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I first met J.D. Roth at FinCon and had the opportunity to hear him speak. He’s not only knowledgeable but also personable. He built his audience and introduced online courses into his offerings throughout the years, so I knew I had to get him on The Online Course Coach Podcast to hear his story. He gives not only gives some good advice on building online courses but also gives practical wisdom about building a brand.
In this episode I talk about my recent Wordcamp Dayton session about Online Courses. It will be going up on the Wordcamp.tv website, but I’ll also try to post it on this website. I share why YOU should consider creating an online course, and I give several case studies from different industries. I truly think that any entrepreneur and company should consider creating online courses to help systemize their intellectual property and to better serve their audience.
Online Course Coach Podcast Show Notes:
- He’s an “accidental personal finance expert” as he didn’t intentionally get into the personal finance industry
- A bad credit card problem kept him in debt for years
- He read a lot content on personal finance
- He started GetRichSlowly.org in 2006 to help teach others how to have success in their own personal finances
- It grew organically which made it more authentic and it grew to one of the most trusted and viewed websites in the personal finance space
- He’s a story teller, which helped increase his traffic and gain trust
- He was open and honest in the mistakes and successes he was having and put this on the website, which made him more trustworthy to his audience
- JD interacted with reader questions and posted it on his site, which gave a lot of good interactions with his audience. Instead of his website being a one way dialoge, he was able to create a way for his audience to communicate with him
- He eventually sold the website but kept working on the website
- J.D. partnered with Chris Gilliabeau to create a course called the Unconventional Guide to Money at http://moneytoolbox.com
- He views creating a course like a marathon but blogging is more like a sprint
- If your course is more of an ebook, don’t call it an ebook as that has a cheap connotation. There is more of a percieved value with an online course versus an ebook. So think of ways that you can package your ebook into something more substantial, like an online course or membership site
- J.D. Roth was asked to teach a live class on the Guide to Money and discovered he still loves teaching finances and wanted to start a new website and business, so he began thinking of way to do this
- He started a new business and website called MoneyBoss.com
- Some things he recommends are, finding work that you love, which is rewarding. This is what I teach as well. It’s easier to be passionate for the long term with something you love, than trying to “find where the money is” and build a business around that. You will enjoy your work if you are excited about the topic. This applies to online courses too. Find a topic you are knowledgable and passionate about and create a course around it
- It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the big picture and focus on the one thing you need to focus on today. This is important because so many of us struggle with trying to find the “next thing” but we really need to focus on working on the best things that will move us forward in our lives and business, in order to help us achieve our goals.
Questions asked to J.D. Roth of MoneyBoss.com
- What is your background in the financial industry?
- What was Get Rich Slowly Course and why did you create it?
- What did you learn along the way?
- how has education played a role in your business?