Are You Creating an eCourse? 10 Lessons From Behind The Scenes of Wild, Well & Creative

Wild Well Creative 1

Often, we teach what we most need to learn. And there’s no doubt that creating my eCourse Wild, Well & Creative has been a million and one lessons, in creativity, wellness, femininity - and general project management. 

Last week, after months and months (and months) of behind the scenes and sneak peaks and preparation, I threw open the doors to Wild, Well & Creative. The response has been wonderful!! I have been so honoured and excited to see so many women jumping on board to join me on this adventure, plus the encouragement and cheers around the web (and flowers delivered to my door!) have just made this experience so wonderful.

Thank you.

So today, as the last few days of enrolments draw to a close (yep - you’ve still got time, check out the enrolments page and gorgeous video over here) and I anticipate the “kick off” next week for Module One, I thought I’d share 10 of the many lessons I’ve learnt whilst creating this eCourse.

Whether you’re working on your own blog, business, eBook, eCourse, workshop - whatever (or you’re just here for the pretty pictures!), I truly hope you get something out of this.

1. First up, is get clear on your creative direction. And/or get help with it.

I love doing this stuff. Figuring out the mood of a project, what colours to use, the style, the “feel” (aka branding) and a lot of what I do with my own clients is wearing the Creative Director Hat for them. BUUUUUT being that person for your own project, as well as the Content Creator (and Project Manager! and Marketing Manager! And Finance Director! And everything else!) can be tough. I’m so grateful to have had my girl Emily Ehlers to bounce ideas off, but I have really, really longed for someone whose actual "job" it was to lead the creative direction of this course. I have found it really difficult to swing from knee-deep in creating content, to being able to “see” the whole vision of the course, and then back into the nitty-gritty of the content again.

I really appreciated listening to a recent podcast episode of Liz Dialto’s, where she talks about the investment she made in Creative/Art Direction for her Wild Soul Movement eCourse - US$10,000 out of a total US$25,000 investment. Huge percentage, right?! Someone that isn’t your designer, that isn’t your photographer, that isn’t YOU, who can hold the “vision” of the course? Priceless. Of course, we don’t all have $10,000 to splash on creative direction, BUT it really affirmed for me how important this is - whether it’s an eCourse, a website, an online magazine, blog, whatever - to have a clear vision that you can visually and easily communicate to everyone working on your project.

2. Which brings me to... Project Management.

I’m totally happy to invest in my projects because I have faith in my work, so I hired a photographer, videographer, copywriter, designer and developer right from the get-go. What I didn't really do, was give myself real time and space for project management and time-lining the bejesus out of the whole shebang. Those that know me well, know that I am all for a good timeline, but I could have taken this even further. There are so so so many moving parts with this type of thing (first lesson: creating an eCourse is so different to creating an eBook!) and a big-arse whiteboard with every single contractor’s timeline and deadlines on it from the outset would have saved me a lot of back and forth. Having someone else do all the scheduling would have been even cooler! I've just hired my first Virtual Assistant, which has been amazing (particularly during the launch of the course), but it would have been a dream a few months ago!

A few other things quickly there: Once your creative direction is clear, get your photos done first. I made sure to do that this time around (a lesson I learnt with my eBooks) and it’s made the world of difference to my timeline.

Some people recommend creating the content AFTER you’ve launched and promoted it, but not for me. My content is basically finished and the whole course has evolved so much in so many ways since I first started writing it. Which, I believe, is the best way to create anything. To let it reveal itself. If I had waited to create the content, I feel like the whole alignment of everything would be off. In fact, I wish I had created even MORE content before reaching out to a designer/photographer/videographer etc. The more clarity, the better.

3. Do your research.

I'm like the Survey Queen and this has played out true in all areas of my business; ask questions, get feedback, pay attention. I survey everything and anything before creating something AND afterwards. I asked 20 clients/friends/readers, who I believe to be my Ideal Reader/Customer, to complete a survey for me around their creative desires, self care practice and longings, fears/self doubt around creativity etc. etc. right at the beginning, and these insights have been GOLD. Printing these off and going through every answer with a highlighter has been so useful, particularly for motivation (!!!) and also sharing the key insights with my copywriter.

4. Devote to it.

I took the entire month of May off coaching completely to really devote to this eCourse and give it everything I had. It made a huge difference in the quantity and quality of work I was able to put out in that time, but not only that, I’ve carved out recurrent days in my week that are strictly eCourse only, I’ve said "no" to so many people and invites (which can be hard!), I've cleansed and stayed away from alcohol before big writing days, I’ve even stopped drinking coffee during the week (it started to deplete me, rather than inspire me) and I’ve worked plenty of weekends over the past few months, where I normally don’t. You’ve got to devote to a project like this! But if your heart’s in the game, it’s a helluva lot more enjoyable.

This whole process has also made me realise just how much I enjoy working on one thing over a long period of time and immersing myself in it, instead of jumping from project to project. That’s a really useful insight for how I want to structure my whole business, so pay attention to what feels good along the way!

5. Planning and organising.

This stuff is my speciality and something I’m really happy I did right from the beginning. I created a Dropbox folder with folders like CONTENT, IDEAS, PLANNING, LAUNCH, COPY, RESEARCH and LAUNCH etc. with sub-folders for each week, audios, tools and templates etc. This really helped me to “see” the course from the beginning and formed a structure for my creativity to flow, flow, flow. Being able to share this with my designer(s) has also been really useful.

6. Get people on your team who get it.

I really want to stress this one.  And by “get it” I mean your vision, your industry, your niche, your business, and not only that - but they BELIEVE in it. I can’t believe just how much my own motivation (and ability to overcome inevitable resistance!) has increased by just having people on my team who really get my work and who believe wholeheartedly in it.

A few more things there: Make no assumptions. Be super clear on all expectations, deadlines, word counts, pricing etc.

And people who inspire you to have FUN!!! Like my amazing photographer Hannah Jones from Keeper Creative, who I love to bits. I’m usually so nervous in front of the camera, but Hannah always makes it fun. I even got a little bit naked and started dancing like Beyonce - ha! After a wine at the end of the shoot, I made a mental note for next time to even consider a wine a little earlier on, hehe.

Hugest kudos to Leon and Nick at OK White Lane for my gorgeous video (and again, making that a really fun collaborative experience) and the wonderful Emily Fisher and Alana Wimmer for bringing the design magic. She's bloody beautiful.

7. Write first, edit later.

Yep. Just do that. And when you're editing, print everything off onto paper and edit with a pen and highlighter, THEN go back and edit on your computer. For me at least (and lots of my clients), this method works so well. AND - get someone to proofread your stuff, at least once, and definitely definitely make sure every word is 'right' before you send it to your designer!

8. You’re going to feel anxious in the lead-up.

If you’ve poured your heart into something, it’s inevitable that you’re going to feel whopping amounts of anticipation, nerves and possibly even some anxiety in the lead-up to the launch. I really believe that this is a good thing and perfectly normal and OK. I’ve really had to learn to be comfortable with this and invite in the possibility that lies in uncertainty.

I was listening to a Longform podcast episode the other day (such a good podcast), and they were interviewing author Cheryl Strayed, who at one point shared how anxious she feels before the release of a book, because a part of her heart has gone into it. It made me realise that this feeling/anticipation/anxiousness is probably never going to go away so long as I am putting creative work into the world and is actually a good thing, because it means I am ALL IN.

9. Launches are incredibly exhausting.

I haven’t got kids (yet) so while I don’t feel qualified to be comparing a launch to child birth, I do believe that (like child birth), you forget the pain of launching - until you’re knee-deep in one again.

No matter how prepared I was this time around (with coaching, kinesiology, acupuncture, food preparation, sleep, no alcohol or coffee, lots of exercise…) I still found myself totally zonked out and emotional for a few days once I’d launched.

They’re tiring.

But, with my self care dial turned to SUPER HIGH, I was back to myself after a few days of rest and relaxation. Just make sure you’ve scheduled that time off after a launch, and prepare for your launch (with email templates for customer support, copy for your newsletters and social media posts written, tracking spreadsheets created etc.) BEFORE pressing publish on your sales page.

A few other things on launching: Test purchase everything. Buy yourself flowers. The success/failure/response to a launch is not a response to YOU - you’re the creator, not the product.

Some of the advice I was given by Those Who Have Gone Before Me in the eCourse crafting realm, was to have a clear idea of how many people I’d like to participate - but to also detach from that figure. Harder than it sounds. As you might imagine.

So, after calculating a figure according to my budget and desired group size (mine was 30 and we’re currently at 55 members - YAY!), I knew I just needed to come back to my belief in my soul’s work and expression.

I visualised how I wanted it to look and feel in the “course hub” and the energy and vibe of the group. I focussed on attracting my ideal participant (women who are open, who would show up for themselves and stretch and play, invest in themselves, do the work and really be present with the content and community), rather than totally focussing on the desired quantity of participants.

The day before I launched, I said to my friend Em that if I had just THREE people sign up who were devoted to the course, I would have been happy with that because I’m SO proud of this course. And I really meant it.

Finally, you’ll have people who sign up on day ONE of your launch, so keep their enthusiasm high between then and the actual start date of the course. I opened the doors to my Facebook community last week (and the excitement in there has been buzzing!) and sent out the pre-course guidelines and work nice and early, plus got a hashtag going for people to connect - #wildwellcreative.

Saying that, you’ll also have people who will sign up on the last day! So make sure you’ve given yourself a buffer of time between the final day of enrolments and the course date actually starting - you’ll need it, and so will they.

10. And finally, make sure that YOU believe in your project.

This has been a mammoth undertaking and there have been plenty of times I’ve felt uninspired to write. Between moving house this year, holding workshops in three states and being unwell for a couple of weeks, I’ve had to ‘jump back on the horse’ quite a few times. That’s normal, it’s going to happen. But the most important thing is THAT YOU JUMP BACK ON! I left plenty of time in my timeline for these kinds of hiccups and I really believe in this work, which has made all the difference.

If you read this whole way - BRAVO! Thank you for being here - I couldn’t do this without you.

I love hearing from you in the comments. So if you enjoyed this, say hi! Tell me what stood out for you. And of course, if you’re ready to join the very first round of Wild, Well & Creative and commit to fearlessly and deliciously creating from the heart… We’d love to have you. Boogie on over here to enrol.

THANK YOU!

Claire x