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[00:00:00] James Marland: Hello, and welcome to the scaling therapy practice. This is your host, James Marland. This is the show where we empower mission driven helpers and leaders to launch life changing online courses to put that content online. I'm so glad you're here. If you're enjoying the show, would you mind giving us a like and a share?
[00:00:30] James Marland: Do you mind just going to the Apple podcast or wherever you are listening to this? Maybe it's on YouTube. Would you just hit that like and subscribe button? It really helps. today. We're going to be talking about what content goes in your course? What are you actually putting out there? And will people buy it? Today's going to be a little exercise that you could probably do. If you are sitting down and listening to this show, if you don't do it now, just remember it's a really short mind map brainstorm and get some ideas on what content you're going to put in your course.
[00:01:05] James Marland: It's all about finding your passion and purpose. And when you teach something that you're passionate about, You radiate authenticity, you radiate things that are attractive to other people that they want to latch onto. So that's one of the first things is do something that you're passionate about and that you are genuinely excited about. And we're going to help you identify that and connect that with what people need. So here's the exercise. And what you're going to want to do is draw three circles. Like a Venn diagram where they overlap if you and on the left side, you're going to put the right circle is your passion. And then the third circle that intersects those two is students needs and where all the circles intersect is your topic.
[00:02:04] James Marland: And I, how I did this exercise was for expertise. I drew a line out. and made another circle like a mini mind map. And one of the things I'm good at is PowerPoint presentations. And so I drew a circle out that showed PowerPoint. And then after PowerPoint, I drew another circle, like what's something I'm good at or passionate about.
[00:02:35] James Marland: And I like Just pictures like I like how the look and design of PowerPoint and I like the animations of PowerPoint. So I had that. And then another expertise is a Canva. So I drew a circle off a line off expertise and put Canva in that. And then what do I like about Canva? What are some of the things I like about Canva?
[00:03:01] James Marland: I like. How you can automate things. I like the AI I like, and then another line and another circle. I like the pro version and then another circle. I like the animations and the video and the sharing and all the things that I'm an expertise in Canva went off that and your expertise is going to be different.
[00:03:23] James Marland: It's going to be accounting or therapy or. helping parents, helping kids, helping churches, your expertise is going to be, you're just going to draw lots of lines off that expertise to give you ideas for what you can teach on.
[00:03:43] James Marland: And another way to look at this is ask yourself the question for the expertise. What are some of the times and activities where you were so absorbed in what you were doing that you lost track of time with what you were doing? What were you doing? Who are you with? Who were you with? What was the situation?
[00:04:05] James Marland: Like, how did, what were you doing when you entered that flow state? Flow state is the time where time Seems to go really fast and you get a lot done and when you're done, you're not totally tired or exhausted. What were you doing for that flow state? Those are some of your expertise is impassions. You're totally absorbed in what you're doing. Another way to think about the, your passions and expertise is what could you talk about for an hour or a half hour with no planning, no preparation. Somebody just comes up to you and says, Hey, talk to me, what do you think about this topic? Now, not all of these expertise and passions are going to be something that you can pay.
[00:04:57] James Marland: People would want to pay you for, but there's some, they give you clues on what you like to do. So some of my things. I am I could talk about Godzilla movies probably for 30 minutes or maybe movies in general. I listen to several podcasts on movies. I enjoy different TV shows. I like talking about directors and the music composition and I like watching the behind the scenes.
[00:05:26] James Marland: Special effects the commentary on movies, especially science fiction or like Lord of the Rings types movies. And I like listening to those commentaries and then sharing my knowledge. Knowledge is in air quotes there of the movies with other people, few people get paid to talk about those things, but I'm really passionate about that.
[00:05:48] James Marland: But there's other things that I'm passionate about. that I could talk about is maybe missions, or leadership, or church, or presentations, or course creation. I'm passionate about helping people, and especially the technical side of things I find myself gravitating to. So what are some of the topics? You could talk about for a while that would go into your, the circle that you drew on the right side.
[00:06:17] James Marland: That's the passion circle. So if you have 3 circles down and you're looking at the passion circle, what are some of the things that you would draw a line off the passion circle? And draw another topic. So for me, movies might be one. And then I would draw other lines off the movie circle. And I would say I could talk about science fiction and special effects and music and directors for a while.
[00:06:46] James Marland: And then another passion might be leadership. And I love team building and when the progress of teams and engagement and customer service. Those are some of the topics hiring and firing. It's another passion of mine. I love hiring the right people so what are those things for you? Write down four or five things that are passion for you that you would put on your mini mind map. Another area could be what makes you feel joyful. If you're struggling with your expertise and passions, Think about a time when you were joyful. What brings you deep joy? What are some of the things that your mind and body look for and try to accomplish? What's a different way of looking about your expertise and passions?
[00:07:41] James Marland: For me, I find great joy when other people use my services to make their life better, and this is done in big and small ways. At church, I volunteer in my 12 step program regeneration, and I find great joy when people, I do first time guests, and I introduce people to the program. And I find great joy when they come back and they, shake my hand and say, Oh, I'm so glad that I'm here.
[00:08:11] James Marland: And I like getting people started in the program. I like showing people around when they're lost. I don't know what that is, but maybe it's because I felt lost in my life so many times and I wish somebody would grab my hand. and take me to where I'm supposed to go and show me the directions.
[00:08:32] James Marland: And so when I see somebody lost or somebody needs something, I try to help them. I want to be seen as a very helpful person. That is something that brings me great joy when I can make other people's lives easier. What is that for you? What brings you great joy? Is it the starting of a project?
[00:08:48] James Marland: Is it the finishing of a project? Is it something in the middle? What, brings you that joy and then write a couple things in your circle about that, that brings you passion.
[00:09:01] James Marland: Other questions to ask to help you fill this out for your mini mind map? is what kind of expertise do you have? What is something that you either went to school for, or you did the school of hard knocks, you learned it by doing, or you have a credential, you have a degree, you have a certificate, you have hands on experience.
[00:09:24] James Marland: What are some of those things that you could put on your mind map under expertise and maybe passion? help you fill out this mini mind map, this Venn diagram. And then when you look at the diagram, what are some of the things that overlap with your expertise and passions? What are some of those topics that you have hands on experience that you can do, you can teach, you're further along than other people. And it has the special category of it jazzes you up.
[00:09:56] James Marland: It makes it you excited. You're you lose track of time when you engage in that activity. What are some of the things that you can do that are Fun for you and you're good at and that's the overlap of the expertise and passion and you might not know what this is. And we live right now, it's 2024. we live in this glorious time where if you present 2 lists of topics to artificial intelligence, and then ask it, what are some topics that overlap in these subjects?
[00:10:33] James Marland: You will get. of response of four or five, 10 different things, and then you can ask it refining questions. So if you're struggling to find what overlaps, take your, take it to AI, take your two lists, so your passions and your expertise and ask it, what are some topics that overlap?
[00:10:55] James Marland: the third circle underneath is your students needs. What are some of your students needs? As you look at, and maybe you've done some research and this, that will help fill out the students needs, but as you identify what people need your ideal student, what would that be? And you just write things down.
[00:11:19] James Marland: For me one of my needs in my big idea is helping people with courses. There were a lot of needs, like people didn't know how to do videos, or people don't know how to do email marketing, or they don't know what program to use to record the course, they don't know where to host the course, they don't know how long the course could be, they don't know how to market the course, they don't know how to find their students.
[00:11:46] James Marland: There are a lot of different needs that overlap. However so for you, what are some of the needs when you're thinking about your big topic idea? What are some of the needs for your students? And you just draw that out. And for me, for example, tech was one of the needs. So I drew a line on my mini mind map.
[00:12:07] James Marland: Out of student needs and I put tech and then I put all the tech things around that circle. The lighting the audio, the video the recording, the programs, email service, all those things was a tech problem for me. And then I had another one that was marketing. So what was the marketing problem? And that would be where to find the clients and how do you connect with them?
[00:12:32] James Marland: And how do you sell to them? All sorts of marketing and I did that for my students needs. So the. The real magic of this is where all three of those circles from your mind map overlap, and it's expertise, passion, and student needs. When the all three overlap, then you will find a topic That you're passionate about teaching.
[00:13:00] James Marland: You can help people do it and student and students need it. They need the solution to your problem. And that gives you a course or a course topic to pursue and to figure out if that's something you can sell now, this, we are in the early stages of creating a course right now. If you're just trying to find a course, this is a great way to figure out what you want to do and where you can start focusing some of your research in a controlled way and not just saying I like videos. So I'm going to create a course on videos, but that might not be exactly what the students needs.
[00:13:40] James Marland: And you might not be passionate about it. There's a big, there's a big problem when you see, Oh, all the money is in AI, all the money is in recording all the money's over here, but you don't like doing it or you don't have the expertise in it. Then you're going to struggle until you get the expertise.
[00:13:58] James Marland: And if you never find the passion it's not going to be an authentic course for you. So look for the overlap, look for the overlap of expertise, passion, and students needs. And that's where you're going to find a topic that you can start creating content around after you do some research with your core audience. I will, I'll have an example of a Venn diagram in the show notes. You can find that course creation studio. com and in the progress notes blog, and I'll have an example of a Venn diagram in a a handout for you to start your own Venn diagram if you want it. It's easy to do though. Just draw the three circles, passion, expertise and students needs when they all intersect.
[00:14:44] James Marland: You have a great start for doing some research on your course creation topic. Thanks again for listening to the show. I really do. As I said in the show, I really enjoy helping people get further along in their journey. And it's my way of helping the world where I might not be able to reach your people and help your people, the people you're connected with, but I can help you do a better job reaching out to them.
[00:15:12] James Marland: Thanks so much for being, letting me be a part of your day and week. If you did get something from the show, please share it. Please like it. It helps me get found and it helps me help other people.
[00:15:26] James Marland: This is James Marland for Course Creation Studio. Go put your mission in motion./
