ZCS027: Why a Psychotherapist Decided to Launch an Online Course with Ali Crosthwait

Welcome to another episode of The Zen Courses Show! Today’s guest is Alison Crosthwait. Ali is a psychotherapist and the founder of The Good Therapists, a therapy blog. Later this month (April), Ali's launching her first online course, The Therapy School, a course to help people in therapy deepen their practice & understand how therapy works. This episode is a special one because Ali is also a former client. She hired me to help her create her first online course. In this episode, she shares what she thought she knew and what she learned along the way. Enjoy! "I was so naive. I didn’t think [creating a course] was going to be that hard. I knew it would be a lot of work […] but I can handle that. But I really had no idea of everything involved in creating an online course." --Ali In This Episode, You'll Learn:• Why she left a corporate career in finance to become a therapist• Why she decided to create a new model for how we understand therapy• How she designed her course to deal with boundaries, privacy and other sensitive topics• How Ali is marketing her first online course• Why revenue isn't her biggest focus (and what is instead)• Her process for creating a course that’s focused more on emotional transformation than practical skills• Why she engaged her audience before she built her course (and how it changed her plans)• The advantage of starting with a beta or pilot course• Her experience using Thinkific and her thoughts on the future of LMS platforms References and Tools that Ali Mentions:• The Good Therapists (Ali's blog)• Therapy School • Thinkific Thanks for Listening!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving an honest review for The Zen Courses Show on iTunes! Ratings and reviews boost ratings & help new listeners find the show. I read every review and I'd love to read yours. Click here to leave a review. And, finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. If you have an Android phone, you can subscribe on Stitcher. Lastly, I want to say THANK YOU to Alison for sharing her story and experience with us on The Zen Courses Show!