071 Creating and launching courses can be sooooo stressful. There are so many moving parts and "rules" - things you "should" be doing. Today's guest, Brandy Dudas, is here to rescue us! She's got a way of thinking about courses that not only totally makes sense, but makes the process much less stressful - yes, while still being successful!!
In this episode you will learn:
More info <<HERE>>
Connect with Brandy!
071 Creating and launching courses can be sooooo stressful. There are so many moving parts and "rules" - things you "should" be doing. Today's guest, Brandy Dudas, is here to rescue us! She's got a way of thinking about courses that not only totally makes sense, but makes the process much less stressful - yes, while still being successful!!
In this episode you will learn:
More info <<HERE>>
Connect with Brandy!
Are you working on creating a course for your business? Or have you created one in the past? Or maybe you've just been thinking about it? If you have been interested in course creation, this is the episode for you because a we're going to dive into how to do that how to manage that entire process with less stress. Yes, that's possible. Let's get started. Hello, and welcome to the healthy, happy and mostly sane entrepreneur. I'm your host, stress management consultant and coach and mostly sane entrepreneur Ellen Leonard. Each week, I share my obsession with figuring out how to prioritize your own health and sanity while running a business. Because I don't think you have to sacrifice your own health and well being to be successful. So please stay tuned for today's episode full of actionable tools. And don't forget to hit subscribe to be sure you don't miss out on future episodes. I am so excited for today's episode because we have a special guest today brandy dudas who is one of my favorite people. She's a CPA who traded the corporate grind to become a college instructor over seven years ago. And she runs an educational YouTube channel and is the founder of the Chilean air club. She helps female entrepreneurs create courses so they can help impact lives and stop trading time for dollars. But what she also does is have an amazing not only way of explaining but way of thinking about course creation. How do you make a course not only something that serves your audience and is profitable for you, right and has impact. But how do you do that in a way that doesn't make you totally stressed out and lose your mind. So in today's episode, we are going to get to dive deep into that with brandy, I'm so excited. And you're going to learn a couple things. Number one, her favorite tips for creating and launching a course without totally stressing out number two ways to make the course creation process and the launch process, adapt to your life and work for you. And I love having this mindset about it because it's not about doing it the right or wrong way. It's about the right or wrong way that works for you. And what I love about that concept is that is going to resonate with your audience as well. Right, there's a reason your audience is with you, there's a reason you're serving them. And that needs to also resonate with how you create a course and launch it. So number three is why knowing yourself, your students in the transformation that you offer is essential. Brandon's got so much awesome to share with you today. So I really hope you tune in for the entire thing. It's definitely worth your time. And if you're on a walk or in the car, don't worry, I've got some show notes to hook you up with all the details. Or you can just take a bunch of notes like a total nerd. Whatever works for you. Let's dive in. So brandy, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited to finally get you on the podcast.
Brandy Dudas:Thanks for having me, Ellen. I'm so excited to be here. Yeah, we've
Ellen Leonard:been trying to arrange this for a while. So I'm so excited that it finally worked out.
Brandy Dudas:Yes, we're both college instructors and life can get busy sometimes. So it is nice that it worked out.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah. That's awesome. And so I'm so curious, because I actually don't know how you became an entrepreneur. I should know it at this point. cuz I've known you for a while now. But what's your entrepreneurial origin story? How did you decide to get going on all this?
Brandy Dudas:Yeah, so my background, I have two business degrees, because I'm a super nerd, apparently. And I'm actually a CPA, and I did my training at the Big Four. So I've done the corporate experience where I was working till 2am. And then going back in at 6am. It was super fun, and decided that that was not the life for me. And I switched over to teaching college and it was funny when I was going through my university experience. I just had my sights set on being a college instructor. As long as I was going through, it just sounds like the perfect life, getting to engage with students all the time and getting to like shape the future generation, it just sounded so much fun. And they had a really good balance in their life as well. That was my perception of Collins college instructors. And so I switched over from the audit world into being a instructor. And it was such a nice change. And I've been I've been teaching now for about seven years, which is gone by in a flash. And I'm now helping entrepreneurs create their own courses and how I started doing that was in I think it was in about April, I made a YouTube course and I just made it super fast because I have a YouTube channel. And people just started asking me they're like, well, how did you do that so fast. And it's because I'm a college instructor. That's what I do for my job. And so it just comes naturally to me, so then I started helping other women align and launch their own courses and just do it in a less stressful way than some of the other people are teaching it out there.
Ellen Leonard:And I love how organically you came to that, like you really just seem so open to the possibilities and let let what worked for you guide you in that journey.
Brandy Dudas:Yeah, it was, it's funny because I've wanted to create a course or program on teaching other people how to teach for about, I want to say four or five years, and it was always imposter syndrome stopping me, because there are some very, very big names in this industry. And I'm just going it just I was saying to myself, I'm sure what everyone says to themselves are like, oh, who am I to do this? Why is it going to be me like there's other people in here, I am not the quote unquote, expert in this area. And so it really did take me a while to kind of open up to the fact that like, Oh, I have been teaching for quite a while now I know what I'm talking about. I've gone since I've done some schooling in this now. And so I was always doing things that were outside of that realm. So for a while, I tried to like, I was like, Oh, I'm gonna make natural skincare. And I'm gonna teach people that or, or I'm, I made yoga wheels just for fun one time, and I sold a whole bunch of yoga wheels. I've been doing these like little entrepreneurial ventures, but it's always been in the back of my mind. I'm like, I want to teach education. I want to teach people how to create courses. And it was just like, stepping into that this year, or I guess, last year now, last year, to actually do what I wanted to do.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, and it also sounds like you've always been a little entrepreneurial as well. And I hear that teaching was key to everything you just said, like no matter what you just said, You were like in it, and then I was teaching it. And I wanted to teach it.
Brandy Dudas:Yeah, and I don't know what it is, I just I love helping people through a process or I help love helping them realize what they want to do. And so for me, being a teacher, it's like, it's the impact and for teaching other people to create their courses, I work with impact driven entrepreneurs, like, yes, these with the women that I work with, they want to make money, but more than anything, they come to me and they're like, I want to help more people. That's why I want to do this, or I want to teach what I love. And so to be able to teach other people to do that, I just think that the impact is so so big.
Ellen Leonard:That's amazing. And it you know, you are an expert in creating courses. I know because I stalk you a little on social, a normal amount. I feel like um, so I know that like creating a course because I you know, I'm University instructor as well, creating a course used to be super stressful for me, it's less so now with experience and time. But what are some of your secrets that you can offer for people to manage their stress while they're creating their first course or one of their first courses?
Brandy Dudas:So I think my biggest secret, which is not a secret, because I talk about it all the time, is that you don't have to pre record your course. And I don't know if you think the same thing I'll and I'd love to get your perspective on this. But when I started teaching courses, the first three times you teach a course it changes so drastically, so
Ellen Leonard:much. Oh my gosh, yes.
Brandy Dudas:So for me to hear other people saying like, I'm just going to, like, record this whole course, put it out into the world and never going to change it or touch it again, that is just ludicrous to me. Because when you're putting so much pressure on yourself, I don't know how, of course, it's stressful when you come at it from that angle to you're going to waste a lot of your own time, because you're going to pre record this thing, students are going to start going through it and you're going to realize, Oh, the stuff that's in there is not what the students actually need. And so you're gonna have to go back and rerecord the whole thing. And that sucks. I hate to tell you that la sucks, because I might have tried that approach. And it's really bad. It's really bad. So my perspective is always to teacher course live, if you can, like I understand that some people just don't have that option. But if you can teach your course live the first three times at least, you're going to save yourself so much stress, so much time and so much energy, and you're going to become like you're going to have a better product at the end when you finally do record it if you choose to if you want to just like teacher course live, which teaching live is so much fun because you get to talk to your students so much. But if you want to eventually record it, you're going to it's going to be so much less stressful that way.
Ellen Leonard:And it's so crazy how much you learn in those first few times teaching it. In fact, I benefited so much from from that process over time, right that I started actually implementing it in preparing for live workshops or like weekends or something speaking gigs by practicing that out loud. So I could work it out and being like, Oh, that's not right. Oh, that's so bad. No, you can't say that. Oh, that did not and then I would go in. So it boosts your confidence. So not only does it make you a better instructor, but your confidence in what you're offering just sores, the more time you practice it, it's ridiculous.
Brandy Dudas:Definitely. And you can also like when you're going through it live with a group of students, you can feed off of the questions that they're asking and choose to add things choose to, like, get rid of things that they just don't need, especially in an online course, it's different. When you're teaching University, you have to stick to a specific curriculum. But when you're doing an online course, that is more for you know, making an impact in somebody's life, it's you really teaching towards what your students are needing in that moment, and getting that direct and immediate feedback from your students. It can be really impactful to your teaching.
Ellen Leonard:So it, sometimes it we can and it sounds like you've experienced this as well, we can over complicate key things as entrepreneurs, like we add too many steps in. What else do you think can help people simplify their their course creation process, or kind of how they're approaching it so that they can stay healthy, happy and sane while they're while they're doing it? Yeah, and
Brandy Dudas:I'm going to talk a little bit about actually selling your course, because we were talking about that before we started recording. And so Elon was like, How do you stay sane during like crazy launches and big launches, and I was like, I just don't do them, quite honestly, because it just seems like such a stress. And so for the first time you are creating your course or putting it out into the world, there's nothing wrong with selling it one to one, or if you want to say offering it or having conversations with people, however you want to think about it. There's nothing wrong with starting small and building over time. Because if you're creating a course, it's probably a higher ticket item. And it is going to grow over time. If you go into it with the expectation of like, I'm going to have a million dollar launch the first time I ever launch a course, of course, you're going to have unnecessary stress. And you know, I'm not going to sleep at night if I'm thinking. But if I'm just trying to find the perfect people and have conversations with them and find out what they're having struggles with and I can say like, hey, my course addresses that, do you want to come into it? And it's no pressure? If they do or they don't, I find that that is such a more natural way to approach selling your course. And then when you have all the like all that information from the people that have gone through your course, and you have your testimonials, and you've sold it enough that you know exactly what your future students are looking for from having those conversations. At that point, then you can decide, okay, do I want to do a webinar? Or do I want to do a challenge, but when you're first starting, you don't need it? You really don't?
Ellen Leonard:And did anybody else's shoulders just soften and like make a little sight out of your mouth that the relief of what she is saying, I feel even just less stressed knowing that this is an option, like you've almost given me permission to be like, oh, there's a different way to do it than the way that everybody else is telling me I have to?
Brandy Dudas:And I don't know. Yeah. And I don't know when like, when did webinars and courses become married? Like I just wanted to propose that we divorce them quite honestly, because like having an online course and having a webinar, those are two different things. They do not always have to go together. We can completely divorce those things. And you can have an online course without a webinar. So if you're like, I really want to teach people what I don't want to have a webinar I am giving you You do not need my permission, but I'm giving you the permission, you do not have to host a webinar to have your own online course. Definitely.
Ellen Leonard:So how do people start to, you know, how do we as entrepreneurs start to wrap our mind around this idea that we don't have to do all these things that everybody's telling us haft, we have to because they feel like so much of our stress and the the behaviors that are unhealthy, like the nuts sleeping in the working through lunch and the work, work, work and the hustle, hustle, hustle. So much of that comes from? What can be false beliefs around what we have to do. How do you think that's kind of going for us? How do you think that kind of came into play? And how can we maybe like work against that mindset? I think
Brandy Dudas:for me, it was listening to a lot of different people's inputs, like looking at different people on social media, like listening to so many different podcasts where everyone has an opinion on how you should do things. And quite honestly stepping back and thinking about how do how do I like to work? How do I like to work with people because quite honestly like hosting a webinar when I can't talk to people and I can't have a conversation with people. That's not enjoyable to me, I want to be able to communicate with my future students. And so that's just the way that I like to work. And so really stepping back and unfollowing people who were making me feel like I had to do it a certain way. And stopping listening to people's podcasts, unfortunately, who were making me feel like I had to do it a certain way or else I was going to be a failure, that gave me the permission to do it my own way. And so and as you know, Elon, I have a, I have a company with two other ladies called the Chilean air club. And so we always like approach everything. Now. It's like, how is the easiest way to do this. And the easiest way to do something for me, may not necessarily be the easiest way to do something for somebody else, because we are different. So it really comes down to like, you have to know yourself really well. And so like hosting a webinar, the first time I launch a course is not enjoyable. So that is not the way I want to do it. And it's making my business and having it in line with what my life wants to look like. You know, that's
Ellen Leonard:so interesting that that's how you approach it, because that's exactly how I approach health and wellness with my clients is like, what works for you? It has to work for you, if you hate kale is not part of the answer to your health and wellness.
Brandy Dudas:anymore. How can I get rid of kale?
Ellen Leonard:I am giving use everybody listening to this call. Let's pause for a moment. You do not have to eat kale if you ate kale. I actually liked kale. But But do you think it's so interesting how so often as humans, our brains tend to go to this idea of like, well, so and so's an expert. And they told me I had to do it this way. Instead of I would much rather work with an expert like you who's like, Well, no, let's figure out what works for you and what actually fits into your life. And because that's the other piece of the puzzle with entrepreneurship is so many of us have created this life specifically to spend time with our families or to achieve certain goals or to have work life balance or to you know, like, none of that that we envisioned was, was doing stuff that didn't fit into that scenario.
Brandy Dudas:Yes. And it's so easy to get caught up in like into just doing all the things that people are recommending, like right now, the tiny offers, and the pocket products are really, really popular. And so I was like, I need a $47 product too. And then so I made something and I was like oh my god, selling something for $50 is just as much work as selling something for 15 $100. Like, why am I doing this to myself? It's so much work.
Ellen Leonard:I totally bought that pocket product course.
Brandy Dudas:I know I did, too. And then I was like, why am I doing this? This is not how like, I like to interact with people. And I like to coach people, I don't want to spend like somebody spent like 50 bucks with me and never talk to me. I want to talk to them. I want to go to them. So it Yeah, it's just I've done it to a shiny object syndrome. Definitely. And the shiny object and this will be released much later. But one of the shiny objects as we're recording this in January is clubhouse.
Ellen Leonard:Are you on clubhouse? You are I knew you were?
Brandy Dudas:Because I do I like to talk to people. And so club posts, I've tried to find how that will fit into my life because I don't like being on social platforms all the time. But I do like having conversation. So this is where I'm, it's new. So I'm like, Okay, how do I navigate this? Definitely.
Ellen Leonard:And if you like that, you know, that goes back to I've had several guests who have spoken specifically to this idea of like, yeah, you have to use a social media platform that your people are on, but you also have to use the one that actually works for you. Because if you hate it, like I hate Facebook, people will know. I think it's fairly obvious that I just like Facebook, I put so little effort into my Facebook page, I do put a lot of effort into my facebook group. I like being in there. But that's like literally the only place I want to be in Facebook and in several groups that other people have created. But like other than that, I'm just like, I don't enjoy that platform. But I'm really vibing on like Instagram. So
Brandy Dudas:yeah, and it's funny because when you do go into any like when you talk to a coach or you buy a course that's telling you how to do a specific thing. It's all based on that person's experience. And so like I've worked with marketing coaches, and they give me a Instagram plan, and if you know me, I'm like the Facebook group girl, like if you see me in a Facebook group, I'm like lighting that thing up. But on Instagram, I'm like, I don't know what to post. So like, I'm kind of the opposite. Like, I'm really good on Facebook groups, but I'm not the best on Instagram. So when people are telling me like, oh, Brandon, you should be growing on Instagram, or should I really like and so that's where I have to come back and like, figure out how I like to work because Yeah, I agree. Like if you're miserable, like it's gonna feel like a job.
Ellen Leonard:Which is kind of defeating the purpose of why we started doing this in the
Brandy Dudas:first place. Right? Exactly, yeah. So finding what works for you. You, which is kind of frustrating for people, they're like, just tell me the formula. And you're like, No, you have to know yourself. Do you know the formula? Yeah, I
Ellen Leonard:get that sometimes, too, because I am not good at, like giving away recipes and stuff. Like, I have a lot of recipes. I cook a lot in this house. But like, I don't have set menus and stuff like that, that I offer clients, because it's all about what works for them. And we got to work with that.
Brandy Dudas:Yeah, I yeah, and I completely agree. And I that's the same way I approach marketing is that it has to work for you and Chris creation to like going back to that if if you want to pre record some of your course, that's great, but you don't have to. And so it's all about like, sometimes giving us the permission to to do it the way that it works and is easiest for us.
Ellen Leonard:So if you had one thing you'd like people to go and do like an action step that they could do today to start, maybe their first steps towards working on a course or maybe they're already creating one, what's that step you would have them do?
Brandy Dudas:If you're just starting your course creation journey, the step I would take is to really nail down try to nail down the best you can your student transformation. And the reason the one I mean by that is figuring out where your student is starting. So are they an absolute beginner? Do they already know something about your topic? And then finding, where are you taking them to? And the reason it's really nice to nail down that transformation? It seems like so simple and obvious are like Well, duh, Brandi, I need to know what they're going to do in the course. But the reason that is so important is because when we're approaching course creation, a lot of women who are messaging me, they're like, I don't think I know enough about the topic to create a course. And I would say it's the exact opposite. You if you're thinking about creating any type of product, like Elon, if you were thinking about creating a product about health and wellness, right? Like, if you're thinking about it, it's because you know so much about that topic already. And let's be honest, if we get into like a topic area that we're interested in, we go deep into that topic area. And so we know so much that it's sometimes we have to curate the content more than just brain dumping everything we have to give to our clients because they can if they want to, they can go on YouTube and do the deep dive on their own. What they're paying you for is your expertise and to shorten the process for them. So you are curating the content that you know, to get them to their transformation faster. So really nailing down where are they starting? Where are they ending, anything that's outside of that does not need to go into your course.
Ellen Leonard:I love the simplicity of that too. Because it's ever as you were speaking, I was like, Oh my gosh, what I know about health and wellness is a ridiculous amount. I mean, I met a yoga instructor who teaches other yoga instructors or my Ayurvedic practitioner, I'm a health and wellness coach who teaches other health. It's ridiculous, like I can't, what you just described is actually really challenging. It's such a simple step. But it's super challenging, because you have to be so specific. And I love the word you used, which was curating. Because that's what you're doing. It's like you're curating an art exhibit of, of what you want people most to experience and the transformation that you want to offer. So you have that as an action step.
Brandy Dudas:Yeah. And I would also like to add on that you do not need any letters after your name to go teach other people in this area. So I've been taking education courses over the past seven years while I've been teaching college, because when you start teaching college or university, you have zero knowledge and education, actually, you've just started teaching. It's like, okay, learn as you go. And so I've been taking courses, and I was talking to my advisor, he's a PhD in education, and I was like, Oh, I'm gonna go get my doctorate in education. So I can teach education. And he's just like, he looked at me like I had three eyes. He's like, brand new, you know, this stuff, like you know it inside out, I know how much you read, just go teach it, like do not go get your doctorate. If you want to just teach it, just go teach it. So that's what I'm doing now. But you don't need the letters after your name to know enough about the topic to teach it.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, I love it. And I think people know more than they realize, right? We're, we're bigger experts than we realize we've been taught to, to almost diminish the things that we know. And the things that we are actually experts in.
Brandy Dudas:I completely agree and if you need some proof of that, go jump into a Facebook group about your topic and go look at the questions that people are asking and see if you can answer 10 of them like in the Facebook group, right? Like if you can, if you see people asking questions about like, for you, Alan, it would be like about yoga or about Ayurveda. If you can answer 10 of those questions, I bet you know enough to create a course or create an E book or whatever on the topic.
Ellen Leonard:So, speaking of health and wellness e stuff How do you stay healthy, happy and sane while running your business?
Brandy Dudas:There are a few things that I do. So within my day, I've had to be really good about carving out time to work, which is very hard for me. As I said, I used to sometimes go to the office at 6am. And I would work until 2am. So from stark contrast to now where I'm saying like, no, like, my son, like, for right now I'm off of I'm off for the semester for teaching. And so it is 100% my entrepreneurial life right now. And so my son, he goes to school, I dropped them off at nine, and I pick them up at 230 or three o'clock. And I'm only working in between those times. And so that is, it's very hard for me to do that. Because people can message you on Facebook, they can message you on Instagram. So it is a challenge, I'm not going to. But setting out those times and saying like I'm only booking calls between those times, and telling my business partners, I'm only having meetings between these times, it had that has really helped me because then I get the evenings off and I get the weekends off with my family, which was really important to me so I can get outside. The other kind of funny thing we did is we actually just got a dog we adopted a dog and she's super cute. She is also on Instagram, I will link to that in the show notes as well. She's very cute. She's an Insta doggy. But so getting a dog it was actually like a conscious choice of like, you know, it is it's pandemic when we're recording this and so we're not doing as much as we probably should be. And we wanted a dog forever. And so making sure to get a dog and then we take her for walks every day. We take her for hikes every weekend and making sure we're getting outside. And then making sure that I'm also I'm trying to eat more plant based diets. So just limiting my meat intake and doing those sorts of things and hanging out with people who are very health conscious, quite honestly, it rubs off on you. So I'm making sure I'm proximity to healthy people. Like Elon follow Healthy People on Instagram and they will rub off on you for sure.
Ellen Leonard:That totally works by the way, like when I hang out with people who are like, just healthier than even I am. I'm just like, I'm so much more motivated and inspired.
Brandy Dudas:I know yes. And they always have such good recipes or just like they look so you know they're glowing and you just want to be glowing to
Ellen Leonard:well you are glowing and so if people would like to see your glow Enos and in person and connect with you. How can they do that and I will link by the way everything she's about to say will be of course linked in the show notes.
Brandy Dudas:Yeah, for sure. So my website is Brandy dudas calm and look at the show notes for sure because people tend to spend your last name wrong for some reason. But yes, so I'm on Instagram at brandy rose dudas roses, my middle name. And on Facebook brandy rose to does as well. And if clubhouse is still a thing by the time this episode airs. Who knows? Who knows? I'm brand new doodads on there.
Ellen Leonard:I will link to all of the places
Brandy Dudas:you just don't know.
Ellen Leonard:Right? It could just be gone by then. Like it could be over it. Just discover that they don't like it the next year thing. Well, thank you so much for being on today, Randy. As always, I've enjoyed our time together. Thanks, Alan,
Brandy Dudas:thanks so much for having me.
Ellen Leonard:Thank you so much for listening in today. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to listen. And I hope you found that as valuable. As I did hope it's useful for you as well because it completely shifted the way I think about my own course creation not only within my business, but also as a university instructor. And if you'd like to find Bernie, be sure to check out the show notes, so you can hook up with her later. And if you did enjoy today's episode, and other episodes, be sure to leave a review. It helps other people to find this podcast so that they can benefit from it as well. So I've left a link to do that in the show notes as well. Or if you're an Apple iTunes, you can just go ahead and click on leave a review and get started right now. Thank you so much for listening. I wish you a healthy, happy and mostly sane week. I'll see you next time.