6 Reasons to Offer Online Courses
If you’re a mindfulness trainer, life coach, healing arts, or mental health professional, then I HIGHLY recommend you start offering online courses.
The dominant narrative around online courses is that ‘You can make money while you SLEEP!’
Yes, this can absolutely offer you NEW and multiple revenue streams in your business (and help you break through the earning ceiling of the single session model!)
There’s so much more to courses, though.
In this post, you’ll learn:
✔️6 benefits of offering online courses in your client-centered service business
✔️How courses can ELEVATE your private coaching or counseling services, offering your clients MORE support, more value, increasing the value of your programs
✔️How courses can help you reach and impact MORE people (without spending more time).
Let’s dive in!
1. Courses offer an asynchronous experience.
Not everyone is available to attend trainings or sessions LIVE. Life gets busy, and so the asynchronous quality of courses offers your client a way to engage with you AND meet the responsibilities of their lives. Think about parents, busy executives and even fellow client-centered service providers. When scheduling conflicts come up, online courses offer a way in.
Whether you’re teaching modalities like mindfulness meditation, breathwork, nervous system regulation, etc. to your clients, online courses offer a great delivery vehicle to do just that.
Courses are great for offering experiential guidance. If you teach mindfulness meditation, for example, the experiential component is practicing mindfulness. To build this habit, it’s best to practice daily (and when starting out, people oftentimes need an assist). That’s where the asynchronous component of courses supports your clients.
Your clients can learn, reflect and practice experiential techniques anytime, anywhere, when you offer asynchronous online courses.
2. Online courses are time efficient (for you AND your client).
We only have so much time as impact makers, and the way you use that time is SO important, especially when you consider all the functions you manage in your business - from content marketing on social media, email marketing, developing and maintaining your programs/services, delivering your programs and services, networking with industry peers, and MORE.
Online courses honor your precious time and help you help others with more time efficiency.
One thing to think about is: what can you teach asynchronously (in a course?) And what is essential to deliver LIVE to your clients? Think about why you are offering live services: what are the outcomes you’re supporting for your clients? What benefits does live support provide?
I see SO many practitioners default to delivering everything live, but that then puts a cap on the impact you can make, the revenue you can earn, and is a path to burnout.
Get clear on what you’re delivering and the outcomes you’re focused on creating for your clients. Then, leverage courses to help you help more people with achieving those goals!
3. Online courses optimize your time in live sessions.
Many mindfulness trainers, healing arts, mental health practitioners and life coaches offer LIVE private or group sessions to their clients. Perhaps they support people with integrating modalities into their lives, or healing attachment injury, or design their lives for holistic wellbeing. A lot can happen in LIVE sessions.
Online courses make your time in those live sessions MORE efficient. For example, if you have prerequisites that help your clients benefit MOST from your services, online courses can help ensure that your clients tap into those prerequisites and be fully prepared for the work they’ll be doing with you in private work.
I see many practitioners use live session time together to educate about modalities or educate about the experiential side of practices. Use your online courses to offer that kind of expository and educational support. This shores up time in the live sessions to explore OTHER things. Go deeper into the modality. Discuss obstacles that come up during their practice, or opportunities that present to them during their practice. A lot can happen in session to further them along the way of healing, development and learning - and courses can make this process more time efficient for you and the client.
4. Offer stand-alone trainings
Online courses offer a space to teach or offer experiences --- and the great thing about a stand-alone course is that you shoot it ONCE, and it’s ready to be shared with people for years to come.
When you’re tired of the single session model of coaching or counseling, courses can become the next stage for offering your impact to people.
When you’re going into a season of life where you need to be offline more, courses can become a great way to be of service without needing your live time, energy and resources. If you’re becoming a new parent, or need to take a sabbatical --- courses are on your side as you live your life and honor these seasons and rhythms.
You do not need to do everything live. In fact, you don’t have to do ANYTHING live in your coaching or healing arts business.
5. Layer your ambition line
This is a GREAT way to leverage online courses (that not many people talk about).
If you want to truly be impactful, save time and energy, be MORE efficient with the results you get people, then consider layering courses into your program packages.
I have a whole method for determining what delivery vehicles to layer together (this is inside of my holistic business coaching group program and Mindful Impact Coaching). At a high level, though, I recommend that you determine what results you’re getting people, and layer in the ways you can help them get there. Courses go GREAT with private coaching. Courses go GREAT with group memberships or continuity programs.
It’s like building a puzzle. You can assemble the pieces to help people with healing, self-discovery, interpersonal development and so much more.
6. Online Courses Give You the Platform to Deliver Professional Replays
Online courses can host your replays in a professional way, so that your LIVE programs can be maximized for your clients.
When people can’t attend sessions LIVE, they will expect that you offer replays. I highly recommend that you offer replays in an easy-to-ingest way, on a platform that is easy to navigate (like Kajabi).
It’s SO easy to upload the replays and share with your paying clients in a course platform like Kajabi. Replays can be a drag when you’re trying to manually put it together on your website (and make sure that only your paying clients get access).
A course platform helps you compile them in once place, with optimal user experience. This is the BIG difference between sharing replays (or course training modules) on a website landing page vs. in a platform dedicated to online courses.
User experience matters. Design matters. These elements help your client learn and experience your value with more EASE, so that they can focus on achieving their goals (rather than feeling bogged down by faulty technology or bad user experience).
What is the best platform for hosting your online courses?
I host all my online courses on Kajabi, and I recommend this platform for my clients because it’s an all-in-one technology solution that helps you run your business without the overwhelm of connecting tons of different platforms and software together.
Here’s the reality: If you’re offering courses, you are also probably SELLING those courses (requiring that you have a payment processing system). You’re probably PROMOTING those courses (requiring a solid email marketing platform to communicate to your prospective clients).
No more cobbling things together (and dealing with them breaking all the time). Host your courses, do your email marketing, engage with your clients and answer their questions, take payments and deliver products - ALL in one platform.
Click below to test drive Kajabi with 30 days of free access.
You ready to create your first online course? What insights and questions are coming up? Hop in the Youtube comments and let me know! Also, if you need support on this path of creating online courses and access more time freedom, I’m here for you.
Click here to learn more about my holistic group business coaching membership.
Click here to learn more about my 1.1 Mindful Impact Coaching.
Honoring you,
Jess
Mindful Business Coach
Calling all mindful entrepreneurs and client-centered service providers in mindfulness, the healing arts and mental health fields.
If you’re a mindful client-centered service provider who wants to strategically build a sustainable online service business, this is for you. Build an aligned, effective offer to help you enroll your ideal clients into your program (without compromising your values or vision). Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re already making $100K+ annual revenue, this course will offer vital perspectives and questions that are relevant at ANY level of business.
