Hello Reader,
I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. I actually had a moment where I missed being in a corporate structure, which is weird because I was so desperate to get out of it for so many years. I miss the conference room with the really nice snack basket and a wall full of whiteboards, just brainstorming and coming up with fun creative ideas. I miss being able to get up and walk around and talk to people when I needed a break from staring at my screen, or needed some inspiration, or just needed to vent.
I got out of the corporate world right as AI was making its way in, at least for the company I worked for. At first they were hesitant to let anyone touch it. My training team used it because a couple of us saw the potential and how it could help us be more efficient and move faster, which is always what we were told to do. Eventually the company gave us more official access, though carefully, since it was a software company and they wanted to make sure their information wasn't given out to everyone by accident. Which yeah, that’s fair.
At my sister's workplace, they are just starting to use it. We were talking over the weekend about how people at her office are excited that they can make these huge PowerPoint presentations and long documents now because it's so easy and fast. But then they send it to someone who uses AI to read it and summarize it for them. It all seems so silly…so corporate…such a waste of resources.
But AI isn’t the point here. It’s the passing of information in formats that might look nice and seem good cause of their length but aren’t really doing anything more.
Same thing goes for courses and group programs.
More information is actually helpful when someone's ready to deep dive into a topic and go through the layers. If you're trying to break years of thought patterns that aren't serving you, that depth might really matter. It's going to take time. You're going to need to hear it five different ways, repeat it, and not really go in a circle so much as a spiral that keeps climbing up. Same idea coming back around, but each time with a little more knowledge, a little more ability to actually do it. That takes time and steps and a lot of information.
But then there is the case of someone teaching a particular process, like setting up a lead magnet. Start at point A, work toward point B, fairly linear and repeatable. So how much depth do people really need there? Are we padding things just to make it look substantial because that's what we've seen other people do? I can't count how many times I've bought a course or program, jumped in, grabbed the one or two parts I needed, and jumped back out. That was worth it to me. I'm sure it's worth it to plenty of other people too. I just want to dig through for the good gems and skip the fluff.
So what if you built a course or developed your group program content in a more intentional way? You need the topic and the goal clear in your mind first. You need to know exactly who you're talking to, because if it's a wider audience, you might need to fill some knowledge gaps before people can get to the good stuff. Let the people who already know it jump ahead, and be upfront about that, so they don't start thinking "I already know all this" and bail before they get to the part that actually matters.
And we're all adults here, right?. We drive cars and pay bills and vote and do all the things adults do. If you want to skip to exactly what you need, you should be able to do that.
Except (and this is a big except) when the process isn't linear, when it's more of that spiral learning I mentioned, you have to be honest with people. You say, yeah, this is going to sound simple, yeah you probably know this already, but you still have to build the muscle memory. You still have to work toward that end goal.
Even reading that back, it sounds like I'm arguing two different things. But it's not actually a contradiction. There are different types of information, and they call for different approaches. If you build a course off someone else's template, it might not work, not because the template is bad, but because your outcome should determine how you teach.
I keep saying courses and group programs, but really I mean any content. Whether you sell it or not, whether it's a Claude skill or a PDF or a full course or a topic in your community forum or a webinar, it doesn't matter. What matters is knowing who your people are, knowing the outcome you want for them, and then doing what's actually best for that, which is going to look different every time.
And if this feels like a lot, if you've been spinning your wheels and just need to talk it through with someone, that's exactly what my Clarity Sessions are for. We dive in, look at it from a few angles, and you walk away knowing you're doing right by your people in a way that's actually going to help them.
Sarah
TL;DR - If you skipped down to the bottom because this was a long one (sorry, my brain was working pretty well today), here’s a synopsis: Courses and programs don't need to be long to be good, they need to be intentional. Know your topic, know your people, and know the outcome you want for them, then build from there. Some things call for depth and repetition, some call for a straight shot from point A to point B. If your content is more of a spiral than a straight line, say so instead of pretending it's simple. And if you've been spinning your wheels trying to figure out which one your course actually needs, that's exactly what my Clarity Sessions are for.
That course idea keeps nagging at you, doesn’t it?
In 90 minutes, my Course Clarity Session will turn your scattered ideas into a clear framework your clients will love. You’ll get support before and after too, so you’re never left wondering “what now?” 🤝
Ready to get that course out of your head and into the world? Book a Course Clarity Session 👇🙌
|
|
|