I have a confession. My name is Tracie and I am a life-long learner. I am addicted to online courses.
It was a problem for a while. I purchased more online courses than I could get through. A few years ago my husband staged an intervention. We agreed I’d finish the courses I’d already paid for before buying more.
It took nearly a year, but I did it. The feeling of not having a class hanging over my head changed my life. I am now a recovering class addict and am very content to take one class at a time. This is a round up of some of the many online courses I’ve taken since I started my Virtual Assistant business seven years ago, from Marie Forleo’s Copy Cure to Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula. Maybe there’s one here you’ve wondered about. Feel free to get in touch if you want more information.
Online Courses that I Love
Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy
Granted, Amy isn’t a class in and of herself, but I believe I’ve taken every class she’s offered. It started with a Facebook training I don’t remember the name of. I was hooked. I’ve done Profit Lab, Webinars That Convert, Courses That Convert and her newest course, Digital Course Academy.
What I love about Amy and her trainings is her realness. She isn’t afraid to share her horror stories, her set backs or her triumphs. She also provides some of the best training I’ve ever taken.
In the online world knowing your customer is key and Amy does this better than anyone else. She knows her target audience often struggles to get a business off the ground and can’t afford lots of bells and whistles. She also knows many of her students are not all that tech savvy.
Amy’s solution? Tech Trainings so her students don’t get stuck.. If the course is on Webinars, this may include a specific training on how to integrate Go To Webinar with an email provider. The section on courses provides a breakdown of all of the most popular course platforms. Her focus is on training people HOW to do webinars, create courses or run profitable marketing campaigns, but she realizes that there’s more to all of that than just marketing.
Amy is as real as they come. I’ve met her in person and she’s someone you can easily sit down and share a cup of coffee with – her trainings reflect her personality beautifully. You can find a deeper review of Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy here.
Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula
PLF, as it’s known, is one of the online courses that changed internet marketing. Before PLF, Jeff was just a regular guy staying home with his kids, except that most mountain biking, white-water rafting, thrill-seeking guys don’t stay home with their kids…
One day he discovered the power of email in selling to an audience and the rest is history. What I love about Jeff is that he is a regular Joe. Although his videos and courses are beautiful now, he started from humble beginnings using a small video camera, a white board and a teenage son to shoot his footage.
Jeff’s Product Launch Formula course is packed with value. He provides swipe files, case studies and more bonus modules than the regular content of some other online marketers. Jeff’s course is perfect for people who know they want to sell online using email or video but don’t know what the trick is to make it all work. I’ve also had the privilege of meeting Jeff and he’s the real deal. I have a more in-depth review of Product Launch Formula here.
Tarzan Kay’s Email Stars
I love writing and I love writing really good copy. So you’ll see two copy writing courses on my list. The first one I took The Copy Cure, which I’ll get to in a minute. It was a great class, and it definitely improved my overall writing.
When I really started specializing in launch strategy, however, I knew without a doubt that I needed Email Stars. Not only had I gotten a ton of great content just from watching Tarzan at live events, listening to her on podcasts, and consuming every piece of her free content she offered, I was lucky enough to meet her personally and I have to tell you… she. is. the coolest. Super genuine, amazingly talented and really big-hearted. She’s the real deal in a world where it’s pretty common to fall victim to hype and self-promotion.
Email Stars is designed for people who are either launching their own online courses or membership or who write copy for course or membership creators. Not only does the course give some of the most granular, in-depth training on things like setting up your lists and tags in your email service to prepare for a launch, it also goes through more types of emails than most people even know exist. The swipe copy she provides is top notch and, additionally, she does live Q&A calls weekly to review the work of the people in the course.
Whether you buy Email Stars or not, you definitely should at least be on her list because her free content and periodic emails are pure gold.
Stu McLaren’s Member Experience Course (formerly called Tribe)
Want to start a membership? Stu McLaren’s Member Experience is the course for membership creators. Seriously, nothing else compares. Each week Stu takes students through a different module, but unlike other courses, where you’re lucky if you get a little support in a Facebook group filled with a thousand people taking the same course, Stu has student support down to a science. He does daily FB lives to answer questions, and several coaches that help support the group as well.
Even having been in the online space for several years, I was surprised at how much I didn’t know about memberships. Think more is better? Think again. Stu turns what most people think of as a successful membership model on its head and explains a better, more streamlined, more profitable way do build a recurring membership business.
One thing to note. Even though this is an online course about memberships, it isn’t a membership itself. It is a course.
If you’d like more information on Stu McLaren’s Tribe course, I did a full review here.
Adaptive Marketing Membership
Did I tell you about the time when I hired someone to do my Facebook ads for me? I figured I didn’t know enough about what I was doing to do it myself, so I hired someone who had no idea what my business was about or how it worked. Four months, and $5k later, I hadn’t gotten a single conversion and decided I wasn’t exactly on a path to success.
Paul Pruitt, one half of Adaptive Marketing Membership, was in a mastermind with me and I knew he was really smart, and a terrific person overall, so I decided to give his course and membership a try. A few months in I feel like a FB wizard and have spent a tiny fraction of what I wasted before on ads.
Adaptive is not a get-your-first-highly-converting-ad-up-today type of program. Instead, it starts by teaching the mindset behind marketing decision and how to create a relationship with your ideal client before you start to sell to them in order to get the most bang for your buck with your ads. I’ve learned more about FB ads in a few short months with Adaptive Marketing Membership than I have in full year programs elsewhere. You can find my full review of the Adaptive program here.
Marie Forleo’s B-School
Marie Forleo’s B-School was the first “really expensive” training I ever took. At $2,000 I was pretty reluctant to make this first investment in my business, but I am so glad I did. It has been worth every penny.
Not only are Marie’s trainings beautiful to watch, she’s easy to listen to and is insanely smart about where new online entrepreneurs get stuck. B-School is a must-have program for anyone who has a great business idea that isn’t getting traction.
The online course covers everything from developing your avatar (target audience) so deeply that you know which magazines she reads, to how to create an effective website, and the best ways to create online products. It is a soup-to-nuts school on how to start your business (hence B-School).
Marie Forleo’s Copy Cure
When I heard that Marie Forleo was coming out with a copywriting course, I had to take it. I waited over a year for the Copy Cure course to be released. It was worth the wait.
The Copy Cure is engaging in a way that I’ve never seen in an online course. It’s funny, and it is the type of online course I can’t consume fast enough. Marie teams up with Laura Belgray of TalkingShrimp.com and parts of the Copy Cure course are laugh out loud funny. I’ll be honest, when people tell me they enjoy my writing style, I know a big part of it comes from having taken the Copy Cure course.
What Online Courses do You Love?
So there’s my wrap up. The online courses I’ve taken and loved. There may or may not be others that I didn’t like as much. Comment below to ask about one you’re considering.
Which online courses have you loved? Any that you’d recommend? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!
Happy learning!
