The Power of Courses: How having an online course can transform your business and life with Jonathan Levi at Joe Polish’s Genius Network

Show Notes

• Jonathan was a Silicon Valley entrepreneur that became disenchanted with the industry and moved to Israel;  it was there that he discovered the idea of creating an online course.
• Jonathan created his first course to give him a runway while he was looking for his next business idea. 14 months and 25,000 students later he realized that maybe he should create another course.
• He is now helping other people create their own online courses as well as the ecosystem that amplifies them.
• There are three ways to learn something: the school of hard knocks, the experiences of other people, or the most effective way – teach other people what you know.
• As a course creator you are forced to take the material seriously and look at it from different angles.
• If you don’t understand something well enough to teach it to someone else, you don’t understand it well enough.
• If you know something better than 90% of the people out there, you have an obligation to teach it.
• The best in the world aren’t teaching, they are out doing their craft. We need a layer of people to interpret, apply, and then teach their methods.
• Pricing your business focused course on the value the student will gain from it is a good strategy.
• Online courses allow you to scale, you can record it in the best circumstances and deliver to people you may never be able to reach.
• The reality is you can’t help everyone with one on one education.
• The burden on traditional education is increasing as knowledge becomes more valuable and courses are a key component to the future.
• There is a level of credibility that the marketplace perceives in you when you are canning and cloning yourself through books, courses, and podcasts.
• What better way to get someone to know, like, and trust you than to get them to stare at your face for five or six hours and learn your story?
• Education and training is a huge advantage for businesses in turning prospects into customers.
• Start with the basic premise of your course. Ask yourself why people will pay for content when they can get the info on YouTube for free? The answer is: your course is eliminating guesswork, confusion, and uncertainty. You are taking the student on a curated learning journey.
• Whatever your biggest challenge in your life is right now, how much would you pay to make that problem go away?
• Consider the psychological state of your student and tailor the content of the course for their learning journey.
• Webinars have been very successful in driving course sales, but the webinar has to be inherently valuable.
• Don’t hoard your best content, give away some of your best stuff and start adding value to your audience.
• Not everything can be learned faster but the majority of things can. The first thing you need to do is upgrade your infrastructure. That means improving your memory, and organization systems and creating visual connections.
• If you tell yourself that you are a poor performer or have a bad memory, your self talk will make it the reality. Your brain doesn’t like to be wrong.
• Men typically beat themselves up, self-compassion is crucial. Stop giving so much slack to other people and then tear yourself down. Be kind to yourself.
• You need to know why you are learning something before you can really start to learn.
• It’s amazing what a brain can do, we just don’t know how to use it.
• Knowledge is great but it is what you do with that knowledge that really matters.
• The first step to creating a course is to identify the need.
• Even if there are fifteen people online already teaching the same thing, they aren’t going to teach it like you will. Personality, style, and culture will play a part as well in drawing your audience.
• Your first course may be terrible, but everyone starts off weak before they become strong.
• Always be a student and you will be a better service provider for your customers.
• Don’t discount anyone in business, you can never know who may end up growing into your biggest competitor.
• Your business exists to serve the needs of human beings and the first humans are already inside the doors – including you.
• Freedom is the currency of the entrepreneur. Many people live in prisons made with gold bars.
• The more you immerse yourself in other people’s experiences, knowledge, and systems the more you will be able to get into a winning state.