The Course Mentors Podcast

The “Right Time” Myth: Starting a Course When Life Is Full

• The Course Mentors • Season 2 • Episode 8

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Trying to build a course while working full time, managing life, and running on empty? This episode is for you.

We’re talking honestly about what course creation actually looks like when you don’t have endless time, energy, or freedom — and why waiting for the “right moment” is the fastest way to never start.

In this episode, we break down how to build a course in small, realistic chunks without burning out, quitting your job, or turning your life upside down. We cover why more content doesn’t mean more value, how to stop overcomplicating your course, and what actually moves the needle when time is limited.

If you’ve been telling yourself “I’ll start when things slow down,” this conversation will help you rethink what’s possible — and how to make real progress with the time you already have.

Welcome And Life Updates

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to the Course Mentors Podcast. I'm Odette. I'm Amy. And today we're talking about the reality most course creators face. You've got a full-time job on life, maybe a family, and you're trying to build a course in the margins. We're going to show you how to actually make it happen without burning out. Before we dive in, Amy, what's been happening in your world this week?

SPEAKER_00

I have a note here that says cafes are open late here. So I forget what I meant by that. But what I have experienced so far about Dubai, like one of the biggest benefits, pluses, advantages, things that I will talk and write home about is that everything is open all the time. Like, all the time. Like there are so many things that I never realized I wanted to be 24-7. And cafes has been weirdly one of them. Like in Australia, you'll know if you're Australian, right? You cannot get a coffee after 3 p.m. If you are lucky. I mean, I lived at the Sunshine Coast, so it was after lunchtime. Like by lunchtime, all the cyclists and surfers have gone home. You are not getting a coffee. You are not getting anything. The shops close are meant to close at four, everything closes at 2.30 anyway. Do you know what I mean? Like if you want to do something in Australia, it has got to be at the butt crack of dawn. You are not getting things done in the afternoons. And I, as a, I'm gonna say a self-proclaimed night owl, I did not realize how freeing it is to go to a cafe at like 8:30 p.m. at night, get a coffee, because I can drink a hundred coffees a day, get a coffee and sit around and be in a cafe full of other people on Cab Cut. Like it is so fun and so inspiring. And then, I mean, there's so many things. I, my son, he's nearly three now. Well, he's two and a half, right? But I don't want to, you know, speed it up or anything. But he's nearly three. And when he was a baby at the Sunshine Coast, we had like a Costco-sized supply cabinet of things that he might need, like baby panadol or whatever, you know? Because if he got sick during the night, well, you were shit out of luck. But here, the other night he had a toothache. I do do do do do on my app, it was here in five minutes at three o'clock in the morning. I think it's gonna be so hard to adjust back to Australian life. Like Australian life is so peaceful and calm and quiet, and it is so busy here. But anyway, my note is cafes are open later here, and I am loving it.

Australia’s Early Closings Vs Global Cities

SPEAKER_01

No, I get it, I get it. I hate the like rigid time frames we have in Australia, like kitchens close at 8:30 at night. So you can't go and sit down and have dinner in a restaurant because kitchens closed. Sorry. That's what I loved about Tokyo. It was haggard, just that never stopped, you know? Yeah. We rocked up at 2 a.m. to Tokyo the first time we went to Japan and were like, oh, I wish we could have eaten. We should have eaten on the plane. Then we walk out into the street and it's like, oh, we can just go and eat dinner when it's 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's like it's actually mind-blowing. If you're Australian, it is, and if you're not Australian, if you're listening to this like in some beautiful European town where your restaurants are open till 2 a.m., you'll think that we're absolutely a bunch of losers. But Australia really does close in the afternoons and it does, it's done. It's done. If you don't have, if you don't have suppliers at home and you have not had a coffee today, well, tough titties, you're not getting one because it's done. It's really crazy. But I'm loving that. I love the convenience of living here and I love living in a major city. That's really fun. I mean, not forever, but it's totally fun for now. Yeah, 100%. I've been doing lots of Christmas sewing. That's my oh, I feel like I feel like I just talked about like my fast-paced city lifestyle, and then you really are living the most beautiful Australian dream. Oh, well, yeah, I guess so. I'm like, I want to go to a cafe at 2 a.m. Um, but no. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01

I sew on my deck because the weather's so beautiful at the moment. And literally just go outside and sew it, sewing of late. And when it's rainy or hang of rain, it's my favorite. My first word was rain, actually.

SPEAKER_00

I don't think it rains here, just as a side note.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, it was the desert.

SPEAKER_00

I think so.

SPEAKER_01

I'm so jealous. Uh I I am a little bit jealous, but yeah, I've been I've been doing much smaller things, uh, getting some Christmas sewing started.

SPEAKER_00

So amazing. That's so amazing. I can't wait. I can't wait for mine to get delivered in the mail.

Pivot To Today’s Topic

SPEAKER_01

Nah. Yeah, I mean a present. Oh, yes, that. Okay.

The Myth Of Needing Huge Time Blocks

SPEAKER_00

I'm just I have to get my bids in early with debt. It's mid-November and I have to really prompt her about my Christmas present. Oh my goodness me. Okay, okay, let's get into it. Guys, if you're anything like us and you wanted to create a course, you want to create a course, and you started out with a full-time job because you're not 17 years old. You might have a family, you might have a whole life, a house, a household to run, a full-time job, you might be working 40 hours a week. I want you to know that you are not the weird one. You are definitely in the vast majority of people that want to create an online course. And it's really, really normal to have all of those things on at the moment. If you've got all of those things on and you want to create a course, I also want to let you know that it is entirely 100,000% possible. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, let's get real. So most people who want to create a course, they're not sitting at home with unlimited time and energy, just like Amy said. You're working 40 plus hours a week, you've got responsibilities, you're exhausted by 7 p.m. That's me. God, that's me. I'm exhausted by 7 p.m. And then you see some course creator on Instagram talking about their journey. And it feels like they had all the time in the world to build this thing. Meanwhile, you're trying to squeeze course creation into a Saturday morning between laundry and grocery shopping. Now, here's what most people do: they get excited, they start building, they work late nights and weekends for a couple of weeks, they burn out really quickly, and then they quit. The course never gets finished, which is a damn tragedy. Now, we're gonna flip that. We're gonna flip that for you. We're gonna show you how to build your course in small, sustainable chunks while keeping your job, your sanity. You don't have to re-home your kids, you keep your life intact.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, the first big lie, the first big myth is you need huge blocks of time to start a course creation business and you don't. Let's start by destroying that myth right away. You don't need to quit your job, you don't need endless free time, you do not need to work 12 hour days to make an online course happen. Here's what you actually do need: strategic pockets of focused time and a plan that does not require you to be a superhuman. I think a lot of people think I'm just gonna start my course when I have a free weekend, or I'll put that aside and then maybe in June I'll have a little bit more free time, which isn't wrong, but it's not right either.

SPEAKER_01

I've answered emails before. I somebody um was on our wait list in January and I noticed they popped back in on in and I noticed they popped back onto the wait list in June. And I said, Hey, what's good, what's the deal? You've been wanting to create your course for six months, what's holding you up? She's like, Oh, I'm just waiting for some free time. I said, girl, when? When are you ever gonna get free time? Because if you're anything like me, you just gotta start, you gotta chip away, you know. Um, so and and we had a conversation. She's like, you know what? You're right. When am I ever gonna have a week off to do this or a week off to do that? She signed up, started the shipping away, and she was really successful. The magical moment of unlimited time, it's not coming. And so with the OCS, we designed our course to combat that. When we don't ask you to quit your job and, you know, do 40 hours a week on your course instead. That would be a really terrible way to design our program. It's based on a chip away method. Don't wait for time to stop or slow down to be able to start your side project.

Chip-Away Method And Real Schedules

SPEAKER_00

And I think it's reasonable as well because we would never, ever, ever, ever, ever ask you to just, hey, put six hours here, put 12 hours there, put 19 hours. Like we couldn't because we didn't do that ourselves. When we built, when I built my Japanese course, it was in 30-minute chunks. When Deb built her sewing course, it was in what, 30-minute chunks too, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yep, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

And when we did OCS, it was in 30-minute chunks. Like that's what it has to be when you're an adult with children, with a life, with a household to look after. Uh, we looked, we worked on our course, we worked on our courses on Tuesday evenings after dinner. We record lessons on Sunday mornings. We're recording this podcast right now, on a Sunday mid. Well, right now it's midday for me. It's evening for debt because we've got time zone differences now. But we get it done on the weekends and in the mornings and in the afternoons. That's how these projects and these businesses get built. They're not built on 12-hour days.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, 100%. It comes down to what are you willing to do in your in your free time? Do you want to binge Netflix? Fine. No judgment. Go do that. Do you want to work on your passion project in those little bits of time here and there? I can guarantee you. Watch Netflix, fine. But I can guarantee you, you will be so much happier if you work on your passion project and get it out of your head and into reality. 100%. Big myth. People don't have more time than you. That's not it. They just use the time they have differently.

SPEAKER_00

And like, let's be real, we are not going to be sit here and be like, everyone has 24 hours in a day, and it's up to you what you do with them. Like, because that is really annoying. And we're not going to be those people, but what we are going to tell you is that if you want to have a million-dollar online course, the truth is you can do it on a Tuesday night for 30 minutes after dinner. You can do it on a Sunday morning when your partner goes to do the grocery shopping. You can do it in those hours. It's not impossible and it can be done. And that's what you need simply. And you don't need 12-hour days. But at the end of the day, you are going to have to carve out those 30-minute sessions.

SPEAKER_01

So the course creation formula for busy people, let's give you that. So minimum viable effort plus maximum impact. Here's how you build a course without losing your mind. First of all, minimum viable effort. Do the smallest amount of work that still creates value. Don't spend 100,000 hours making your slides pixel perfect. Not important. Move on to the big needle-moving stuff. Now, maximum impact. Focus only on what actually matters to your students, what's actually going to get things done. You don't need a 50 module course. Simpler the better. You're here to make things easy for people. You don't need fancy videos. You don't need a custom platform. There are platforms out there that will make it easy for you. You need a course that solves one problem really well. That's it. Keep things simple.

SPEAKER_00

And we talk about this constantly, right? Deb, we say that when it comes to creating a really profitable, really valuable course, it has to be something that people are already doing, trying to solve on their own, and it's not quite working. So you come in faster, better, or easier, right? But when you come in faster, better, or easier, that does not mean having a professional videographer in your house following you around for three months while you create the world's most breakthrough videos with extreme editing. That's not what getting to a solution faster, easier, or better is at all. It actually has nothing to do with getting to that solution faster or easier.

Minimum Viable Effort, Maximum Impact

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. When you're working full-time, you can't afford to waste energy on things that don't matter. So we're going to be ruthless about what you actually build. So let's break it down. So part one, the minimum viable course. Yes, it is enough. Here's what you think you need to create. We've heard it time and time again. People really um catastrophize the process. They think it's going to be the bigger than Ben Hur. They don't have time for this. But actually, if they knew what was involved, what they actually had to do, then okay, I can see how that fits into my life. So how does it fit in? So here's what people think that they need to create 30 plus video lessons, huge amount of content, workbooks, templates for absolutely everything, a really fancy new membership site, professional videography, a perfectly polished curriculum, things like that. Here's what you actually need.

SPEAKER_00

I'll add to that a community. I don't know. I just want to throw that in there as well. I feel like a lot of people come to us and they say, or I've heard a lot of people talk about, okay, well, I need all these videos, I need all these worksheets, I need someone, I need to hire a graphic designer, I need to hire a videographer to do all this. And then they always throw this in. I need a community. I need a membership site that hosts a cool community that where we can have 18 live sessions a week and we can have monthly Q ⁇ A's and monthly, what else do they talk about? Everything. All of the bells and whistles, right? It's just not the case. It's just not what you actually need. What you actually need to get to an outcome that is simpler, better, easier, faster is simple 15 to 20 minute lessons that teach your method. Okay. We're not here to create hours and hours and hours of long monologues. 15-minute lessons that get an outcome for people. One simple workbook or implementation guide to get them through the transformation, a basic platform. Any of them work, think of it, Kajabi, all of them. They're all great, they're all fine. You know, get a platform, don't think about it too much. Videos recorded on your webcam. You do not need a videographer. We'll say it a hundred thousand times, but videos recorded on your webcam, create some slides in Canva, throw it onto your webcam, you are golden, I promise you. And a clear transformation. That's what you actually need. That's a complete course that can easily make a million dollars.

SPEAKER_01

And you might say, but won't people think it's not valuable if it's so simple? Absolutely not. No, people value results, not complexity. If you're making the process complex, on the other side of that, you're going to have a complex course. And that's not what people want. They're coming to you for simplification. So would you rather buy, like look at it from your point of view, would you rather buy a 50-hour course that overwhelms you and you never finish, or a three to five to 10 hour course that gives you exactly what you need to get results, the result that you want. Obviously, the second one, every time, something that actually will fit into everyone's life. Because we're saying, you know, we're busy, uh, you know, we need to, you need to create your course. People who are taking your course, I'm sure they're busy as well. Your students, they don't want more content, more, more, more. They want a clear path. They want a course. They want a clear path from where they are to where they want to be. And that should be a simple thing.

What You Think You Need Vs Reality

SPEAKER_00

Can I share an anecdotal story? I'm going to anyway. So recently, recently, recently, about like maybe a month ago, my husband uh wanted to find something about tax planning. Very, very boring. Okay. Now, if you know anything about tax planning, taxes, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff, you know that it's one of it's a great course topic because you can spend hours putting it together yourself. You can go on YouTube, you can research, but you never quite know if you're doing the exact right thing, right? And so he found a course where someone taught about tax planning. And he was like, okay, great, this is something I really want to figure out. And he runs all the finances for my business. And I'm ever so grateful for all of that. Anyway, he wanted to get better upskilled, do better, figure out how to do this. Anyway, he bought this course and it was sold as the solution. It was like, I'm gonna teach you exactly this, blah, blah, bright. And really great outcome. Now, on the back end of that, it was horrific. And I have been waiting to tell this story. And I'm not gonna out anybody, but I have to tell you exactly what was on the back end of that because I want to make sure that nobody ever does this. He showed me, we both just were like, this is insane. Anyway, here's how it worked. So you bought the course and then you got in, and there was a, it was on school. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but you can see all the modules at once, right? And you paid three grand up front, and then after a month, it went on to be another$50 a month or something like that. I can't remember. Something stupid like that. Really confusing pricing structure that was really hard to understand. And then so you bought it, and then the complexity continued. Within the modules, the first two modules were available, but then every single month that you paid that monthly fee, you got a credit. And with that credit, you could buy another module. And yeah, and there was 18 modules to buy. So I guess the guy's thing was that he wanted you to stay for 18 months so you could buy all the modules, right? But it was so annoying to do that because then you couldn't actually get the transformation that you wanted or get the outcome you wanted. You had to go into the course and then wait month by month, or you could buy another pack of credits to unlock all the modules. No, and he was explaining the system and he was like, This is so fun, and you get to unlock these modules. Nick, my husband just turned around and was like, Can I get a refund? This is so dumb. But like, this is what we mean by complexity, right? Like, you do not want this hyper built-out system that, and he had, you know, professionally filmed videos. You don't want that. It was all nonsense. My husband was just like, okay, I want the tax planning thing. So I don't need all of this extra shit. Like, and I don't want it, and it's annoying. And that's just how people feel. The more complex, obviously, for you, you feel like you're doing more, putting more into it, creating more effort, and therefore the course is, you know, more extravagant and therefore more expensive and valuable. And it's just not true. What would have been really valuable and what we would have been really happy paying a thousand dollars for would have been figuring out tax planning. That would have been great for us. We would have been like double thumbs up to that. But all the complexity just made us so angry.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Wow, that is a crazy story. I'm glad you shared.

Simplicity Beats Complexity For Students

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. So let's keep it moving, guys. So that's all about creating a minimum viable product. And what we mean by that is creating something that is succinct, it is clear, it is all the information that someone needs and not a single second more. It is not complex, it is not overwhelming. It is something that is clear, that gets results, not complex. And I think something else that's really important to note here as well is that when you create a course, it's a living, breathing machine. It's not something that you just film a video, turn it on, make money, never ever touch it ever again. At the end of the day, and something that's really built into OCS is we prioritize a lot of feedback and a lot of iterations and improving your course as you go. And we believe that your course is like a marriage, like you're working on it all the time. It's not something that just like tick, set, forget, done, never do it again. It's working on it all the time, fixing it, improving it, adding to it, adapting it. It's really, really important. So remember, we're talking about minimum viable product when it comes to getting to market, but it's always going to be improved as well. Okay, let's move on to a time blocking strategy that actually works for us and how we navigate time blocking as part of our business and how we encourage you to do the same.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so you know what you're building. That's fine. Now let's talk about how you're going to find the time. So here's what doesn't work. I'll work on my course whenever I have free time. You'll never have free time. We've said that. Free time doesn't exist when you're working full time and you've got one at least one friend in your life. So here's what works. You schedule your course creation time like it's a meeting you can't miss.

unknown

Yeah.

Horror Story: Overbuilt Course And Gating

SPEAKER_01

Set it up. The weekly time blocking strategy. So the weekly time block strategy. Look at your week, find three to five hours total. Not in one block, just in small chunks. So maybe it looks like this. Maybe Tuesday evening, you'll do 7 till 8:30 p.m. Okay, great. I've got a meeting from 7 p.m. Can't miss it. But you don't have to get dressed up, which is great. Thursday morning, 6 to 7 a.m. before work, I'll do an hour, get up a bit earlier, have a coffee, let's do it. Maybe Sunday afternoon, 2 to 4 p.m. A few more hours. Now that's four and a half hours. That's enough. Now here's the key you protect that time. Time like it's sacred. Lock it out, and then your job is to protect it. Not I'll work on my course if I'm not too tired. Not I'll try to fit it in. Key is just get started. Things will roll from there. And it'll be an hour in and you'll have done so much work. Just get started, even if you're tired. Make a cup of tea. It's scheduled, it's happening. Just like you wouldn't skip a dentist appointment. You don't skip your course creation time. So what to do in those time blocks? Don't try to do everything. Don't get overwhelmed. Each session has one job. So maybe that could look like outlining your entire course. An hour and a half. Record one lesson per session. Or maybe you batch edit all of your videos, a couple of hours. Maybe you create your implementation guide, maybe some worksheets, that kind of thing. An hour and a half. And then you've got the template, which is even easier the next time you do it. You could upload everything to your platform. Maybe that's an hour. That's a few sessions. If you're doing three sessions per week, that's in three to four weeks. That's start to finish. You've got so many tasks done. One month while working full time, you can see in a few sessions, so much impact and it's doable.

Minimum Viable Course Done Right

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it, I think, as well, like a little shameless plug, but it's our podcast and we can do what we wanna. I feel like it's even easier when you're in OCS because we tell you, okay, like there's checklists, like go do this, this, this, and this. You're not like sitting down at your laptop being like, okay, what am I doing? Like, how am I gonna efficiently maximize the next hour? Because we can just tell you, go do this, this, and this, and this. You can easily, easily get this done in three to four weeks, start to finish, if you are scheduling yourself that time and you are protecting that time and saying, nah, I can't, you know, go for cocktails on a Tuesday night. I don't know who is doing that. Maybe people who live in Sex in the City. I can't go for cocktails on a Tuesday night because I have got a meeting with myself and I'm the most important person I know. And I am going to be creating my course. Okay, but here's a couple of other things that I want you to know to like really protect your energy. And this is how Ded and I both protect our own energy when it comes to course creation. We are two women with children. We have businesses, we have two businesses at least each, and we do things in our life, right? We've we've got busy lives. So from course creation to now managing and running a course, there's an element of protecting our own energy and making sure that we can show up the absolute best we can for our clients. And that's really important in anything you do, really. But here's how we do it. First of all, front load the decisions. Don't figure out what to create during your creation time. So sit down on a Sunday for an extra 30 minutes and map it out each and every week. If you're not an OCS and we're not helping you with this, make sure that you've got a plan of action, follow that outline and don't, you know, don't sit down and go, what am I going to do today? Just sit down with your plan, follow the plan, get it done in your time. Make the most of that time that you've got. Uh, we do that all the time. Ded and I both regularly sit down on a Sunday and talk about what's coming up for the business that week or that month and what we're really focusing on. And we have those focuses and those outlines really, really clear. And so when we get those hours when Deb's baby's having a nab or when my toddler's entertaining himself with a sticker book, we've got an hour, we can say, great, I know exactly what we're doing in this hour because it's been pre-planned and we're just following the plan. Next, create when you're sharpest. If you're a morning person, do not say to yourself, well, I'm just gonna record my lessons at 10 p.m. at night. Because like, why would you? If you are a morning person, schedule your work in the morning. Easy, easy peasy. All right, badge similar tasks. I say this all the time, but record your videos all together in one or two sessions. It's fine to say, well, I'm gonna sit down every single morning and create one video. That might work for a good bunch of people, but for most people, save yourself a Sunday afternoon and record. Say that you've got 10 15-minute videos to film, and those 10 videos make up the first, I don't know, module of your course or two modules of your course. That's two and a half hours of recording. 10 15-minute videos is two and a half hours of recording. So I personally wouldn't wake up every morning and do a 15-minute session. I would save myself for two and a half hours and I would smash through as many videos as I possibly can. Next up, and this is an important one I think that people really struggle with, but lower the bar. You are not making a Hollywood production. You're teaching what you know. Good enough is good enough. Perfectionism, while we want everything to be perfect and high quality is incredibly important to us. If you worry about perfectionism, you will be worrying about perfectionism until this time next year because it just will not happen. So you have to know when good enough is good enough.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I'm gonna run through a couple of mindset shifts just to wrap up. First of all, number one, done is better than perfect. Amy just said it, done is better than perfect. You're not creating a masterpiece, you're creating a course that helps people get a result. Make it that simple. Now, mindset shift number two, you don't need permission. You don't need more credentials, you don't need to finish another certification. You know enough. You don't need to wait until you're ready. You will be waiting forever. Mindset shift number three, your job isn't your identity. This is a big one for people working full-time. You might feel guilty working on your course because you should be focusing on your job or spending time with your family or doing something more productive. Here's the truth: you're allowed to build something for yourself. You're allowed to have a side project, and you will love doing it. I promise you. You're allowed to work toward a future where maybe you don't have to work full-time anymore. Mindset shift number four: small progress is still progress. You're not going to record five lessons in one weekend. You're not going to build your entire course in a heroic marathon session. You're going to record one lesson this week. Chip away. That's the best method, the chip away method.

Time Blocking That Actually Works

SPEAKER_00

So here's your takeaway. You do not need more time. And working full-time and having a family is totally fine. You just need a bit of a smarter plan and a method of attack. Build the minimum viable course that still delivers a result. Schedule your creation time and then protect it fiercely. Manage your energy as carefully as your time and trust that small, consistent progress will get you there.

SPEAKER_01

Your course doesn't need to be a massive production. It needs to help people get from where they are to where they want to be. It's pretty much the definition of a course. And you can build that while working full time. We see it done, we've done it ourselves. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen if you start and you keep going, chipping away. Your future students need what you know. You need to build it for them. Don't let your job be the reason that they never get it. So go build your course. Go do it. All right, guys. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_00

Bye, guys.