ONLINE COURSE SECRETS

STARTER GUIDE

How To Build Your Community, Create

Your Course & Start Making Sales

DAVID VIDALES
 Welcome To The OCS Starter Guide!
Introduction

Hi and welcome to The OCS Starter Guide!

Are you struggling to create and sell your course?

Do you feel confused, overwhelmed, and frustrated with the

marketing, tech, and the overwhelming information out there?

I’m David Vidales, the founder and leader of Online Course Secrets,
and in this guide I’ll share the exact method my clients and I use to:

#1. Build Your Community - Attract your ideal clients, start

growing your email list, and figure out exactly what people need

#2. Create Your Course - Develop your signature method, quickly

launch your course, and make sure your students get amazing results

#3. Start Making Sales - Build out your sales funnel, amplify your
free content, and create your own highly converting 7-day challenge

Okay, let’s get started!

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 The Big Mistake & How To Avoid It
Introduction

Creating and selling an online course starts by gathering an

audience that is struggling with the exact problem you solve.

By helping these people you become the leader and go-to expert, and
this enables you to create, market & sell the exact course they need.

The big mistake is to first create the course and then try to sell it, but
this doesn’t work. Instead, ask them what they need, and then offer it.

People Course Sales

The big solution is to build a mission-driven community that

attracts your ideal students, so they can talk about their struggles.

And the best way to build a community is to start and grow a

Facebook group. It’s the perfect platform to achieve this goal.

So gather your audience, position yourself correctly by helping them,

create a course based on their needs, and then focus on the sales.

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 Clarify Your Mission
Step 1/9

To make sure you attract your ideal clients, you need to build
your community around a crystal clear mission statement.

Who are your niche, what is the problem you solve, and what’s the
result you deliver? Clearly convey this and you have your mission.

MY EXAMPLE

“I help instructors create & sell their online courses

so they can thrive by helping others!”

Clear Mission
Niche, Problem, Result

A critical mistake is to try to help everyone with everything, but want

help from specialists, so you have to focus on one big problem.

By focusing on one big problem, you’ll become much better at

what you do, and offer more value as a result. This is the key!

When people think of you, they should see you as the go-to person to
solve this problem. This is how you position yourself correctly.

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 Create Your Group
Step 2/9

Billions of people spend their time on Facebook. So this is where

you should focus all your efforts first, before you expand further.

Instead of creating a group that’s entirely focused on you, put the

mission and your members at the center of your community.

Nurture an open culture so your members can connect, discuss, and

support each other, this is what makes people open up and share.

Email List
Mission-Driven FB Group
Connect, Discuss, Support

3 Golden Questions

When your members apply to join, make sure to ask them

the 3 golden questions. They are:

1. Please finish this sentence “If I could just… I would be able to…”
2. What is your No.1 question when it comes to PROBLEM right now?
3. What is your email? - You will get free training, news, and special
offers based on your answers above.

This is how you start mapping out your members’ needs, while
growing your email list at the same time, without the need for ads!

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 Engage Your Members
Step 3/9

Once your group starts growing, you need to focus on engagement.

If your members aren’t talking, they’ll just go somewhere else instead.

The more people are talking, the more Facebook will promote your
group to new people. And this, in turn, draws in even more people.

Engagement is crucial since it also helps you with the market

research. When people ask for help, they’re sharing their needs.

Current Desired
Situation The Problem Situation

Your Method
A B
Their Struggle

The best way to create massive amounts of engagement is to

start interesting conversations about their biggest obstacles.

Coniststantly ask them to share their tips, tricks, advice and

experiences around the questions you got when they applied to join.

For example, if someone asked “How do I get clients?”, a great

discussion starter could be “What is your advice for getting clients?”

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 Create Your Method
Step 4/9

A great course is about delivering a transformation. People don’t pay

for more information, they’re looking for a shortcut to a desired result.

You, your method, and your course is the answer. It’s the solution
for your members to overcome the problem and reach their goals.

Break down the transformation into its different phases and steps.
This will become your unique method and solution to their problem.

Signature Method
3 Phases, 9 Steps

1 4 7

2 5 8

3 6 9

Write it down in the form of a guide and share it as a welcome gift to

your members. This will become your unique roadmap to success.

When you have a clear signature method, you’ll never have to worry
about content creation ever again, you can just use your framework.

Your signature method is the curriculum of your course, the

foundation of everything you teach, and all your future offers as well.

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 Launch Your Course
Step 5/9

This might surprise you, but now it’s time to launch your course.
Yes, you should launch your course while you’re working on it.

Start by offering a support group where you answer questions and

coach your students each week. Be clear that it’s a work in progress.

Offer your course at $97 to the first 15 students. Then, raise the price
to $197 for the next 15 students in line. Keep raising the price like this:

$97... $197... Final Price

15 spots 15 spots $1997

With each wave you get better results for your students, further
build and improve your course, and as a result, increase the price.

Launching your course can be this simple. This is the best way
to gain early momentum, help more people, and quickly make sales.

Instead of spending months validating and working on a complicated

launch, you can create your course together with your students!

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 Transform Your Students
Step 6/9

This is the crucial step that so many people neglect. For your
course to be a success, it needs to truly transform your students.

Don’t over-automate your first course by skipping direct support.

Instead, help and guide your students to their desired result.

You do this by including Weekly Acceleration Calls, as well as a

support group so you can work closely together with your students.

Support Group
Acceleration Calls

Online Course
Live Masterclasses

Why is this so powerful? Because it allows you to help your

students implement your method in their specific situations.

You’ll be able to truly help and understand your students by working

directly with them, and tailor-make your online course just for them.

Creating a course by working together with your students is almost

like cheating. You never have to wonder what to include, you just ask.

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 Create Your Funnel
Step 7/9

Selling is all about clarifying what someone needs, what’s standing

in their way of getting it, and then offering your solution to them.

It’s not about pushing, pulling or saying the right thing, it’s about
asking the right questions and really listening to the other person.

That’s why you’ll only get a 1-3% conversion rate on a sales page or
webinar, but if talk with someone over the phone, you’ll get 25-50%.

Free Content Messenger Strategy Call

I can’t stress this enough, if you avoid the phone you’ll end up with
a sales page or webinar that doesn’t convert, so learn this skill!

What’s amazing is how simple a successful funnel is when you build

it like this. You just guide people to the phone with your free content.

Help your audience with your free content and on Messenger, and
then ask if they want more help over the phone. That’s the strategy.

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 Amplify Your Content
Step 8/9

At this point you’ll have a thriving Facebook group, and a

growing email list so you can contact your audience directly.

You also have a transformational course you can offer over the
phone, but how do you get people to book in their strategy calls?

Business is all about helping people, so share with your audience

how you’re helping your students and how you can help them as well.

Student Results
Case Studies & Reviews

Free Content Messenger Strategy Call

Here’s an example: one day I noticed that one of my students was a

bit stuck, so I coached him and shared the recording as free content.

I documented the whole thing, what he was struggling with, and how
we figured it out together. Then I wrote one email and a group post.

This lead to 15 booked calls and 7 new students from a single email
and Facebook post. This is the power of sharing your student results.

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 Create Your Challenge
Step 9/9

But for some, it just isn’t enough to hear how you’ve transformed
yourself and others like them. They need to experience it themselves.

During this step, focus on giving your audience a sample of your

course and what it would mean for them to become your student.

Simply speaking, give your audience a taste of what your paying

students have access to, and a tangible result by working with you.

Free Content Messenger Strategy Call

(7-day challenge)

What I find works the best is a 7-day challenge where you help
people complete the first one or two steps of your course.

Think of your challenge as your Free Training. Promote it with your

free content, and offer a strategy call to continue working together.

And once you get this whole system waterproof and working, that’s
when you expand your team, start using paid advertisement, etc...

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 Which Tools To Use?
The OCS Toolkit

PRODUCTIVITY CREATION
AdBlock Google Drive
Block distracting ads Create & host project files

BlockSite InfoGrapia
Block distracting websites Slide templates & icons

News Feed Eradicator Pexels, Unsplash, 123rf

Clean up your FB feed Stock images

Clean Up YouTube Logitech Capture

Clean up your YT feed Calibrate your videos

Grammarly OBS Studio

Autocorrect misspellings Record & stream videos

Multiple Tools for FB OpenShot

Manage FB friends Edit your videos

Group Convert Otter

Capture FB leads Transcribe your videos

Bit.ly HandBrake
Shorten your links Add subtitles to your videos

Zapier Kajabi (14 Day Trial)

Connect & automate apps Email, pages, course, etc...

COMMUNICATION STUDIO
Facebook Lamps
Build your community Light up your room
One Blue Yeti
Domain & email The microphone I recommend
Calendly Logitech C920
Book appointments The webcam I recommend
Zoom Second Monitor
Hold meetings & webinars Extend your desktop

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 Where To From Here?
Conclusion

Congratulations on finishing this guide!

You’ve seen how to build your community,

create your course, and start making sales...

But, we’ve only just scratched the surface here. It would be

impossible to answer all your questions in this short guide.

So if you feel that this strategy is something you want to try,

but you’re not confident that you can do it on your own...

Why don’t we get on a 15 min call and take a look at your business?

We can have a short chat about your obstacles and how to overcome
them, and see if we’re a good match to continue working together.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to talk with you soon!

BOOK YOUR 15 MIN GAME PLAN CHAT

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