Course Creators Weekly #49 🗓 May 31st, 2021 - Minimum Viable Courses, DIAPERS, and Twitter

How do you know your idea has legs? You don't, so you experiment with it!

We frequently talk about the 'Minimum Viable Product' in startups, but no one seems to talk about the 'Minimum Viable Course'…

Here are 15 MVC ideas from me:

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  Post on social media
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  Start a blog
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  Start an email newsletter
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  Create a mini-resource, checklist or quick-start guide
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  Write an eBook
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  Host a webinar
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  Run a live Q&A
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  Host an AMA
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  Join a podcast as a guest
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  Start a YouTube series
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  Create short videos
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  Build an email course
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  Sell the outline
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  Coach somebody 1:1
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  Run a live pilot

Check out my Twitter thread for examples, inspiration, and the merits of each idea!

Pat Flynn shares some really great tips on how we can use DIAPERS to be better coaches!

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  "Your earnings are a byproduct of how well you serve others"—Pat Flynn
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  Start with 1:1 coaching before group coaching
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  Guide and prompt people into action by asking great questions, not by giving advice
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  Do give advice, but ask for their ideas first—they may be thinking what you're thinking

7 questions to ask as a coach:

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  What's on your mind?—they'll share their challenge, but often not the root problems
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  And what else?—gets them to go a little bit further and think more deeply
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  What's the real challenge?—they start to really get to the root of things
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  What are you looking to achieve? What do you want?—understand their ultimate goals
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  How can I help you?—understand where you might be able to advice them best
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  If you're saying 'yes', what are you saying 'no' to?—help them realise the tradeoffs
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  What was the most useful for you?—get them to recap their learnings/takeaways

Pat's DIAPERS process:

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  Demonstrate your ability to coach—sometimes you only need to be a few steps ahead
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  Investigate who in your audience needs help, what they need, and how you can help
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  Ask people if they might be interested in working with you—do some discovery calls
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  Price—charge for it, making sure there's commitment + it's a viable business
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  Evaluate the process, tools, people's reactions, and how coaching will fit into your life
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  Results—get them results, remind them about their progress, and ask for testimonials
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  Sales page—grow your coaching program once you know it's what you want to do

Check out the video to hear Pat go into more details about his DIAPERS process, sharing lots more actionable tips + his thoughts on pricing and impostor syndrome!

It's possible to make new, close friends, through the power of the Internet and Twitter.

In this video, Sahil Bloom talks with Andrew Barry about building an audience by learning in public, creating valuable content, hustling, and paying it forward.

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  Write about stuff that interest you + people find valuable
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  Learn in public—you don't have to be an expert to write about things that interest you
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  Have a system for capturing ideas that spark your interest + a writing/editing process
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  Tease ideas that sound interesting to you, to figure out if there's demand for them
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  Hustle to get your tweets noticed—share with people directly + get them to engage
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  Cross-mention threads to link ideas together, helping people engage with your content
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  Space things out—avoid long blocks of text that feel like they belong in an article
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  Stay consistent with your personal brand to build trust + try not to break it
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  Think of it as 'creating value for people', not 'building a following'
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  Show up and do the work, consistently, over a long period of time
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  Keep your DMs open—connect with people all around the world
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  Pay it forward—uplift people following in your footsteps