My Top 4 Tips for New Course Creators

My Top 4 Tips for New Course Creators

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you!

If you are an entrepreneur or you're thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, you have probably recognized that there is a lot of money in creating courses. And aside from the money aspect of it, which is why a lot of people gravitate towards it, the focus that I really want to put your energy towards is the impact that you can have. 

If you are doing one-on-one services or consulting, you have a limited amount of people that you can work with at a time. And that's one of the reasons that I fell madly in love with creating courses.

It allows me to serve more people and to support more people without sacrificing my precious time, which you probably know is a huge value over here at Brandmerry and just for me as a human being as well. 

So I thought it would be kind of fun to do a blog that is all about my top tips for new course creators. 

Now, even if you're not new, maybe you already have a course, listen in because the information I'm going to share is going to save you tons of time, money, and energy in the long run. I really want to share this with you because as you know, streamlining and simplifying the process of running a business is so, so important and dear to me.

So these four tips are really designed to remove the overwhelm that you might be feeling on what is required to build out your course.

TIP #1: STREAMLINE YOUR PROCESS WITH AN ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM

The first tip that I have for you is to make sure that you are not trying to piece it all together.

When you start out and look, I did it too, you want to bootstrap. I totally understand. I was the exact same way. And to be honest, I needed to. 

But, when you're creating a course and you have intentions of evergreening that course, meaning you want to be able to sell this at any time and somebody can sign up at any time and it's not reliant on you sending an email or processing a payment or something like that,  it is going to save you a lot of time and energy to have it all in one location.

In my business, I use a platform called Kajabi. Maybe you've heard me talk about it before, but Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for course creators. 

What this allowed me to do was create the sales page, checkout page, confirmation page, process the payments, send the emails, send weekly check-ins and automated emails, deliver the materials, drip it, releasing it live, etc...all in one area. 

When I first started my business and I was selling a group program and a few small courses, I was just piecing it all together and it became really messy and very confusing. If one thing didn't work, then I had to figure out what wasn't working and why it wasn't working and fix it. 

At the end of the day, I realized I was actually spending more money.

By piecing together a bunch of different options that varied in price, I was actually spending almost the same amount of money that I would spend to just invest in a platform like Kajabi. 

Not to mention, by switching to Kajabi, I also ended up saving myself a lot of time trying to build everything on different platforms. So I really recommend that everybody tries to find a platform that allows them to do all of those things. 

Now is every platform perfect? No, of course not. It never works out like that. And everybody has different desires. 

But I know for myself, when I was ultimately choosing Kajabi in the beginning, I wanted to have a way to stay in contact with my clients as well as to really streamline the onboarding process. 

Don't try to piece it all together. You're going to recognize that someone is going to have to go to a sales page and then the checkout page, and then you need to email them their login information, and then you need to email them important information, and then they need to log in and then you have to house all the materials right?

There are a lot of moving parts. And the more that you can streamline that, have that all in one platform, the better it is going to be for you in the long run. 

So, I recommend Kajabi to so many of my clients, and actually have a free trial for you. You can go to Brandmerry.com/kajabi to get started on the platform. In addition, I’m giving away a bonus when you ultimately commit to Kajabi which includes an entire mini-course on Launching.

Tip #2: TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMER WITH ONBOARDING

That whole process leads me to tip number two, taking care of your customer. 

I don't know about you, but I've signed up for courses before and I’m so excited and then I don't get an email or I don't get the information that I wanted, or I don't get taken to a confirmation page. 

Then I'm really confused about where I'm supposed to start and what I'm supposed to do. So one of my top tips for my clients is that you need to take care of your customers. 

Think about if you were going through that process. Think about if you saw a course was for sale and you built up the courage and strength, you pulled out your credit card and you put your credit card number in there, and then suddenly you felt completely lost.

How would you feel? It wouldn't feel very good and it's going to put a sour taste in your mouth. 

One of the best things that you can do truly for your business and for the longevity of your clients sticking around and referring their friends, is to take care of them from the very beginning and make sure that they feel super supported. 

So when you are designing your course, so many people focus on just the course, and we're going to talk about that. But I also want you to think about that onboarding process because it is so important. 

I would argue that making sure that your onboarding process is clear and has a step-by-step process, will save you money because you're going to have fewer people asking for a refund,  feeling confused, ending up in your inbox, or just not knowing what to do overall. 

So when it comes to the onboarding process, here's a very simple step-by-step that I recommend.

STEP ONE: THE CHECKOUT PAGE

Let's assume they go to your checkout page or a sales page. They're on your sales page learning more about your program. They click a button that takes them to the checkout page, whether you have a pay-in-full or a payment plan. One of the things that I love to include on a checkout page is a video. 

Now I host the entire thing inside of Kajabi as I've mentioned before, so I can upload a video saying, "Hi, I'm so glad that you're here. Here's what happens next."

I'm taking away some of those fears that my ideal customer and potential client is experiencing like, "If I put my credit card number and what happens? Where do I go? What happens next?" 

So I create a video that's me on camera sharing the step-by-step of signing up. I also love to recap on the checkout page exactly what they get and share some testimonials as well.

STEP TWO: CONFIRMATION PAGE

So they go to the checkout page, put in their card information, agree to your terms and policies, then what happens? 

You take them to a confirmation page. Please don't skip this step. It's very important. 

After they’ve signed up it's important to put their fears at ease. Trust me they are thinking, "Oh my gosh, I just put my credit card number and now what happens?" 

This is why I love to create confirmation pages for my courses that are typically just me on video. I think that's such a great way to build trust and build a relationship with your audience by saying, "Congratulations, you're in. You did it. Here's what happens next."

I also like to type out any information that they might be getting in their inbox, let them know their login information is on its way, let them know that they're going to get an email with this, this, this and this. 

I'm really just focused on guiding them through the process, holding their hand and making them feel really supported every single step of the way.

STEP THREE: DELIVER THEIR EMAILS

The next step is to deliver all the info they need to get started. 

I love to deliver one email that contains their login information and another email that has more of the logistical pieces. 

• Where do they log in? 

• Do you have a community or a Facebook group where you're supporting them? 

• Are there calls that they need to put into their calendar? 

• How do they ask questions? What does that look like? 

You can outline all of that inside of the email.

And, of course, I like to take it a step further, and you can totally steal this from me if you want, and actually say, "This is the first thing I want you to do. And the second and the third and the fourth," so that it's very clear and we can remove some of that overwhelm.

STEP FOUR: LOG IN

Then comes the final step of the onboarding process, and that's getting them to log in to where your course is. 

When they log into your course, I love to have a welcome video there as well. In fact, inside of my programs, we have a start here section, which gives a walkthrough of the membership site.

It has a checklist if necessary and it tells them where they can get support and answers some more questions, encourages them to get started and tells them exactly where to start to get the best results. 

It's really about holding your client's hand through the entire process, making sure that they feel supported and you've removed the overwhelm. 

So my second tip is to put your time and your energy into creating a really streamlined onboarding process. And again, if you're using an all-in-one platform like Kajabi, you can do all.

TIP #3: KEEP IT SIMPLE 

Don't try to be fancy. 

When it comes to building out your course, I talk to so many entrepreneurs every single day. 

They're like, "Well, I really want to launch a course but I want to wait because I need a backdrop. And I want to be able to hire a graphic designer for my workbooks. And I want to have a nice camera," and so on. 

I’ve got to be honest - that is just keeping you from putting your content out there. And by delaying putting your content out there, you're actually delaying sales and the overall growth of your program.

I highly recommend that you are not fancy when you put your course out there the first time. 

Many of my first courses didn't even have video, they were just workbooks, and I just created the workbooks in Pages on my Mac computer. 

You do not have to have a fancy graphic designer helping you with your workbooks in the beginning. Go into Canva, choose a template and change it with your colors and some photos and truly make it your own. 

When it comes to filming, so many people get hung up on the fact that they have to work with a professional videographer, or they have to have perfect lighting or a perfect backdrop.

That is absolutely not required, I still don’t do that in my course and it has served over 300 people. Remember, it's about delivering value. That is what people pay for. You can use your Quicktime or Loom on your computer to record, or just on your phone. 

One of our favorite tools to use in course creation is Loom. Loom is an online program that you can use to record videos, store them in the cloud, and organize them. They're just a great place to do a screen share, the camera only, whatever.

Honestly, if we're talking like bare-bones, you need something to record on, which could be a computer, a phone, or a camera if you have it. 

You need some sort of light, which could be your ceiling light. You could even position yourself in front of a window or purchase a cheap ring light and tripod online and make a workbook in Canva and that's it.

One of the things that I see holding course creators back is that they wait to put their materials out there because they want them to be perfect or professional. But the biggest thing that I've learned as a course creator is that you will modify and change as more and more people work through your program. 

The best way to create a course that over-delivers, is super valuable, and is profitable for your business, is constantly making small adjustments. So if you're waiting to put the course out there until it's perfect, then you're not going to be able to make those adjustments and move forward with your progress. 

The best thing that you can do is get your content organized, put it out there and then ask for feedback and make those adjustments as you go.

I keep mentioning Kajabi obviously because that's the platform that we use over here at Brandmerry, but inside Kajabi, I can upload my workbooks effortlessly. 

I can upload my videos natively without having to use Youtube or Vimeo. If I want, I can upload an audio file. 

You can choose to deliver your content in so many different forms making it really easy for your audience to access those materials on their desktop or on their mobile phone because you can download an app to use with the membership portal as well. 

Keep it simple. Don't try and be super fancy with it because you're going to change and adjust as you go. That is the art of creating an amazing digital product.

TIP #4: GET PAID TO CREATE YOUR COURSE

We are coming in hot with tip number four and this is one of my favorite things to teach. 

One of the coolest things that you can do is get paid to create your course. I mean when someone told me this when I first started my business I was sold within like five seconds.

Now I'm not talking about a beta program. Some people really love that and if that works for you, that's amazing, but I’ve found using the term “beta” gives you a little permission to not do a full launch or get paid. 

I'm talking about actual cash in hand to then create the course. 

Let me give you an example of this. One of the first courses that I created was called Brand New Adventure. I now have a branding course called You! Branded. You! Branded came from putting Brand New Adventure out there, getting paid for it, adjusting it over the course of a year, and then really packaging it into what I ultimately wanted to create, and adjusting the name and some of the marketing.

But when I first sold Brand New Adventure all I had was an outline for my modules, the onboarding process was done so I could accept payment and email my clients and I had a sales page, and that was it.

I sold Brand New Adventure, in fact, it was a $7,000 launch, my biggest at the time, and every week over five weeks, I would create the new module. I would drip a new module and video training on Monday and then I would support students inside the Facebook Group. I got paid to create the course and the program. 

So if you've got an audience, even if it's a small audience, you can sell the course or the program before it's even created. 

Similar to a membership site. If you want to host a membership site. We're talking about courses here, but platforms like Kajabi work for membership sites as well.

Brandmerry Academy, my membership community that teaches marketing, is hosted on Kajabi as well. 

When I first sold that program, I didn't have all of the monthly trainings created. I created them as I went throughout the year with my Founding Members giving feedback on what they needed most. 

This is a really smart business move because a lot of entrepreneurs will spend months and months and months creating a course, creating a program and then attempting to sell it and finding out that people don't actually want it. 

You get to test your marketing, you get to test your messaging, and then you get to actually create it for someone specifically, get feedback, adjust it, and then evergreen it down the line if that's something that you choose to do. So it's such a fun strategy, get paid to create.

CONCLUSION

Those are my four tips for course creators and I highly, highly recommend you take them and you run with them. I wish someone would have told me these four things in the very beginning. 

It would have saved me a lot of time and energy. 

Speaking of saving time and energy, I clearly talked about Kajabi a lot. I don't recommend anything that I don't use and I don't believe in, and they truly are, in my opinion, one of the leaders in course creation because of the amount of time and energy and tech headaches that they will save you through the streamlined process. 

If you’re interested in giving Kajabi a try, you can go to Brandmerry.com/kajabi and test it out.

When you wrap up your trial and become a paying member of the platform you’ll get a special bonus from me. This is only available to community members who use my custom link above.

Inside of this bonus is an entire training on hosting and selling on webinars authentically. 

Might I add, not like sleazy, but like truly authentic, valuable webinars that convert. Hosting challenges, if you want to host a live video challenge to sell your course or sell your program as well as an entire training that I call Launchpad, which is all the step-by-steps of launching your course. 

Kajabi will support you in creating your course, there are a ton of materials out there, but then you've got to know how to market it and launch it.

So sign up at Brandmerry.com/kajabi and sign up through that link, then you will be gifted my entire bonus bundle to support you in marketing and selling your brand new course after your trial.

Check out Brandmerry.com/kajabi for more info.

Watch the full video below!

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Beautiful Climb podcast? I release new episodes every other Friday on topics around productivity, motherhood, habits, goals and going after the life of your dreams! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at thebeautifulclimb.com

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

5 Must-Have Business Tools for Operations

5 Must-Have Business Tools for Operations

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you!

One of the top questions that I get asked daily in my business is, "What did I use to do that? What do I use to run this? How do I do that?" 

Everybody wants to know what tools I'm using, and I get it because there are a lot of options out there.

Today, I wanted to share those tools with you, but I wanted to share them with you in a way that is a little bit more streamlined, because we've all seen the blog posts that have 35 Business Tools, and we're like, "I don't even know what to do with all this information." 

So, we're going to kick off a series that is going to share some of my top tools in business, but we're going to break it up into specific categories.

Today, I want to share with you five of the tools that I use in my business for operations. Think tools used for the day-to-day, working with my customers, handling payments, tasks inside of my business.

And before we get into it you should know I’ve tried so many tools in my business, like way too many to count. So, I’m hoping my need for in-depth research helps you streamline your process a bit and saves you valuable time. 

So let's get into it.

MUST-HAVE BUSINESS TOOL #1: Kajabi

Now, tool number one should not come as a surprise to many of you if you have read some of my previous blogs. 

The top tool I recommend tends to be Kajabi. You might know that I have a membership site called Brandmerry Academy. I also have a course that I've been selling for almost two years now called You! Branded. I also have group programs, special bonuses and deliver free content to my community and all of it is housed inside of Kajabi.

I love Kajabi because it truly is an all-in-one platform that was designed for course creators, but as you can tell, allows for a lot of different things.

Kajabi can have your website and your blog, to handle your checkout pages, your sales pages, to upload your course content, to email your subscribers, to email your clients, to have landing pages. There are so many options inside of Kajabi. 

Over here at Brandmerry, we specifically use it for paying clients. 

For my program Brandmerry Academy, or You! Branded, my clients will check out on Kajabi, they'll get access to the membership site in Kajabi, they will get emails from me and updates from me all inside of Kajabi. 

It makes my life easier as an all-in-one platform to onboard and update my existing clients from one simple platform.

In the next few posts, I’m going to share more about how I use Kajabi specifically to host my courses and scale my revenue.

If you want to try Kajabi and give it a spin, you can go to brandmerry.com/kajabi for a 14-day trial and to check it out, see if you like it for yourself. 

One of the goals as a business owner is to have recurring clients, and so many of my clients will go from You! Branded into the Academy and then maybe work with me inside of Roadmap to Freedom. 

So they get to keep all of their awesome materials in one location, and it makes it a valuable and organized membership portal for Brandmerry clients, which I love. 

So tool #1 is Kajabi and it’s what we use over here for housing all of our membership and paid content, and communicating with our paying clients.

MUST-HAVE BUSINESS TOLL #2: HoneyBook

The second tool that I love to use in my business is called HoneyBook. 

While Kajabi is what I love to use for my clients inside of my courses, membership and group programs, I love to use HoneyBook to use with my private clients. 

There are a lot of different ways that you can use HoneyBook in business. Many of my clients are photographers and/ or graphic designers and love HoneyBook because when they’re working with a 1:1 client and there is a lot of back and forth. 

First, you’ve got the contract, then invoices, email communication, maybe proposals, proofs, etc and you want a way to keep that in one place for the client.

This is what HoneyBook provides.

At Brandmerry we use HoneyBook to create automated workflows and templates to streamline the entire onboarding process for my high-level one-on-one clients. 

These clients start with applying for a one-on-one coaching spot, which is a form that we embed from Honeybook.

Then we have email correspondence back and forth to answer any questions about the timeline, support and pricing. All of this is housed in HoneyBook and can be easily read and responded to there, but also connects directly to my Gmail as well.

Then the potential client moves to paying the invoice, receiving and signing their contract and making sure additional onboarding emails for their folder, scheduling their calls, etc are all handled within HoneyBook.

We saved all those emails as templates inside of HoneyBook, which helps us automate so much of that process and also saves us tons of time. I also love how it tracks where someone might be inside of the onboarding process so we can check in with anyone who might not have responded or whose contract is up for renewal.

Also, many of my clients love the segmenting options HoneyBook provides. 

For instance, let’s say you are a photographer and you have an inquiry form on your website. Someone can check different boxes, based on what they're interested in (i.e. wedding, engagement, newborn, etc…), and then go into different workflows with templated emails. 

If you want to test drive HoneyBook you can use my link for a special discount and trial, depending on the package you choose.

MUST-HAVE BUSINESS TOOL #3: Squarespace

One of the top questions I get is “Where is your website, Michelle?” 

And you might have just guessed it but my website is on Squarespace. 

So as I mentioned before, you can have your website on Kajabi, but in the beginning, I wasn’t so savvy and tried to piece everything together.

So my website's been on Squarespace since day one and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I absolutely love Squarespace because it allows me to customize and design things without having all of the tech knowledge. 

Over the years I’ve taught myself how to code and make modifications because I had a little bit of that past knowledge in my toolbox, but many of my clients don't have that, and they're not really keen on designing everything themselves, so Squarespace makes it super easy.

In addition to the ease of designing your website in Squarespace, I’m also a big fan of their Analytics and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). 

Inside Squarespace, you have all of your analytics so that you can see your numbers. You can see what pages people are viewing, you can see where people are coming from, and you are set up for strong SEO on the platform as well. 

You might know that I teach Search Engine Optimization inside of the Academy, and that's because I have used SEO to rank my website on page one for multiple keywords, if not the first spot on page one. 

That's all done in Squarespace. 
Many people think you need WordPress to do it and that’s just not true.

It's super easy to make sure that your page title and your page description, your keywords, and your alt text is all set up to support you in doing just that.

Squarespace is one of my favorite websites to recommend to my clients, so if you're just starting out and you're not necessarily ready to host courses and things like that, and you don't want to invest in Kajabi out of the gate, then Squarespace is a great option to start out. 

Or if you're like me and you just want to pay for the best of the best, you just keep both of them because it's just easier that way. 

I think one of my favorite things that I learned about Squarespace early on is that I didn't have to pay somebody to make updates to my website. I could do it myself. And there's something really empowering about doing that as a business owner, especially when you're starting out.

MUST-HAVE BUSINESS TOOL #4: Acuity Scheduling

There is a lot of scheduling that happens over here at Brandmerry. 

We've got client scheduling, bonus sessions, all kinds of different things that need to work with my personal schedule, so having a central scheduling platform is amazing. 

At Brandmerry, we use Acuity Scheduling, and one of the reasons that I love Acuity is because it allows me to set up tons of automation on the backend. 

You guys are probably picking up on this, but I love a good automation. 

It’s important to have automations in place to stay in contact with people who have booked with you and make sure that your time slot is on their calendar and they've got the information that they need for your call. So I love that Acuity allows me to set email templates to send important links for our Zoom room, to link a form that I want them to fill out before their session, or even send post-session automations as well.

I can send it all through Acuity to make sure my clients have everything they need.

Inside Acuity, you also can set your availability. So if someone goes to schedule a call, they aren't accidentally going to book on a day that I'm hanging out with my kiddo or I'm running errands or just want to take the day off.

Having a scheduler set up is essential if you want to have clear time boundaries in your business.

And some additional perks of Acuity are that you can collect payments and have submission forms and questionnaires.

So, for scheduling over here, we love Acuity.

MUST-HAVE BUSINESS TOOL #5: Zoom

That leads us to tool number five. 

I feel like everyone, and their mom, and their grandma, knows this platform now because of 2020…
...and that's Zoom. 

I've been using Zoom since the very beginning of my business, back in 2016 and have used it for my coaching calls, workshops, webinars, recording podcasts and more.

While I have a feeling you might already be using this platform, if you’re not and you’re having conversations with people, coaching calls, hosting webinars and want to record the thing then Zoom is a great choice.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it. 

Those are the five tools that I love to use in my business that help with Operations. Go ahead and try some of them out, many of the links above offer discounts or free trials because they are affiliate links.

Hopefully, this helps you make some decisions and get started with streamlining and automating the operations side of your business.

Stay tuned for future posts on the series around productivity and marketing tools.

Watch the full video below!

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Beautiful Climb podcast? I release new episodes every other Friday on topics around productivity, motherhood, habits, goals and going after the life of your dreams! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at thebeautifulclimb.com

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

The Framework for a Morning Routine You’ll Actually Stick To

The Framework for a Morning Routine You’ll Actually Stick To

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

To be honest I had a little resistance in writing this blog because I have a whole beef about morning routines. 

Then I thought, you probably have the same beef when you hear the term morning routines. You want one, but the information is just too much. 

I know the whole concept of morning routines can be very fluffy. If you've ever worked with me in my coaching, I don't do fluffy. I like action. I like actionable, deep work. So let's do a new spin on the morning routine. Shall we?

Let's start with the beef. When I first started my business, Brandmerry.com in 2016 I was just one month postpartum. So there already wasn't much of a morning routine happening at that point because we were just surviving. 

However, at the same time of going through this postpartum period, I also started building my business and exploring this whole idea of entrepreneurship.

Shortly into doing that, I felt like I was bombarded with information on coming up with a morning routine. This isn't new, right? People have been talking about this forever, but to me, it was this new concept because I used to just, get up, brush my teeth and go to work. There was no morning routine happening. 

I was looking for stability at that time because I was in the midst of being a new mother and that incredible fog and uncertainty, so I started consuming all the content about morning routines. 

Fast forward to September of that same year and I was leaving my nine to five to pursue my business full time.

I remember saying, “Okay, I'm about to work from home. I'm about to change my whole entire schedule with my kiddo.” So I started seeking out support inside of Facebook Groups on how to juggle the work from home life.

I asked them, “What do you recommend doing as you transition from working a nine to five then switching to running a business at home with a kiddo?” Everyone was like, “You must have your morning routine!”

Everyone was giving me all of this feedback on the morning routine:

“I meditate for 45 minutes.”
“I like to go for a 30-minute walk and go to the coffee shop.” 
“I have a 20-minute skincare routine.”

And I remember thinking that this must be the secret sauce, so I dove headfirst into creating a morning routine that looked like everyone else.

And I failed miserably.

I realize now that I wasn't actually failing. I had set crazy unrealistic expectations for what was happening in my life.

I was letting someone else tell me how my morning routine should go and what I should do. And then thinking that I would just mirror that and suddenly it would be all great.

THE TRUTH ABOUT MORNING ROUTINES

Morning routines aren’t the end all be all and they won’t make or break your success, but here is the thing that I later learned: Having that morning routine sets you up for success. 

It gets you in the mindset, the focus and grounded so that you can then take on all of the things that come your way throughout the day. There's always a rollercoaster ride of things throughout the day and being prepared (aka starting off on the right foot) is essential when handling them.

But the trouble with morning routines is when we hear other people talk about their morning routines, we try to parallel them. 

Rather than asking ourselves, “What do I need?” We assume if it worked for her, it will work for me and that's doing a disservice to your life, your season and your expectations. 

So rather than looking on Pinterest or another podcast, that tells you to do these five things every single day and then setting yourself up for something that might not work with your life, it’s important to have a framework, not an end all be all rule book.

MORNING ROUTINES ARE SELF CARE

Actively choosing your morning routine is just another opportunity for you to make choices for yourself and do things that serve you and your family at the highest level. 

Doing things that serve you and the life that you are building and making choices that are aligned with your goals.

Making those decisions first and foremost is important. And then taking action and creating habits around them and doing them in the morning so that you're setting yourself up; that's the whole point of the morning routine. 

There's no secret. 

It's this trifecta of choosing the things that are going to serve you, committing to them and making them a habit, which is one of my favorite things to talk about. 

On my podcast, The Beautiful Climb, episode 14 dives into the importance of habits, not just in a morning routine, but throughout the day as well.

YOUR ROUTINE SHOULD EVOLVE

There’s absolutely no shame in having a routine that evolves.

You are a human. You are evolving every single day. You're learning new things about yourself. The outside world is changing and impacting what you can and can't do. 

Your routines, including the ones you do in the morning, should mirror that.

I have learned rather than to be rigid with exactly what I'm doing, that every time I feel like something's off, or I need something new, I go back to the framework I’m about to share with you.

I like to ask myself and encourage you to do the same...

• What do I need during this time?

• What would support me most during this season of life?

• What are the pieces that I'm committing to doing daily? 

And then implementing them.

It's all in the habits. 

It's not in the specific thing that you do. 

It's in the fact that you are making it a recurring routine that you are committing to first thing in the morning to set yourself up for success and alignment throughout the day.

My morning routine has changed so much over the years as a mother, wife, entrepreneur, woman, daughter, etc...Every season demands something new from me and I must be willing to adapt to that while still honoring my habits and boundaries.

If you want to head my entire journey with morning routines, including what I’ve done and what I do today, head over to Episode 34 of The Beautiful Climb podcast and have a listen.

THE FRAMEWORK FOR A MORNING ROUTINE YOU’LL STICK TO

What I have found through my journey, working with my clients and chatting with my friends is that people really struggle with, “but what do I do?” 

And it’s because they're not asking themselves, “What do I need?” And then creating a routine that best supports that need. 

So the framework I’m about to share with you is just that, a framework. I encourage you to explore and fill in with the things that you personally need.

Today my morning routine is so different, then when I first started. My life has changed. My son has gone from crawling to walking to being more self-sufficient. My business has grown. My husband has retired and in each of those seasons I was forced to ask myself, “What do I need right now?” 

You can absolutely make your morning routine your own and one that serves you at the highest level.

For the framework, I recommend focusing on the big three. Choosing three main areas to focus on every morning. This typically looks like Mind, Body and Soul, but can be any combination you need most.

At this stage of my life, it's a focus on my fitness with high-intensity workouts, followed by getting myself ready mentally and then nourishing my soul. This looks like a 20-30 minute workout or rides on my Peloton, getting dressed in pants that button (no yoga pants here) and then making myself a healthy breakfast to start my day. 

I used to journal for 30 minutes, I’ve meditated for 10, I used to not work out daily, and that’s the point I want to make; your routine will change, but if you focus on the big three you’ll find you’re always giving yourself a well-rounded start to the day.

What I encourage you to do is think about three things that you could do every morning that maybe take 15 minutes. 

If you’ve got more time, then great!
Maybe you need to wake up a bit earlier (no 5 a.m.’s necessary) to give yourself a full 30 minutes.
Maybe you've got even more time and can take it nice and slow. Every season will be different!

Focus on the three core things you need most in this season, fitting them into a time frame that works for you and I promise it will be so empowering. 

And that's what I want you to remember. It's about listening to yourself, identifying what you need, making a plan for that, creating a habit and then taking action.

Rinse and repeat.

A SUCCESSFUL MORNING ROUTINE IS IN THE HABIT

The last thing that I'll share about setting up a morning routine is that it's all in the habits. 

If you haven't read Atomic Habits yet, it's one of my favorite books and there is a quote in there that says, “You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” 

And that's why having systems for how you’re going to achieve something and taking daily action is so important.

Setting the intention is amazing; it’s the first step, but then you have to look and say “Well, what am I going to do to get there?” 

And then you have to honor that. 

You deserve healthy habits in your life, and they are the secret to getting to your goals, and an excellent place to start is with your morning routine.

I know the days when I fall off track, there will be days when nothing seems to be going right. You just want to sleep in. 
And you're thinking about how your legs hurt so maybe you’ll skip moving your body and just shower.
Or, maybe I’ll just get to work and check those emails to save some time.

But, I’ve noticed on those days it’s more important than ever to honor myself and start the day on the right foot and this includes setting boundaries not only with yourself but also with others.

You need to set boundaries. If you are thinking, “I don't have time in the morning, Michelle, to have a morning routine,” I need you to create time. 

And one of the ways that you can create time without waking up at the butt crack of dawn is to have conversations with people in your life and get support. 

If you find that when you try to work out at home, everybody is in your business and won't leave you alone, then you need to get out of the house and figure out how you can do that. 

If you’ve got a kid, bring them with you. Go for a walk or just have a conversation with them and say, this is what I need to do. Invite them to join you as you workout and set the tone with them that this time is sacred.

Get them in the habit of creating morning routines as well. I love that my son Cal has his morning routine. This kid has created almost his own morning routine on accident because I have created mine and he's watched that happen. 

Talk with your spouse, your kids, your roommate and let them know what you need to make this happen! And honor your boundaries with yourself by scheduling your morning routine, honoring your commitments and taking action.

You deserve it!

Set yourself up for success.

Get your systems in place.

Honor yourself.

Check-in with yourself and rock your morning.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Beautiful Climb podcast? I release new episodes every other Friday on topics around productivity, motherhood, habits, goals and going after the life of your dreams! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at thebeautifulclimb.com

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business

3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This post has been updated to support you in 2022.

I know planning for the New Year can come with a mixed bag of emotions, you're excited about all the possibilities, but you're also thinking of all the things that didn't "quite work out" from the previous year.

Maybe, you want to plan but can't find the motivation to do so.

Or, if you're like most of my clients, planning doesn't come naturally to you, so you try and avoid it.

Well, planning is not something you can avoid if you want to build a scalable revenue-generating business.

Having a plan gives you direction, and actually leaves room for more creativity and inspiration.

To support you, I wanted to share three no-fail tips to help you with your plans!

1. SET GOOD, BETTER AND BEST GOALS

This little strategy really changed the game for me when I started implementing it two years ago and it's so simple.

The idea here is that you can feel really down on yourself if you don't hit your goals, which might even be one of the reasons you avoid planning in the first place. So, to support you in feeling your best and confident heading into the year you want to set a Good, Better and Best goal for your annual cash revenue for 2022.

List all three, but map out the "Best" scenario when planning for the year ahead, then, if you fall short on some of your goals you'll still hit the "Good" or "Better" bracket!

And in case you're wondering, you can make this your own. Your goals might have a $3,000 difference between them or $50,000 - it doesn't matter it's all about what feels good for you.

This is one of the ways I love supporting my VIP Intensive clients because we spend time mapping out their plans in their business and then take the necessary actions to bring those plans to life. Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming to actually take action on your goals, but this is hands down one of my superpowers and how I love supporting my clients.

2. MAP OUT YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

After your brand foundation is set, your marketing is everything. 

It's not only how you attract new quality leads to your brand, but also how you nurture them into paying clients. Yet, so many people go into marketing their business in a way that mimics throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks.

Strategic marketing starts with a clear plan of when and where you're showing up weekly in your business.

Think about how often you want to show up in 2022.

Think about which platforms you want to optimize (not doing them all at once).

And think about the way in which you want to share your content.

Then begin to map out your content monthly (making it a goal to work up to 90 days)! Yes, it's totally possible.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR SCHEDULE

If you're not already doing this, I promise this little hack will save you so much time in the New Year. It's all about bulk scheduling.

I've got a lot of love languages in building a simple and scalable business and one of the tactics I've been using since 2016 has been bulk scheduling my content, client calls, admin, etc.

As you plan out your 2022, think about the days of the week where you can set aside 3-4 hours to bulk create.

I recommend starting with one day and then going from there. I love to support my clients in using their one day for content creation so they can have their content ready to go every week.

From there, you can add additional days. 

At the beginning of my business, I would create content on Sundays because it was the only day my husband was consistently home from work (it's best if this time can be uninterrupted so I needed help with my son) and I was working a 9 to 5 during the week.

When I left my 9 to 5, I started having my bulk day on Monday. As we prepare for 2022, and I've grown my team, I actually get three bulk days #soexcited!

Start small and grow from there.

BONUS TIP: Put this day on your calendar weekly and coordinate any support you might need to make it happen.

CONCLUSION

Having a plan can save you so much time and energy, and help you focus on your business.

I know how easy it can be to get distracted and while a plan isn’t designed to be the end all be all, it will support you in staying on course.

So many people are afraid to plan because they are afraid to fail. However, after five years in business, I can tell you without a doubt that it is the entrepreneurs with a plan that is more likely to hit their goals.

Because having a clear plan allows for clear action.

And taking action is my specialty and it’s one of the reasons entrepreneurs work with me through my VIP Intensive. 

This VIP Intensive is the jump start you need to create a clear strategic plan (one that isn’t full of fluff and wasted time) and the necessary momentum to take consistent action.

Spots are limited, with only a few available every month. Learn more about the VIP Intensives and apply at brandmerry.com/intensive.

P.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

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START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Myths Busted About Consistent Content Creation

Consistency is one of my love languages and is one of the fundamentals of a successful business no matter how you create content or where you post that content when promoting your business. 

And it’s not just about social media and promotion, but also consistency in your habits. 

So today I wanted to bust three myths around consistency to really give you the power back in planning out your day, in planning out your content and feeling good about how you're showing up and building your community.

But, we’ve got to start at the core of it all and that’s the Importance of Consistency in Business.

Consistency in Business

I really believe in the power of consistency to grow your community and ultimately grow your business. 

From a community standpoint, consistency is so important because it builds trust. So it's not really about you just pushing out a bunch of content. 

It's about you being there. 

It's about your brand being there and showing up for your community, delivering value to your community, and ultimately building that trust.

When you're consistently showing up and they're following you on that platform, or they're subscribing to your email list, they know who you are. They really start to get a sense of who you are as a person, who you are as a brand, what you stand for, and ultimately your expertise, which is huge. 

This is where the relationship with your brand starts to form and brand affinity can start to happen.

Another element of consistency is the role it plays in messaging. Consistent messaging also builds trust with your audience because you're showing up and you're delivering value and you’re doing it in a way that builds authority.

Your goal is to become an expert in a specific niche, so you’re consistently creating content and resources around that area. And that makes you the expert. It elevates you, it elevates your brand.

But, if your messaging is all over the place and not consistent, then your audience is going to have a hard time understanding what it is you do and how you can support them. 

I've been saying the same thing since 2016, my core concepts haven't changed.

Recently, we found my very first YouTube video. I’m not going to lie, it's kind of embarrassing, but what it did was reaffirm the concept of consistent messaging and the impact it can have on a business. I've been saying the same thing about branding, about storytelling, about emotional branding since the beginning.

And that is one of the reasons that I have now been able to get featured on podcasts and in articles and more as an expert on this topic.

You might not know exactly what you're talking about out of the gate, and that's fine. You're going to have to experiment. 

But when you really realize what it is you want to own and why people come to you and what differentiates you from others, consistently honoring that and creating messaging and content around that can help you grow your business substantially.

Then there's the other element, and that’s consistency in business overall - this looks like workflows and systems that save you so much time and energy.

I have very clear workflows in my business and I teach these content workflows inside of my programs, including The Consistency Guide.

Every single week, we are repeating the same content strategy over and over and over again. And as I've added team members, it's been really beautiful in being able to outsource different projects in a seamless way.

And while, the teamwork is amazon, the reason I do this is so that I can have consistency on my end so that every week I'm super clear on the fundamental things that I need to do in order to get content out there, to be able to grow my community, to build trust, to make sales. 

And then it frees up so much time for me to be creative and focus on creating new things or showing up for my audience, or if you're in any of my coaching programs, you know I'm really active inside of those communities. 

These systems give you the time to create, explore and grow your business without constantly feeling bogged down, trying to come up with content ideas and creating new content.

Myth #1: Consistency is Posting Daily

Myth number one about consistency is that you have to post daily. 

I had to start with this because I’ve got some beef with this topic. Consistently showing up online does not mean posting every single day.

I did this, we've all done this. Some of you are maybe posting twice a day. If that works for you, go for it. But if it’s a belief that you have, thinking it’s the standard and if you’re not posting daily you aren’t consistent, well that’s just not true.

We need to stop this one please because showing up and posting daily is just more emphasis on growing through social media, which is one of the things that I don't teach. 

I teach other avenues like Pinterest, SEO, Google, the things that you guys have heard me talk about all year as a way to grow your community.

And using Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, even maybe Twitter, as ways to just continue to show up for the existing community. 

Using these platforms allows you to step back from the hustle of posting daily.

So rather than looking at consistency as posting daily content, start to think about how many times you want to show up each week and honor that. 

And I think this is where people get really hung up and where they struggle is, maybe it's really fun and exciting and you do it for two weeks. And you're like, “Yes, yes, yes.” 

And then suddenly a week happens and you're like, “Oh my gosh, I can't post this week” or “I'm not feeling inspired.” And then you're like, “Aw, crap. My whole entire consistency plan is out the window.” 

It doesn't have to be like that.

Start thinking about more sustainable consistency, not something that you just feel like, “Oh, I have to do this. I have to post every single day.” 

That's one of the reasons that I encourage people to really look at platforms that expand their reach and that allow content to live longer, like blogging. 

You don't need to blog every single day. You can blog once a week and optimize that blog. Same thing with Pinterest, where the content ultimately lives longer. 

People ask me all the time, "Michelle, you're getting all this traffic from Pinterest." I'm getting anywhere between 13,000-20,000 views a month on my blog, about 90% are from Pinterest. People are like, "How many times a week do you blog?" 

Once a week, but I'm consistent with my once a week - and that’s what consistency is really about.

Think about what works for you and what is sustainable, because I’m going to bet that posting daily is not sustainable for most of you.

Myth #2: Consistency is Hard or Difficult

The second myth is that consistency is hard or difficult to keep up with. 

We shy away from this conversation around consistency because having to consistently create content every single day or weekly feels like it is overly complicated and hard to stay up to date with. 

Sometimes they say that you don't plan because you're afraid to fail, right? Many people don’t shoot for consistency because we just don't think that it's attainable for us. 

But I promise you that it is.

I promise when you have your systems in place, it 100% is possible for you. 

I've worked with enough entrepreneurs, with enough personality types and different backgrounds to say that this method works, and really simplifies your marketing overall.

This method is the art of repurposing.

The idea is that you have a core piece of content and you're repurposing that content through additional means.

You're not creating a bunch of new topics and new things every single day of the week. 

Here's an example: I do a Mondays With Michelle video on the three myths of consistency. 

This video will then be transcribed. 

That transcription will go on my blog. 

That blog might have a different title just depending on SEO, but probably not (if you haven’t caught on it’s this blog). 

And then that blog gets pushed out to Pinterest where our content lives longer and drives most of the traffic to our website.

The same core piece of content. I didn't come up with something new. 

Then, we take that transcript and create three to four social media posts, every single week. 

I have a graphic designer that I work with that I absolutely love. And she takes the transcript and creates the graphics. Those graphics then get pushed out over the next week. Sometimes we'll even save some of them and use them down the line. 

So again, same video, the same piece of content, a bunch of graphics. And if you don't work with a designer, you just create some templates in Canva and just start to really practice your flow.

In the beginning, it might feel a little shaky. 

It might feel a little like you're piecing it together; it always does. You're figuring out what works best for you, but I promise you, when you get into that rhythm, your entire mind will be blown and it just makes your life so much easier. 

You can build your repurposing workflow and more with The Consistency Guide.

In addition, it’s very important you understand why you’re showing up with your content and that comes back to understanding and feeling grounded in your purpose. 

So many entrepreneurs just create content to create content. 

It becomes a dumping ground to put stuff out there. 

And yes, of course, in that first year or so, you're experimenting with things. You're wanting to see what people resonate with. Absolutely, there's always experimentation that comes with marketing your business.

But if you don't have a clear purpose, which is both the end goal, the action you want people to take, the product or the service or the offer that you want them to purchase, as well as the overall purpose and mission behind your business, then it’s really hard to show up.

It's really hard to just create consistent content, especially when you're working extra hard in the beginning to grow your audience. 

But when you have that purpose, very, very clearly defined in the back of your mind of “What is the overall purpose for my business? What am I working towards? And what is the purpose? What am I ultimately leading people to?” 

It makes content creation and consistency so much more effective.

So if you haven't already identified your mission of your business, you definitely want to do that. 

And if you don't already have a signature product or service or an offer, that you're leading people to, think about that because that's really going to help you decide what type of content to create. 

One of the core pillars of my branding process is your Signature Offer. If you’re just starting out, or don’t feel clear on this end goal, be sure to watch my free class on The Build a Better Brand Method: brandmerry.com/brandmasterclass

Myth #3: Consistency is Hard or Difficult

The third myth is that it has to be new content. 

I think you can already pick up on what I'm putting down when it comes to repurposing and therefore you do not need to create new content every single day in your business. 

I mean how exhausting. 

But, when you’re only focused on building your community with Facebook or Instagram, it can feel like you need to create new stuff all the time and that’s because content on those platforms doesn’t live as long as these evergreen options.

I'm sorry, but if I'm taking all this time and energy to create this video and then it’s gone in 24 hours. No thank you!

It’s one of the reasons I created Brandmerry Academy, because I see too many entrepreneurs struggling to build their audience without spending all their time on social media.

This is why people have trouble with consistency. 

This is why people have trouble with content creation because they're like, “Well, shoot, I got to create something new tomorrow because that one's all gone.” 

But if you really change your thinking from new content daily to extending the life of your content, you're reusing the same thing over and over again. 

And I promise you, your audience does not get tired of it. 

Your audience will thank you for posting it again because they probably missed it. 

So when you're thinking of creating your content calendar for the year, even just for the month, I want you to break it down to one core topic every week. 

What would your life be like if you had one weekly piece of content that you then pushed out and repurposed and manipulated in different ways, and shifted the messaging so that it actually lasted longer?

What would happen? 

Would that completely change your life? Because it did mine.

I stopped focusing on creating new stuff every single day for Instagram and really went to this repurposing web. It’s one of the things I teach inside of both The Consistency Guide and Brandmerry Academy.

So it's less about creating a quantity of content and more about the quality of content. 

Now that doesn't mean that you post one thing and you're like, fingers crossed, hope it works. 

It's about then having these repurposing strategies in place so then you can make sure your content is being seen by your ideal customer.

Remember, people like to consume content in different ways.

They want to be able to read something, watch something, listen to something, consume it very quickly. And the more that we can really show up on multiple platforms and think about ways that you can show up for your audience and be there for them and they can consume your content in the way that's best for them. Again, building trust.

CONCLUSION

Let’s recap the three myths, shall we?

Number one is posting daily, you don't need to do it. Just be more strategic with your content and the high-quality content that you're putting out there. Consistency doesn't mean daily. It means figuring out how you're going to share your message and consistently sticking to that, honoring yourself, honoring your commitment to your audience. 

Number two is that it has to be hard or difficult. It doesn't have to be that way. Repurposing is going to be your best friend. If you guys want my top tips, plus build out your own repurposing web, then get your hands on The Consistency Guide.

And also understanding the purpose, what's the purpose behind the content that you're creating? 

And then finally, remove the idea that it has to be brand new content all of the time. 

Look at ways to extend the life of your content. Look at ways to repurpose your content, not just in one week, but maybe even recycling content that does well. 

These are all ways to consistently show up that don't require you to just create, create, create, write, write, write, write post, post, post, post, graphic, graphic, graphic every single day.

I also wanted to share with you that one of the things that I created this year because I saw a need. So many women were coming to me to say consistency was their main pain point in business, so I created The Consistency Guide. 

This 40-page workbook breaks down my entire process into an 8-part framework to help you master consistency in your business. Learn more at brandmerry.com/consistent.

P.S. Want to watch the full training? This video was recorded as part of Mondays With Michelle which airs every Monday at 4 pm CST.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.