Digitally She Does It Podcast

EPISODE 97: Building habits for online course success with Julie Mann

• Karen Davies • Season 1 • Episode 97

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In this episode of the Digitally She Does It podcast, I’m diving into the game-changing habits that can finally help you get your online course out into the world!

I’m thrilled to be joined by Happiness Coach Julie Mann, and together, we’re sharing practical strategies, mindset shifts, and proven tips for overcoming common challenges like time management struggles and imposter syndrome.

You’ll learn how to design simple yet powerful workflows to stay on track and motivated throughout your course creation journey.

This episode is packed with actionable insights and inspiration to help you reach your goals. Don’t miss out on the habits that can make your course a reality!

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Karen Davies [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to the digitally she does it show. This is episode 97. And in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about creating effective habits so that you can actually get your online course done. So, let's jump right in and let's get started.

Welcome to the Digitally she does it show. I'm your host Karen, and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business. If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you. With my award winning approach to marketing and expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energised, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.

Karen Davies [00:00:53]:
Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know how along with actionable step by step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses grow. So let's dive in and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes which drop every Wednesday.

Hello and welcome. Thank you for joining me today. I am your host, Karen, and I really do appreciate you hitting that play button to listen to today's episode. So today's episode is going to be a little bit different because today I am talking about building good effective habits with Julie Mann, who is the happiness coach. So I'm going to be sharing an interview that she did with me earlier this week where I talk about creating really effective habits so that you can actually get your online course done, dusted, and out in the world. Because sometimes we need to build habits in our day to day working life so that we can actually achieve our goals.

Karen Davies [00:02:08]:
But before I do, I just want to talk about the digital creators hub. This is your one stop shop for getting started online. Now the digital creators hub is completely free. It has so many freebies in there so that you can actually get hold of resources that's going to actually help you to start your online journey. As I said, it's completely free. So go and access the hub over at www.karen-davies.com/hub. Now is the perfect time to get started with creating your online business. Imagine where you want to be this time next year.

Karen Davies [00:02:54]:
You can have an online course that you can get out in the world and start making money from. So this is the perfect time. We're in November, and it's the perfect time to start that planning stage so you can actually get that course that you have inside you out into the world. So head on over to the hub and go and access these free resources. Okay. So back to today's episode and today I'm sharing an interview that I did with Julie Mann, the happiness coach, a few days ago. We covered lots of great stuff and I want to share that with you. So I'm gonna hit play, so let's get started.

Julie Mann [00:03:37]:
Hello everyone and welcome. Have you ever wanted to create an online course? Have you ever started an online course but never actually finished it because you haven't had great habits to make that happen? Well today I am talking to the lovely Karen Davis, who knows all about making online courses and making them profitable. I am the happiness coach by the way, but I'm gonna hand straight to you. Karen for you to talk about what habits you need in order to yeah, make it all happen.

Karen Davies [00:04:09]:
Thank you, Julie. So I think with online courses, when you decide that you want to create a course, it's quite a mammoth job. So I think one of the, things that people often think is that they they're gonna have something ready to go very quickly, and creating an online course is a is a process. And you have to go through a journey to to kinda get to the end. I mean, like, with most things, anything that you create at the beginning requires you to go on on that journey. And with online courses, there there's a lot of things that you need to kind of go through to be able to kind of get to the end and have that course that you can then sell. And I think in order to support your progress as you create your course, I think you do need to sort of build in some good habits that will ultimately support you as you move through that that process. And I think the first and foremost is really about being realistic, obviously, with your time.

Karen Davies [00:05:12]:
Because I don't know because I don't know about you, but but, you

Julie Mann [00:05:16]:
know, we can all kind of be probably

Karen Davies [00:05:16]:
be guilty of thinking we've got more time than we actually do. And then what happens is we set ourselves up to fail because we don't really have the time available that we thought we did. So I think one of the sort of habits that I I would encourage people to build is just setting yourself up every single week with a focus. So I'm not talking necessarily a to do list but what I'm talking about is kind of getting really clear on what your week looks like. Now I'm not talking about a month, I'm not talking about a day, I'm talking about a week because I think a week is digestible. I think when you start looking at a month and beyond, it becomes almost a little bit, more difficult to kind of determine what what that's gonna look like. So I think with, when you're looking at your week, you can sort of look in at your calendar, and you can kind of get a realistic snapshot as to what you have available to work with. And I think that's the first habit I would encourage people to do because then you can determine from that what can I then put aside to work on my online course? Because most people that are creating courses of often have something that they're having to juggle alongside.

Karen Davies [00:06:40]:
So it could be the fact that you run your own business, or it might be the fact that you have a job, or or you have a family, or you have something that's all equally taking your attention. So I think right from the get go being really clear, what does your week look like and what time can you put aside, and can you actually block out time in order to sort of work on that course. And if you can do that every single week, you will absolutely be a ninja when it comes to getting your course done. And I talk about this from firsthand experience because when I created my very first online course, crafting your brand, I, I have the I I had a young family, and I was running a business, and I was doing all the things. And I was getting frustrated because I wasn't achieving results. I wasn't getting my stuff done. And I knew what I wanted to have, but it wasn't working. So I had to kind of take time out and look at, like, what can I put in place that's going to support me? But it's not a one time thing.

Karen Davies [00:07:41]:
You have to show up and do that every single week. And what I found was dedicating a day a week and even sort of taking say 2 hours of that day that really helped me to get into the flow of creating my online course. So for me, it was every Friday, I would have 2 hours and nothing nothing would would kind of interfere with those 2 hours. And I'd block it out in my calendar, and so I'd put it on a repeat every single week, that would be the time. And just by doing those 2 hours every single week, I made progress, and I actually got them got my stuff done. And so I think that's first and foremost a key habit that I think you need to build in sort of creating your online course.

Julie Mann [00:08:30]:
Absolutely. And I guess the other thing is that once you know you've got that time blocked off, you can then kinda let it go a little bit. Yeah. Easy to get preoccupied with, oh my god. I gotta do it, and I haven't done it. And when am I gonna find time? And, you know, and it takes up a lot of energy.

Karen Davies [00:08:46]:
It does.

Julie Mann [00:08:46]:
Really great strategy. Yeah.

Karen Davies [00:08:48]:
Yeah. And also the guilt as well. So I wanna create an online course, and I wanna get it done, and I wanna have something to sell, you know, next 3 months. Oh, but I haven't done any work. It's like going to the gym, isn't it? Like, you know, you join the gym, you go for the first few to every at times, and then life just happens and gets in the way and then you feel guilty. You carry this really awful guilt around that you haven't been to the gym and so that then plays on your mind and takes that energy. And I think just penciling time in your calendar and putting it on a repeat so you know what you're doing. Like you say, you can relinquish it.

Karen Davies [00:09:23]:
It's gone. You know you're gonna do it. As long as you show up for those 2 hours or whatever you can afford, you can get it done.

Julie Mann [00:09:31]:
So guilt serves no purpose whatsoever No one. Making us feel absolutely awful. Okay, Karen. What's your next habit?

Karen Davies [00:09:40]:
So I think the next habit is really kind of a mindset habit and this is something that what I've noticed with a lot of my clients, they they all struggle with. It's that fear of the imposter syndrome. Because the thing about, again, an online course, it's requiring you to step out of your comfort zone and show up and be visible and create something around your knowledge. Well, of course, a lot of people don't think that they're expert enough or, you know, they might see somebody else in their space doing it and think that they're doing it better and all of this. So I think the next habit habit to adopt is one where it's more of an internal sort of dialogue that you have with yourself where you can support your own kind of space in terms of, you know, sort of talking talking to yourself about what you can do to help yourself. The fact that you do know your staff, the fact that you do, you are expert, you can do this, and then being able to do that on a regular basis and building in time just to have that internal dialogue so that you kind of support your own sort of, feelings around what you're doing because I think the worst thing to do is to kind of obviously identify that you want to create a course, you start it and then it tails off, you don't then finish it because you you're in your own way. You're sabotaging your own success because you are, you're you're getting in your own way and telling yourself you can't do this. So it's just about having that sort of mental dialogue on a on a regular basis.

Karen Davies [00:11:20]:
And that could be when you're in the shower, it could be, you know, it could be when you're out walking the dog. Just talk to yourself in a positive way so that you can identify how brilliant you are so that you can then bring that into work that you're doing.

Julie Mann [00:11:36]:
So is that by using affirmations, Karen? You know, how do people actually do it? Because if it's not something they're used to doing, how are they gonna suddenly adopt this new way of thinking? Because you're absolutely right that mindset is it influences absolutely everything. And, of course, some people might think I want to do this course, you know, one minute and think you know I've got the expertise and then like you say doubt themselves. But the but also ultimately it might be that they fear that they won't be successful with their course and they won't fill it up and get what they want from it or the Yeah. But there won't be enough participants. So somehow they sabotage the process along the way. So how can they adopt this mindset if they're not used to having, you know, good self talk?

Karen Davies [00:12:20]:
Yeah. Well, I I think affirmations are great, and I think this is a habit that needs to be learned. So if somebody is, is doesn't do this in their everyday, you're absolutely right. It is going to sort of be a new way of thinking. But I think I think it's an important habit to adopt not just with online courses but in anything. Just being able to kind of connect with yourself internally and to because nobody's going to know you better than you know you. And there's some power in being able to kind of talk through things in your in your mind that, you know, kind of helps you to kind of understand, number 1, why you're doing it, but the fact that you can do it as well, and it's having that internal dialogue. So I think it's just about starting and, like, talking to yourself and having and not being afraid to kind of speak to yourself internally, have that conversation with yourself.

Karen Davies [00:13:14]:
Why am I doing this? Well, I'm doing it because of this. What's it gonna do for me? Well, it's gonna give you more time. It's gonna give you more freedom. It's gonna you're gonna be able to create this impact and actually have that that dialogue and use affirmations, use positive quotes, use whatever you need. But but start to sort of do that internal talking and it is something that you know it kind of can feel really uncomfortable if you're not used to it but the great thing about this is nobody knows because it's internal. Yeah. And we should all be so

Julie Mann [00:13:45]:
Sorry, Karen. It might it might be useful to actually to be get to get really clear at the beginning of the course

Karen Davies [00:13:50]:
Yeah.

Julie Mann [00:13:51]:
That why you're doing it and what it's for, which I know because I'm doing a course with you. I know that Yeah. Is really important. So that is a step. But also maybe having it on a piece of paper so you can remind yourself, this is why I'm doing it. This is Yeah. And this is why I'm good at what I do. You know? So that actually it's written down, you know, in case somehow we we kind of overlook those things and forget.

Karen Davies [00:14:15]:
Yeah. Definitely. I think it's really important, I think, just to, you know, like, get just get really clear. Clarity in anything that we do is is essential. Why are you creating your business? You know, why are you creating a you know, why do you post on social media? Why do you send an email out to your subscribers? Why are you creating an like, we have to have this clarity before we do anything. Before we spend our time doing anything, we have to be really clear. And I think by getting really clear and understanding what it is you wanna create for yourself, what you wanna create for your for your life, the life that you wanna build, I've always said that businesses are created, for a sense of freedom, that's what people are trading. When you strip everything away, I I believe it's the freedom that sits at the very heart of what people are trying to do and, and I think along the way that gets a little bit, it gets forgotten because you get caught up in the in in the chaos of life and running a business and doing all the things and wearing all the hats and all of this.

Karen Davies [00:15:25]:
And I think people forget that the reason why they've started a business in the first place is to give them that freedom that they crave. Now it could be freedom financially, it could be creative freedom, it could be complete to be autonomous, or it could just be because they want more time. They want more time to enjoy their life. So then by keeping, if you like, your eye on the prize, the decisions that you then go on to make need to be able to support what your intentions were in the first place. So I like the idea of getting it clear, getting it written down, and get and putting in front of you, you know, like they say vision boards. Vision boards are powerful because they keep you, you know, aligned to what your greater goal is and I think with alumni courses I think that's a great idea as well, but once you've got it you need to get yourself out your own way. Yeah. And I and I think it's that that ultimately stops people, you know.

Karen Davies [00:16:21]:
It's this I'm gonna start and then it's gonna tail off and then I'm not gonna finish it.

Julie Mann [00:16:26]:
Yeah. I couldn't

Karen Davies [00:16:27]:
You know?

Julie Mann [00:16:28]:
Okay. What's next?

Karen Davies [00:16:29]:
Yeah. So I think the 3rd, sort of habit to adopt is is all about workflow. So this is a bit more practical one. So so in my business, what what I have learned and what I've adopted over the many years is building out very simple workflows that help me to get things done. And a workflow is simply a step by step by step approach to doing something. That's all it is. And it doesn't matter whether it's your online course or whether it's, you know, your marketing or whether it's creating a new new offer, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. There will be a very simple system that you'll need to follow to actually get something done.

Karen Davies [00:17:16]:
And I think when you when you approach something on a regular basis you need to kind of have something that kind of supports you in doing so so that when life happens you're not suddenly going or you know down different rabbit holes doing all the different things. So so I think the next habit is about adopting a very very very simple workflow that very, very, very simple workflow that supports what it is you're trying to get done. So for example, if it's if it's the online course and you're looking at doing something and you say you're creating content for for a lesson, then then what you would need to do is just work out what steps are needed to create what you need to get done for that lesson. So it might be that you need to identify what content, Once you've identified what content, it might be that you want to write a script around the content. It might be that you need to create some slides if you're doing a voice over slides and then you may need to record it. So then you need to just create a very simple workflow that's gonna help you to achieve that. And one of the, tools that I use to do this is Trello because Trello, for those that don't know, is a project management tool. It's, in Kanban style, so it's columns, and you could just put step 1 is there, step 2 is there, step 3 is there, step 4 is that.

Karen Davies [00:18:43]:
And what that does is when you are doing something on repeat and with an online course, there's a lot of repetitive tasks, you can then use that workflow to guide you through what you're doing. So it might be that you might create a simple system that has to do in progress completed, and maybe that might be your simple workflow. But I think having something that you use on a regular basis will support your efforts as you're creating your course. Excellent. Yeah.

Julie Mann [00:19:18]:
Wow. Great habits, Karen. Anything else you want to add?

Karen Davies [00:19:24]:
I think with anything, I think it is just like I say, it's it's getting clear on what you're doing, it's identifying why you're doing it, and it's keeping your your mind on what that looks like going forward. So get really clear on what life is gonna be like when you have your online course created. You're going to have more time, more money, more freedom, more control, you're going to create a business that you love, you're going to create more impact. So I think lean into that feeling of what that's going to look like and then set yourself up by for success by creating these habits and getting really clear on what you need to do to get things happening and then to take action, do not worry about being perfect, but just do the work and then at the end of it you'll have something that will be a game changer in your business.

Julie Mann [00:20:20]:
I love that. So it's get clear, lean in, and keep the main thing the main thing.

Karen Davies [00:20:26]:
Boom. Yeah. And don't get distracted. Build a habit around blocking out distractions.

Julie Mann [00:20:33]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. Thank you so much, Karen. I am doing a course with Karen. She's completely what voice. What word is that she's completely brilliant and it's

Karen Davies [00:20:46]:
very clear

Julie Mann [00:20:47]:
and structured and I cannot recommend her highly enough so check out her links there will be below

Karen Davies [00:20:54]:
Mine will be there as well. If you wanna be a happy healthy human, you need great habits. Check out my links for more. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you very much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you found it to be of value and, of course, please do feel free to share it with others who you may think will also benefit from listening to today's episode. If today's discussion has sparked some inspiration and you're eager to dive deeper into creating your online presence, then go to my website www.karen-davies.com and download the free resources.

And if you're ready to take the next step and want to learn more about my all inclusive membership, sell your brilliance online, which is designed to get you started creating your very first online course, then head on over to my website www.karen-davies.com/membership.

Karen Davies [00:21:54]:
I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the digitally she does it show. Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode. New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday. So, why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode? Thank you for tuning in today, and I will see you next time.