Video courses can provide a steady stream of cash with minimal effort. Maria Adriana Contreras shares how it’s worked for her and offers her top tips.
Maria Adriana Contreras
Now that so many of us have had to pivot our businesses online, here’s a tantalising question for you: What if you could serialise your body of work into a video course and then sell it online?
And what if you could create your learning resource once and then sell it again and again?
How it all happened for me
Hello, my name is Maria Adriana Contreras and I am a video journalist and press agent at my business Celebrating You PR, which began during lockdown back in March 2020. It happened organically when I did a podcast interview with MNC Manager Shahida Rashid’s out of personal curiosity about her Butterfly Charity. Because she is also a business mentor, she gave me advice that changed my life.
She said: “Maria, you should do this for a living, this for you is as natural as breathing.”
The podcast interview developed into video interviews which showcase the person behind the business. This developed again just last month into producing a series of mini ‘shorts’ or ‘business trailers’ which give the essence of the business, the take away and the call to action. This became a higher value offering that drives brand awareness and business on a regular, weekly basis.
Then my client, my coach and my most amazing friend Marijana Dragojevic when doing her series of shorts on mindful eating, shared her plans about doing an online video course. And I had a eureka moment.
It’s the same process to create a video course as it is to create video interviews and mini trailers. It’s all done as a Zoom video and then I chop and edit up all the bits and make them look amazing with lots of ‘wow’ moments.
Your video course is waiting to be born
What if you really could pivot your work, your consulting, your offering, your expertise, your personality, your knowledge, your experience, your skills and most of all, your kindness and care to help people while making money too?
If you’re a therapist, coach, facilitator, or run a business, you too can package up your knowledge into lessons for others to get a basic understanding of your specialist subject.
Feel the fear and do it anyway
In my years of doing interviews, coaching and facilitation, I have come to discover something very important – everyone I interview feels shy and a little bit insecure about themselves and what they have to say.
Please know that THIS IS NORMAL.
It’s a symptom of imposter syndrome and I experience this myself. But don’t let it stop you. If you can take charge of your fears to break through your barriers you can achieve great things.
When I facilitate video courses I remove the barriers by taking my clients through a half hour relaxation routine with them first. I only hit ‘record’ when I feel that they are back in their home vibration of relaxation and will be showing their real self.
If you are a coach, teacher or person who makes money from a business, there IS a video course in you that can share as a series of training sessions. They can be as short as 5 minutes each – it’s not about length, it’s about content.
So, how do you make a video course?
Step 1 is to define your specialist subject. You might be an expert in all things media, for example. But the best courses focus in on one skill and teach as much as you know on the subject.
Step 2 is to create a skeleton of what content to include. Think about the natural journey of your subject. What do you need to know first and where should you get to by the end of the course.
Step 3 is to create the content. You don’t need to hire a professional camera operator, but you might want to invest in a facilitator to help you to come across as calm and naturally as possible. Remember that they’re buying your knowledge, not your production skills – if you appear relaxed you’ll come across with authority. Another tip is to be concise. It’s important to value the viewer’s time.
Don’t think you have the editing skills? I learnt all my video editing skills with video courses on Skillshare, a platform for online creative learning that also does Mailchimp, marketing, branding and tons creative subjects. Have a look at the lessons and see how others are doing it. Get yourself a free 2-month trial and make the most of it!
Step 4 is to find a platform that you like (Teachable is a good example) and upload.
A good 5th step is to market it to your networks, but the benefit of these platforms is that you don’t have to. They’re searchable, and so if you have the content people are looking for, they will buy it.
Video courses provides one way to pivot your business online and to raise your profile about you and what you do – like the modern version of writing a book.
But whether you’re interested in doing a video course of your work or not, my invitation to you is to connect with what’s good, great and unique about yourself and let that be your guide to how you show up and share yourself in this online business world.
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