How to Design a Successful Online Course with Marisa Murgatroyd

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How to Design a Successful Online Course with Marisa Murgatroyd

September 26, 2024 | Brave Thinking Institute

Transcription

00;00;03;25 – 00;00;27;13

Lauren Brollier Newton

Welcome to the abundant coach. I’m your host Lauren brilliant Newton. This is a weekly podcast about creating full spectrum success with a thriving coaching business while making a profound difference in the world. Each week you’ll discover insights, strategies and inspiration to help you attract your ideal clients, facilitate real transformation in their lives, and grow your coaching business while living your purpose.

00;00;27;13 – 00;00;32;19

Lauren Brollier Newton

The true freedom and fulfillment.

00;00;32;21 – 00;00;49;25

Lauren Brollier Newton

Well, I have got a good one for you today. I’m slightly fangirling over here because, as you all know, I started at Brave Thinking Institute as a school teacher getting certified as a coach. Having no idea what I was doing and I had the privilege in one of our trainings to learn from our next guest about building A on an online course.

00;00;49;25 – 00;01;08;13

Lauren Brollier Newton

But I want to tell you upfront that her skill set here is way more than let’s just throw up an online course that someone might never take, that they might do for 2 seconds and then never finish. That is not what you’re going to hear today. So I’m super excited to introduce a person whose father told her that she had no marketable skills.

00;01;08;15 – 00;01;31;29

Lauren Brollier Newton

And I’m pretty sure I heard that when she graduated from college she was like, I just spent $150,000 on your education. What are you doing with it? And she went on from that to build a highly successful multimillion dollar business. She has helped over 16,000 students to find their purpose in teaching online and building successful courses. And she’s the founder of Live Your Message.

00;01;32;04 – 00;01;50;20

Lauren Brollier Newton

Now, I want to share with you that brave thinking institute. We are an eight going on nine figure company. Who do we call when we’re going to have an online course, starting to make sure that it’s the most brilliant thing we can create for our students. It’s this beautiful lady. So I would like to introduce to you Marissa Murgatroyd to welcome to the Abundant Coach Podcast.

00;01;50;20 – 00;01;52;00

Lauren Brollier Newton

Thanks so much for being here.

00;01;52;04 – 00;01;57;12

Marisa Murgatroyd

Thank you so much for having me because I’m a fan girl of your company. And so we get to fan girl 2000.

00;01;57;14 – 00;02;13;15

Lauren Brollier Newton

They will be the mutual admiration society here. So I love it. So I want to start by asking, well, first of all, this is actually my first question. Is your dad still asking you why you didn’t do something with $150,000 college education?

00;02;13;17 – 00;02;32;01

Marisa Murgatroyd

Well, my dad is a little bit st on praise, I’ll say that, because I think this whole online world isn’t something he really gets. You know, he comes from that background of you go work for a well-respected corporation, you get a paycheck, you stay there for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. You punch your card and then you punch out and you retire.

00;02;32;01 – 00;02;39;17

Marisa Murgatroyd

Right? And so this whole world of coaching and courses is like, what do you do again, huh? Yeah.

00;02;39;19 – 00;02;56;17

Lauren Brollier Newton

Totally. You will you will very much appreciate this. When I used to have my own coaching company and I would have these weekends long seminars, workshops. My parents had no idea what I do. They even sat through the seminar and still had no idea what I did. But they always liked to come because I gave what they saw as a free buffet lunch.

00;02;56;21 – 00;03;16;13

Lauren Brollier Newton

So you can you can I can appreciate the parents who are like, What do you guys do? So what I’d love to start with is I know that you like to call online courses, experience products, and that’s probably something that a lot of the coaches that listen are not familiar with. So what is it that I know? What makes you special?

00;03;16;13 – 00;03;23;20

Lauren Brollier Newton

But what is it that makes you special in the online world in terms of actually wanting students to have an experience rather than just let’s make money by selling it online course.

00;03;23;28 – 00;03;44;27

Marisa Murgatroyd

What it was like? Well, first of all, a lot of people think courses are basically home study programs where you record yourself on camera and then you put it online and then you make passive income people go through, they transform, you never touch them or their experience. And that’s more a replica of kind of traditional education. Thing is it doesn’t work.

00;03;45;00 – 00;04;02;24

Marisa Murgatroyd

So traditional online courses that are delivered like that, I call that the old way of creating an online course basically leave 97% of the people who buy them behind in terms of people who just stall out. They never open the thing or they open, they get demotivated, they lose interest, they walk away, they refund, they never come back.

00;04;02;27 – 00;04;32;23

Marisa Murgatroyd

And that’s really what most people know of as online courses in education. But experience products use these ten core experiences of the experience formula, which I’ve got right here, and I’ll lead you through some of them. Okay. Way to basically create what I call unstoppable momentum to really leverage the dopamine button, the reward center inside of our brains to get people super engaged and super excited about not just learning but taking actions to transform their lives.

00;04;32;26 – 00;04;58;20

Marisa Murgatroyd

Because the other thing that a lot of people don’t know, which kind of relates to this whole AI revolution that seems to be shaking people up, is that information alone doesn’t change people’s lives because if you think about it, if information alone, you know, changed our lives, where we have access to all the information we could ever want or need for multiple lifetimes at our fingertips through Google and YouTube and chat, we would have everything that we want already.

00;04;58;20 – 00;05;28;15

Marisa Murgatroyd

We would have millions of dollars in the bank account. We would be svelte in our bodies and radiantly healthy. We would have ideal, perfect romantic relationships with our partners. Our families would adore every aspect of who we are, but that hasn’t come to pass. And more information has actually created more anxiety and more mental illness. And so if you look at these promises now that you can create a course using AI by just pushing a button and delivering information, well, that’s the new way, of course, creation, and it’s pretty much the old way.

00;05;28;15 – 00;05;59;10

Marisa Murgatroyd

But having I do the work neither or the new way it works. So what I teach people is the right way to create an online course, which is to design programs that really kind of match the way we as humans like to learn that work with our psychology, do that work with our neurochemistry, that really use principles of brain science and gamification from Silicon Valley apps and things that get us kind of hooked on doing that don’t usually change our lives, but apply that stuff to the things that will change our lives.

00;05;59;13 – 00;06;31;12

Marisa Murgatroyd

Right? And I’ve seen is that by applying these ten core principles, you can get 10 to 30 times more student success in results than a traditional online course, because information isn’t what gets people results, it’s experiences that lead to transformation. And that’s what this formula is all about. And I think the vast majority of people, especially coaches, the type of people who are attracted to the Brave Thinking Institute really are going into this kind of field in this profession to change lives, starting with.

00;06;31;12 – 00;06;32;27

Marisa Murgatroyd

That’s right. Right. Yeah.

00;06;32;28 – 00;06;52;06

Lauren Brollier Newton

Because nobody wants to. I mean, at least the coaches that we serve do not want to create a course that nobody takes because most of our coaches, I would say that come and get certified at Brave Thinking Institute. They have a calling to help. They’re fulfilling that, calling for some of some of them even helping professions like nurses, teachers, things like that.

00;06;52;13 – 00;07;16;09

Lauren Brollier Newton

And so they’ve been helping their whole lives, but they’re really being called to help in a much bigger way. And so I know none of them want to put something out there that nobody’s going to take. So as I mentioned in Marissa’s intro, she has supported the Brave Thinking Institute. If you’ve ever taken our program, Eight Spiritual Secrets to Multiply Your Money and loved the way that you get rewarded and can redeem and can do all the different things that you do within that program.

00;07;16;09 – 00;07;41;29

Lauren Brollier Newton

That was part of Marissa’s genius coming and supporting us and saying, We want our students clients to be successful. And so I’m curious, what are some of the things you mentioned this there’s ten things. What are some of the things that are important that you have found really helps people stay engaged? Because like you said, I was listening to a YouTube video you did, and you said something like, Everybody has access to the same information, but that doesn’t mean everybody is successful.

00;07;42;01 – 00;07;47;24

Lauren Brollier Newton

So I’d love to hear about some of the things that you feel like really support a student in completing and transforming.

00;07;47;24 – 00;08;08;09

Marisa Murgatroyd

100%. Well, I want to stop start with experience formula. You know, of course, grants number one, which is mission. And it’s the opposite of too many masters, which you can see here on the other side. So the idea of a mission is that there’s a really clear finish line of your program or your course where you could almost photograph someone crossing the finish line about it.

00;08;08;09 – 00;08;30;14

Marisa Murgatroyd

So often you see questions and they’re like, Learn everything you need to know about Microsoft Excel or whatever it happens to be. Learn everything that you need to know to fall in love with your soulmate. It’s like these gigantic things and there’s no clear finish line and so people don’t know what winning looks like. And if you don’t know what winning looks like, you don’t know how this is immediately relevant in your life.

00;08;30;14 – 00;08;45;20

Marisa Murgatroyd

And exactly the results that you’re going to get with a problem you’re going to solve by doing it. Why even start? Because we’re also frickin busy. So a lot of people make their courses too broad. They try to serve too many masters. They, out of good intentions, want to give people everything they need to fill in the blank.

00;08;45;28 – 00;09;06;25

Marisa Murgatroyd

Right. And it’s just way too much. And it just feels like a fire hose kind of coming at you versus focusing in on just what’s the one thing that I can do and really deliver. Like the eight spiritual secrets for multiplying your money. It’s really clear, it’s really specific, and that clarity and specificity creates an amazing positive experience.

00;09;06;26 – 00;09;11;23

Marisa Murgatroyd

Also, it differentiates you from all the other programs that are trying to do everything.

00;09;11;26 – 00;09;12;21

Lauren Brollier Newton

Yeah.

00;09;12;23 – 00;09;32;04

Marisa Murgatroyd

That’s kind of what this is all about. And even if you have a program on personal development or you have a program on spirituality, you can still do it. So I actually have a story of a couple who came to work with me, which is K and Helmet Whittaker, and they are actually shamans and had written this book called The Accidental Shaman.

00;09;32;06 – 00;09;55;14

Marisa Murgatroyd

And I remember when he came to me, he wanted to kind of create a class to teach people this form of shamanism, and it was one that came from South America. And he said, Well, Marissa, I don’t know if this is possible. It takes 17 years to actually palpable lineage, the traditional and I’m like helmet, you can’t like sell something that’s going to take people some place, right?

00;09;55;16 – 00;10;05;19

Marisa Murgatroyd

And it was so funny because he was like, okay you can’t you just can’t do that helmet. And he was like, What? I don’t want to promise instant enlightenment. There’s no instant enlightenment when it.

00;10;05;19 – 00;10;05;29

Lauren Brollier Newton

Comes to.

00;10;06;02 – 00;10;28;07

Marisa Murgatroyd

Thing like spirituality, right? And I said, Well, I understand that they’re not going to snap their fingers and start to levitate and all of a sudden become enlightened or anything like that. But could people experience some of these these things like universal love for a fraction of a second, just yes, they could. And he came on one of the calls with me, and we kind of drafted this together.

00;10;28;07 – 00;10;45;16

Marisa Murgatroyd

And I use a really specific template because it shifts you from your perspective of what you want to teach and offer to what you’re inviting people to say yes to. And that creates a very different kind of promise, because often we lead with what we do versus what are people going to receive, what are they going to do.

00;10;45;22 – 00;11;10;18

Marisa Murgatroyd

And that’s the important difference here. So the sentence starter is your mission should you choose to accept it as blank. And this is the mission statement that we crafted together with Helmet. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to receive through the six week shamanic initiation the four essential energies and gifts that every human needs to feel whole loved in on path.

00;11;10;21 – 00;11;37;07

Marisa Murgatroyd

The gift of knowing your truth. The gift of connecting to your life, energy, the gift of a quiet mind, and the gift of opening to the infinite. Right now, this kind of like shamanic transmission program became grounded in the four gifts of the four directions north, south, east and west. And it’s funny because he then sent an email just sharing this mission statement with, I think it was like 18 people or something.

00;11;37;14 – 00;11;58;24

Marisa Murgatroyd

Then he made 21 sales and it was basically $11,000 just like that, because it was so clear and specific that people could now imagine what they were receiving it and if you believe in it, you can actually become it and you can achieve it. Right? And so part of this is giving people a picture that they can clearly imagine.

00;11;58;25 – 00;12;19;17

Marisa Murgatroyd

They see that finish line and then linking that finish line to what that also looks like in the context of their lives. So it’s what I call the future self, which is the second kind of core experience. So when you do that, you’re no longer giving information or staff or teaching. You’re inviting people on this journey with a specific destination in mind.

00;12;19;24 – 00;12;43;27

Marisa Murgatroyd

And that creates a lot of incentive or desire to buy because they know what the finish line looks like. They can see the outcome in their mind’s eye, and then it creates a commitment container in the course because then rather than just getting flooded with information and why is this relevant? What can I do this now they know that everything that you deliver in the program is one step on the journey to core Experience ten, which is mission accomplished, right?

00;12;44;00 – 00;13;09;19

Marisa Murgatroyd

And their finish line that you can then incentivize and reward and you take everything else out of the course of the program that doesn’t get them to that finish line, which also relieves the pressure on you feeling like you need to know when deliver and teach. Absolutely anything people could possibly need. And this whole domain of knowledge or expertise that you’re in and you’re just teaching this one specific outcome, you’re just teaching the spiritual secrets of multiplying your money.

00;13;09;21 – 00;13;28;07

Lauren Brollier Newton

Yes, I love that. Okay. So you exactly answered the question that I was going to ask, which is I think sometimes, especially we have a lot of life coaches that listen to this podcast, whether they were certified at Brave Thinking Institute or not, lots of life coaches. And I think because as life coaches, we know how much we know and how much we want to transform and the transformation that can happen.

00;13;28;10 – 00;13;46;18

Lauren Brollier Newton

And you’ve helped us consider, Marissa, how it can feel so big to say you’re going to build your dream. It’s like, Well, I’ve never built it before and that just feels so big and I don’t even have a dream yet. And, and so it’s funny because as you were talking about something, mission accomplished, I could feel like the old life coach and be like a little anxiety rising up, like, Oh my gosh, what do I promise?

00;13;46;18 – 00;13;59;26

Lauren Brollier Newton

You know? So it’s so helpful to see in that example what the client was going to receive is these four gifts. And I know by the end, if I’ve received those four gifts, I’ve accomplished my mission and therefore right on, well done.

00;13;59;26 – 00;14;19;11

Marisa Murgatroyd

And it leads to a happy client because you’ve got the transformation you promised versus like, Oh, I don’t really know. I feel this. I feel that I did this, I did that. They are happy. And when they’re happy, guess what they do? They give you, you know, glowing testimonial. Yes, they refer you to their friends and they buy more from you.

00;14;19;17 – 00;14;37;12

Marisa Murgatroyd

Right? Then your business just continues to grow and you get to have long kind of like long term relationships with your clients versus short term kind of one night stand, which a lot of people have. Right? They do one thing and they’re out because it was just too big or too much or whatever.

00;14;37;14 – 00;14;57;25

Lauren Brollier Newton

And then you’re always in the game of this. Like you’ve mentioned it before, I’ve heard you say on YouTube, like this feast or famine of like you’re constantly in that if you’re not receiving those like long term relationships with clients. I also love that when you gave Helmet’s example, he emailed it or shared it with. However, he did 18 people, but he made 21 sales.

00;14;57;25 – 00;15;07;21

Lauren Brollier Newton

And that’s exactly what you’re talking about, is that when someone feels really connected to something, they’re going to share it with their friends. They’re want their community to know. They’re going to say, Hey, do this with me. So brilliant.

00;15;07;23 – 00;15;23;29

Marisa Murgatroyd

Yep. And it’s they can specifically say what it is versus yeah, like this life coach. You know, she just helps me with like the different areas of my life and my limiting blocks where I’m stuck and overcome my biggest blocks and, you know, and then I get I get better results in life and I’m happier and I’m I’m more glowy and radiant and all of these things.

00;15;23;29 – 00;15;29;24

Marisa Murgatroyd

I think even my relationship improves. I think I heal my family patterns of, do you want to do it with me? Know?

00;15;29;26 – 00;15;55;11

Lauren Brollier Newton

Oh, my God, what is that thing? No, I do not want to do. That’s so true. So helpful. So I just want to highlight for all of our coaches notice that the promise was you’ll receive these four gifts or you’ll receive these eight spiritual secrets to multiply your money. It wasn’t How to become a millionaire in five days because we know, as Helmut said, I can’t make a promise that they’re going to understand this whole shamanic journey that took me or takes people 17 years like that.

00;15;55;14 – 00;16;07;18

Lauren Brollier Newton

We don’t. We want to be integral in knowing that I can’t make a promise that this is going to happen overnight. And so it’s so helpful to know what promises can I make that satisfies the client that starts them on their journey.

00;16;07;20 – 00;16;33;04

Marisa Murgatroyd

That’s actually a big objection that people have to is like, Well, I can’t guarantee that this person’s going to show up and receive all the transmissions, but that’s the kind of desire to take responsibility for people. And so this formula is about being responsible to them, setting them up for this success, giving them their best shot at attaining this particular goal, but then letting go of feeling responsible for them to take the result because they still have to show up, they still have to do the work.

00;16;33;10 – 00;16;52;15

Marisa Murgatroyd

And when you do this, you can even do things like guarantee the promise. You know, for example, in my experience, Product master class, our mission is to design, launch and profit from an experience product which is simply any kind of one on one program or for a digital product, whatever that uses all ten core experiences, design, launch and profit from it.

00;16;52;18 – 00;17;21;28

Marisa Murgatroyd

Then we’re able to create a Make Your Money back guarantee because if you do the work, which means completing all the different program milestones you show up to your coaching, you actually market your program and you don’t make these sales. We’re going to give you your money back. And then that becomes even more compelling because we can stand behind the mission of the program in that encourages people to not just sign up, but encourages people to show it, because when they know they can’t fail in, their success is even guaranteed.

00;17;21;28 – 00;17;47;00

Marisa Murgatroyd

And that’s a next level that might still be a little bit even scary for you. But when they do that, then they know that I’m confident and sometimes they will do the work even when they’re internal motivation flags to stay eligible for the guarantee. And guess what? When they do the work but they get the results right? Absolutely guarantee not just to make more sales, but because once people buy it encourages them to actually continue because they have no way to fail.

00;17;47;03 – 00;17;47;23

Marisa Murgatroyd

Right?

00;17;47;26 – 00;18;11;09

Lauren Brollier Newton

Yes. And that’s a that’s just another way of engaging not just making a course and leaving it to the, you know, just go do the car as good luck. But that’s just another way of engaging. I love that because oftentimes, I’m sure with our coaches, so we have a lot of very heart centered coaches who get scared. I was totally scared the first time I sold the Dream Builder program as a dream builder coach and I charged for a group $997.

00;18;11;11 – 00;18;31;15

Lauren Brollier Newton

It was 12 weeks small group, and I was like $997 as a school teacher. That was like a quarter of my paycheck. So I was like, How can I charge $997? Like it just seemed insane to me. And so it took me a long time to understand the value that I was giving. And then as I saw people getting results, I’m like, Oh, I can charge five times this because people are getting such great results.

00;18;31;18 – 00;18;57;17

Lauren Brollier Newton

But one of the things I’m telling people that are where I was like, How can I charge $997 is they’re so afraid. Like you’re saying that the client isn’t going to receive the result of like changing their whole life. And so one of the things I tell them and I think it’s very similar to what you’re saying with your money back guarantee, is that if the client did every single thing in the dream, the other program and did the coaching with you, would their life improve?

00;18;57;19 – 00;19;13;01

Lauren Brollier Newton

And they were like, Oh, no doubt. And so it’s like having not codependent, but sometimes I’ll call it over care, like we want to care. But when you get to that level of over care, where you’re trying to take responsibility for their whole program, you can’t do that because we can’t get into their head to make them do that, make them do the work.

00;19;13;02 – 00;19;31;16

Marisa Murgatroyd

Also, when it comes to pricing, is that initial conversation you’re having in your own head of mine, 97, was based on how much you make as a schoolteacher, right, versus the value you can provide. So the thing about the this mission is what it’s not what you offer. They’re not saying yes to what you have to offer.

In this episode of The Abundant Coach, host Lauren Brollier Newton is thrilled to welcome a truly inspiring guest—Marisa Murgatroyd, the visionary founder of Live Your Message and one of the most innovative voices in the world of online education. Marisa’s journey from a recent college graduate who was told she had “no marketable skills” to building a multi-million-dollar business helping entrepreneurs learn how to create successful online courses is nothing short of remarkable. Today, she has transformed the lives of over 16,000 students by teaching them how to turn their knowledge into impactful, results-driven online courses.

In this episode, Marisa dives deep into her unique approach to course creation, explaining how her Experience Formula blends neuroscience, psychology, and gamification to engage students and keep them motivated. Whether you’re a coach looking to build your first course or an experienced educator wanting to create a deeper impact, this episode is packed with insights that will change the way you think about online education.

What Makes Marisa’s Approach Different?

Marisa’s unique approach involves creating what she calls “experience products,” as opposed to traditional online courses. She emphasizes that many online courses fall short because they offer information but fail to engage students or lead to lasting transformation. In contrast, experience products are designed using principles from neuroscience and gamification, helping students stay motivated, take action, and achieve real results.

Experience Formula: Creating an Online Course by Transforming Learning into Action

Marisa introduces her Experience Formula, a powerful framework for designing courses that not only teach but transform. She explains that her method leverages the brain’s dopamine system to create momentum, keeping students engaged throughout the course. By focusing on experiences rather than just delivering information, course creators can see up to 30 times more success in student results.

The Importance of a Clear Mission When Creating an Online Course

One of the core principles Marisa highlights is the importance of a clear mission for any course. Rather than overwhelming students with too much information, she advises coaches to design courses with a clear finish line—a tangible outcome students can visualize and work toward. This sense of clarity and focus helps differentiate your course and ensures that students know exactly what they’ll achieve by the end.

Success Story: The Shamanic Course Transformation

Marisa shares a compelling success story about Helmet Whittaker, a shaman who transformed his complex 17-year shamanic lineage into a six-week course using the Experience Formula. By clearly defining the gifts students would receive from the course, he sold 21 courses from an email to just 18 people. This illustrates the power of having a well-defined mission and a clear path to success.

Creating Long-Term Relationships with Clients

Lauren and Marisa discuss how creating transformational courses leads to long-term client relationships, not just one-off purchases. Marisa emphasizes that when students are happy with their results, they not only refer friends but continue to invest in future courses and programs, creating sustainable business growth for coaches.

Overcoming Pricing Fears and Charging What You’re Worth

Lauren shares her own experience of struggling to charge higher prices as a new coach and how she learned to see the value she was offering. Marisa advises that when coaches focus on the transformation they provide rather than the information they deliver, they can confidently charge what their programs are worth. She encourages coaches to remember that students aren’t just buying information—they’re investing in a life-changing experience.

Practical Takeaways for Coaches

This episode is packed with practical tips for coaches who want to create engaging, transformational online courses. Marisa’s Experience Formula provides a clear roadmap for designing courses that students not only complete but also benefit from on a deep, personal level. Coaches are encouraged to focus on creating a clear mission, breaking down complex transformations into manageable steps, and letting go of the need to take responsibility for student outcomes. By following this framework, coaches can design courses that provide lasting value and build long-term relationships with clients.

Conclusion

Lauren wraps up the episode by expressing her excitement about how Marisa’s strategies have the potential to transform the way coaches create and deliver their online programs. By focusing on experiences rather than just information, coaches can ensure that their courses lead to real, measurable success for their students. Marisa’s approach provides a blueprint for turning online courses into powerful, life-changing experiences.

If you want to dive deeper into how to create transformational online courses or connect with Marisa, you can find her at: liveyourmessage.com/

Find your most profitable course mega-niche with Marisa at: liveyourmessage.com/abundantcoach

What Kind of Course Should You Create? Start Here!

If this episode resonated with you and you’re ready to take the next step in your coaching journey, don’t miss the opportunity to take the free Meant to Be a Life Coach quiz, designed to help you discover your unique path and the value you offer as a coach.

In just a few minutes, you’ll discover the gifts and unique qualities you already have that could make a profound difference in the lives of others. Discover how you’re uniquely designed to make a difference – take the free quiz now!