THE PODCAST FOR ONLINE COURSE CREATORS GOING BIG!

Join business strategist Tina Tower as she explores how to build your empire by packaging your expertise into online courses, speaking, content, podcasting and credibility.

Tina has over 17 years of experience in starting, building and selling companies, she's a speaker, teacher, mama and world traveller.

She's unapologetic about living an intentionally big life and if you want too, this show is designed to show you many different options to help you gain clarity over YOUR version of awesome.

• Key things in doing a launch.

   

• Getting on how to encounter difficulties in your launch.

• It’s the confidence that helps you have a successful launch. 

• There are different definitions of success, you need to know which one is important to you. 

• Insight into the journey of our wonderful Her Empire Builder member, Claudia Neal-Shaw

Want more?

We have some incredible things happening at Her Empire Builder this year! If you are a course creator, you have to be a part of this incredible community. Jump on to herempirebuilder.com and check it out!

If you loved the episode, I would be so grateful if you shared it on insta or left a review! 

The only membership you need to grow your digital course business

Her Empire Builder is a combination of live sessions and pre-recorded content to help you get what you need, when you need it.

I know that you're the expert and you've got all of your subject knowledge nailed - now it's time to build the business behind your online course and stop being the worlds best kept secret. 

Show transcription 

Intro 

[00:00]
Hi gorgeous. And thank you for joining me today for another episode of her Empire Builder. I am mixing it up a little bit over the next month. So we are four weeks away from opening the doors to her Empire Builder membership, yay. If you are a course creator, and you want to build the business behind your online course, check out herempire builder.com. And because we're going into this beautiful launch season, we're going to be dropping not one, but two episodes a week for you. So we will have one coming out every Monday and Wednesday until we close doors in mid September. So you'll be getting a whole lot of extra goodness, one of those things that I am bringing you is some actual stories of the members inside Her Empire Builder. So I know that so many things that I talk about, and people that I interview have been going for a long time. And I love to bring the real and raw and honest stories of people that are in the early stages, or maybe have just gotten started or just hitting that first six figures or on that journey right along with you. So I've got six of our beautiful members coming up for you sharing their stories and their successes and what they've done, what they've struggled with, and all of the different parts in between so that you can learn from that. And so that you can also see the type of wonderful people that we have inside her empire builder in case you're looking to join us.

So today I'm interviewing one of our fabulous Her Empire Builder members Claudia Neal-Shaw . Claudia joined Her Empire Builder in February of this year, so pretty new. And she's a brand new course creator. So in February, she joined not knowing kind of where to start and what to do. And you'll hear her talk about what was the catalyst for that and what made her jump in. And then she started doing all of those pre launch activities. So total start from scratch, which is what makes it so impressive, because I really think the first year is definitely the hardest. And then she launched her first digital course for online marketing in June, so only a couple of months ago. And she had a great first launch making $12,000 on her first one with her second already half sold out, and more importantly incredible client transformations from her first lucky group of clients. So you can see all the show notes for this episode at tina tower.com/179. And again, if you want to join us in her Empire Builder, you can jump on the waiting list now at herempirebuilder.com. And that will get you a whole heap of exclusive bonuses for the waitlisters and early access four days before everybody else so jump on that if you are thinking of joining.

[3:07] So a little bit about Claudia. She started her first business at 21 and was a few years into her combined Lauren communications degree and she was convinced that she would be an actress or a lawyer and natural communicator and connector. Claudia are offered marketing advice to small to medium businesses on the side. While she completed her formal legal training and traveled globally for work experience. She learned very quickly that in order to create the career of your dreams, you had to rewrite the rules for your own success. That the truth. She left her corporate career behind and relaunched her consulting business focused on empowering female led businesses to market themselves with confidence through one on one coaching online programs and education platforms. Claudia candidly shares the most authentic ways to grow your business, powerful storytelling and a compelling personal brand. Her mission is to elevate the voices of women globally so that there are more women in positions of power and influence. She actively supports the UN global sustainability goals of gender equality and quality education in her offerings to create maximum impact through her business and is currently writing a book called How to market with confidence, a marketing playbook for women in business. How fabulous is Claudia? Right? Oh my gosh, we have the best members. Anyway, I can't wait to share with you Claudia’s story here she is.

[4:38] Hi friend. I'm Tina Tower, business strategist and digital online Empire Builder. I've been in business since I was 20 years old and I've since built and sold for businesses. I started in the world of online courses in 2017 and grew to a seven figure annual turnover in just under two years. To say I love the game of business is an understatement. I'm a world traveler, a mama, a wife, a best selling author. And I love the freedom that we have to create the business and life that we want to live. It takes courage to break the rules and shake things up and do it your way. Through Her Empire Builder, I share my experience and bring me lessons from some of the world's best to help you dream big, plan well, and take massive action. It is absolutely possible to run a thriving growing business to positively impacts the world and have a beautiful personal life without hustling and working yourself into exhaustion. I want that for you. Let's enjoy the journey my friend.

Main episode 

[5:44] Hello, Claudia. Welcome to her Empire Builder podcast.

[05:48] Thank you, Tina. So nice to be here.

[05:51] Yeah, I'm so happy to be here with you. Because there's so many questions that I want to ask you. And like, like I just said, before we hit record with so many people that listen to this podcast, you either want to start or grow mainly their online businesses. And you have, oh my gosh, you've come off to such a flying start since you joined Her Empire Builder that I was like, I want to get you on and ask you how you've done it. So can you first just give us a little bit of an overview of When did you first start in this wonderful world of online courses? And give us a bit of background of what you offer?

[06:31] Absolutely. And thanks for having me. And all I have to say is, I was one of those listeners of the podcast thinking all of these incredible women have built all of these incredible online empires. And I want some of that. Yeah. And so it was, it was something I've been thinking about for a long time, I you know, came from an ex lawyer. Corporate comms very much, you know, a very traditional skill set. And so I was running a consulting business, really trying to understand how do I transition out of that very one to one exchange for time and money, kind of vibe,

[07:10] which is so many of us so many, so many. And because you're not necessarily taught another way. It's not, you know, so widely broadcasted that there are so many different ways that you can do business. And it actually wasn't until I came to the women online conference in February, in Sydney, gosh, was that February, it feels like a lifetime ago. And I sat in that crowd with incredible women until you actually asked a question you said, Put your hand up here, if you have an online course. And all of these women put their hands up around me and I was like, Okay, today is the day where we decide.

[07:47] Yes, why not? You? Yeah, why not?

[07:50] Why not me? Exactly. So that was February. And I ended up launching my first program, which is called the power moves playbook program. And it teaches female entrepreneurs how to market themselves with confidence. It's very much they've never put themselves out there online. They really want to understand how they can do it authentically. So I launched that in June. So it was quite a short running.

[08:16] Okay, I want to ask you so many questions about that. Because I love that. And are you happy to say how much you made in June? Yes. Now

[08:23] of course you of course.

[08:25] Launch Yeah,

[08:26] First launch. I learned launch it on the first of June. And it was a $12,000 launch in the beginning. And then some incredible women who really wanted to join me for the program. But Europe summer was calling them after two and a half years. And so they're now booked in for my September program. So it was this beautiful connection with them that made them say, although it's not for me right now, let's lock me in for next time, which was just amazing.

[08:55] And when you had that first result, because I mean, I think I think $1 In your first course is actually good, because it's like, you know what, that first dollar is always the hardest. And once you've got that you can start learning, growing. It's like you've ripped the band aid off, let's go kind of thing. So my goal is always for people to go 10,000 or over. But I think $1 is still an achievement to revenue. I know. And so you did 12. Were you expecting that?

[09:26] I think I was honestly just expecting there was going to be $1 figure, I thought I thought it might got a couple of people in here who really believed in what the program was going to deliver to them and really willing to give it a crack. That's what I was most focused on. And then when you have that first core sale, and then the second and then the third and you're like, Okay, a few more than a few people believe in this course and you're just really pumped to keep going and excited that someone's sees value in what you've created.

[10:02] Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you and I can't wait to see what you do in the second one. But so from February to June, so you obviously started February you were sitting there going, alright, I'm gonna give this online course thing ago, had you built any sort of email list or anything like that prior?

[10:19] To be really honest with you. I, my network is generally face to face, I would say it like I am a big extrovert. I love connecting people. I've always put an invested a lot of time in my face to face networking. So I had this beautiful warm network. Yes, I did have a database of I think I maybe had 75 people on my database. And that was actually just from one confidence masterclass that I ran a lot of my clients are saying to me, I don't feel confident to show up online. And I was like weird, because confidence is something that I can share with you. Absolutely. Let's make that happen. So I had like a smaller audience. But they were already quite warm, which was just lovely.

[11:06] Yes. And so what were the key things that you did between February and June like you dove straight into Her Empire Builder, which can be very overwhelming in going oh, my gosh, look at everything like I'm starting from scratch. I've got to build my email list website, social media, should I start a podcast to get on other people's bucket? Like, all of those things? 

How did you first deal with that overwhelm of all the things? And how did you decide what was most important to you to do first?

[11:37] I think to preface this, I have to say, I'm not a details, girl. Now when I say details, girl, I want to know, what's the feeling? What's the transformation? What's the experience that we're creating together? And so by coming into Her Empire Builder, it wasn't that, gosh, there's so much detail, I don't know where to start. It was look at this incredible community of women who have created these empires so far. I want to be part of that. So a lot of it was actually observing with yeah, yeah. And being part of a conversation and asking questions, really listening to, you know, the women who had gone before. And you know, I think if there's one thing in business, and I know Tina, you speak about it a lot. It's, the more transparent we can be with each other. The more we talk about how we run businesses, how we make money, how we're showing up in the world in a way that feels really great. We all get to rise together. And so that was immediately the thing that drew me in. And from there, I started to piece together, high level, what could this look like? What do I really want to create? And then I kind of prioritize from then the content that I really enjoyed creating the most, which was connecting and talking to people, so masterclasses videos, even face to face meetings and just bring people together so that we could all be on the same page about what we were trying to achieve in business, which was to do it on our own terms. 

[13:07] I love that. And so confidence is something that you've kind of got dialed in as natural in there. What was the part? Or was there a part that you were kind of like, I know, I need to do this. But this is going to be like you had some resistance around a difficult part that you had to kind of get through and Master. What was the hardest part for you in that first launch in getting it out into the world?

[13:31] The hardest part, interestingly, is that because I do come from it's pretty traditional background and corporate background. And then I was saying that I only want to work with female entrepreneurs. And this course that I've created is only for them. It was really for me, overcoming the fact that other people would see it and go, Oh, she's created this, but why she only created it for female entrepreneurs. And it was really about sharing that message and saying there is a specific reason I do want to elevate women's voices. And this is I have a skill set that allows me to do that. And that's the way that I want to share it. So I think really owning the fact that we can do business or offer something that means something to us. And it doesn't have to mean something to every single person in the world.

[14:23] Yeah. And so to grow, what are you doing? Like I know you did your launch in June, and then you're going again in September. What is your plan for the first year? How many lives launches are you going to do and what other offers are you going to do in the background there? How are you putting it together?

[14:40] Awesome question, Tina. I've got all of these dates. i So we've just finished week eight of the first round, and we're launching again. Thank you. Thank you. It's been it's been such an incredible process and the women that join me on there, I just feel like a proud mom. I don't even have children yet. I've seen them as my, the my girls in my game, it was unreal,

[15:04] it is ridiculous how much you like we had one lady that that put in the other day and she, she wanted to leave her job and she had the side hustle engine for things. And she just clicked over 200,000 in our online business for the financial year. And she did this massive thing with what it meant for her life and what it meant for her family. And, and I'm gonna like a blubbering mess reading this thing on Facebook, like, it's just, it's just makes me so happy. And I don't think you can understand until you see people, like be brave and courageous and take that transformation. And, and also, like, it's not a lot thing in us, as course creators taking that responsibility to guide people through that transformation as well. So it's so great when it turns out everyone's dreams come true. It's just the best part.

[15:51] Totally. And I think also, you know, in a strange kind of way, both as the course creator and the participants, you're both giving permission to each other, to explore what the opportunity can look like. And I think being really open to the feedback that the women gave me along the way, which is so valuable to me, and has really been informed how I do want to deliver when we launch again in September. And that live, there is a live group coaching call part of it, which has been my favorite part, because I'm getting to know the most intimate parts of people's lives of their businesses and genuinely what drives them to show up every day. And that's yeah, that's the proud mom moment exactly for you, as well. So that's what I love.

[16:40] And so you've got your main signature program that you're going to like launch, you're going to do that three times a year, in the first year?

[16:47] I think it's going to be three times. So we'll do September, and then we'll do kind of March, April. Last year, oh, sorry. This year, I'm jumping ahead too quickly. If I had gotten my stuff together a little bit earlier, in the march in April, but I had the hard deadline of first of June. And it was everything that it needed to be for the first time round.

[17:10] Yeah. And so you mentioned before we hit record, you've got an event coming on next week. What are the things that you're doing to kind of because I know a lot of people they're going well, the build it and they will come doesn't doesn't really work? You know, the internet is a saturated part, you're doing the event? What else are you doing as your key kind of marketing activities to start building that profile and cementing yourself as a thought leader in the area?

[17:36] I go and hang out where my ideal target market is my ideal target market are female entrepreneurs in service based businesses who want to build beautiful personal brand, that's I'm also that person. So I really find the network's the groups, the memberships, the events where those women are, and, you know, Tina, coming to the women online conference in February, that was my moment where I'm like, Oh, these are my people. And therefore, this is, you know, it's kind of like the come to God moment where you're like, Okay, I'm going to make a change now. And so, for me, it's really like being willing to talk about it a lot with a lot of different people. I think, particularly as a marketer. I do understand that when you post something on social media once, not everyone sees it. So you really have to have a plan to distribute the same message a few different times so that it's going to reach the right people have had the personal conversations, whether it's in DMs reaching out to people who you've connected with before even on email saying, Hey, I thought of you. I'm running this event. I'm doing this masterclass. And really making people feel like you're creating something that's just for them.

[18:53] Yeah. So clever, Claudia, I love it. Goals I want to talk about so when you're in your first year, it can kind of be like you're pulling a number out of thin air of what you want to be able to do because you haven't proven it to yourself yet you don't know what's possible, all of that sort of thing. Are you how do you work you running on goals? Or you are? Let's just see what happens kind of gal? How are you scaffolding yourself through this first year?

[19:23] Really good question. I think I do like a goal. I like to have something that's high reaching because I think no matter what number it is, the number that you set is the one you will get the closest to so if you say I want 10 People in my program, you will more likely get closer to 10 Rather than saying I'm just gonna go for five people and see what happens. So I do find that by setting those bigger goals, it does motivate me a lot more. Really, for me to have 25 incredible women in my next program. So the September launch, which is, it is very much like a high touch live program. And so there's a lot of that face to face contact, that takes a beautiful amount of energy because you are very invested in people's success. But I know that the power of the group that I've just taken through will only, you know, I had that ripple effect on in September and beyond that. So, in terms of numbers, I usually base it on how many women I'd like to be in the program. But financially, yeah, I do you know what? I don't I don't have a specific number yet. I think it's more about like, yeah, what feels really great impact. Yeah, exactly. that gut feeling no details, remember?

[20:45] Like, it's like the opposite of me.

[20:48] I like not, like, all the time saying numbers. And I'm like, I love hearing this from Tina. And I think I do love to see other members in Her Empire Builder and how they measure that success. Yes.

[21:00] It's always growing love with spreadsheets, like data for me as like,

[21:05] It's your baby. It's beautiful.

[21:09] It's beautiful story to me, like all decisions can be made based on the data when you know what to look for. And yeah, I just love it. So we'll definitely work on on the data love I love. Oh, but so in terms of your ascension model is there like what helped you decide that you're gonna go that high touch live talk program, rather than like pre recorded costs, or like lots of tiny offers or different things that you're doing? How did you decide this is going to be the program that's right for me was it really down to this is what I'm going to enjoy doing the most?

[21:43] I think it was a combination of this is what I'm really going to enjoy delivering. But also check out all of this value that I have to give. And I didn't want to

[21:54] do this the confidence that is lacking in so many people. If you're listening, like I just want you to hear that, again, what Claudia just said to herself in going, this is the value that I have to give. And that is what I think sets so many people back at the beginning is people going do I know enough? Am I good enough that people were going to pay me for this? Like I just want that on replay? This is the value I have to give?

[22:20] Yes. Well, thank you. And I think also like every single person who is running a business has a skill set. They have a skill set that allows them to deliver impact. And I think sometimes we can get caught up in, you know, I'm just a marketer, or I'm just a florist or I'm just an x, y, z. But we all have a very unique skill set. And I think we really need to celebrate that and value it. And in you know, in this instance of the course I wanted to give these women the full experience in eight weeks, I wanted them to start in their current state, which was really ready for change and end up at this beautiful position of truly believing in themselves. And what they have to offer is valuable. So there's live event on Tuesday, my incredible graduates from the program are going to be standing there in their power, pitching their businesses with all of their new skills. And I just that's going to be my proud mom blubbering moment, I'll definitely bring the tissues to that. I was just to hear something else. And then another question popped in my head? I don't know, stay focused here focus. Um, what do you like? What are you most excited about in terms of going you've got the same path as a lot of people that have come into creation and going from that security of a well paid corporate job into, you know, the Rogue Nation of nothing is predictable business ownership. What are you most excited about about that change?

[23:55] Look, I think I've been running in my business full time for about four years now. So I think I had this lovely lead up into a very high appetite for risk. Yeah. And, you know, a willingness to put it all on the line. Because if it all goes wrong, we can all wake up tomorrow and get it go and get another job. We have a skill set. But we choose not to.

[24:22] Like what do you why work nine to five for someone else when you can work 24 hours a day, but have a friend.

[24:28] No, I am totally miserable. But no one would hire me I'd be the worst employee

[24:35] tolerable, completely intolerable, and I would be the same, but it's, you know, I think it's really about embracing the fact that things are gonna go wrong and you do need to trial and error things. And then when you get it right, you're like, I did that. I did that thing. And I can do it again. And I think for any aspiring course creator or someone who is thinking about doing it it, just give it a crack and getting Her Empire Builder. So you can give it a crack with everyone else. And everyone just wants to lead you along the way.

[25:07] Yes. Oh, so I want to ask you about ideal life as well, because I do think that most people go into business ownership because they want a life less ordinary. And I'm always so intrigued at people's different perceptions of that idea of life and different perceptions of success. What does it look like for you?

[25:26] It can be as simple as waking up every day, going to the beach, walking in the sun with a coffee and thinking, I'm really excited that I get to work in my business today, all the way through to, you know, the vision of of creating this empire into an incredible education platform that is going to teach women all over the world, how to truly be the most confident woman in the room and own their skill set and own their message. The opportunity is limitless. I truly believe that business ownership offers something very unique that you don't find in many other spaces. So freedom means a lot of things to a lot of people. But freedom for me is being able to make a choice every single day to do the things that I want to do stay healthy, have incredible relationships, and make an impact.

[26:21] Yes to that. Okay, my final question for you. Because, you know, obviously, we're opening the doors to Her Empire Builder soon. What has been or what are your favorite things about being part of the community? What's it done for you?

[26:38] I think as someone you know, who definitely I can absolutely come across as quite confident. There are definitely times where I need a community to be able to leave hardaway and you want to feel seen by other people and say, Is it just me? Or are we all having this experience together. So I know that the her Empire Builder community will give me the beautiful advice, expertise. It's a safe space for female creators to really be able to thrive. And I think also for someone who isn't a details and systems person, Tina, you've just got all of this stuff locked up in there. And I know that in the event that I felt like I wanted to build the system, which I have had to do, I know that I can rely on the incredible resources that you've created and have to

[27:30] build it, you can just you can just copy and paste that baby.

[27:33] Exactly, because you've done it before. And you're willing, again to be transparent about sharing that and you really set the tone for what it means to show up for each other. So I see that investment in all of your members success, success, and we're all building together.

[27:50] Yes, well, we are so happy to have you as part of it and I cannot wait to cheer you on to that. I mean you don't you haven't said the number goals but unlike with a 12k first launch like it's going to be a six figure first year in God's creation which is very exciting because as you know, my goal is to have 100 women making a million dollars a year by 2025 Once you hit six figures It usually only takes like three years after that so I'm wearing a hat just like I'm on my way. So Claudia where can people find you? 

[28:27] Best place to find me is on Instagram @claudia.nealshaw, you will see my face lots of very sarcastic and honest conversation. And my website is candor. consulting.com where you'll find my programs and all the cool stuff I do with incredible female entrepreneurs.

[28:43] Awesome. Thank you so much.

[28:45] My pleasure. Thanks so much, Tina. Appreciate it.

[28:48] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of her Empire Builder. If you loved it, please share it on Instagram for your friends and be sure to tag me @tina_tower so I can say thank you. And if you really want to deliver me smiles, you can pop on review on Apple podcasts. I would love to hear from you. So if you have any questions at all, email me at podcast@tina tower.com. And if you would like to work with me further, all of the free resources and my courses can be found at tinatower.com. Now I truly hope this podcast gives me so much value and you can use it to dream big plan well and take massive action in building your very own empire. That's just for you. Have the greatest day!