172 Repurpose and Prosper: Leveraging TPT Success for Digital Course Creation

If you're thinking about digital courses or you're thinking I need another form of income , I need another thing that I can put my energy , put my time , put my creativity to , and I need it to be more than than just TPT and I don't mean that as a bad thing , because I think TPT is so wonderful and I'm so thankful for all that it has been able that it's

done for me . I just know that it's been a rough year . I spoke about this at the Teacher Seller Summit . If you had a chance to see that I talked about . You know that my income was decreasing on TBT and so I need to have I can't have all my eggs in one basket .

I've got to have a variety of things going on so that when I'm having a rough year it's not the end of the world , so that when I'm having a rough year , it's not the end of the world , especially because I'm the only person taking care of myself , like it's all me . There's no extra person here helping . So I need to . I need to have it all together .

I need to figure it out . So there's a variety of things that I have going on in order to keep my head above water , and creating a digital course is just one way that you might consider for yourself . Hope you stick around .

In a nutshell , a teacherpreneur is both a teacher and a business person , and we're here to help you be better at both . So , without further ado , from One Tired Teacher and Trina Debery Teaching and Learning , here's your host , trina Debery .

Maybe you want to hear a mom-daughter . You know little bit of little fun and you know whatever . So hopefully you're Minding your Heart on Monday . And so when I'm recording Mind your Heart with Emily , we're using a different microphone .

I love my microphone , but it is one that you have to be like up close to the microphone , and I have another , I have a second microphone and it is a Logitech , I think it's called , and it you can be a little bit further away , so you don't have to speak so close to the microphone .

And we're recording our our podcast for a podcast , but we're also recording it for YouTube , for video , and so , although it's just us sitting there and the angle of the camera on the first episode , I was like oh my gosh . I look so bad , but I have to get past . I have to get over that . Anyway , I have to , like myself , love myself .

That's really important and we're we talk about that . We're going to talk about that even more . So , anyway , I had the wrong microphone and I'm like wait a minute , I don't even have that microphone here , like that microphone's at Emily's , so I'm not sure why it was picking up a different microphone .

So it sounds terrible at the beginning and I'm doing too many podcasts to redo things all the time . So I'm sorry about that little hiccup in the beginning , but I do want to tell you like today we're going to talk about digital courses and some ideas for generating course ideas , because sometimes it's just simply that's the thing that stops us in our tracks .

We don't even know what we want to do a course on or if we have a course within us , and I think that we , I think sometimes we sell ourselves short , we don't think that we are an expert enough or we don't think we know enough to teach something to someone else , and I think this is a limiting belief that sometimes we believe about ourselves .

So I want to talk to you about that today , but also I want to share with you , because you know how I am a proud partner with Amy Porterfield . She just released a freebie , and this is a different freebie than the one that I've been sharing for the past two weeks . This is called three steps to unlock your digital course idea . Oops , using AI .

That's not the one . That's the one I've been sharing with you , so you can still grab that . It's still available , and all you have to do is go to Trina Devery teachingandlearningcom . Forward slash AI course . All one word AI course . But that's not the one I'm going to talk about today .

The one that I am going to talk about today is some surprisingly simple ways to turn your knowledge into a digital course . My goodness gracious so I'm having a rough day today . Surprisingly simple ways to turn your knowledge into a digital course , and this freebie can also be found on my website and it's Trina Devery teaching teachingandlearningcom .

Forward slash digital course . All together , no spaces digital course . So hopefully you can find that easily and let me tell you a little bit about it . This is a freebie and it will be for teacherpreneurs or anyone that wants to create a digital course who is more .

You are more aware of digital courses than maybe you thought and maybe you've even considered creating one , and maybe you've even tried creating one , but it didn't have this success that you were hoping .

So this guide is going to walk you through how to take what you love or what you have experience in or expertise in , and turn it into a profitable digital course . It is the start of helping you begin to see the possibilities to creating a course and that you , you , you and your beautiful self have something to offer .

So if you want to grab that trinadeveryteachingandlearningcom forward slash digital course all one word . So hopefully you check that out . All right , let's get on with the show . One word , so hopefully you check that out . All right , let's get on with the show . Okay , so let's talk about some ideas to actually generate ideas .

So I know that sounds funny no-transcript ways that you can start to generate ideas . Because if that's your hang up , if that's your barrier , if that's your obstacle , then let's knock that down . Let's kick that barrier down , let's kick that obstacle down .

Let's put those self limiting beliefs aside and really think about what and how you could actually create , what you could do , what ideas do you

have ? All right , so the first thing to do this is really simple is to survey your audience . Survey your audience whether you're on Instagram or you're using email lists . There are so many different things like Google Forms is really helpful that you can send your audience a quick Google Form . You can use SurveyMonkey to gather data .

You can put a little poll on your Instagram stories . This is a fast way of gathering information . You can leave a little question sticker on your Instagram stories and let them give you some more ideas and thoughts on what , what they are thinking or what they are needing .

You can offer an like , giving them a free resource or discount if they participate in your survey , because you definitely want to encourage participation . So you surveying your audience is really a great . It's really a great idea for your existing audience .

Then you're kind of like listening to your existing audience Plus , you're kind of planting a seed that something is coming and you you're finding out in advance what topics they are most interested in . You might ask questions about their biggest challenges , what skills they want to develop , what kind of support they need in their teaching careers .

This is going to give you a wealth of information , whether it's to create more you know products on TPT or it's to go deeper , dive deeper with a digital course . So that is just one simple thing that you can do is ask your people .

Ask your people what they need , what they want , what they're interested in , and then , as you're creating this digital course , you're still checking in with your people periodically , that way they feel like they're part of the process and again , you're seeding it . You're seeding the idea , you're planting the seed , and they are thinking .

They feel like they're going along with you . By the time it comes out , they're ready to purchase and they're excited . So this is just one thing that you can do .

To kind of start generating ideas is to turn to your audience and simply ask them All right , let's talk about idea number two what's another way to generate ideas , and that is really to repurpose your popular resources . So look at some of your top selling resources on TPT and think about how you can help expand them into a comprehensive course .

For example , this is a course that I created on Makerspace . I looked at my resources and you know what I wasn't great about . Looking at my top selling , I looked at the ones that I cared about the most , the ones that I felt like I had a connection with and that I felt like I want to talk about this , and that's one way of doing it .

However , that probably leads to not being as successful as you want to be , so you want to do the opposite of that . You want to look at what sells really well and what you can teach around it . If a particular resource is popular , it's a sign that there's a high demand for that topic , which is the thing that you really want to pay attention to .

You might want to talk I really wanted to talk about makerspace . I really believe that every classroom should have a makerspace , whether it's at home or in a classroom or a media center or a STEM classroom . I believe in makerspace , but that is not a popular topic .

Some people don't even know what makerspace is , and so I'm like fighting an uphill battle on a regular basis , and that that's exhausting . So you don't want to do that . You want to look at things that have a high demand , things that are popular . So don't do what I did .

Do like learn from my mistakes and do and and look at your , look at it , look at your , what you already have , and think about how you could make it . Take it deeper You're going to break down this resource or these resources into . Like , maybe it's a line of resources ? Is that what's that word ? Yeah , line of line of line of resources , that is .

Does that make sense ? I don't know why . I'm like that's , I'm drawing a blank . Um , a product line , that's the word . Product line . Oh , menopause . Anyway , you're going to break down this line you know product line into modules or units . Or you know , you're going to add video . You're going to teach them how to use your resources .

You're going to teach them things that have to do with your resources . You can include interactive activities and assessments and you can do all this to create a full-fledged course and at the same time , you're kind of hinting at your resource . So your resource can be a part of the solution .

Once they understand how to do it , how to implement it , how to run a math workshop or how to run a reading workshop or how to do , you know , high engagement questions or whatever , then they can have your tools as part of the solution . So just a thought . So those are two ideas repurpose your popular resources and surveying your audience .

And then my third idea to generate some ideas is to identify your unique expertise . Hmm , your unique expertise . Now , don't think to yourself , I don't have a unique expertise . I'm a general , I'm a early childhood generalist , or I'm which is , like you know , early childhood teacher . Or you are a generalist , like maybe you're .

You know , you're certified to teach kindergarten through fifth grade or first grade through fifth grade . Mine is actually first grade through fifth grade . I did my national boards in early childhood , so in that case I could include kindergarten . But anyway , that's beside the point . What are you an expert in ?

And it doesn't mean like , maybe you're an you are an expert in teaching a specific grade level , and maybe you're going to get really , really niche , specific , and that's okay as well . But think about the things that you're really good at . Reflect on your own experiences and skills that really set you apart . They set you apart in the classroom .

They set you apart in your product creation . What do you do exceptionally well that other teachers struggle with ? Here's an example of something that I do really well that other teachers struggle with , and that's to create sub plans . I know that sounds ridiculous , doesn't it ? That's actually one of my best selling products .

So do I want to create a course on teaching sub plans ? Maybe . Or you know , teaching other teachers how to do that , possibly , but I think we get stuck in that , like teachers get stuck in that they you know they come to school sick , they push the Tylenol on their kid and send them to daycare anyway .

Sometimes we do these things because we're like I just don't want to write the sub plans . It's just so much work , it's just so frustrating . But this is really easy for me . Like this is something that comes easily for me . This is something I do well . Subs used to leave me notes and tell me how great my sub plans were .

Could I please give them to my colleagues ? Because they didn't love some of their sub plans and I'm like whoa , so I didn't even feel like I was good at it . But I got so much feedback from , from subs and substitutes that I was like well , maybe I am good at this . So think about it can be something as simple as that .

What do other teachers struggle with that you do really well and you don't have to be a full-fledged ? I don't feel like I'm a full-fledged substitute expert . Like I just feel like I know a little bit more than maybe the person across from the hall for me . So that's the thing .

You only need to know 10% more than the , than another guy than the other person . This could be , you know , this could be , you could . Maybe you know a little bit more about classroom management . Maybe you know a little bit more about integrating technology or creating engaging lesson plans .

So you're going to outline the key aspects of your expertise and how you can teach these skills to others through a structured course . You're going to include personal antidotes and practical tips to make this content relatable and valuable . And that's just the beginning , my friend . There's so much more to learn about courses .

But sometimes we really are like blocked by how we can even come up with an idea . So hopefully one of these suggestions got your brain thinking , allowed you to think hmm , you know what I can survey my audience , I can look at my top producing resources , I can think about what I do , have a unique expertise in .

So those are a few ideas , a few ways to like hammer out a possible course topic . So once you have the course topic , that's when you can start to really dream , imagine , manifest that course . So that's coming soon , but for now , hopefully it's got your brain started .

All right , this was a shorty episode only , you know , only like 16 minutes , which is pretty short for me . Normally I go a little bit longer , but , but I wanted you know I'm going to be with you every week . I don't want to take up all of your time , but I do want to talk about some things in the next couple of weeks .

Next week I'm excited because we have a guest coming on the show and we'll see you next Tuesday . Remember , if you are interested in Amy's freebie , you want to hear from an expert . I'm sure she's going to have some different ideas than I came up with , so you're going

to want to grab this guide . Surprisingly simple ways to turn your knowledge into a digital course . You can grab this at trinadeboreyteachingandlearningcom . Forward slash digital course . All one word Take care and remember .

Teacherpreneurs , I am proud to stand among you and , if you're feeling it , I'd love for you to rate , review and subscribe to the show so you don't miss a thing . You can also catch me on Facebook at Teacherpreneurs Raise your Hand , or on my website , trina Devery , teaching and Learning . Teacherpreneurs , raise your Hand . I'll catch you next time . Bye for now .