What Happened When Amy Lang Made $113,000 Helping parents teach sexual Health
Amy Lang assumed that when she became a parent, she'd know exactly what to talk about she had with the son she had.
Being a self-employed, sexuality and parenting educator for the past 17 years she was used to speaking about sex everyday. She didn't know how uncomfortable -- and ignorant- she'd feel when it was time to talk about sex and her child. "I was embarrassed to have 'the talk' with my son, and I'm an educator in sex," she says.
Wanting to know how to be a trustworthy source for her child and her family, she started doing studies. She leaned on her background in applied behavioral science and began to learn more about how to speak to children about sexual issues -- a conversation, she feels, that is extremely important yet often underrated. "We all know that kids require physical, emotional, as well as social health. However, it's not a common practice to discuss sexual health issues because it's taboo," she says. "We are lacking information about healthy sexuality and childhood sexual development."
With her investigation, she was able to add more tools to her toolkit , and she was motivated to help parents in this arena -- but this time by offering online courses. In 2017, she developed her first course, Birds and Bees Solution Center for Parents. In the following year, she has launched the second program, Preschoolers, Private Parts, & Playmates. "My belief is that knowledge can be empowering," explains Lang. "The more you know and the better you'll be in a position to help your kids ."
Now, her online courses account for 50% of her total revenue. Since she launched her first online course in 2017 the course has generated over $113,000 in income. The best thing about it? She relies almost entirely on her email list and word-of-mouth to sell these courses. "I don't have to work extremely hard," she laughs.
"I'm earning money while I do the dishes."
While her success increased naturally, she was intentional about the actions she took. These are just a few examples:
Skip ahead:
- She is using HTML0.
- She constructs an email database
- She uses social media as a marketing tool and not for selling
- She develops a membership course
- She develops an additional course
- She designs content via trial and error
- She determines her audience's needs and wants.
She is using HTML0.
Lang had been established in her business for over 10 years before she launched the first course online. Although she's passionate about instructing in person, and attends many live events but online courses seemed as a natural progression for her company.
Not only did she want the ability to reach the parents of children and those who interact with kids She also wanted students to be able to learn from home; talking about sexuality is difficult for some, and online classes provide students with a private setting in which to study.
She chose to host her courses on rather than other platforms for e-learning. "It was most welcoming and easy to use to use, and it was also the most affordable" she shares.
She constructs an email list
By the time Lang started her online classes her list of subscribers was already large. mailing list that currently has more than 17,000 users.
The method she used to build the bulk of her mailing newsletters was quite simple. When giving live lessons she'd hand her students a QR code that would lead participants to her sign-up for newsletter webpage. Or, she'd move an iPad throughout the room to ensure that people could manually enter their emails. It was a smart idea to ask for email addresses in the middle of her sessions, when her students were hooked and interested in learning more.
In the meantime, she's continuing to collect emails through live events and also through her website. In her navigation bar it has a button that reads "free tips. When people hit the button and are taken to a webpage where they can input your email address to receive the freebie Seven tips to have great Birds & Bees Talks. They're sent this value-packed freebie by email. It is also a call to action for the school she runs.
Although she has a big mailing list, she reminds online course makers that this didn't happen overnight. "I've been doing this for 17 years," she says. "That's 1000 people per year. I'm not new at this. It can take a long time to develop a winning course if you don't have a big base."
She leverages social media to market but not to sell
Despite having a YouTube channel that has around 850 followers, an Instagram account with more than 4,000 followers, a Facebook group with over 10,000 people, and a Q&A style podcast, she says her email provides the highest number of conversions. Actually she does not use social media for selling her classes, she just uses her email list. "It's way more personal when you receive an email. That's the truth," explains Lang. "Social media is primarily used meant for marketing and not sales -- in my universe ."
Although Lang does not rely on social media to sell the courses she offers, she does find that the channels are useful to market her courses. For ease of use, she shares identical content across all the social media sites every week. She also schedules the posts ahead of time. Each article includes an appeal to action. she invites readers to join her newsletterand to schedule a one-on-one call with her -- what she wittily names"a "Quickie Consult,"buy an online course, or invite her to give a live class.
Although she doesn't have communities that her children can join but she has an atmosphere of belonging via her social networks- especially through a program she runs called "Help Another Parent. This the series Lang asks parents questions, while allowing the community to provide helpful and kind suggestions. "I have regular players, and most of those folks do a great job of giving advice to other parents," she says.
Lang recommends that course creators cater their social media content to their audience's pain points. Also taking marketing into consideration using the correct mindset is vital.
"Believe that what you're offering is helpful."
Aside from social media and her mailing list her followers have developed organically by word of mouth; the majority of those who have gone to her live sessions or attended her online classes have spread the word to their fellow teachers and parents.
She creates a membership course
She serves two primary audiences: parents of kids aged 5 - 12, as well as professionals who are predominantly early elementary school teachers.
Her program is for parents. Birds & Bees Solution Center for Parents, runs as a membership site for $89 USD annually. It was an experiment until she settled on this number; she wanted it to be as affordable as she could. "I don't want there to be a lot of thinking about it," she says. "I prefer it to be a simple"yes ."
Lang describes this class as the term "library," which refers to a collection of information including documents, handouts and videos, as well as audio recordings, topic-specific webinars, other resources and weekly sessions called "Hump day half hours.' These sessions include 10 minutes of teaching followed by individual coaching. "These sessions are my favorite things to do, since they're live, and I can interact with my students,"" Lang says. Lang.
The course was designed by the instructor in a library-style format because typically, parents only have one query. Instead of having hours and hours of content that must go through in order to have their question answered, the library lets students pick and choose the content they want to learn. "With libraries, you don't have worry about whether the material being appropriate for your age or research, as it is," adds Lang. "People often tell me, all the time, 'thank for this, it made the whole process so much easier' .'"
The content is developed and updated to the course on an a regular basis. "I am able to assist thousands of parents and they don't have to show up, per se," she says. "It's only one benefit of having a site that offers membership ."
She has created an additional course
In addition to working with parents, she also engages professionals mostly early childhood educators to help with the issue of sexual abuse prevention.
The second one, Preschoolers, Private Parts, and Playmates is geared towards this group of children. In this course, she will teach about sexual behavior in children, including what is normal and not, and how to determine if a child needs assistance.
Plus, this course provides organizations with an accessible way to hire her. "Some organizations can't afford to pay me to join their team," she says.
After students have completed her courses, she doesn't upsell them on anything. However, her goal for 2023 is to put more effort into promoting an 'I'm a Quickie Consult' or an e-book Sex Talks with Tweens What To Say and How To say it.
She creates content using trial and error
It took Lang a few months to get the hang of making material for her online course- and the process involved a ton of trial and failure. In fact, when Lang thinks about her online course creation journey, the most challenging part was figuring out the ideal length of the video, how many handouts should be included (and whether they actually helped) as well as what type of content resonated best with the audience she was trying to reach.
Upon reflection of Lang's course of creation, she wishes that she had conducted an audit following the initial year, to check the content that was watched by viewers as well as making tweaks according to the comments. While she's altered her contents since then, she believes that the feedback process will help you grow as a creator.
In the beginning, she was producing videos of hours long for her classes -- until she realized that that was far too lengthy. She now makes her videos smaller and easier to understand, since her audience is composed of parents with busy schedules who do not have a lot of extra time to spare. "I would like to create something accessible and simple," she says.
She doesn't have anyone that assists her in creating new content. Rather, she says she is a book reader, stays up with research, and allows parents' concerns help her create new material. There are also colleagues whom she talks to who can help to develop ideas and provide her with support.
She is able to determine her target viewers' wants and requirements
If you are thinking about starting an online-based course, she recommends that creators identify the reason they wish to develop the course. It will enable them to create a targeted target that they will be able to begin by tackling small steps.
Lang emphasizes that it is crucial to determine the audience's wants and requires. "What you believe they would like and need is not necessarily what they really desire and require," she explains.
In order to determine the desires and desires of your target client, Lang advises that creators ask their customers to take a survey and then use the responses to help guide the process of creating online courses. "Be patient and remember that it's not all about your company. It's all about the people you serve," she says.
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