Ep121 Get Your Online Course Content Written 10X Faster with Gina Onativia

Show Notes:

Connect with Gina here: https://coursecreationboutique.com/mastermind/ 

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Resources:

6-Week Accelerator: Get Your Starter Online Course Done in Just 6 Weeks
Work with Gina and discover a streamlined, no-fuss, simplified path to creating your online course so you can get it done without the confusion and overwhelm.
https://coursecreationboutique.com/sixweeks

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Show Transcription: 

Tina

Hey friends, do you want to know how you can create your course content 10 times faster and optimise it for student success? Today, my special guest Gina Onativia is telling us all the goods and how you can get it done. Let's go.

Hello, and welcome to Episode 121 of Her Empire Builder today. I have fellow course creator Gina Onativia on the podcast with me. And Gina helps experts, speakers and entrepreneurs get their courses done and out into the world. So right at the very beginning stages where you're like, you know what, I'm filled with expertise and knowledge. How do I package this and make it into a product and Gina is your gal. She has built digital courses for Giuliana Ransic and Jason Kennedy Bo Eason and Tracy Tutor of Bravo's million dollar listing so for some pretty famous people. She's worked with Anthony Robbins and Amy Porterfield. And you can find her at coursecreationboutique.com  she's got so much gold for you in today's episode. Please welcome Gina Onativia. Hello, Gina. Welcome to her Empire Builder.

 

Gina

Tina, I cannot wait for this interview. I'm so excited to be on being on.

 

Tina

I'm so happy. I mean, I got the privilege of being on yours last month, which was amazing. And I have been waiting to be able to interview you now and like turn the tables on that.

 

Gina

I've been looking forward to this we begin such an amazing response to your podcast. So yes, I've been looking forward to this. Yes.

 

Tina

I'll link to that in the show notes too. So if anyone wants to jump over to Gina’s podcast and listen to that it's a good one. I actually talked about things I don't you asked me questions that not a lot of people don't normally ask me in terms of profit and how to manage the money in an online course, which was really cool.

 

Gina

Yeah, I'm surprised they don't ask you. You are such an expert. And I feel like it's a topic that we don't talk enough about. Yeah. systems are just incredible. So yeah, if you haven't listened yet, please check it out.

 

Tina

Yeah, it's so good. Okay, so can you give me a little bit of an overview of how you got to where you are now because you're a pretty big deal in the online course world?

 

Gina

Well, sometimes. So I started with online courses, actually. Back in the day with Tony Robbins. And I know Tony Robbins has a presence here in Australia. So so hopefully your listeners are familiar with.

 

Tina

I don't think anyone doesn't know who Tony Robbins is.

 

Gina

So back in the day, I was Tony's creative manager and running his content. And I got to go to all kinds of events, many in Sydney and Gold Coast. And that's where I really learned how to create courses and products. And Amy Porterfield, the Amy Porterfield was my boss at the time we learned together. And from there, I joined my husband's company after my son was born. And that's when I got the entrepreneur bug because I didn't want to miss one moment of trust and growing up. And we build courses now together with experts, entrepreneurs, speakers, we either coach them through it, or we do it for them.

 

Tina

I love it. That is so good. And I love connecting and being able to do that, too. I had no idea though, that you worked with Anthony Robbins. That's so cool.

Gina

Yes. Yes. There was a lot of intense moments and I've got some stories, but in other podcasts a lot of stories.

 

Tina

I just yeah, just even seeing the behind the scenes of that would have been so interesting.

 

Gina

Yes, definitely. There was a lot of frantic moments and a lot of learning that went on but I really treasure that time. It was like I said it was intense, but I've learned so much I like it. He's like the king of Of course creation and content creation.

 

Tina

Okay, so today, what I want to talk about is creating that course content, and how to actually get that get that all happening because I know It's where a lot of people become stuck, they decide they want to get started, but then they go, okay, where do I start? How do I do it? What's too much? What What do I need to look out for to get that actually into play? So I want to start with what mistakes Do you see people make when writing their course content?

 

Gina

Yeah, such a great question. And we mentioned Tony, so why not start with Tony-ism, right. And I think people a lot of times, there's overachievers who are creating courses, I'm sure you work with overachievers, I work with them all the time, there's a reason you're putting out a course it's because you're a badass, you have expertise and you know what you're talking about. But because of that, sometimes we have what I call outstretched expectations, especially when it comes to scripting your course, you need it to be perfect. You need all the details in there, you need the best stories, right? And the best examples. And that's really, really hard to pull off, especially for your first or your second course. So Tony talked about when I was working for him, and I know he's still talking about this, that unhappiness lies when our expectations don't match our life conditions. Yeah. And that happens all the time with scripting and creating our courses. I encourage anyone listening to trade expectations for serving your students with a transformation. So just leave the expectations behind. And instead, focus on your promise, the result that you're delivering for your student. And then something kind of clicks, something transforms for you. When you focus on service, instead of the overachieving instead of making sure it's perfect.

 

Tina

I think that actually goes into everything like that was, for me, that was the biggest thing was showing up on video when I didn't want to be on social media and do videos all the time. And then I think it was Jasmine Star, I saw her and she said something along the same lines and going stop thinking about yourself. Like start thinking about the people that you serve and what they need and focus on that and show up for them.

Okay, so when you're going to do that, so how do you actually start writing course content?

 

Gina

Yeah, that's such a good question. So I've got this posted exercise. And we can give them a link or we can walk you through it. But if you want to focus on your course content, I want you to focus one script at a time. So first, you want to have that overview set. So I see a lot of people just kind of dive in and say I'm just have a topic and I'm just gonna brainstorm everything I can think of. It's like, Oh, well wait, let's step back for a moment. And let's get a framework. I'm big on frameworks, I know you're big on systems. So start with a system, it doesn't have to be my post it exercise, whatever it is, start with a vision and a breakdown of what you want to achieve. And then I've got a framework to actually write each lesson each video lesson and Do you mind if I walk through it? I'd love for you to amazing, let's go. Okay, so I believe in frameworks, and I believe, what's the system for this? So like, my two favourite questions are what's your outcome? And what's the system? Right? Or who has done this before? I guess I have three favourite questions. When I worked for Tony, I noticed a pattern of how he was presenting content either in the studio, at events wherever we were. And I was thinking to myself, this guy, he does a five part system. So the first piece that you want to think about when you're writing your course content each lesson, Okay, number one, start with a hook. So I think we take for granted Tina, that just because someone has bought our course, they're going to be immediately immersed inside of our course content and ready from the get go. It's not true. Like it's tough to get them across the finish line. Sometimes you have to work just as hard with the marketing as the course creation to keep them engaged. So with this hook, it could be a question, it could be a statistic, it could be something that grabs their attention, and lets them know, okay, get ready for this, you're ready to learn. The second piece is tell them what they're going to learn. A lot of times we just jump in, we have to orient them, there's especially if you're doing a signature course or a bigger course that has 30 lessons in it, you're sitting might be like, Where the heck am I right? So we got to we got to tell them where they are and what they're gonna learn. Then as part of Step three, that's your core content. So maybe the lesson has five steps or three ways or just one core concept that you want to get across that you want to teach. That's part three, and that's where the bulk of your lesson is going to be. Then Part Four, you're going to give them homework, I really believe and I'm sure you do, too, Tina, that make it implementable like 95% of your lessons should have an action item. It doesn't necessarily have to be a worksheet or a template or anything like that. It could be like a simple exercise go outside and do this. Yeah, the action steps. So yes, the action steps. I had a course creator who okay wasn't my course creator. It was a potential. Course creator I was going to work with and he said, Well, I'm gonna film 14 videos. And I'm just gonna put it up, I'm going to put it out. And I said, Great. Where are your handouts? Like? Where are your downloads, oh, I don't need those downloads, I said, then great, you don't have a course, like with all due respect to me my like the definition because I think it's going to be more difficult for your person to have a transformation. So I might have been a jerk in that moment. But that's just to feel about it. Like, you need to have those take action pieces. So so that's step four, Part Four. And then finally, as a fifth part of your lesson, you're going to tell them next steps. Now that you've learned this piece, we're going to move on and learn about that. So it stacks, right, because overall, what makes a course a course, the stacking of the value, the stacking of the lessons to the transformation. So that that's the five part system.

 

Tina

I love it. That is so good. I hope everyone write that down. We might we might summarise that below in the show notes as well. Yeah, I love it. And so one of the big mistakes that I see people making when they go through that process is because a lot of people that make courses are getting their expertise, and then packaging that into a course. And the mistake that I see people make so often it's too much. It's just too much content in there. How do you help people to distil what's most important and what can be left for something else? Because it's not vital to that transformation?

 

Gina

Okay, I love that. So I have an exercise called the course promise, you probably have something very similar Tina, where we talk about what's the transformation? And what is the result that you're providing. So going back to the outstretch expectations in the beginning of this episode, with the promise, you don't want to go too overboard. And this is where I see a lot of course creators go bananas when it comes to their course content, get overwhelmed, stop and get frustrated. Yeah. So first and foremost, look at your course promise. And are you promising too much? Like I had a financial planner, who said I want to teach couples, everything that there is to know small families, everything there is to know about financial planning, and I'm like, dude, you'll never get done, because there's no such thing. And then we pare that back to I'm going to teach I'm going to give a starter financial plan for families with kids under 12. Right. So smaller kids, and then then it like he woke up. Right, then he had a breakthrough. And he could finish the course. Yeah. So I think if you're finding yourself in overwhelmed with that content, start there. Start with the course promise. Another piece of advice. And I'm sure you talk about this is don't fall in love with your content, right? Which is hard, because hey, I love my Hey, everything that we put out is

like gold cane.

Exactly everything I'm saying right now. But it's it's so hard. But we can't fall in love with it. They don't need this for the promise. They don't need this for the transformation. It is just extra. So if it's extra, make it a bonus right for 2.0. Or make it your free content for your run up to your launch. There's a lot of fun things because I am one. I'm a content hoarder, like no, no content is thrown out. Right. No content left behind. But it doesn't mean it has to be crammed into your course.

 

Tina

Yeah, I love that. Because it is um, yeah, it is really tempting. I had someone that I was working with, and they was uploading on kajabi. And they're like, I just I just don't know whether it's easy for people to move through it. And I looked at it and it's a six week course I had 120 something videos. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, no. Yeah.

 

Gina

Yeah. And there's a great example of sorry, but very likely did not start with the framework, right? Yes, very likely did not sit down and do a post exercise, or my poster size or do some kind of exercise that breaks it down first. That is so critical. Yeah, I knowing because I talked to a lot of course creators, and I'm sure you do, too, where they say, Oh, I already have the outline. Like lady I got this dialled in, yeah. And then I look at him, like you have the beginnings of an outline. But there is some structures that you can put in place and do that work ahead of time, and it will pay off in the end, and you won't get into the job and be like.

 

Tina

One of my favourite things about online courses is there's zero fluff. I mean, I'm from an education background. I was originally a primary teacher, and then I do adult education. And I used to run workshops and events and do that sort of thing. And there's so much fluff in there. There's so much padding, but in online programmes, there's zero fluff, it's get stuff done. This is how I can get you from A to B in the quickest my simplest way.

 

Gina

Yeah, and I think our students are really in tune to that. And they won't accept anything less.

Yeah, like don't waste my time.

That's right. They're busy people. Get to the point. Yeah, be what I want what I need to learn and leave the rest. Exactly.

 

Tina

You touched on before you mentioned that you know it's hard to move people through and actually just because everyone's bought the course doesn't mean they're going to complete what tips have you got to keep people engaged throughout the course and give them because the only way we really grow is to have people complete get that result get that transformation and tell their friends how do you encourage people to move through and do that?

 

Gina

Absolutely and i think we don't talk about this enough either because i think listen what don't we talk enough about but marketing is so important getting them across getting them to actually buy the course and enrol but when it comes to making sure they cross the finish line you have to think about stick efforts right how do you get them to stick and make it through it's not just about subscriptions month to month you also want to think if you have a six week course or an eight week course how do i make sure they make it through the eight weeks right so stink stick ideas could be simple as emails and dripping out emails like once a week or on a certain cadence and you're reminding them why they should be inside the course you're re iterating the promise to them like this is why you're here and this is why you're going to get through this content you could also give them surprise bonuses like that's another piece that i love like hey check out the site because we want to get them into so we're both big fans of kajabi so i'm always saying you want to go into your members area because of this i put a surprise in there or this little tidbit of content or i did an extra q&a for you guys like you guys had some questions i went ahead and answer them off the cuff so surprises the emails i love certificates or doing things upon graduation and maybe teasing those maybe you do some contests depending on the size of your course and the size of your audience i think just having that top of mind along with all these other pieces which i know is tough if you're listening right now you're like this lady's crazy there's so much to remember about course creation and marketing and there is but trust me it is way easier to sell to an existing customer we all know the stats than to sell to new customers you want to create raving fan students so you can sell to them again and again i'm a huge fan of that i'm sure you are to tina.

 

Gina

Yes absolutely and i use a lot of automated emails oh yeah both wanting to go out yeah well i have ones that are like time based that go out every week but then also less than based so when they finish something they'll get the email going yay you did this like if they just did something then hit reply and let me know how you went with that so that you can have that engagement in there as well which is going to be dependent on how many people you've got in your course if you've got 1000s and 1000s you maybe don't want to have that but it's still good to have some automated stuff happening.

 

Gina

Absolutely and there's different levels like depending on who's listening right now and what kind of course you've got and then think about that accountability piece too so like i a lot of us have communities i really recommend communities in terms of with your course setting up accountability partnerships or how are you checking in with them that goes a long way in terms of your course again it goes back to how big your courses right and how many students but don't discount that piece.

 

Tina

What are your views on because one thing like i'm gonna segue a little bit here but i love that because we are in the same industry and do the same thing and you know i was talking to someone the other day and i go on each viewing gina she's such a superstar did and and someone said to me she's your direct competitor and i was like man there's plenty of fish in the sea we can do that and i love that and i love that we can get to put both our brains together and go alright this is how we do things so you do things like horses for courses it's so good anyway so the take i want to get from you is video length lesson length because i've seen a massive trend like when i first started in online programmes and people would do their lessons that were like 90 minutes long because more time meant more value and now i go ain't nobody gonna sit down and watch your 90 minutes right i said what's your kind of take on on lesson length.

 

Gina

yeah so i think it goes back to a bigger question about who is your course yeah who's your course right what's your course type like what are goes back to your promise and then because of that promise who's your student what's your course type do you want shorter videos longer videos big pdfs big meaty pdfs or what is that right but for me and i remember those 90 minute videos and i'll tell you what i bought a course a couple months ago and it was like 3 90 minute videos wasn't chunked at all wasn't organised or categorised i'm like no i just left it alone i'm like i'm not going through this because somebody did not take the time to break this down for me and i'm a big proponent so most of our students and our done for you clients i would say on average to eight minute videos so i'm a big proponent of five to eight minutes by to 10 on the long side and then having some nice downloads to go with it and implement and and don't be afraid to say like here's the foundation now go do the worksheet you know they've got they've got to figure it out for themselves you set them up with the knowledge now now they can go do it so i would recommend that five to 10 and trust me i saw those longer videos tina that was not fun it was time

to find like a lot of the a lot of because i cater mainly for women and so a lot of them are watching videos while they're at their kids sporting events and that sort of thing and just plugging into their phone and watching it.

 

Gina

That’s why audio is so good too right.

yeah and having the companion audio like that's such a low hanging fruit piece to have in your courses yeah so but i love that they're watching their kids games

 

Tina

Cuz they're like you know what i got another 10 minutes i'll just pop that one on and be able to to be so good that's so smart i love that yeah the Kajabi app it's so good it's so easy it's so easy okay so we've talked about teaching to action steps which i am a massive fan of because i think you know so much that i used to say was was all of these all of these courses in going and you know you get to the end of them you go okay well that was a heap of really fabulous information but now what do i do now what?

So i think i think sometimes people are a little afraid of being too simplistic but i find if it's really clear and concise and we've got like dot point here's your action step and there's no thinking around it it really helps people to move through and to get that result is that do you find the same thing?

Gina

Yeah absolutely and i think you're absolutely right about people think it's too simplistic and i'm and i always say is you're a black belt let's keep this in mind folks taking your course your new students are starting out with like a little white belt or yellow belt right and they're just starting out and they don't know anything we know very little right depending on what kind of course you're putting out so you've got to start from the beginning and you've got to keep it simple and then right and then just give them the action steps that go along with it but i absolutely agree with you we try to get to advance we're trying to over deliver yeah i think a lot of times i find with course creators and you don't need to do that

 

Tina

I mean it's lovely that everyone wants to over deliver, but i know i know that was like i run a membership and the biggest mistake that i made in the beginning was i gave so much information and i actually had a couple of people leave because it was too overwhelming is totally over delivered and you don't want to turn people off by you know plants die if you water them too much

yeah you don't want to over your right a confused mind doesn't buy an overwhelmed head like does not get through of course yeah funky way to say that find that for the future

that was so profound

 

Gina

i'm trying to drop i'm trying to drop the memorable lines and it's just not happening

 

Tina

we could use clubhouse lingo you just dropping knowledge bombs gina so we've cost delivery how do you help people to steal whether they should be doing face to camera whether they should be standing with a whiteboard whether they should be sharing on zoom what are your preferences and how do you get people to really decide okay when you break it down and you're like okay here's your five minute segments that you going through how do you present that

 

Gina

Yeah that's a great question and that to me is part of the fun of course creation people it's of course creators think i'm nuts when i say that like none of this is fun gina but i think it's because i've been so fun because it's open to you right and and there is no book on your course has to be this way and i think that's a really good myth that everyone listening right now i'm sure Tina has mentioned that a million times but there is not one size fits all with course creation you create the course you want to create that works for you that works for your students and you go so that could be live that could be direct a camera that could be audio with slides so i always like to ask what's the transformation first and foremost what's our promise how are we going to get there what does that look like and then what serves your student and what serves you so i've got a course creator right now she does college counselling for college admissions back in the states and as you can imagine there's a tonne of layers that go on with college admissions way more than when i was a kid okay so way way more and we're gonna do some direct to camera intros we might do the whole welcome introduction right director then we're gonna do because there's a lot of heavy like in depth information some slides with audio we're gonna do a couple of interviews like with different like prep testing prep company or like an essay company so we'll we'll sprinkle those in but always positioning her as the expert and then a lot of it's going to be like slides with audio so don't be afraid to do a mix but do what works for you and your student.

 

Tina

totally i have like my members they say i say two things all the time I'm one of them is all the things that you've got to do all the things it's not just one guy. And the other one is it depends.

I know lousy answer no one likes that. Right? I know it's frustrating because he's very much know when people are asking me about launching or people are asking me you know all the different sorts of things and you go I think people are getting a bum steer when they say this is the only way to do it. This is the best way to do it. Because what's best for you may be very different to what's best for somebody else.

 

Gina

I 100% agree. And you and I are similar in that we do cut we custom counsellor, customer advice, folks, right? We believe one size doesn't fit all. There's not just one way so we help you figure out what's right for you.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah,

I like it so much.

 

Tina

Okay, so my other question that I want to ask you is production quality now you're obviously working with some like super successful big quick kind of people but for the average person that may be starting on a budget How important is production quality to

your first costs?

 

Gina

Yeah, and and we work with a range like for you're absolutely right for done for you clients like we do. We did a course for Giuliana Rancic and Jason Kennedy you know, so we worked with Tracy Tutor for million dollar listing. So we've got some celebrity clients that do amazing productions. Obviously Tony had great productions. However, we also have students who DIY it, and I'm a big fan of minimum viable product MVP, and setting up your phone getting a decent light a decent have. To me it's about and I'm sure for you lighting. .

Yeah, say that say that line. Say that line. Again, we just lost your internet a little bit.

Oh, sorry, with your thinking about focusing on three pieces. If you're doing a DIY director camera, it's lighting your audio and then framing the shot. So with lighting you can get everyone has a ring light. Now you get some natural light, make sure you're front lit. Maybe you want to be a little side lit right for your audio. Make sure you've got carpet down hopefully in a carpeted room. You know test out different spots, and then free don't shoot on like a prison wall background. Please don't do green screen or anything like that. Just from the shot with a nice like you've got a bookcase rocking out right now. And you've got this like cute gold palm like tree in the background. That's lovely. So yeah, that's it. Yeah. Don't worry about the rest.

 

Tina

I love that you said don't do green screen because I have seen so many people use it. And I'm like, it's so dodgy.

 

Gina

It's 2021. We're not doing green screen guys. Let it go.

Okay, and then just go because I've seen we've had the students who get hung up on it like, oh, should I try this backdrop? Like No, just go? Yeah, sounds better than perfect.

 

Tina

Because you can always this is the thing, like it's always moving. You can always and this is why I also like short segments, if you're only doing the five to 10 minute ones. Yeah, yeah, if you want to redo something, if your information changes, or you you know you had a cold when you were recording on it, it's very easy to go back and redo it later, once you've started to get some runs on the board.

 

Gina

I absolutely agree. And I always say start in the middle, right. So wherever you're doing, if you've scheduled a couple days to break up your course filming started Module Three, don't start in module one. Go back. Because you you'll get you'll work your wiggles out, you'll work out the nerves. And then by the time like on your day two or day three, you go back to the beginning when you want to be on because they're seeing you for the first time.

 

Tina

That's very clever.

I've never thought that before.

 

Gina

Yeah, so we always do when we do film shoots. We always do like the introduction of Module One last or like in the middle when or if we see a course creator like oh, they're in this zone right now. Let's do the intro.

 

Tina

Yeah, that that's actually really clever. The linear brain in me would really struggle with that. Yes, but I can see why that's so valuable. Yeah, that's so good. Okay, good tip. All right.

I want to ask you about your course, because your course is launching next week. Can you tell everyone all about it?

 

Gina

Yes, yes. The six week accelerator so we're talking about one size doesn't fit. All right. And that's what the six week accelerator is all about. It's working with me live over six weeks and getting your course done. Now it could be a starter course or focused course. And I am bossing you around giving you the steps and teaching you and then you have milestones and homework that you have to you have to complete each week and I'm checking in on you and you're working with a very small tight knit community. So I love this programme because well I love to boss people around but you folks get to fruition in just six weeks. I love it a lot. It's a great programme. And is it it's for people that haven't done a course before. Brand new? Yes, yeah. Either people who have done the course before, or I have people who want to uplevel their course. Yeah, who did it? Did it on their own right and did a valiant effort but are ready for the next step to make it a little bit more sophisticated and really want to walk through how it works. there's a there's a marketing component as well, Tina to help them launch or they want to have that sense of launching those folks. Yeah.

 

Tina

Fantastic. All right. I'll link to all of those details down the bottom. Gina, you did drop knowledge bombs all the way. Thank you so much, God, it was so good to talk to you again.

 

Gina

Thank you, Tina.