a little progress at a time
My goal over the past month has been to chronicle the steps I’m taking to get my online courses off the ground. Each day I work on my online courses, I’m writing down what it is I’m doing, how I’m feeling, what I’m getting stuck on and all the bells and whistles that go into making this happen. My point in doing this is to show you, my dear readers, all of the necessary (and unnecessary) steps that go into creating a (hopefully) successful online business.
To spare you from having to read post after post of each little step I’m taking, I wanted to just share with you an excerpt of an online journal I’m using to track my progress in Google Docs.
This is what I have so far:
Thursday, March 30th, 2017 –
Spent wayyyy too much time messing around on social media and wasting time, but was able to get cracking on this course “Unveil” so I feel pretty good about where it’s going. Module 1 which is the intro module that sets the tone for the entire course is nearly complete as far as content that will go into it. That feels good and gives me a strong vision for what I will hopefully accomplish when I work on this course again in the near future. When? I will work on this course on Tuesday, April 4th.
Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 –
Today I’m working at Cuppa Austin. Have a headache due to sinus pressure. Don’t feel rested and feel restless with all that I need to do to catch up. Need to focus on one task and just see it through to the end. Need to get Convert Kit opt-in set up and schedule content for Reveal. Please Lord, let me get focused so I can start making money at this business soon. I need desperately to get focused and produce something.
I’m ending today’s work feeling very excited. I finished the practicing module. I need to go back tomorrow and read through it and tweak it and add detail and refine the modules and lessons I’ve written out so far, but for now, I feel good about its progress. I was focused today, despite my initial headache and distracting disposition. I am hoping to keep flowing like this throughout the week and be ready to actually develop the slides and video content the week after next. It is really crucial that I get this content written out, so I can start taking snippets of it and using it in mini tutorials, blog posts, podcasts, and freebies. I have to have this content done before I can begin creating this community and getting followers. So this is good progress.
Tomorrow I will go back and tweak a bit, but then begin the hardest and longest module which is the 10 Rs of Successful Singing. My goal is to be done with the bulk of the content by end of week. If I do this, I can begin to break it down and create content based upon it.
Yay!!!
Tuesday and Wednesday, April 11 & 12, 2017 –
Yesterday (Tuesday) I woke right up and was ready to hit the ground running with working on my course. I completed the first module and started immediately with the module “10 Rs of Successful Singing”. I got through the first two lessons and it felt like it really flowed out of me. I enjoyed it and felt like I had a new spark lit under me in doing so. Today (Wednesday) was a bit of a different story. I struggled to get out of bed after a night of being kicked by Georgia in bed. She was super restless from about 1:30am onward (I think), so I finally took her hot fleece pajama bottoms off and she settled down a little. I got up at 5:15 and dragged myself to the coffee maker and got out the door by about 6:15. When I got here, I got caught up looking at pictures of my friend, Camilla, who just passed away from breast cancer and feeling sad and side-tracked thinking of her and how quickly her life vanished away. but then I just snapped out of it and jumped in. Funny how you can think that you are not inspired or motivated, but the actual DOING OF THE THING can make you motivated. Your flow sometimes comes regardless of the right circumstances and feelings. I love that about creating. We never know what we can make of something, even in a less than optimal situation. For instance, sometimes my best workouts are those that I didn’t feel like doing, but I got my sports bra on and workout clothes and put on my shoes and got on that treadmill anyway, and I ended up feeling amazing and exhilarated afterwards. Some of my best days are days when I didn’t want to get up, but I did it anyway, and I ended up having a special encounter with a close friend or was inspired in a way I didn’t think was possible. Some of my best singing days are days where my voice started out raw and raspy, but I warmed up and worked through it and began making some absolutely glorious sounds. Some of my best teaching has been on days when I dreaded that first student arriving at my house, but the student came and we worked and made amazing progress that got both of us fired up and energized. And some of my very best creative days are the ones where I thought I had everything in me BUT creativity, but I started working and things started pouring out of me like a never-ending, creative fountain.
This morning, I spent a good deal of time just chasing my tail, but I still managed to get quite a bit written out in my online course, nevertheless. That inspires me. That propels me to get up early again tomorrow and get back at it. It feels like such SLOWWWWW progress, but it’s progress, and I’m proud of it.
Since my kids will be out of school for Good Friday this week, tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day I really have to get some things done in my business. And guess what? I have a hair appointment and a therapy session. I know! Go me!!! But I do plan on allowing myself some space in the wee early morning hours to wrap some things up so I can hit the ground running like a champ next Tuesday!
Tomorrow, I’m going to continue playing around with customizing my Convertkit opt-in box for both sites and create an email sequence for both sites. After I create the email sequence, I will then create my freebies to entice people to opt in. At that point, I will need to go ahead and set up LeadPages, I think, in order to get more email subscribers.
One of the biggest things that keeps tripping me up here is what to do first. I really think I need to create an email sequence first, and then create my freebies from there. But I’m not sure. I plan to host my pdf files on amazon.
So much to learn! Right?
The other thing I need to do, in addition to getting set up with my email sequence on Convertkit, is go ahead and bite the bullet with some big purchases. Right now, I need a good lav mic, and I already have one in my shopping cart with Amazon. I also need a Blue Yeti mic to start podcasting soon. And I need to get a good computer camera to do live video on my computer. I also need a desk top tripod for my iphone and a ring light. Let’s see, what else? So much I need to figure out!!
Lord, help me prioritize all this and get it down soon. I feel like I’m treading through quick sand right now, but I know, at some point, this will all come together and I will know what I need to do!
over and out…
Nothing crazy, out-of-the-ordinary, but this is where my head currently is.
Thoughts?
I’d love to hear your stories as you journey through your online business and figure things out along the way.
Recent Comments