How to build an online course without losing your mind or your weekend! - Gail Starr

00:00  Creating an online course is one of the most exciting ways to share your expertise, make an impact, and even build a new income stream. When I first started thinking of creating an online course, I knew I had this amazing knowledge that would help a lot of people. But what kept me stuck for almost three years was not knowing how to get that knowledge out of my gate and into the actual course. But the good news is, with the introduction of AI technologies, this process is now a lot more simple and no longer needs to feel overwhelming or difficult.    

00:34  So if you've got an online course idea already but aren't sure how to turn it into a structured course outline, or you'd love to explore creating a course but feel stuck on what you could even teach, this short training session is for you. By the end of our time together, you'll walk away with a solid course outline and the confidence to take the next steps. And because there's so much more to creating a course than just the outline, have a special bonus waiting for you at the end of the session.    

01:05  It includes resources to help with things like video scripts, presentation slides, course material, and more to really bring your course to life. So if you've been waiting for a clear, practical way to get started with your course creation journey, this is it. So let's get going. Today we are going to be looking at how to build an online course without losing your mind or your weekend. So welcome to this digital brainstorm now, I'd like to call it a digital brainstorm because shortly we are going to be using chat GBT to help you get that idea out of your brain and into a comprehensive outline. Now, I've always been of the belief that AI should be used to not replace your knowledge, but to enhance it.    

01:48  So to use it as a really smart tool to help you just order your thoughts and get things done logically so that is what we are going to be doing. For those of you who don't know me, my name is GAIL Starr and I love all things AI. I love the software platform Kajabi For course creators, it's an all in one platform. I love helping people in the online business space and my superpower is definitely getting people unstuck. So how can you use your skills, expertise, and passions to help others? So if you're listening to this training, you're probably one of two types of entrepreneurs that I work with.    

02:31  The first is that you've got this idea in your head for an online course, but it's literally just stayed in your head because you just don't know how to get it out of your head as the idea and down into an online course outline. The other entrepreneur that I work with is somebody who's heard of digital products, heard of online course creation, and thought they'd really like to explore it further, but keep thinking to themselves that what on earth could I create an online course about? During this training, I am going to be helping both types of entrepreneurs, but to start off with, I'd like to speak directly to the second person.    

03:12  So you've heard of online products or online courses and you're thinking to yourself, what on earth could I teach people? And so let's have a look at it. So what do people ask you? Do they say to you, oh, can I pick your brain about X? Or how do you do that? I would really love for you to teach me that. Now, that is exactly the kind of thing you need to be looking for because those are the things that you could potentially teach to others. You need to look at your unique strengths and you can harness those strengths and teach other people. But you're probably wondering, OK, I get that, but what are my unique strengths? So let's have a look at that.    

03:59  First of all, your skills. Ok, so these are your practical abilities that you've developed either through your work or hobbies or just through your life experience. Think of things that you're good at. It could be something like organizing or troubleshooting a articular software latform or designing something O those are skills that you could take and teach other people. What about your expertise? So this is specialized knowledge or proficiency in a particular field and it's often been gained through education like at school or college or ongoing personal education.    

04:38  Or that you've just had years of experience in it. It could make you the go to person for advice in that specific area. Let's look at your knowledge so this is something that that refers to what you've learned over time, again, through study or just through exposure. It could include broad topics or very niche topics. It could be something like historical facts or technical know hows really anything that you could educate or inspire other people with and then finally, your passions so these are the things that you absolutely love talking about.    

05:18  It's your interests, your hobbies, something you care really deely about, something that you are really assionate about. O those are the four areas that you could look at for creating an online course. Now, your online course could be like one of these specific areas, or you may find there might be an intersection between like your passions and your expertise or a skill and a passion that you required. And you just need to find that sweet spot and see what course you could create with it. So again, we might, you might be asking, OK, so how can I use my skills, my expertise, my passions to help others? Well, I'm going to show you now how your you, your knowledge, skills, expertise or passions, along with chatty PT as a smart brainstorming tool can help you take that course idea out of your head and put it into a comprehensive course i plan.    

06:22  Let's move into the brainstorming section of this training. Now, before I begin, I wanted to show you I've created a prompt resource to go along with this training. You'll see, as I work with Chachi BT that I'm using the prompts from the sheet. But I also wanted to show you that the best way to work with chat GBT in a brainstorming capacity is to naturally have a conversation with it. So while these prompts are really helpful to get you started, you're going to see as we work how you can just talk to chat.    

06:57  Tell it your ideas, ask for its recommendations so that you are not always tied to somebody's prompts. So let's get started. But the first thing that I always like to tell chat GPT is what we are going to be doing so I always just tell it shortly we are going to be doing some brainstorming or writing an email or creating some landing page copy. So for this one, I've said shortly we are going to be brainstorming some ideas for an online course that I would like to create.    

07:28  You do not have to do anything yet just let me know you understand. Now, I always put this last bit in here so that chat doesn't just suddenly go off on its own and creating an online course before we've had a chance to tell it what we want to create our online course about. So I would suggest adding that in so that you can tell chat what you're doing and then get started and chat says, got it. Let me know when you're ready to start brainstorming. So here is our first part. I want to create an online course based on my expertise or skills, but I'm unsure where to start. Here are my top three skills or areas of expertise.    

08:07  Now I have just added in my SO Kajabi Expert and Online Business certification so in your prompt sheet over here, I've just added these in red. You can Add all of your skills or just one of your skills, two or three of your skills it's really up to you. So then we asked chat, what are some course ideas I could explore? Please include a brief description of the target audience for each idea.    

08:33  Now, I'd like to include this because you may know the type of audience that you would like to work with. So you want chat to have told you if that is the type of audience that would that that would like this course. But it also may just spark some ideas of audiences that you may not have thought about. So chat says perfect here are some online courses based on my skills and expertise. Kajabi Mastery online business Launchpad Automated business systems with Kajabi. Ok, so it has pulled out my Kajabi expertise, my online business expertise, and it's offered some course suggestions.    

09:12  So what happens if I wanted to rather look at a course based on my passions? So that is our next prompt. I want to create an online course based on my passions, but I'm unsure where to start. Here are my passions or interests. So I love teaching online entrepreneurs all about generative AI, specifically how to use AI like chat GBT to create the necessary assets to build a profitable online business. So I've just added in one of my passions. So what are some course ideas I could explore? And please include a brief description of the target audience.    

09:45  And then chat gives some more ideas so an AI powered business starter kit. You can see here's the description and here's my target audience content creation made easy with chat GPT. Again, the description and the target audience. Ai driven funnel mastery, the AI business toolkit for entrepreneurs. Scale your online business with AI and then chat asks me which of these resonate most or would you like to combine elements from a few we can refine further based on your goals.    

10:18  So from those ideas, as I read through them, I really liked the idea of number three this AI driven funnel mastery so it's a comprehensive course on building a complete marketing funnel using chat GPT. From crafting lead magnets to opt in pages to writing automated email sequence that convert and participants will work away with the fully functional funnel tailored to their business. Now this for me I know would be so helpful to my ideal client. So when I look at the target audience, entrepreneurs and small business owners ready to scale their business by building a marketing funnel, but are overwhelmed by the process and looking for AI powered shortcuts.    

10:56  So again, I would just make sure this is definitely within my target market. And this overwhelm is also one of my ideal clients biggest challenge points. So I said I'm interested in number three so how can you help me refine this idea by identifying the ideal audience for it? Please consider the age, profession, challenges and goals. So now that I've got the idea, I want to just make sure that it would work well for the type of people that I want to work with. So here chat has given me an ideal, an ideal audience profile. And again, we say online entrepreneurs, including course creators, coaches and consultants definitely yes for me, small business owners transitioning from in person services to online platforms, definitely.    

11:43  Freelancers or solar premiers looking to scale their services so definitely those are good for me. Challenges struggling with the complexity of creating a marketing funnel. Definitely overwhelmed by the amount of content? Absolutely limited time and resources you know somebody who would be looking to build their funnel faster, doubting their ability to create content. Yes, definitely and hesitant about using AI tools because of their lack of confidential experience. So I can teach people to use AI tools till the cows come home. So that is definitely good for me. Goals of my ideal client to create a high converting marketing funnel. That is what this course could lead them to.    

12:26  Save time and simplify the process yes, or the funnel that feels a line authentic and a line with their brand voice. Absolutely that's really important for me with my clients that everything is authentic. Gain confidence in using AI to streamline business operations, yes and achieve sustainable growth. So that is definitely those are definitely the goals of my ideal client. So why this audience fits? So these individuals are at a point in their business where they understand the importance of marketing funnels, but feel stuck in the execution.    

12:58  They're motivated to invest in tools and strategies. Ok, so guys, can you see that that prompt basically is going to make sure that the idea that you have in your head aligns with what you know you'll be able to help your audience with? Ok, so I said I've decided to focus on number three so that was great. And can you help me create a full course outline now? Chat initially just gave me ideas for a course.    

13:24  So this is where we are going to be taking that idea now and turn it into more of an outline. So can you help me create a full course outline? Please suggest the key sections or modules, a brief description of each, and the logical order to present them. Now we've still been using the prompts that I've given you in your prompt sheet to get this far so let's have a look. I'll plan a ad driven funnel mastery. Welcome to funnel mastery understanding you're and your customer, crafting your lead magnet, designing your funnel blueprint. And I'm just going through these quickly because obviously in your niche, it's going to be very different.    

14:03  And so I just want to show you how I work with chat GBT. So writing your funnel copies, I'm basically just checking that all the modules make sense to me, optimizing for, conversions scaling your, funnel next steps, and then a bonus. Ok, And it gives us an order of presentation for our course outline so I would have a look through that. Ok, so then I said I like this outline now this is how I just checked now this sound brainstorming with chat and this is not a prompt in your resource. I like this outline, but in module 8 would like to focus on organic traffic to start off with and only mention paid traffic once the funnel is converting well organically.    

14:44  So now I'm using my ideas, my knowledge, what I know about funnel building to tweak the course outline that chat has given us. So chat then redoes Module 8 for us, scaling your funnel with organic growth. Ok, so it's leveraging social media using chatting to create engaging content. Ok and then route at the bottom here of Module 8, introduction to scaling with paid ads only once the funnel converts organically. Ok, And I said that's great now let's add this module for scaling with paid ads because that's that I thought would fit really well. So chat comes up now with Module 9, so scaling your funnel with paid ads and it gives us a new module.    

15:27  So then I said lovely, now can you please give me the complete outline for this course again? Now we're going back and check brings this all through for us module 1, Module 2 can keep to the same, but now we come to Module 8 scaling your final with organic traffic, Module 9 scaling with paid ads. Then it goes on to continuous improvements and our bonus. What about if you already had that idea in your head it's been sitting in your head you've been thinking about it for a while now, and it's time to get that idea out of your head and into your course our plan.    

16:03  We start this process in the same way. Shortly we are going to be brainstorming some some ideas for an online course that I would like to create. You do not have to do anything yet just let me know you understand chances got it, let's go brainstorming. So from our resource, I already have an idea for my online course. The topic is how to use SO this is my topic how to use Chat TPT to create content with ease. Can you help me get this idea out of my head and into a clear outline? Please suggest key sections or modules I should include and a brief description for each.    

16:41  So chat is great here's our course title. Content creation made easy with Chat tPT module 1 was the welcome and Foundations module 2 mastering the basics of prompts 3 creating high impact content. Ok so you get the idea so chat has given us A8 module course outline of the topic that we had. So I said I'd like this outline, but I would like module 5 to be directly after module 2 as I think it makes more sense for students to understand the importance of defining your brand voice before they start creating content. Do you agree with me or do you have other thoughts on this? So now you are brainstorming with chat you've had an idea in your head and you're asking chat if it agrees with you if it has any ideas on this thought.    

17:31  So chat says I completely agree with you now I want to just give you a pro tip here. Chat will often agree with everything you say so if you are wanting chat, if you wanted to get some ideas from chat on why perhaps you shouldn't do something or why perhaps you know, module 5 shouldn't come after module 2, you would actually then say, could you please give me the pros and cons of this so actually say to chat like I want to move module 5 to to just after module 2.    

17:58  Do you think this is a bad idea and then chat will give you the reasons why you shouldn't so I just wanted to tell you, chat is, is built to be very agreeable so if you are wanting to look at the other side of it, make sure you ask it in that direct way. But chat said yes, it agrees and it sets the foundation for producing content that feels authentic and aligns with their goals. So chat is asked if we would like to do that so I said yes, let's revise it so we've got customizing chat GBT for your brand and then we carry on so chat says this is this way students learn how to work with chat, how to ensure the content reflects their brand and then dives into creating content.    

18:41  So I said yes, I like that better. Then I wanted to ask chat i had a thought about including some audience work into this course. I said do you think that a module on using AI to define your audience would work here or do you think it would confuse the students so you can see I've asked do you think it would work yet or could it confuse the students? And chat tells us adding a module on AI to define your audience can be a fantastic addition if played strategically.    

19:06  It complements the idea of customizing chat and for a brand as understanding the audience is critical for target for creating targeted, effective content. However, it's important not to overwhelm students or derail the courses main focus which is content creation. Because check would probably know that my students are already feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole AI and course creation. So here's how you could include it without confusion. Integrated into customizing chat GPT for your brand so we could have a lesson for and understanding your ideal client. Introduce it as a bonus module so that might work as well, or include it in the wrap of the next steps and level 2 next level applications so then chats us if it tells us if the primary goal of your course is teaching content creation, I'd recommend keeping the audience research as a secondary or optional element.    

19:59  And if your students are likely to struggle with knowing their audience, incorporating this skill early could add significant value. What's your gut feeling? Do you think, Joe that's what I call my ideal student would benefit from it or would it SAP check her? And so I would then carry on brainstorming with Changi PT and to get my course to the place where I want it. You've done such important work today, taking your course idea and turning it into a structured outline.    

20:32  This is a major step in your course creation journey, and I hope you're feeling excited about what you've accomplished so far. But as you know, creating an online course is about more than just the outline. Now, I don't have the time to guide you through the next steps here, but I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed to complete your course. That's why I've created two extra bonuses for you. You'll find them at the bottom of the accompanying prompt resource download. The first bonus is the next 5 steps to completing your online course over five days by email you'll get the chat GBT prompts to help you refine your modules with some modules, lessons, and learning outcomes.    

21:14  You'll also define and identify the ideal audience for this course. You'll create your course presentations and videos and design extra resources like workbooks, checklists, and templates. The bonus is designed to help you build out a comprehensive online course. The second bonus is my Cue Club course creation coach. This is a custom GPT I created designed to guide you through this process step by step. It's packed with prompts and ideas to help you brainstorm amazing course topics and make the process as easy as possible.    

21:48  I really hope you found this session useful, and if you've enjoyed seeing how AI can simplify your course creation journey, I'd love to connect with you further. The links are down below. Can't wait to see the incredible impact your online course is going to make.