256 – Master class on Master classes: Tom talks Master Classes

Episode 256 – Master classes
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode two hundred and fifty six of Screw the Commute podcast. Today we're gonna talk about masterclasses. This is kind of the latest buzz word for teaching people stuff, so you may as well learn about it now. Hope you didn't miss two fifty three to fifty four and two fifty five. It was humble Αlpha week last week at Screw the Commute podcast, we had my self on doing a thing on personality power on Monday and we had Lane Belone on Wednesday and Steven Kuhn on Friday talking about their new movement and book The Humble Alpha. And they are veteran friends of mind and have done a lot to help our country. So this movement they've got has to do with the right kind of man in today's society. And ladies seem to love this too. So. So check out humble alpha week episodes two fifty three, fifty four and fifty five and then grab a copy of our automation e-book. It's at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. Many of you that are older listeners know that this book has saved me millions and millions of keystrokes. So download it for free. We sell it for twenty seven bucks, but it's yours free for listening at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. And then while you're at it, grab a copy of our podcast app at screwthecommute.com/app and it allows you to do all kinds of cool things. We've got training for it. So you know, a lot of people give you an app and you don't know what to do with or how to work it while we've got videos and screen captures. So you can do all kinds of things with our podcast app and take us with you on the road on your cell phone and tablet. Now our sponsor is the Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia. It's a distance learning school. But guess what? We're starting in-house classes this summer and we are covered by the Department of Defense for military spouse scholarships. And we're jockeying to get the G.I. Bill now. And I do have a plea out to anybody that knows a veteran friendly accountant doesn't have to be a veteran accountant, just a veteran friendly accountant who wants to help in this effort to help more veterans. We need a full blown audit of the school and need somebody to either donate that or trade it for in-kind stuff, for whatever. But if you know anybody, please haven't get in touch with me right away. It's the only thing holding up our application for the G.I. Bill. All right. Thanks so much for that. All right. So that's the school I'm talking about is IMTCVA.org. And a little later, I'm going to give you the address to a quiz that's going to make you mad. It's gonna be a two minute quiz to make you mad about how regular colleges and universities are ripping off families and contributing to all this student debt and given lousy education. So we're against that. So our school is completely opposite of that IMTCVA.org.

[00:03:44] Let's get to the main event. Master classes. And I'm not talking about celebrity master classes. Speaking of celebrity master classes, since I was working on this episode on master classes, masterclass.com has been re targeting me. That means ads have been following me around the internet for master classes by like Carlos Santana and a bunch of other superstars. It's actually a really pretty good deal, if you like, to hear directly from celebrities. But here's a quote from Wikipedia about celebrity master classes. It says that some journalists have written that while the classes don't teach technical skills to improve your proficiency and whatever they're teaching, they provide insight into the grueling nature of artistic pursuits and striving for perfection while inspiring a love of the craft. OK, so I'm not talking about celebrity masterclasses here and I'm not talking about a workshop where you actually get hands on experience with a very specific skill. I'm talking about something in between. I'm talking about something that teaches enough so you can sell it as a non-celebrity, but not really a workshop that goes deep into a specific skill. And I fight with the calling it a master class anyway, but mean is kind of a buzzword now. So it's you know, people relate to them. But I really think the word master should be reserved. I mean, I've always been against someone, taking a two day class here right here in Virginia Beach and calling themselves a Reiki master. I mean, to me, a master is someone who has done what they are teaching to a high level for many years, not a two day class. And I'm all for two day classes. It's just you can't master anything worthwhile in two days or a week or probably even a year. So there's not really an exact definition of what a master class is. I mean, if you want to do one, it's best you clearly spell out what you will cover and how in-depth you'll cover it. So you put the proper expectations in the minds of the people who sign up.

[00:06:06] All right. The next thing you've got to decide is in your mind is what's the purpose of the master class? Is it to sell a higher priced product? Get cash or get a great cash flow from selling the class itself? Could it be to build up your credibility and trust with potential clients who aren't quite sure they want to buy your bigger stuff for? I mean, it could be a combination of those goals, but thinking about the purpose will help you make decisions on how to structure your master class.

[00:06:41] So some other things you have to think about before actually developing the class is how you'll deliver it. Do you have a topic that's in demand? Do you have a good title that will grab people and make them want to learn more? So let's talk about how you'll deliver your master class. And there's many options. You could do it via webinar. That's what I'm doing right now on a five week master class with three bonus sessions. That way I can put the webinars in my webinar replay service and just give the links out to the people that paid. Now you could do it in a private Facebook group using Facebook live. You could do it via zoom. You could do a hang out. But I don't see too many people doing those anymore. The hangouts. I don't think it worked out great. And now you can even do a teleclass. If visuals aren't that important for your topic, they can always be distributed it no matter what kind of master class. You can do a PDF handout downloaded by the participants after they purchase or register, they'll just register if it's a free masterclass. So you got a lot of options. Another thing on this is that you are creating a product to sell after your master class is over. See, when I'm done with mine, I'll have eight webinars. I could sell individually or as a group. And you'll want to consider how you would sell it as a product. After the live classes are done and this might affect your decision on what platform you use to deliver it in the first place.

[00:08:16] All right, now your topic. Before we go too deep into any of this, you have to really determine if you have an in-demand topic. Is your master class just something that interests you or is it something that makes lots of people decide to take time out of their busy lives to learn? Pay close attention to this. I mean, use keyword research to help prove there is a demand for your topic. And I covered this in episodes one and one hundred and thirty of this podcast. Then do you have a compelling title that really grabs people and makes them want to learn more about your class and just so happens. Episode two fifty nine next week. Next Monday is going to be about that very topic. See, the title is really the most important thing to get things going. If you don't grab people with a great title, nothing you do after that matters that much. So make sure you don't miss next week's episode 259 on creating titles that really grab people and you'll be able to use it for all kinds of things you do, not just masterclasses.

[00:09:26] Now let's go into some things you have to consider. Is it going to be free or paid is your master class? Remember earlier I talked about your purpose for doing your masterclass. Maybe if you don't have much credibility in your field or maybe maybe you do have an enormous expertise, but you're just not known to your target audience. Now, maybe you have a free masterclass that demonstrates your knowledge so people start looking at you as an authority on the topic. Maybe you have enough street cred already that people were are already asking you to do a class. Well, then you could charge. And the more street cred you have, the more you can charge. I mean, up to the limits of your industry. Now, if you're already a celebrity, then all bets are off. You can charge or do whatever you want. I mean, you live by a different set of rules than us mere mortals do.

[00:10:22] All right. Next thing is. Is it going to be all in one day or spread out? A lot of that depends on how much material you have and how broad your topic is. I literally could talk for weeks on Internet marketing for small business and never repeat myself. So so I spread mine out over five weeks with one or two sessions a week to get in all five master classes and the three bonus sessions. Now, had I chosen to go deep on one of the topics, I could probably do that in one session or one day. You get to pick whether you have a more comprehensive class or if you go deep on one slice of your overall topic. And neither way is right or wrong, it's just your preference.

[00:11:09] The next thing to consider is how much content are you willing to put into your master class? The more people pay, the more they will expect. And again, I warn you that you will be exposed to celebrities who get high fees and give very little usable content. Don't fall into that trap in those cases. People are paying for what I would say, like the aura or the bragging rights to say they took a class from, let's say, Ron Howard, the film director. Now, they don't learn anything at all. They can still brag. They took a class from Ron Howard. Now, I doubt if you are if you are the unknown John Smith, you won't get the same pass for giving no usable information. So instead of bragging, your buyers will be asking for refunds. My motto has been, I give till I bleed and I don't really I don't really bleed. All right. Or I would have bled out twenty five years ago. But but I always give more than the buyer bargained for. That way I get very few refunds and lots of referrals and great reviews. Now, when deciding how much content and how much you are going to charge, I mean, it really doesn't matter too much to me. What matters is that you clearly convey this to the person who is taking the master class so they have the proper expectations no matter how much you charge if the person was expecting more than you delivered, you got problems. If they were expecting less than you delivered while you're golden, then.

[00:12:48] All right. Now let's talk about delivering your masterclass. I highly suggest PDF handouts so you can put clickable links in them to your products and services or affiliate products and services or other resources you've scoped out for your participants. This way, even if they can't click and go somewhere else while you're delivering the class, you may you may not want them to anyway or get distracted. The PDF file can work for you long after the class is over. Now, the way I organize material is vastly different than when I'm doing a live speaking engagement. It's an entirely different arena for me and that's why I've been so successful onstage and giving classes because it's just two different things. See, when I'm speaking live, I'm usually popping all over the place so people never know what I'm going to say. By doing this, it keeps them from anticipating what I'm covering, where they might think during a certain section they can get up and go to the bathroom. I want them riveted on me the entire time and it works beautifully in a live event.

[00:13:58] However, in a master class or a training session, I'm totally different. I have organized the material in a logical fashion so they can follow along nicely. I'm not worried they're going to go to the bathroom. I mean, if they're at their home, they probably have the TV on, the radio, their Alexa device, kids, spouses, dogs and everything else you can imagine distracting them. It's just just not the same thing. This way, if they do get distracted, they can come back into the hand out and not be totally lost, which would make them give up and then maybe want to refund.

[00:14:33] Lots of times people have said they thought I took up educational design in school. I laugh. No, I just come from a small town and we do things logically. So. So just lay out your material and what they must know first and then what's second and then what's third and what's fourth. You're gonna be fine. Now, if you're doing long sessions in one day, you must put in time for breaks. You'll need one. And so will the participants. And I can I can usually go a long time without a break. But you have to think in terms of the average person in about an hour and 15 minutes, is good. Now, have I violated that many times? Why yes, I have. But it's usually because the question and answer session was making things go go long. Now, I've been known to use breaks and you want to pay attention to this to make special sale deals. Nobody complains because I wasn't taking up their master class time. I was just throwing in things during breaks. You know, sometimes the only complaints I get is if someone went to the bathroom and then they found out they missed the sale. So. So, of course, I gave them the same deal and they were happy. But just a sidebar here. You can sell other stuff during your master class. Absolutely. If I refer to something of importance like copywriting, which I'm going to do shortly when telling you how to promote your master class, you can be sure I'm going to mention my copywriting course copywriting901.com. See, I just did. It's the number one skill in my entire career. And I made a course about it. You think I'm not going to tell you about it? Heck no. So anyway, you could announce ahead of time that on each break you will have a special deal, good for that break only. I've done this lots of times, made lots of money on breaks doing this deal. And you still leave enough time, though, for people to get the special and then go to the bathroom or grab a snack or something to drink or something for their actual break.

[00:16:42] Questions and answers, another thing is something you got to think about is if you're going to take questions and then when you're going to take them. So I would say, yes, you should take questions. But when you take them is something, you'll have to decide. I know when I was selling teleseminars a lot, I would tell people upfront that I would deliver the teleclass and then stay on as long as they wanted at the end for questions. So you remember I was creating a product and taking questions in the middle of it, especially if the question was off topic would cause me lots of editing hassles. In that case, I told them to hold their questions till the end. And if it was a good question that made the product better, I left it in the recording. If it was off topic, I answered it, but easily edited it out after the end of the recording. So I have done it where I took questions as they came in, and if they were on topic of what I was discussing and if they I would go and answer, and if they weren't, I would not address that question until the end. But but still, I might say something like, Bob, I see your question. I'm gonna cover that later. So hang in there. So just something like that says you don't want to ignore people, but you want to answer the question when it makes sense for the overall production of your masterclass.

[00:18:06] All right, so here's some tips on some more tips on delivering your master class. I mean, remember, when you're learning new things, it can be stressful and intimidating. You know this material or you wouldn't be the leader of the class. The people on the receiving end of your training don't. So you have to avoid language that demeans or insults them. Even if you didn't, I mean, try to do it, but you might say something like that. If they aren't getting it immediately. So. So don't say how easy something is. OK. The person learning may not think it's easy and be totally lost. It's better to say something like. Well, eventually, when you get some practice with this, it's gonna be easy. Right now it might seem difficult, but if you stick with it, you'll get it. See how much nicer and uplifting that statement is rather than a blanket. Hey, this is easy if you're just too stupid to do it. That's kind of what you're saying.

[00:19:08] All right, another thing I see is the master class leader might be great at this skill, but might be a lousy teacher of the skill. See, they know so much they leave out little details that leave the novice totally lost. Now, if you're new at running masterclasses, please run your material by someone who doesn't know the topic and see if they can understand what in the heck you're talking about. Make sure and also make sure it's someone who will tell you the truth. Not just pat you on the back. And make sure it's not someone that knows the topic because again, they may have forgot you so little stuff that's critical to a new person. Now, if you do a brain dump on your master class students and they're totally lost, it's going to hurt your reputation because it's going to cause massive refunds and certainly won't achieve your goals unless your ego driven goals was just to show how smart you are. Now, if you stick to my idea of just putting things in logical order and not leaving out little details that you might have forgotten 20 years ago, you should be fine. You don't have to take some educational design course to do this. Now, another thing you might want to do is survey your students in advance to see what level they are. You could even have them submit questions, which has some of the questions might surprise you and make your class much better. So doing this is surely going to make you connect better with the people who signed up.

[00:20:43] Now, on multi-class masterclasses like the one I'm like in the middle of right now, some presenters give homework assignments between sessions that can be submitted in advance of the next session or discussed on the next session. I like this submission in advance because remember, I'm also creating a product and I don't want to get into the specifics of someone's homework on the product. I'm trying to create that has to stay somewhat general, if if it's too specific and I'm going down a rabbit hole, I got to edit all that stuff out. It makes a lot of extra work. And one last thing on delivery before we get into promoting your master class is that some people give out completion certificates and that's a nice touch, although I don't always do it.

[00:21:33] All right, so before we get into promoting your class, I want to tell you about this college rip off quiz I created. It's at IMTCVA.org/quiz and everything we have will be in the show notes and this is episode 256. So you go to screwthecommute.com/256 and you go directly there. But anyway, it's IMTCVA.org/quiz. But be prepared to be mad about this thing. And also, I got to tell you, maybe this doesn't apply to you. Maybe you're just the person that doesn't have any kids, doesn't know any kids. You're not going to college yourself. It might not make a difference. But you probably do know somebody that's got kids or grandkids or they're thinking about going back to school. Please, please, please pass this on to them. It could save them. Hundreds of thousands of dollars could save them from competing for jobs at Starbucks because of the lousy education they're getting nowadays and all these rip off things. You'll be amazed when you see this thing only takes two minutes to take the quiz. But it's just crazy the things that's going on out there and places like Google and IBM and Apple and Bank of America and hundreds of other big companies wiped out the college degree requirement because all they're getting is people that passed art history with an A and know how to protest things and know how to, you know, go hide in a safe space, but they can't do anything right. So these companies need people with skills and that's what we teach in our school. So check it out. Pass it around for me, please, at IMTCVA.org/quiz and I would be glad to personally as the founder of this school, talk to you or your children about their future online, which I have been living for 26 years now. This lifestyle business with and the demands for this type of knowledge are greater and greater every single day because every single business on earth needs this skill. So check it out at IMTCVA.org/quiz. Give me a call if I can help you.

[00:23:55] All right. Let's get back to promoting your master class. Well see, the thing is, is it's just a product to me. I mean, it's just one of the hundreds of products that I have. It's a type of product. So any of the methods that I've talked about before and I highly encourage you go back through the list and go over to screw the commute, click on podcast and just surf through all. I mean, we've done this is two hundred fifty six episodes now and every Monday I do some training session that's that probably has to do with promoting a product. Right. So so check that out. But you know you're gonna do it through email, messenger text. People use social media phone but it all does boil around copywriting and that's, you know, copywriting901.com. That's the class I have on this that you've got to have a great headline. You've got to have a great title to the course. And the headline of your copy is not necessarily the title of your course. A lot of people get that confused. It's a totally different animal and you might have a title to your course, but you might test a bunch of different headlines to get people to read about your course. You can even test the title of your course. OK. You're not carved in stone with all this digital stuff, so. So check out the back issues. But all of those same methods we use to promote any product are used to promote a master class. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. And oh, don't forget affiliates. You can get affiliates to promote your master class as long as you have affiliate tracking software in place. So they get paid if it's a paid master class. And of course, again, Kickstartcart.com is the number one place on earth you want to do because we give unlimited free training and tutoring on how to use it. Has all the tools and is three times cheaper than the competitors I've been using personally for 18 years. So that's kickstartcart.com.

[00:26:00] All right. So that's masterclasses. Create one, sell it, help a lot of people, make some money, build your street creds and let me know when you do. I'd love to see us your master class. All right. We'll catch you on the next episode. See ya later.

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