New Home Forums Philosophy, Mindset & Preparation Feedback please! Superhero plans…

3 replies, 2 voices Last updated by  Bradley Morris 8 years, 9 months ago
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  • #21596

    Lisa R
    Adventurer
    @lisa.russell

    Hi all,

    *Long post warning*

    I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching about my whole customer journey and how the new e-course I’m envisaging fits into that picture. I wanted to share with you where I’m at, even though it only feels half-cooked, and would love to hear your feedback.

    Right now I’m just a regular coach, offering one-to-one sessions in exchange for an hourly fee. But as I’m specialising in career change work through my editing and project management work (my other ‘hat’), that niche has been creeping slowly into my coaching work too. I love this – it makes everything make sense to me. And I love working with career changers. I’d do it for free if I didn’t need to earn a living.

    But trying to fit the new online business idea into what I already do is kinda stumping me. My branding for my existing coaching service is quite strong, and the new thing – the new e-course – doesn’t really fit into that. My coaching branding is all based on natural growth, putting out new shoots like a plant as a metaphor for clients getting the personal growth they want. I’ve got logos, colours, a website, all strongly branded with this imagery. But I’m drawn to creating a new e-course with a very strong and different theme. I don’t think it’s going to connect with the whole plant-life idea. The top theme I’m playing with at the moment (and this is by no means fixed yet) is a superhero / superheroine themed universe, where my adventurers go on a transformation of uncovering their secret identity, their superpowers, so that they can unleash their true selves on the world of Superwork. It’s about finding their inner superhero that has something unique and awesome to contribute to the world, and finding congruence of personal and working life. I’m going to show them how to slay their career change fears (monsters), and face career change super villains. What’s different about my course from other ‘Find work you love’ courses is that I can offer more practical support to get them into their new career. An actual roadmap with practical approaches and community support, to find work that lights them up.

    Right now, I believe my key demographic is millennials, who’ve reached a certain point in their careers and are now running out of momentum and thinking ‘Is this it?’. They want to do work that feels meaningful, engaging, important, purposeful. And the whole corporate, 9-5 really isn’t scratching that itch. Some will probably feel completely miserable in their careers, others more apathetic, but all are looking for something better, more wow, and they are just discovering that maybe, just maybe, they CAN do work they love. Their next move is to figure out how to do that, and that’s where this course comes in.

    I’d also like to create something for new mums further down the line: mums who’ve taken maternity leave (which here in the UK, can be up to a year) and don’t want to return to their old, inflexible jobs that don’t really fit with their new mummyhood, or maybe they just need a huge change. I’d like to do this by creating a similar, but separate, ‘supermama’ version of the course. But that’s a whole ‘nother phase!

    Some things that might be helpful to know about me: I feel a bit cringy about doing stuff in person. For example, I much prefer coaching over the phone than face to face. I LOVE writing, and enjoy the face-to-face stuff less. Although I know I can do it, I am currently battling with the inevitable fact that I’m going to have to present my own videos, but I’d really like to keep that kind of stuff to a minimum.

    So…

    River of Awareness: I’m thinking Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Word of Mouth, and guest blogging opportunities with the current major players on the career change scene here in the UK. I already do all of these, but have got very slack recently and would need to seriously amp it all up. I’d probably need a whole separate set of social media for the superhero thing, I think?

    1st step (Free): Initial consultation (already doing). Then, for the superhero thing I’m thinking an eBook or some other lead magnet. I’ve written a 4000 word ‘something’, but I’m really not sure what it is. It’s on the topic of ’10 career change truths nobody ever told you’ and it mentions some of the career change monsters I mentioned above. But I wrote it before I had thought much about the superhero idea. Now I’m not sure whether to keep the lead magnet fairly un-themed so that I can use it in my ordinary coaching service website too, or whether I should tailor it to the superhero thing more closely by making it more focused on that, e.g. ’10 career change monsters holding you back (and what to do about them)’. Either way, I want this to be easily consumable and valuable, and it’s hard to think of something in the career change sphere that could meet both of those criteria. I’m guessing that mailing lists and sending out newsletters needs to come into this part of the map.

    2nd step (low cost): I’m thinking of the main one being 2-3 modules of my new course at a really low cost. And possibly starting some small group workshops locally, probably reaching out to mums through my contacts in local baby groups. I’m also thinking of offering email coaching for a monthly subscription fee (I love writing, I love coaching – what’s not to love?).

    3rd step (high cost): On the superhero side, this would be my main e-course, or the supermama variant, with community membership, OR for the normal coaching service, a structured programme of 12 one-to-one career change coaching sessions with me or one of my associate coaches.

    4th step (ultimate): A full e-course, plus supplementary coaching sessions (number tbc) with me, plus credit towards some merchandise (journals, books, other coaching-support products that I use and would love my clients to have that I’ll offer through affiliate links in a ‘Super’ store).

    So that’s my journey. THANK YOU for reading this far, you awesome people. I’d love to hear feedback generally, as well as anything on these specific points:

    • Does the whole superhero theme thing resonate? Or does it feel gimmicky? Or something else?
    • What do you think of my lead magnet ideas – keep it generic, or go for a themed one? Should it be an ebook, or something else? And can you think of anything else highly valuable and consumable that you would love to have if you were planning a career change?
    • Am I missing anything in my customer journey?
    • Can I minimise the high-visibility stuff, like workshops and presenting videos, and still create an amazing e-course?

    I’d love to hear your thoughts!

    ๐Ÿ™‚

    #21720

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Hey Lisa,

    Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I wrote a big long response a couple days ago and then my computer shut down on me and all was lost ๐Ÿ™

    Finally have a minute to come back and respond.

    1. Great job so far. One things you want to make sure you do is keep your branding consistent. You can’t be a super hero in one place and not in another. Anything to do with your courses needs to be aligned. You are creating a life by creating this course and you don’t want it to have multiple personalities. That’s just confusing.

    2. I think a better thing than asking us if the super hero theme works is asking yourself, is this how I really feel? Is this what I really want? Can I pull this off well and be ridiculously excited to share it with my Ultimate customer?

    3. As for your lead magnet. We just had a killer coaching campfire yesterday. The recording will be up in the next day or so and I really encourage you to watch it. It will help ALOT! But you are definitely on the right track. For your free give-away, you want it to give people a taster of your eCourse experience. We cover this in much more detail way up at Funnelle Caves. You will learn a lot about our new approach, so don’t worry too much about this. It’ll all come together!

    4. To be honest, you’re gonna have to be seen. So start practicing in front of that camera. People aren’t going to sign up because of what you teach them, they are going to sign up for YOU. They are gonna join because they want to have a relationship with you and go on an adventure with YOU. For that to happen, you need to make yourself visible. That’s your superhero quest Lisa!

    Start practicing. Join an improv class. Take a toastmasters class. Do whatever it takes to have a blast sharing your heart with your audience.

    (if that feels like a big drain, there are creative ways that you can make epic video experiences using visuals and your voice.)

    Go find some video lessons online that you could imagine yourself creating that’d make you pumped to develop. Come back and share them with WHY you want to make a media experience like that.

    Great work so far. It’s only going to get clearer and more refined from here, so onwards up the mountain you go!

    #21738

    Lisa R
    Adventurer
    @lisa.russell

    Thanks for your feedback Bradley!

    I’m going to think hard about everything you’ve said. I agree that completely separating this from the old service is the best idea, and that’s totally possible. The video thing is definitely a challenge for me! I’ll watch the coaching session asap.

    The whole thing is evolving at such a rapid pace – it will be so interesting to see what new things come up in Creatora Heights!

    ๐Ÿ™‚

    #21899

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Definitely keep us posted @lisa.russell. Creatora Heights is definitely gonna blow the lid off of your ideas and really get the creative juices flowing! Excited to see the next level of clarity.

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