As businesses look to diversify their revenue streams, many are considering selling online courses and training materials. We spoke with Chris Badgett, the Co-Founder and CEO of LifterLMS, a learning management system for WordPress websites. We spoke with Chris about how businesses in Chester County can begin to sell their knowledge and expertise online.

Links

• LMScast podcast: https://podcast.lifterlms.com/
• LifterLMS website: https://lifterlms.com/
• Facebook Group for Course Creators: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifterlmsvip/
• Chris Badgett on Twitter @ChrisBadgett
• Building Revenue Streams with Don Reid, Jr.

Notes

What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?

• Three primary buckets of LMS users:
  • Expert industry;
  • Traditional schools; and
  • Companies and their training portals
• Imposter syndrome is real, but it is a addressable challenge
• Businesses can use a LMS to educate prospects about the industry or current customers about products or services
• An LMS can be very flexible

Pivot to Digital Case Study: Balloon Artist Training

• Ziv Raviv, owner of Kivi Media, took a love of balloon art and earned over $200,000 in a year serving a tiny niche, teaching customers balloon art

What goes into creating an online course?

• A COVID-19 idea: restaurant owners could teach customers to cook their signature dishes at home
• The training could cover putting together a shopping list and actually preparing the entire meal
• Simple is better for getting started
• Microsoft PowerPoint allows for recording screencasts and Zoom can be used to record talking-head videos; even entire courses can be recorded on a phone, but get a tripod or self-stick
• Get the fundamentals of online training right:
  • Focus on a clear customer
  • Address a very specific problem
  • Aim for a clear result or resolution
  • Follow a clear mechanism or method (“the secret sauce”)

Teachers and Schools

• Teachers are learning to flip the classroom using tools like Zoom and LMS
• Training videos are recorded in advance, where online video calls become more like coaching or Q&A sessions

Get in the Beginner’s Mindset

• Training is easier to produce when it’s super focused – don’t try to boil the ocean
• Be sure to keep the customer in mind – get back to a beginner’s mindset

What does an online course or training look like?

• Different course frameworks:
  • Learn a process – e.g., learn a recipe
  • Behavior change – getting in shape, adjusting diet, etc.
  • Case Study – learn by deconstructing what others have done
  • Resource Course – create a library of very useful tools and materials
  • Hybrid – mixing the other four frameworks

Focus on the Customer

• Make everything about the customer, and not about money
• Put the customer first: focus on the customer’s success and profits will flow in due course
• Offer support for customers: provide weekly Zoom calls, create an online communities (i.e., a Facebook group)
• Coaching at a group or individual level can deliver more value for those customers, and provide additional revenue for the business
• Consider the 1,000 True Fans approach
• Read: Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller

What is technically involved with adding an LMS to a website?

• Along with LifterLMS, there are a number of LMS plugins for WordPress
• WP Engine offers a hosted LMS on WordPress as a package service