A better business.
So I want to change up the focus a little. We had a couple of questions from the past couple of posts / newsletters about how we create the backend for our NCLEX website. Since our blog and this newsletter are all about providing you with information that you want, that’s what we’re going to be talking about for the next few weeks. Today we’re going to talk about should you create a product or not. Creating a product, one that people log into and learn is not an easy process, the good thing is when you have finished it, then it is done and you’ll only need to update it. The NCLEX course – we’ll take a closer look at it next week on our blog, took us about three months of working 5 or 6 hours a day to complete.
We update it every few months, and we do the tutoring for it now. Has it been worth it, we’re still working on it. This summer we should break even, although this week we’ll be starting an ad campaign for one of the aspects of the site, and if it goes well then, we’ll break even before then.
So, it is important first of all to make sure that you actually have content that would make a good course online. The history of our NCLEX course is a long one. We didn’t start off with the current one, first we created a Math course… and it flopped, then we made a flashcard course… another flop, then we built our NCLEX course and it did well. Through all of these mistakes we learned things and hopefully you’ll learn from our mistakes so you can have a successful project the first time.
Make sure –
- You have enough content for 8 to 12 lessons or modules. These modules you’ll want to drip out to the people that purchase your course. This means when they buy the course they’ll get access to week one, a week later the next piece of content will become available and so forth. You do this for a couple of different reasons. We’ll get into those in a bit. Let’s pretend for example that you tutor Math – you think that you could create a course that prepares someone for taking their ACT or SAT. You’ll then write out the modules and think about it.
- Now do some research on the internet. Search for what you’ll be selling. Example I would search for ACT Math Course. You want to make sure there are some paid advertising – if someone is paying to advertise, that means that they are making money selling it.
- Create a brief outline of your modules and talk with your current students (and parents) – what do they think about it – they can give you some ideas of what to add.
When you create your modules, you’ll only want to create the first few modules, until you have sold a few of them. That was my mistake with the math course. Next week on the blog we’ll talk about some things that you’ll need – we’ll show you behind the scenes at our NCLEX site. Till then work on coming up with 8 to 12 modules. Need some help, please feel free to send us a note at info@cleverapple.com
Getting Students –
Students should have had at least one test since the Christmas break – now is a great time to focus in on that. An example – “Failed your first math test, Ace the next one…” you get the idea.
Business Tip –
Using high school or college students are a great way to get some work you needed done for your business without paying an arm and a leg. Here are some tips – https://www.eremedia.com/tlnt/your-next-hire-should-be-in-high-school/
Reminders –
If your business didn’t do so well last year or you think you’ll be getting a refund from Uncle Sam – now is probably a good time to do your taxes. If you use an accountant now they are less busy, but every day that it gets closer to the tax deadline in April they will begin to get swamped. I know an accountant that gets only a couple of hours of sleep the week before the deadline and then he goes on a two week vacation the day after. Even if you think you owe, now is a good time to get them done, you just don’t need to pay until the day the payment(s) are due.
Enjoy your week!