And She Spoke

Being the founders of a software company, we kind of geek out on software tools. In today’s Office Hours episode, we dive into our favorite apps for new online business owners. Project Management: We love Trello best, but Asana is great too. Personal Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheets: G Suite Graphic Design: Canva Online Teaching Platform: Namastream Payment Processor: Stripe Video Editing: iMovie Email Marketing: Convertkit Website/Blog: Squarespace Team Communication: Slack

All of us, to some extent, borrow from others, from the culture around us. Ideas are in the air, and we may appropriate, often without realizing, the phrases and language of the times. We borrow language itself; we did not invent it. We found it, we grew up into it, though we may use it, interpret it, in very individual ways. What is at issue is not the fact of “borrowing” or “imitating,” of being “derivative,” being “influenced,” but what one does with what is borrowed or imitated or derived; how deeply one assimilates it, takes it into oneself, compounds it with one’s own experiences and thoughts and feelings, places it in relation to oneself, and expresses it in a new way, one’s own. — Oliver Sacks Inspired by Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, and the writing of Oliver Sacks, this episode is devoted to the topic of emulation. To what extent should copying or stealing impact our work? We believe that everyone benefits from an incubation period, where we are immersed in the work of others, but that the key to becoming successful is making it your own and producing original work. Other Mentions: Oliver Sacks on the Three Essential Elements of Creativity Joy: Good and Well Supply Co. Perfume BalmHustle: Steal Like an Artist

Gamification involves taking an application or an online community and integrating game mechanics into it to motivate participation, increase engagement, and foster loyalty. In other words, gamification is the process of applying psychological triggers to tech products in order to manipulate the way we behave. We, as humans, are animals who are hardwired to respond to incentives (and disincentives) in certain ways. We should all understand some of these basic triggers so that we can know when (and how) we’re being manipulated. We believe that when you understand the underpinnings of human behavior, and you have the power to build psychological triggers into a technology product, you have an obligation to ensure that you’re wielding that power responsibly. Unfortunately, it seems that many founders take this responsibility for granted. What we’ve tried to do within our own software platform is to ensure that incentives are tied to meaningful accomplishment rather than contrived, artificial rewards. Intentionality is key. Joy: The Light PhoneHustle: Hooked, Nir Eyal’s work

If you want to create professional looking videos for your online business, good lighting is mission critical. Lighting is an art form that can seem intimidating when you’re first starting out as an online teacher, but this episode shares some basics to get you started without the stress. When setting up your lighting, you’ll want to keep these three simple goals in mind: Make the featured speaker (you!) look fabulous (i.e., prioritize lighting yourself over your background). Make your setting look welcoming and natural. Eliminate shadows, especially on your face. Here’s a fabulous, inexpensive lighting kit (similar to the one that Jeni uses), as well as a simple DIY tutorial for creating your own!

This week’s episode dives into our favorite finds of 2017, along with a hearty dose of reflection. Listen in to learn why we love the following books, tools, thinkers, and ideas: Best Books: Deep Work, Drop the BallBest Netflix Shows: The Crown, Brojects, Reno My RenoBest Purchases: Madewell High Rise Jeans, Bellicon, Denim Jogger, Jamie Joseph RingsMost Influential People: Austin Kleon, Kelly DielsFavorite Instagram Accounts: @hellofunction, @code_likeagirlBest Decisions: restructuring our team, starting our podcastFavorite Articles: Life is a Video Game—Here are the Cheat Codes, 1,000 True Fans, Zebras Fix What Unicorns BreakBest Podcast Episodes: Sheryl O’Loughlin on Good Life Project, Danielle LaPorte on The Lively ShowBest Conference: Craft + CommerceWords of the Year: Flourish, Implementation Other Mentions: The Royal Family on Instagram

Many online teachers and coaches don’t realize that live-streaming can be a fantastic way to build the foundation for a new online business. If you leverage live-streaming wisely, you don’t have to have a single piece of pre-made content ready prior to taking your business online. So long as you have a basic website or Namastream site up and running, you can start offering live-stream sessions immediately. There are multiple way to leverage live-streaming, but these three are the most common and effective, which is also why we’ve built them into Namastream: One-on-One Private Sessions Collaborative Small Group Sessions Broadcasts  You need far less equipment for a successful live-streamed class that you’d need to create high-quality pre-recorded video content. Whenever you use Skype or go live on Facebook, you just use your webcam, right? Well, it’s exactly the same for live-streaming. As long as you have a built-in camera, you’re good to go live! (With that said, our very favorite live-streaming tool, the Logitech C920 webcam, provides an unbelievably crisp picture quality for around $50.) Other Mentions: Blue Yeti, Rode RodeLink FM Wireless Filmmaker System

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde A flyway is an ecological term that describes a migratory bird route. It’s also the name of an incredibly forward-thinking investment firm founded by Hillary Strobel. We met Hillary at DazzleCon ‘17 and were immediately taken aback by her humility and unique attitude about investing. As a single mother with a background in literature and nonprofit management, Hillary made the bold and unconventional choice to start a social impact investment firm founded on the principle of “patient capital.”We both loved interviewing Hillary and left the conversation deeply inspired and hopeful about the possibility of business to be a vehicle for service. Other Mentions: The Flyways, Wefunder Joy: self-preservationHustle: lifelong learning

In this episode, we discuss some of the differences in pricing online memberships vs. online courses. For memberships, you’ll want to anchor your prices to your local economy. A monthly online yoga membership, for example, should cost roughly the same amount as a single drop-in class in your area. If your students are used to spending more for in-person classes, they’ll be comfortable spending a bit more for online programs, too. Pricing for online courses vary widely in cost, much more so than memberships. Most of our clients price their offerings based on the following two factors: Amount of content: The more you offer, the higher the price tag can be. Demand: A highly specialized package might appeal to a smaller audience and require a lower price point. A more general (but still niched!) offering can skew a bit higher. We recommend that all online courses be priced at least $97 USD. Any product you offer is going to take some serious work to build and hone, and you’ll want to be in a position to recoup your investment! Additionally, selling fixed-price offerings in the $20 to $30 range forces you to scramble to sell more units and devalues your expertise. Finally, we’ve got to circle back to the concept of undercharging. DO NOT undervalue yourself, your business, and your entire industry by offering inexpensive products, programs, or services. We can’t emphasize this strongly enough. Underpricing sets you up to be in a constant scramble to meet your financial goals, and creates a negative energetic relationship between you and your clients. Resentment is dangerous territory, folks. Please charge what you’re worth.

“I’m not at the top of my field, but I’m also a long ways from the bottom.” — Nathan Barry  Establishing yourself as an authority figure in your niche is paramount to sustaining a business and growing a following online. Consistent content creation, be it in the form of a blog, a podcast, or a Facebook Live or YouTube show, is the best way we can think of to become known as an authority within your community. If you’re interested in becoming a blogger or beginning a writing project, a great place to start is Medium. Alternatively, if you want to go all-in, check out the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and challenge yourself to write a full book within a single month. Other Mentions: Sex & Startups, Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break, How to Get Published on the Huffington Post, Seth’s Blog Joy: Why You Should Write DailyHustle: Authority

In our very first installment of Soulful MBA’s Office Hours, we’re going to share our 7-factor framework for pricing your online programs: Location: If you’re aiming to build a global brand online, location won’t be nearly as essential. But if you run a yoga studio in your hometown, or operate a hybrid of in-person and online services, your initial client base will come from your local community. Which means you need to make sure that your prices are appropriate for the people who live within that community. Demand: If you have a product that’s created for a specific audience, you need to take a hard look at how many other people are offering similar products to the same customer base. You also need to weigh how popular your subject is among the folks in your target market. Amount of content: A fully loaded, content-packed 12-week program should be priced very differently from a streamlined 3-week program. Similarly, if you’re hosting a community and can offer members 100 stellar videos, you’ll be able to charge more than if you’ve only got 10 videos in the bag. Production quality: This is where most folks get hung up. If you’re a newbie to videos and handling everything yourself, you simply can’t charge as much as someone who employs a professional film crew. That said, you should absolutely start wherever you’re at right now! As your business grows, begin investing in better tools and more help, and let your pricing reflect those improvements. Background and experience: If you’re a brand new teacher or coach, you’d be wise to charge a little bit less than someone with decades of experience. It’s what your customers will expect. Competition: You want to carve out a place in the market for yourself where you’re not facing a tidal wave of competition. A little competition is actually essential; It validates the viability of your offerings. But throwing yourself into a saturated space and selling the same products as dozens of other experts is a recipe for disaster. Revenue goals: Your pricing should account for your specific income goals, and the products you offer at various price points should be built around those goals. If you have to hit a certain dollar mark each month, you need to know how many of each product must sell to reach that goal. And you need to ensure that selling that number of products each month is truly feasible for you. Creating a fair and sustainable pricing structure for your business will take some research and careful calculation, but it’s well worth the effort.  Tune into next week’s Office Hours episode, where we will discuss the different strategies we recommend for pricing online memberships vs. online courses!