Go big or go home?
Maybe not.
I'm in a group coaching program with other entrepreneurs/service providers like me, all of us creating online courses around what we know and do best.
There are people who teach accounting, web design, writing a will, managing your child's tantrums, even best practices for giraffe care (for real).
I've noticed that nearly everyone in this program opts to create courses with tons of content and high price points. (I don't think it's due to greed, though; it's human nature to want to go big and show the world what you know and do.)
But often — coming from someone who’s taken several of these courses — programs with tons of content are too much for regular people to accomplish, amongst all the other responsibilities of their lives. There's clearly value in the program, but it can't be absorbed by the customer in a reasonable amount of time...so it may as well not be there.
Ultimately, a shorter, smaller course, possibly with a lower price point, would achieve the results everyone is going for: the students get to learn all the material and feel accomplished, and the course leader knows they're truly helping people and can get great testimonials for the next round.
All that said, it’s mega-hard to go simple; it’s a work in progress for most everyone. But it’s also a good way to stand out in the crowd these days.
Here are a couple other examples of BIG when small can be better:
• An Etsy shop owner who wants to offer as many products as she can for her customers, when it's actually easier for the customers to choose among a smaller number of the best products.
• A life coach who asks her client to work on a dozen mindset changes during a 10-week program; most people just can’t change that much that quickly.
• In American big-box supermarkets, a 10-foot stretch of shelving for countless types of peanut butters, so it takes 5 minutes to find the kind that contains only mashed-up peanuts!!! (I can't be the only one who gets enraged by this.)
• Having 400 guests at your wedding, when you really just wanted to get married in a field of flowers with 50 of your best people.
What do you think? Does this apply to your business?
Do you ever go big without even realizing it? Could it be better for your customers to go small?
image credit: scandamerican - stock.adobe.com
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