds A couple of things that you might need to buy just to elevate it a touch, a touch.
Speaker 2:But really let's talk about why it's not necessary to have such a professional setup first, I want to say that, honestly, 99 of the most successful courses that we've either been a part of because we've either seen our students build seven figure courses, or courses that we ourselves have taken and partaken in 99 of those courses were filmed on a webcam.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100, probably just the webcam that comes with your macbook yeah, so what's a course, amy, that would need a professional setup probably something very, very technical, where those very minute details are going to matter. I'm thinking things like crafting and I'm thinking things like cake decorating or woodworking things, where you need to be showing yourself like demonstrating something. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I will say as a caveat I do think also that you can film those yourself with a $50 tripod and a camera.
Speaker 1:And a decent camera, yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe at the very start, an iPhone camera and you move up to a better camera. And then you move up to professional videography when you're already hitting numbers yeah, and you need to to a better camera, and then you move up to professional, professional videography when you're already hitting numbers, yeah, and you need to spend money on something you're like, oh, what can I do to improve my course?
Speaker 2:yeah, then you can do it. But I even believe that even the most technical courses, where you're doing cake decorating, can be filmed on an iphone with a tripod at the very beginning, absolutely until Until you have that.
Speaker 1:MVP. So what's most people set up then?
Speaker 2:Most people have a webcam and they take their computer and they put it on a stack of books and they talk into their computer so that they're at face height.
Speaker 1:That's right. I remember both versions version one, version two of our course. I had just the same stack of, I think, cookbooks that my laptop sat on Didn't even get anything fancy for that, and it was literally just filming onto. We had a little hundred dong a mic each and then filmed on our laptop that's it, and you know what people think.
Speaker 2:It's incredible because, honestly, 90 times of the courses of the really, really really high good ones, the seven figure courses filmed on a webcam that's right, and we actually had access to a professional videographer.
Speaker 1:My husband's a professional videographer.
Speaker 2:We could have had super professional videos we could have hired a set, yeah, and had your husband come in and film it as a professional videography, done job and we said no thanks, no thanks.
Speaker 1:We want to, we want to, we want to create that environment, that atmosphere of we're having a conversation, we're sharing some documents, this is easy, this is doable.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that our students knew to emulate that and how good of an experience that they had what we wanted then and what we continue to want now is that our videos on our course feel like you're just jumping on a quick zoom call with us, not that you're sitting down watching someone interact in a set, that you're just watching your coaches talk to you on a quick FaceTime and keep on moving so that you can get the help you need, get the lesson and the structure and content that you need, and just keep moving.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to feel like some big, intimidating university-style class where you're watching a highly produced lesson. And I want to say as well that I think it's really important to know that most people and this sounds counterintuitive don't want to watch highly produced content. They want to watch something that feels natural.
Speaker 1:They don't want that sort of false YouTube experience, over-edited and over-hypey. They just want to sit down with somebody that they can relate to.
Speaker 2:Learn it, move on. Yeah, that's right. So what do students if they don't care about highly produced and they don't care about you having a videographer on set? What do they care?
Speaker 1:about yeah, we're not saying crap, quality is okay. There are a few things that you definitely need to get right to provide a good experience. First, one is clear audio. You can't have rubbish audio. We don't want dogs barking in the background, we don't want children screaming. That is unprofessional. We want nice, clear, professional ish setup. You know still nice and casual, depending on your course is going to sort of dictate the mood that you're setting but a good mic.
Speaker 2:Let's be honest 100 bucks, 100 bucks, 100 bucks worth of mic will get you nice, clean, crisp audio. Above 100 bucks, you can get into 500, you can get into a thousand. Yeah, 100 bucks is going to sort you out yep road great brand.
Speaker 1:That's what we use. I've got a little desk one that I put up. Sometimes I use a lapel one yep anything that gets the job done with clear audio.
Speaker 2:Perfect.
Speaker 1:So clear. Audio. Number one Next is engaging content. So it doesn't matter what setup you have. It's not going to make the way you present or how engaging you are any better.
Speaker 2:If we rented a $1,000 a day studio and had a $1,000 a day videographer on set with us, and then every single thing that we said was like hello welcome, a day videographer on set with us. And then every single thing that we said was like hello welcome, yeah, okay, that is a boring crap, course, because people would have preferred that we were sitting on our couch, but being really funny 100 we've.
Speaker 1:You know we give feedback to our students on you know how to present in your video. Usually we say, just like, give us something like record a video, send it to us. And then our feedback is often just sit on the couch, get a coffee and talk as though you're talking to your best friend. You know, talk as though you're talking, not in a super professional environment. Don't present like you're in a workplace where your boss is going to review the video. Yeah, you know, it's like you're having a conversation with someone. Talk that way, relax, get a coffee that's engaging, that's fun, okay.
Speaker 2:Next is nice video quality, and what I mean by that is webcam quality, not like you're filming through a potato. As long as you're not filming through a potato, you're gonna be fine. That can be on your webcam, you can go. And you can go and buy a nicer webcam than the one that comes installed in your computer for again 50 bucks, 100 bucks. That's gonna make your webcam quality just that touch a bit nicer. Or you can go and get a 200 camera to start filming on.
Speaker 1:But again, webcam quality is usually bloody perfect, really good, and a lot of the time it's the lighting that makes the quality in the room anyway. So, nice background, good lighting. Light your face in it with a cheap ring light. That's all you need and it's going to make a world of difference to your video quality so what is the minimum tech setup required?
Speaker 2:it's not a professional film crew, it's not a studio.
Speaker 1:What is it? You can use your smartphone, give it a test, make sure you're happy with the quality. If it works, it works. That's if you need to film something sort of technical on a tripod, most of the time your laptop, maybe your webcam perfect. A nice white wall or a nice consistent backdrop that looks good, not changing all the time, and suits what you're doing. Nice lighting natural lights often really good, but a ring light does wonders as well and then a hundred dollar mic and you're golden.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's perfect. For most people, that's like a hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars worth of setup, and you are done. You are done until you've made back six figures and or up, and then you can finally say, oh, you know what I feel like? I feel like reinvesting back into my course content and refilming with a film crew, or I feel like refilming with a professional camera, or I just feel like refilming and updating. That first setup, though, has carried me over to a million dollars?
Speaker 1:Absolutely it has. You're only just refilming now, and it's been years, of your course, you had filming now it's been years of your course, um.
Speaker 2:You had a really basic setup, and I filmed my entire course on my camera webcam my my camera, though, was a macbook from 2011, so probably very old yeah, um, I used a 50 mic and I put it on a stack of books. That's all I used.
Speaker 1:Yeah so it's really important not to overthink it or think that you need this crazy setup with your tech At the end of the day, what people are paying for and we say this all the time.
Speaker 2:People are paying for the transformation, people are paying for the implementation. They are looking to get the result, the actual video quality. And when we say video quality, what we mean is the difference between something where you're filming on your couch, you're having a cup of coffee in your hand and you're chatting to a friend, versus you're in a film you know step, with a film crew. Those two differences mean very, very little if the transformation is there, if someone can get the transformation from watching you quickly riff on a topic and then they can directly implement, versus watching you with a professional videographer, they don't give a shit about those two things. The difference is can they actually get the result that they paid for in this course?
Speaker 1:if they can get the result, they're golden absolutely, as long as you're keeping things professional-ish no dogs in the background, no, our distractions, no really odd backgrounds or anything like that. You know, consistent lighting is always really, really nice, you're fine. The most important thing is make sure it's not something that's holding you back from filming your videos and getting your course out there.
Speaker 2:Okay, guys, I hope this episode helped to break down the myth that we see constantly holding people back, which is I need professional video equipment to get started. And yeah, you can use professional video equipment if you want to, or you can use it down the line, but it doesn't need to stop you from getting started. Okay, guys, we'll see you next week. Thanks, bye, bye.