First of all, I’m blown away by how many of you purchased this Spark Course. It’s been 18 years, and I’m still deeply humbled by the faith people put in me by opening their wallets and putting time on their busy schedules to listen to me.
Confession #1 and 2 Tips
In 2013, I had this enormously complex, new software and was given a tip to make a product the price of something somewhat arbitrary and make it where you deliver it AFTER you know you have sales. That meant I created a $38 offer for turning 38 years old as this advice was near my birthday, so it had some logic to it.
That offer was terrifying on every level: deciding that price, figuring out the tech on my own, what to offer, and hoping people would buy. I was entirely on my own and felt so vulnerable. Yes. I had sold things and even my time, but not a “product” like that.
Fast forward, and it’s been ten years. Yes, math wizard therapists, that means I’m turning 48.
I played with 48 to shape my product this time, not its price. I am obviously not the math wizard because I gleefully went with 9 for Spark, forgetting 9 times 9 is… 81. Not… 48.
Although my math isn’t great, the tip is helpful. The tip here helped me focus my idea and shape it around a thing-here being 9. We all need constrictions and limits so we don’t share our freak flag passion so loudly that we drown our audience.
I happen to choose 9 as my category concept.
You could have a constriction of
- “This has to be written because I’m afraid of doing video, and it has to be 10 pages or less.”
- “I want to set a timer for 30 minutes, and over the next two weeks, I want to sit down 4 times and get out the best of whatever I can, and that will be ENOUGH and I’ll price and sell whatever that is, perfection be damned.
- I want to sift through and ONLY deliver the very, very, very top tip I use with all my X types of clients who struggle with Y, and to spell out the advice with lots of examples.
The other big tip that you may have noticed I did and still do was JUST DO IT, even if you’re scared. Set a date and work backward to see what you need to make it happen. I put this offer out there and it was different than my normal. It wasn’t perfect, but I did it anyway.
Confession #2
I was originally going to add the theme of confidence to SPARK, but when it came time to record something, it didn’t flow. I personally find advice fits best in REAL scenarios. There are oodles and oodles of confidence and mindset folks out there who spend their entire careers teaching confidence. That doesn’t interest me that much.
That said, I have found a way to SHOW you what confidence LOOKS LIKE, by opening up my brain on this course and answering some common fears everyone has trying to make something online.
These are examples of what went through my head making this course. All I ask is for you to not overanalyze me, and I won’t overanalyze you down the road. Okay? 😉
Confidence
My thought: “Do I really want to walk back into this topic? I love it but promised myself I’m done being a consultant-type figure and ONLY FOCUSING on The Doherty Relationship Institute and The Doherty Foundation. What am I doing even considering this?”
My resolution: I won’t touch most of the nuts and bolts. Codi’s course and others can teach much of the how-to’s. What I think is not out there is a walk into my wild therapist brain of ideas and how by going very tight with ideas, maybe therapists will get that spark or permission to run with something they love to teach others but didn’t know was a need.
My thought: “What if I overwhelm them? I’m prone to that because I’m so passionate, and my brain will NOT shut off around this stuff.”
My resolution: I’ll box myself in with those 9s. There were a million things I rehearsed in my head but didn’t actually share. And yes, maybe the 9 of 9’s was insanely overwhelming, but I’d rather therapists be overwhelmed with FRESH NEW ideas they didn’t have before versus overwhelmed by things like “how can I save a marriage of a couple I’ve not seen in person and assessed?” I also believe people are very clever and if they hated ALL my ideas, I literally said in the course, and firmly believe it: sometimes hating someone’s advice is the BEST SPARK of what YOU need to offer the world!
My thought: “What if this doesn’t sell?”
My resolution: I thoroughly enjoyed walking into the land of advice around passive income, so it was a fun process and that’s okay if people don’t buy. I’ll move on and just accept this list of people is not interested and that is OKAY.
TIP FOR YOU: I’ve had many flops. It’s a bit of a baptism moment into entrepreneurship. You learn quickly that time and money are in great tension for you and for your potential buyers. The question is if you enjoyed the journey and if you learned anything. And no, your learning can’t be “people are stupid for not hiring/buying from me.” 😉
My thought: “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Is this enough? What if they want more from me?”
My resolution: I’m selling the tip of the iceberg. I did not sell the entire A to Z package, and by setting expectations, and reminding myself over and over, that SPARK of an idea is worth gold. It’s what gets the ball rolling. Without it, you spin in circles. As for what else, we’ll see. That is for another day to consider. Step one has to go first.
FINAL part in this lesson is about where I AM HEADED and an unannounced reason, or benefit, of me doing this course.
I’m headed into Relational Self land, which is about relational intelligence not just emotional intelligence. It also will include systemic intelligence. A big epiphany I had about six months ago was if a bunch of therapists had unique things to say (and by unique, my Spark course gives you endless variations that will be unique!) I can share that wisdom and then wrap it around the concepts of relational intelligence.
Also, the SPARK course is what I will be going back to myself for Relational Self. It turns out I got in “consultant brain” for my own stuff that I’m too close to.
We are all too close to our ideas. We need people to bounce ideas off. I hope you all strongly consider joining Codi and your colleagues in what will be an amazing, never-before-or-after-price point. She literally charged (and is worth) way more than what she offered to do for this deal.