If your current audience-building plan still starts with “I’ll just open a free Facebook group,” this episode offers a thoughtful pause and a practical alternative.

Shannon Boyer breaks down why the free Facebook group model has lost much of its effectiveness, what’s shifted in the online landscape, and why more course creators are moving toward an ecosystem-based approach that reduces friction for both you and your students. You’ll also hear why Shannon—who resisted Skool for a long time—changed her mind after experiencing it from the student side, and how that experience reshaped how she thinks about lead magnets, community, and course delivery.

Rather than treating “community” as a separate add-on you have to constantly coax people into, this conversation explores a model where the community is the front door—and the course content lives right beside it.

In this conversation, you’ll hear Shannon unpack:

• What changed with Facebook groups, and why “dead group” fatigue is becoming the norm
• The hidden cost of building on rented land, especially when your business relies on consistent visibility and engagement
• Why the biggest issue is not reach, but friction (and how friction quietly kills follow-through)
• How Skool flips the traditional course platform model by making community the main dashboard and coursework the adjacent layer
• The freemium concept as a cleaner “front door” into paid programs, without pulling people across multiple platforms
• The specific features that make Skool feel more like a business hub than a content warehouse (including events, reminders, native video, and member-to-member interaction)
• The tradeoffs worth knowing before you switch platforms, including the limitations that may matter depending on how you sell

The Build Lab (Skool community)
Shannon’s community for course creators who want to build high-quality, high-impact courses that deliver real results.

You can start for $12/year, which includes:

• Access to the Validate Your Best Course mini-course
• A full year inside the Build Lab community
• The option to upgrade later if you want deeper support

Skool free trial + affiliate link
If you want to explore Skool for your own offers,  you can access a 14-day free trial here.

If you’ve been questioning where to host your course, how to build community without burning yourself out, or how to replace the old free Facebook group strategy with something more sustainable, this episode will give you a clearer framework for what to do next.

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

You can feel it when someone’s ready for their next chapter.

In this coaching-style episode, I’m joined by Kathy Kwon, a brand + website designer who helps creativity-driven entrepreneurs stand out authentically through strategic branding and website design. Kathy’s work is rooted in visual storytelling, and after years of delivering high-touch, one-on-one services, she’s ready to explore what it could look like to bring her expertise into the world of online courses.

But she’s at a crossroads that will feel very familiar if you’ve ever thought, “I want to create a course… I just don’t know which direction to commit to.”

Kathy is weighing two strong ideas:

• a practical, foundation-building course that would give website designers stronger visual branding skills
• a more unconventional, expressive course that helps creative entrepreneurs use design to get seen and noticed

And underneath both ideas is the real question most course creators don’t ask clearly enough:

Which one solves a problem people will actually pay to solve—and how do you find that out without building the whole course first?

In this conversation, we talk about what to do when you’re caught between “what would sell” and “what would be fun to teach,” why you shouldn’t build in isolation, and how to start gathering real feedback without needing your course to be “perfect” yet.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The hidden difference between a course idea that’s interesting vs. one that’s painful enough to create demand
• Why identifying a “gap” in someone’s skill set isn’t the same as confirming they’ll invest time and money to close it
• How to approach student conversations so you get honest insight (without pitching your idea)
• Why building your audience and building your course need to happen at the same time
• A smart progression for new course creators: validate → create something small → build proof → expand

Mentioned in the episode

Build Lab — my community for course creators who want to actually get their course finished and done right. Inside, you’ll get support, feedback, accountability, live calls, monthly challenges, and exclusive tools (including custom GPTs), plus access to the first module of my signature course.

Connect with Kathy

Kathy’s free resource: “5 Essential Pages a Course Creator Needs on Their Website” (checklist)
Website: Bright Matters Studio
Instagram: @brightmattersstudio

Want coaching on the podcast?
If you want to be featured on a future coaching episode, fill out the form here: www.shannonlboyer.com/podcast

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

If you’ve ever tried to validate a course idea and ended up feeling less confident than when you started—because you found someone already teaching something similar—this episode will feel like a deep exhale.

In this solo episode of The Art of Online Course Creation, Shannon Boyer breaks down what’s actually happening when you see competitors in your space… and why “it already exists” is often one of the clearest signs your course idea is worth pursuing.

You’ll learn how to do market analysis without spiraling, how to interpret “competition” as proof of concept (not a stop sign), and how to differentiate your course in a way that’s authentic, strategic, and built around the value you uniquely deliver.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• What it really means when you discover someone else already teaching your topic
• Why audiences don’t choose courses based on topics alone (and what they do choose based on)
• The mindset shift that turns “I’m too late” into a clearer positioning strategy
• A behind-the-scenes look at how Shannon differentiated herself from a major course-creation name with massive visibility
• The validation mistake that leads many creators to abandon great ideas too early
• Why quizzes that “confirm” your idea is profitable should raise immediate red flags
• The two big reasons outsourcing market research to AI can backfire—and how to use AI in a supportive role instead

Ready to validate your course idea the right way?

If you want step-by-step guidance to validate your course topic without guesswork, Shannon invites you to check out her mini-course:

Validate Your Best Course Idea — a $12 mini-course that includes a full year of access to her Skool community.

Inside, you’ll walk through a complete market analysis process (what to look for, where to look, how to interpret what you find) and learn how to use tools like ChatGPT to support your research—without replacing your expertise.

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

A lot of online business advice says the same thing: keep your course short, give people the steps, cut everything else. But what happens when “quick and dirty” stops your students from actually using what they paid for?

In this episode of The ART of Online Course Creation, Shannon pulls apart the myth that faster automatically means better. Drawing on her experience inside a Facebook Ads course that delivered tidy, step-by-step instructions—but left her too uncertain to hit publish—she explores the trust gap that appears when courses skip the “why” and only teach the “how.”

Shannon makes a clear distinction between offers that promise a small, focused win and those that are meant to be truly transformational. One can be short and contained; the other needs depth, structure, and support. Cutting fluff is one thing. Cutting foundations is something else entirely.

Inside the episode, she shares:

• How “do this, do that” teaching creates students who can follow scripts, but can’t make confident decisions
• Why examples, explanation, and transferable skills are non-negotiable if you want your course to stand on its own
• The key difference between a resource vault and a designed learning experience that changes how someone thinks and acts

Shannon also walks you through a set of reflection questions to help you see whether your own course is delivering a true transformation—or just a neatly organized to-do list. (You can grab a copy of those questions as a checklist in the show notes.)

If you’ve ever worried that adding depth will overwhelm your students, or you’ve tried to turn a signature promise into a “quick and dirty” offer, this episode will give you a more honest way to decide what actually belongs in your course.

Download the self-assessment checklist HERE.

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

Stuck on “Which platform should I use?” Melissa Kara shares a practical, values-aligned way to choose, ship, and iterate without getting lost in tech or design.

You’ll learn:

• A simple order of operations so platform choice doesn’t delay your launch
• How to keep momentum when you don’t have an audience (yet)
• What makes a sales page convert (templates, flow, and micro-decisions)
• Safe ways to customize without breaking your page

About our guest:
Melissa Kara is the founder of The Kara Collections, a studio creating plug-and-play templates with built-in copy prompts for course creators. 

The Kara Collections supplies plug-and-play templates with copy prompts and beautiful, high-converting designs — all at affordable prices and easy enough for anyone to use. Our mission is to make it simple for every business owner to choose the right platform and create stunning pages that convert, without the stress or tech overwhelm.

Links & resources:

• The Kara Collections (templates)
• Work with Melissa

 If tech is stalling your launch, pick a usable platform, apply a proven template, publish your first lesson, then iterate.

Please Note that Shannon Boyer no longer uses this platform and now hosts everything on Skool.

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

You’ve got a course. You’ve got testimonials. But no one’s seeing it.

If you’ve ever felt like your incredible offer is just sitting in a corner of the internet gathering dust, this episode is for you. I’m joined by Zach Spuckler, marketing strategist and host of Not Your Average Online Marketing Podcast, who pulls back the curtain on what actually works when it comes to running Meta ads to build your audience and grow your course-based business.

Zach brings 10+ years of experience and breaks down the difference between ads that waste money and ads that grow an email list of the right people - without needing a $10K funnel or a million views.

We get into the realistic starting budgets, how to know if your leads are quality, when to DIY and when to hire, and why the long game is your best bet.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why boosting a post is not the same as running an ad, and what to do instead
• The three types of ads (and why course creators should start with lead gen)
• How to tell if your ad leads are actually worth the money
• A behind-the-scenes look at real numbers: ad spend, list size, conversion windows
• When it’s too early to hire an agency, and what to know before you do
• Why email lists beat social media algorithms when it comes to selling your course
• What not to believe about $37 funnels and the myth of passive income

📌 Mentioned in the episode:

• Zach’s Bootcamp – A 5-day experience for creating your first Meta ad campaign
• Not Your Average Online Marketing Podcast – Zach’s podcast, including his take on the passive income myth
• The Build Lab – Shannon’s community for course creators who want to build high-quality, high-impact programs
• Zach Spuckler on Instagram
• Zach's website - Heart Soul Hustle

🎧 Listen now if you’re:

• Wondering whether ads are worth it (especially with a small list or tight budget)
• Tired of being invisible online and want to build a consistent audience
• Thinking about hiring help but aren’t sure if you’re ready
• Curious about how real course creators use ads to grow their email list and community

Your course deserves to be seen. This episode will help you get it in front of the people who need it without wasting your time or money.

➡️ Subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tag @shannonlboyer with your biggest takeaway!

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

Once upon a time, online communities were alive - buzzing with conversation, collaboration, and connection. But lately, many of them feel... quiet. Too quiet.

In this episode, Shannon pulls back the curtain on what’s really happening in online spaces that once thrived, and why the problem isn’t spam, it’s silence. She explores how community “rules” designed to protect authenticity may have accidentally stripped it away, leaving creators and entrepreneurs unsure how to show up, share, or sell without guilt.

From her own experience running The Classifieds, a thriving Skool community where promotion and collaboration coexist beautifully, Shannon reveals how a new wave of community design is making it possible for entrepreneurs to be both genuine and visible.

You’ll hear:

• The hidden reason engagement has dropped across online spaces
• How well-meaning guidelines often stifle connection instead of fostering it
• Why Skool’s model is changing the game for course creators and community builders
• Real stories of collaboration and generosity that prove business and community can grow together

If you’ve ever wondered how to revive the soul of your online community, or how to talk about your business without breaking “the rules”, this episode will change how you see what’s possible when authenticity and entrepreneurship finally get to coexist.

🎧 Listen now to discover why a community that sells isn't necessarily a sell-out. 

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Join The Classifieds on Skool
  
  
• Check out Skool (affiliate link)

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

Ever felt like you’re sitting on a mountain of valuable content (tutorials, workshops, PDFs, maybe even entire slide decks), but you have no idea how to turn it into a structured, sellable course? You’re not alone.

In this episode of The Art of Online Course Creation, Shannon sits down with Alexis Galloway, founder of So Sweet Academy and a creative entrepreneur who went from stitching for fun to building a full-fledged online business teaching machine embroidery to beginners. But Alexis’s journey wasn’t a straight line.

She started, like many creators do, by sharing her passion and answering questions one by one… until she found herself repeating the same explanations over and over. That’s when she realized there had to be a better way - a way to multiply her impact, streamline her teaching, and scale her business beyond one-to-one conversations. Enter: online courses.

But as Alexis discovered, creating a course isn’t just about recording tutorials and uploading them to a platform. Her first course (though successful on the surface) lacked the structure, intentionality, and learning journey that students truly needed. The result was confusion, repeated questions, and missed transformation.

In this honest and inspiring conversation, Alexis opens up about:

• The mindset shift from hobbyist to business owner and the pivotal moments that sparked her evolution.
• Why her first course made her cringe and how refining the structure changed everything.
• The biggest mistake most creators make with existing content (and how to fix it).
• How adding coaching and real-time support took her course from “nice to have” to life-changing.
• The essential (and often overlooked) parts of course creation that separate scattered content from true transformation.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your own ideas, or if you’re wondering how to turn your expertise into something that actually gets results, this episode is packed with insight, honesty, and actionable wisdom.

🎧 Tune in to hear how Alexis transformed a messy vault of tutorials into a profitable, purpose-driven program, and how you can do the same.

Connect with Alexis here:

https://www.facebook.com/Sewsweetacademy https://www.youtube.com/@sewsweetacademy https://www.instagram.com/sewsweetacademy

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

Have you ever sat through a lesson and wondered, “Why am I even learning this?”

If you’ve ever felt that way, imagine how your students feel when they step into your online course without a clear sense of purpose. The truth is, one of the simplest shifts you can make in your teaching is also one of the most powerful: starting with why.

In this episode of The ART of Online Course Creation, Shannon Boyer shares how a single moment in the classroom changed her teaching forever, and why leading with purpose isn’t just a nice touch, but the difference between students who finish your course and students who check out halfway through.

You’ll hear:

• A personal story about an adult learner whose simple question revealed a hidden gap in course design.
• Why explaining the “why” first transforms attention, retention, and real-world application.
• How to connect each lesson to a bigger outcome so students stay motivated from start to finish.
• Practical strategies to keep purpose alive throughout your teaching, not just at the introduction.

If your students have ever seemed distracted, disengaged, or unmotivated, this episode will give you a fresh lens on how to spark their focus, help them remember what you taught, and, most importantly, move them into action.

🎧 Listen now to discover how starting with “why” can turn your course from information overload into a transformational learning experience.

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]

What if everything you believed about growing your audience was just… backwards?

When business and sales coach Tracy Beavers left her high-powered corporate job, she thought she had all the tools she needed to build a thriving online business. But after sinking thousands into ads and launching to crickets, she realized something was missing—and it wasn’t just a better funnel.

In this candid and energizing conversation, Tracy sits down with host Shannon Boyer to unpack how she rebuilt her visibility from the ground up without spending another cent on ads. 

What she discovered not only transformed her business, it’s now helping course creators across industries build sustainable, high-converting marketing machines using nothing but organic strategies.

You’ll hear the real story behind Tracy’s rocky first course launch, how she turned failure into a framework, and the specific mindset shift that every course creator needs to make to grow with confidence. 

We also dive deep into the time trap of content creation, how to simplify your strategy without sacrificing results, and why social media might be less about shouting into the void and more about building quiet momentum that lasts.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• How do I grow without ads?
• Why does my content feel like it's going nowhere?
• What actually moves the needle when launching a course?

This episode delivers clarity, strategy, and a whole lot of permission to do it differently.

🎧 Listen in and discover:

• The 90-day rule that can predict your income
• What most people get wrong about consistency
• How to reverse engineer your social media content without burnout
• Why engagement isn’t the goal (and what is)

Plus, Tracy shares her go-to strategy for creating 90 days of content ideas in just 30 minutes—and it’s way simpler than you think.

Ready to ditch the overwhelm and build the kind of audience that buys? This one’s for you.

🎁 Grab Tracy’s free guide: Social Media Made Easy: Create 90 Days of Content Topics in 30 Minutes

📲 Connect with Tracy inside her community: Be a Confident Entrepreneur: Get Visible, Grow Your Email List and Your Income

Tracy Beavers Website

With an award winning career spanning 20 years, Tracy Beavers has guided hundreds of entrepreneurs to grow their business visibility through organic marketing strategies. She is a public speaker, and a published author. She has been featured by CBS television, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair Lingerie, and Kajabi. She is the creator of the top ranked business podcast “Create Online Business Success!”

Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

To be in the know about new offerings and opportunities, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail [email protected]