179: Don't be afraid of X-Y-or-Z

My goal is to help you expand your music business online with group programs, courses, membership sites and now hybrid opportunities. I have recently added hybrid opportunities because more and more of my clients are finding that they want to have some level of in person augmented by online offerings. And so I've embraced it because it just makes sense. If you are thinking about Expanding Online... do it with a safety net! Do it with a mentor, coach advisor, techie, whomever it might be. Your potential for success is far greater than you doing this alone. If you haven’t yet, click http://callwithjaime.com to book a free call with me. This episode is a mirroring effect; I am going back and forth between how I work with my clients (you and your peers) and how you work with your students -- it’s the same thought process and same iterations of business growth. A scenario Let’s suppose that you’re a piano teacher who has always taught in your home, your students come to your home and you teach them, they leave, they come back the next week. That was the way that you have operated your business for years. Then of course, the pandemic, covid 19, hit us like a ton of bricks. And what did you do? The same as many other teachers and took what you were doing in person and threw it online using Zoom. You made a pivot! Now, however, you can see that this isn't the absolute best way to help your students master what it is that you're teaching in your lessons. And you’re hanging out with me and see what I’m sharing -- the idea of the hybrid program or the online group program and even the online courses and membership sites. So what’s holding you back from going for it? Usually being afraid of X, Y or Z. Because you're afraid of X, Y or Z, instead of coming to me to work with me through the Mentorship program or the Incubator, you go and decide to follow someone else's guidebook. This is usually an online course with modules on how you set up your website how you set up your marketing how you set up your email list how you attract new students They're essentially taking you through their process for having done this transition from one on one through zoom to group programs or hybrid or a course or things like that. The main reason why you go for that program is because it's cheaper. Let me say that a little bit louder is because it's cheaper and you are scared of X. Y or Z. I don't know what X, Y and Z are for you, but many of my clients who first went the route of following someone else's course is because they were afraid to invest in their growth. It feels easier to spend a small amount of money in order to get that course rather than creating something that is completely in alignment with the way they want to do business. Or because they are concerned that they aren’t going to be able to put the time in. There’s no shortcut here, you have to put the time in whether you are doing the course or you're doing the interactive program. Another reason why people choose a course rather than an interactive program is because they are thinking too small. They are thinking about the next step, not the next six months, not the next 12 months, not the next three years. This is a stopgap measure. The emotions and decisions you’re making as you expand online are akin to those decisions that your families and students are making. It really doesn’t matter what you are teaching. It probably sounds like “I am not sure I really want to take an online group program.... maybe I should just go to Udemy or skillshare or find a course that is being offered by a teacher online. I don't really need to have interaction with my teacher to be successful do I?” As the teacher, you know how much more success your students are going to have if they have some level of interaction with you. I am the same way... I know that you're going to have more online success, easier online success if you work with someone in the space rather than buying a course and trying to apply it and squish your business into their container. There are so many decisions we have to make and if you follow a course then you're going to have all those decisions made for you which don't factor in your style or the tech that you're already using or your methodology or anything. Whereas when you work with a mentor or coach, you get real live feedback. I understand where you feel really strong and where you need more support. When students make the decision between an online course to teach them piano basics or working in a group program to learn piano basics, they don't necessarily see how the two are going to benefit them differently. They don't see that the follow through is that much greater with the group program where there's accountability and interaction and things like that. While I love, love, love online courses and I love love love love membership sites, it is not the first step. The first step for me with my clients is the online group program or a hybrid program. I've thought about creating an online course… I've thought about it countless times and every single time I go down that road, I hit forks, I hit forks of, “oh, I should do this” or “I should do that.” or maybe “I'll take them down this path and give them the choice” and it becomes this convoluted mess that nobody is going to get their way through. In online programs, we get to fulfill the needs of the individuals who make up that group and everybody wins. Everybody is able to learn that much more and feel that much more accomplished. A declaration: When we are working towards creating something new, we want to use the tools that are best suited for that new thing. And that generally means working 1-on-1 with a teacher or a mentor or a coach or being part of their online group program or their hybrid program. This could be me talking with you (which it is) but it’s also you talking with your prospective student or family -- explaining to them why the online group program or the hybrid program is the next best step. If you want to create a group program or a hybrid program of some kind, then working with someone who understands all the intricacies of going from one on one to group programming is going to help you far more than going and finding some random course just the same as your students are going to do far better taking a group program from you and having the program adapt slightly to the members of the group than they would if they were just to grab a piano course off the shelf. Remember, go to http://callwithjaime.com and book your free call today. Don't be afraid of X, Y or Z -- we can get through this together. It's time! Round 3 of the Online Music Course Accelerator is open for application. Click here for details.