Case Study: Pete Smissen – Aussie English
Pete is the host and creator of Aussie English – and online platform for people migrating to Australia and learning English – covering both language and culture.
In this interview we cover:
- How Pete got started with online courses – including his big “letting go of one vine before you’ve grabbed the next one” switch away from his career in scientific research.
- How he uses an iterative, feedback-based process to ensure his courses are scoped correctly so that they’re giving value and helping people achieve their goals, but are still manageable for him to create.
- How Pete ensures that his courses and membership have both what it takes to attract customers initially, and also to keep them over the long term.
- Why you must break away from the “more is better” mindset to succeed with online courses.
- A “sneaky trick” for structuring your courses to avoid overwhelming students, while increasing the perceived value of the course.
- The most important thing Pete does to get engagement from a group that isn’t inherently keen to interact online.
- Why Pete recommends that differentiating your courses through your personality is the best route by far for most people. And how to validate that recommendation yourself.
- Why you should start to build an email list for your course as soon as possible – even before you build the course.
- What you should do with your social media promotions instead of promoting your course directly.
- Pete’s recommendation for launching your course fast and getting immediate feedback
Watch the interview here (warning: Australian English is known for being a bit sweary – and we do manage to get a bit of swearing in the interview too!)
You can find out more about Pete and his courses here:
As Pete suggests, do sign up to his emails to see how he markets his courses. There’s lots of good stuff to learn from.