Firstly, apologies for my absence around the campfires. I haven’t fallen off the mountain, just been getting my head down and having a little silent climb for a while.

I’ve been writing more scripts, exercises, and journal questions, and continuing to take my pilot group through the material. I did another batch of filming with my librarian and am pretty pleased with the footage. I think the sound could be better, but there’s always something you wanna improve, right? Progress is slow with script writing, but it is happening in baby steps. Right now I’m just coming towards the end of my module 4 out of 12. I haven’t done anything for Module 1 yet as I don’t have everything I need to be able to write that one yet. So, 2, 3 and nearly 4 are done. Current word total is 22k words.

I’ve figured out a few of the platform puzzles I had and the platform is coming along. My current stuck point is around the videos and the branding. I want to be able to make the videos look like they belong in the platform so there are some branding questions to answer there. I’m not sure what kind of imagery to use on the site so that it feels like it fits with my new logo and the awesome new video endcard I’ve had designed (which you can see here if you’re interested – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KMT7SWYYjM) I’ve got a couple of people I’m working with on that, but again progress is slow, and even slower when I have to depend on external input. Another challenge is that my mum just moved house, which means I lost my studio! I can’t afford to rent one so still waiting for a solution to become clear on that.

Bandwidth-wise I’ve been struggling a little too. We’ve had a few illnesses and things, and I took on a big extra freelancing contract last month which was great for the bank balance and terrible for progress on my course. My main contract has become more demanding in the last month so I’ve cut back on things wherever possible, including, unfortunately, being more present in the campfires, just so that I can throw all my spare energy into writing the course. So that’s why I haven’t really been around as much – sorry!

Since my realisation about how much I want to be on camera, I’ve been feeling pretty good. It’s totally been backed up by what I’ve read in Susan Cain’s ‘Quiet’. Also, it feels with my more natural inclination to direct a performance out of others. Interestingly, Susan Cain says introverts can behave like extroverts when they’re involved in a project their passionate about:

“But even if you’re stretching yourself in the service of a core personal project, you don’t want to act out of character too much, or for too long […] the best way to act out of character is to stay as true to yourself as you possibly can – starting by creating as many ‘restorative niches’ as possible in your daily life.”

So while I’m happy to have a presence in my videos, and am even starting to enjoy it, a big restorative niche for me is in directing rather than being on camera. I love directing. This is what brought me to the local amateur theatre group several years ago, and to all the fabulous amateur actors I’ve met and become friends with as a result. I’ve created what Susan Cain calls a ‘Free Trait Agreement’ around this:

“A Free Trait Agreement acknowledges that we’ll each act out of character some of the time – in exchange for being ourselves the rest of the time. […] The person with whom you can best strike a Free Trait Agreement – after overcoming his or her resistance – is yourself.”

She goes on to talk about how acting out of character for too long, without enough restorative niches, leads to rapid burn out. I think this is exactly what I foresaw for myself when contemplating doing all the videos myself.

Interestingly, one of my pilot group commented that she thought it would make the course look like a bigger, more credible operation if the videos feature multiple people. That was a really interesting take. It will also be hugely interesting to see what the group thinks of the videos when I’m actually able to start posting them and to see if they experience a disconnect when I’m not presenting the material myself.

That’s all for now.

Bam. Kapow.

Hey Brad,

Wow, industry changing? That’s kinda cool. I like that. As long as I can do it like a proper introvert – quietly, in my own time and in my own home… (Ha!)

Now, if you’ll bear with me I need a moment. Because I don’t know if maybe Mercury is in retrograde or something but MAN, I’ve been running into technical barriers left right and centre today.

GAH!

Learndash is not behaving at all! It makes me want to hurl it out of a window, but instead I am sitting here waiting for my support tickets to be answered by various plugin developers. I’ve just wasted a whole evening trying to get broken stuff to work, and trying to figure out exactly why it’s not. It’s so frustrating!

F$%K! F$%K! F$%K!

🙁

YESSSSSS!

Following my last, very frustrated post, I am pleased to report a huge tech breakthrough which has resulted in all of my current tech issues being fixed. Some things I managed to fix myself, some I got support tickets to help with, and one thing I paid to have fixed and then realised it was a super easy fix that I totally could have done myself if I’d just realised what the problem was.

Lessons have been learned, the learning curve has been accelerated, and right now I’m feeling way more positive about building the platform GEA-style.

What a difference a week makes.

I’ve also been talking to a video specialist who’s quoting for me on some design work, having a custom lower third made to match my new endcard, and writing furiously to take myself to the end of module 4 (current word count 26k). Next steps are to continue progressing the platform, working on some website copy, writing my Orientation module and finding a new studio so that filming can continue.

Oh and a recommendation. In a post a while back I recommended a visual CSS editing plugin called Yellow Pencil. I have now realised this plugin is terrible. Please don’t buy it if you were considering it. I am having a far easier time with a new, and free, plugin I found called Site Origin CSS. It’s way easier, very intuitive and 100% less annoying. It also plays nice with the other plugins. So far, anyway.

Keep climbing everyone.

🙂

p.s. And thanks for the motivational push Brad!

Thank you Brad, I really needed that.

Yep. Universe, if you’re listening, I’m ready. Ready to welcome a super-enthusiastic, reliable, available collaborator who’s prepared to work for future profit share, and who’s crazy fun to work with. I’d love for them to have technical skill in either video production, or WordPress development, they’re passionate about helping people who feel stuck, and they get why coaching works.

There.

To answer your questions,

1) I think I need to have 7 modules written, filmed and loaded on the site with the associated PDFs, journal questions, etc. Module 7 is a big landmark transformation and marks the end of the first part of the programme, so it feels like getting to that point offers clear value. Right now I have 3 written and most of 1 filmed. I’ve done a lot of work on the platform but still to do are: getting all the basic website copy in place, landing page / sales (ewww) copy, getting a membership / payment solution in place that  manages the EU VAT mess, setting up forum topics, and two bespoke areas which I’m calling the Database and the Blueprint (no idea how I’m going to deal with those yet), graphic design for badges, course cover images, headers and someone to help me make sure that it all feels consistent in terms of branding.

2) This is really hard. I think the writing brings me the most sheer joy. The website platform and the video production brings me satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, but there are so many headaches to overcome these things are more of an uphill struggle and so there’s frustration built in there too. I need to get back to the writing right now, I think. So, I’m looking into the possibility of finding another accountability partner who can keep me on track with my word count.

3) I think I’m managed to express what I’m looking for in a partner in my universal shout out above, but as to the $ percentage they’d get, I have no idea at all what would be reasonable! I find I’m really reluctant to think about giving up equity, (this is my creative baby), but I feel OK about profit share. Brad could you share anything about how you worked this out as a team and did you get agreements in writing, etc? And what happens if, for example, you choose you want to close down GEA one day?

In terms of how else you could help (to answer your reply on my Audioblocks post), 1) any chance of arranging that coaching session? I sent you an email about it early this month, but I’m not sure it came through. 2) Would love to get some advice on the video production side. Could you put me in touch with Blair? And 3) Who on your team does the graphics/design stuff? I’m looking for some branding/design support and have a little budget for it, so if they have any availability for an initial chat to see if it’s a good fit, hook me up!

As ever, you guys rock. Thanks for your awesome and continued support.

May the e-course gods rain Bajillion upon you…

🙂

I’m a little embarrassed to notice that my last update was 5 months ago. How did that happen?

But right now, I’m buzzing after enjoying Yu-Kai’s gamification coaching campfire, and wanted to share how nice it is to be back in the space where engagement, motivation, and connection are key again. That can sometimes get lost when you’re wading through pricing structures, tech options and systems-y stuff.

So, a little update on the big shifts I’ve been through recently:

I stopped writing my course. And it’s been a really good thing (bear with me).

I was throwing all my energy into creating this huge epic course of mine. I got 6 modules in out of the 12. It was going well but I started to lose momentum. Things were feeling stuck, hard, forced and not good. So I decided to pause and re-evaluate. During this time I took the opportunity to start a little Money Mindset course I’d bought. I started working through the materials.

Suddenly everything changed.

I realised that by throwing myself into this big, meaty, epic course, I was preventing myself getting something light and fast up and running quickly. It was already really successfully preventing me from all the discomfort of actually launching with something, because there was such a lot of work to do on it that the end date for that was always safely in the distance. I was actually sabotaging my own plans by keeping at it this way. So, I decided to change tack. I decided to design a course that was smaller, lighter though still high value.

I realised that the e-course-only model wasn’t going to offer me the stability I needed.

I realised that running launches several times a year, or at least always having to stress about sales, with potential feast or famine periods, all while I was supporting a (hopefully) increasing number of my customers in course forums, was not going to work for me. I realised that I am an experienced and specialised coach. If I’m going to be present and coaching in forums, that’s high value too. So, I started to realise that what I thought was just a creative course based product had two equally valuable strands: community AND content. Realising the value of all the peripheral stuff made me see that the model that suits this best is actually a membership site based around a course, and that people needed to pay to have access to both on a monthly recurring basis. Switching to the membership model was a HUGE mindset shift. So, I was delighted when Brad and Andy let us know that they too were switching to a membership payment model. This was hugely reassuring for me that I wasn’t going nuts! So, now, I’m intending to launch a beta version with a smaller MVP course costing £25 per month (crazy good value for my niche), slowly increasing to £47 / month over time and as I’m able to add more to the course materials. I feel really good about this. The numbers add up, and my early members would be able to help shape the content in the way that helps them most.

With a new model in mind and prioritising a lighter faster approach, I realised that I needed to get something live fast.

To do that I needed to be super clear on my brand and create a slick, edgy, fun branding concept that could tie everything together and look totally awesome. I’ve been tackling the branding piecemeal so far; it’s been taking too long, and it just hasn’t felt right. Once the branding’s clear I could do a new website and start working on getting people interested in what I’m building, even if only in a simple way to start with. Realising (again, from the Money Mindset course, I think) that I needed to invest in myself to get this started and after the bizarre realisation that I’d oversaved on my taxes last year resulting in a savings cushion that I hadn’t realised I had, which turned out to be exactly the amount I needed, I decided to invest in an awesome website and branding designer. She has been AWESOME. Every page, every concept she comes up with is blowing my mind and it so unbelievably exciting seeing the Career Avengers brand come to life.

I now have branding guidelines, colours, fonts, imagery guidelines, copy foundations, everything. Now the website design is building apace, so I’ve just had a photo shoot that captures a little of my bold playful brand, so that I can be seen on my new site. The design should all be complete, on or around my birthday which is mid-June. EXCITED!
I bought access to a membership building course, which has some great expertise in it, (but MAN the materials are dry – these guys need you Brad and Andy!).

Anyway, I’m working through that to do the planning and tech sides of things before I come back here to work on that MVP course. I’m also doing a little validation of the membership site idea, running it past former clients to see what they think and to let me know if and to check how much they’d be willing to pay for something like this.

So, I’ve not been idle, despite being away for such a long time. I’m so excited to show you the new designs, and my revised logo, which now looks less ‘kids soft play centre’ and more fun and bold. I hope you agree! Web design will follow, as I want to post the link to something live rather than a static image.

Brandy – could you update the logo you have for me with this one?

As soon as the new site is live I’m going to move away from my old brand and move all my coaching services across to this, the membership site and then the course, will follow in phases.

I’ve been so completely surprised what an impact it’s made to start unlocking those unhelpful money mindset blocks and looking at the things that have been holding me back. The abundance mindset I’ve found has helped me take this massive and surprising steps. I’ve refocus on the priorities that will get me to the impact I want to be making, I’ve pivoted in order to move forward better. Career Avengers is now a very different thing to what it was when I started out a year ago. I feel like I’ve been meandering around this mountain on a very long and scenic route. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone round in circles a few times. There was a point where I forgot I was even on a mountain. I’ve watched so many people here start and launch courses, all while I’ve piddled around endlessly in Creatora Heights / Camp Medias. That changes. Now.

In Sept, I intend to launch my MVP course and beta membership. Please GEA. Hold me accountable to this.

I will not have my full big epic course ready when this happens.

And you know what? That feels really good.

🙂