Steps to Creating an Effective E-Course

E-courses (email courses) have become a popular way to attract new clients or customers. Some people choose free email courses as a way of growing their list, while others use paid email courses as a way of earning residual income. Either way you choose to use e-courses, it's important to follow a few guidelines.

1. Create lessons based on a service or product that you offer, so that your e-course will up-sell to that product or service.
2. E-courses are emails and should therefore be short, sweet and to the point. No more than 300 words per email.
3. Break your lessons down. Each email should serve as a lesson. If it's a large lesson, consider making it a two part lesson.
4. Your e-course should be between 3 days and 10 days long. Too little will not offer enough, while too much will get exhausting for the recipient.
5. Each lesson should have your bio included and a link to contact you.
6. Your final lesson should be a wrap up of the entire course and next steps. Your next steps should include either contacting you or ordering a product related to the course.
7. Consider including a freebie at the end of your e-course.

By using these six guidelines you will be able to create an effective e-course that will grow your business. Be sure to include the e-course sign up on your homepage and use social marketing to get the word out. When done correctly, e-courses are a fun, simple way to boost your business.

Why You Should Create Your Own Coaching Curriculum

Coaching is so much more than just coaching sessions; clients want products that will inform them and give them action steps to success. When you're not having a one-on-one or group coaching call, what are your clients reading? What are they working on?

I have found that my clients have reported much more success when implementing their own curriculum – programs and lesson plans. People have a hard time committing to coaching; I've seen it over and over with my clients who are coaches – it's one of their biggest complaints. It's usually this complaint that gets the ball rolling with the creation of new products and programs.

By providing a curriculum or program along with your coaching services, you are giving your clients a tangible (in most cases printable) item, something they can call their own and use between coaching sessions. There is only so much that can be discussed during each session; but imagine how much more you can get through to your client with your own curriculum! Your wisdom is now able to be held in the hands of your clients, causing them to spend time searching within themselves – becoming more committed to themselves and to your coaching.

For those of you with quiet clients, the ones who are resistant to speak about what's really going on, a workbook or journal will help them work through their issues as they feel comfortable doing. Then the exercises will give you both content to discuss – making the session more rewarding for both of you.

Your curriculum could consist of any number of things. If you have programs, you can adapt your curriculum to your programs in the form of workbooks, worksheets, journal prompts and exercises; or if you don't have specific coaching programs, you could create these items based on your coaching methodology. You could include CDs, MP3s, podcasts and so on. You could even create a fill-in PDF document (software for this is as inexpensive as $20 at pdfill.com) and when your client fills it in, they can email it to you for review.

It makes sense for coaches to have a supplemental curriculum for their clients. It provides a greater sense of commitment from your client and allows you to truly connect with one another. Many hands-on learners will also appreciate having something tangible to use during and in-between their coaching sessions. Your coaching wisdom will go so much further with your own curriculum!

If you're interested in learning more about creating your own curriculum and coaching products, visit http://www.aokbusinessservices.com/ for assistance.

Growing Our Businesses Using Our Inner Strengths

Owning your own online business is a fantastic way to increase your wealth while also staying home with the kids. I began my business in 2001, and it has morphed in ways I could never have imagined. Throughout the years I have discovered that my business has grown and changed according to my inner strengths.

When I first began my business, I concentrated on skill - what I provided my clients - the actual tasks at hand. It took time before I realized that I had so much more to give! Although I didn't know it at the time, I began looking into myself, my inner strengths, and began bringing those strengths into my business. That is when I began to notice my business growing rapidly!

As a writer, I was providing copy writing to my clients. As my inner strengths began to shine, I realized that my clients liked my "out of the box" thinking and began asking for my advice for how to put programs and products together for their business. I also discovered that I really loved creating programs and products! That's when I decided to make a shift in my business; rather than just providing copy writing, I began assisting clients in developing all types of products and programs.

My business began to make another shift, I noticed that the majority of my clients were coaches - business, life, food and others - so there was something unique in what I was providing that attracted those in the coaching industry. So I did some searching once more, I found that because coaches require unique packages and services to grab the attention of their audience, their products and programs must be unique as well. My sometimes extreme thinking turned out to be my strength; coaches who want to stand out come to me for unique program and product creations.

So what does this mean for you? What are your inner strengths? Rather than waiting until they hit you, as I did, try taking some time to look into yourself, brainstorm on what it is you thrive on and then begin thinking about sharing those gifts with others. Who would prosper from your unique gifts?