When stepping into teaching classes as part of your business, whether it’s a day long workshop, a four week class, or a six month course, you may have only really had academic institutions as a model for how and what to teach.
Unfortunately, many things about the academic model don’t really work for small businesses. I want to point out three things that are common in an academic environment, such as in school or college, why they probably won’t work for your business, and what to do instead.
The first one is the biggest
1. Teaching information for “learning about something.”
If you work with a particular modality, you may hear from clients, “Oh, I want to know more about that.” That may tempt you into holding a class on that topic, and you may then find that not many people sign up for it.
Some people do learn for the joy of learning. I know I do, often. However, when spending money on a course, very often people need a reason. In a university, people enter with the intention of getting a degree. In a vocational or other training school, people are there to learn how to do a trade, or become a practitioner of some sort.
Chances are, your audience doesn’t want to become a practitioner. They may have a curiosity about what you do, but they probably don’t have a deep interest in spending a lot of time and money gaining the information that you’ve gained in order to do what you do.
Instead, people want to solve a problem, they want to be able to do something in their life better. Focus your classes not on “Learning about X” but on, “How to use X to make something in your life better.”
What people are wanting is “making something in their life better.” Maybe they want to stop having so much conflict in their family, or they want to have a beautiful garden.
2. Don’t set up multiple levels of classes, where students have to progress from one to the next.
In university, you see classes designated something like 101, 201, 301, and before you can take 201, you have to complete 101. Unless you have an audience of thousands and thousands of people, with thousands of people who have completed a first level course with you, don’t do it.
The challenge is that only a small portion of any group of people is available or wants to take any particular class. If you have even 500 or 1000 people in your audience, on email or social media or somewhere, then you probably have a decent chance of filling a class. You probably can fill that class multiple times.
However, if there are 12, or even 20 people in a class, and you run that class three or four times, then maybe you have 40 or 80 people to draw from for the level 2 course, not 500 or 1000. So maybe you get 2 or 3 people to sign up out of that group.
Instead, make your classes complementary, so they support one another, but you don’t have to take one before the other. And, if you do end up having enough interested people to do advanced work, one idea is to create an advanced or mentorship ongoing small group, rather than an advanced class.
3. Don’t have many different classes.
Universities have dozens, if not hundreds, of different courses. You should not. That’s because universities also have a body of students, often thousands, that are required to sign up for courses each semester. You do not have that.
Each course you run will have to be promoted, probably for at least 3-6 weeks. It takes effort. If you have 8 week courses and each takes 3-5 weeks to promote, then you can only run a maximum of 4 courses a year, if you’re willing to be promoting a course every three months. That can be exhausting for you and for your audience.
Instead, have fewer offerings, maybe have them be longer in length, and do focused promotions on them. Having just one or two, or maybe three, consistent courses means that, if they’re good, if your participants love them, then they become known, and can start to sell themselves over time.
There are always exceptions.
You can, if you look, find businesses that aren’t following these rules and are being successful. That’s awesome. If you are guided very strongly, or are otherwise very clear about what you want to do, then go for it. What I want for you, is to make those decisions consciously, understanding the challenges involved, and not just taking up the academic model without really thinking it through in the very different context of your business.
I want you to fly, I want your courses to be full, I want your participants to be happy, and I want your business to thrive. That asks for love and conscious, thoughtful choices in how you do things.
Thoughts? Pushback? Questions? How does this land for you?
With love,
Mark Silver, M. Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
Virtual Retreat Oct 22 to help you be more thoughtful and heart-full.
This Friday, October 22, I’m holding a Virtual Retreat. Our clients use these retreats to help clear the clutter out of their heart, to sit with thorny questions in their business, to receive guidance, and to just be nourished and rest.
It’s totally possible to join us even for just a portion of the day, and it can help tremendously. I know it’s in two days, so maybe it’s not possible to clear your schedule, and that’s okay. Past participants have had profound results bringing a retreat mindset to client meetings and other appointments. If you’re drawn, please join us.
If you’re curious what a virtual retreat is, how it works, and to register, click below:
Heart of Business October 22 Virtual Retreat
Have questions, please ask!
