Learning doesn’t have a finish line.
Teachers have an infinite amount of content to access and share with their students. When they think they’ve neared the finish line, adaptation or evolution creates a new starting point.
The worst thing a teacher can do is think they’ve learned it all.
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Part of why I write this newsletter is to expose myself to new things to learn and share.
The other part is to make the journey easier for you.
Let’s get into this week’s ideas.
🧱 Building a Course and Community
Why?
Last week, I shared Olivier Cantin’s free Twitter course on growth, influence, and monetization.
This thread on how he built his course and community is valuable for students to give them a sense of how to build an online business.
There are a lot of factors that go into deciding a platform, what to include, who to involve, and how to launch. Olivier goes into detail on his decision-making process, which can assist students who are bought in or on the fence of doing an online course.
Teachers can benefit from this as well. I believe online courses will be the future of professional development, and it’s only a matter of time before teachers start leveraging their platforms to create secondary income streams.
Discussion Points
What are the most important factors to consider when choosing a platform to host an online course?
Is content or community more important?
How can students benefit both from taking the course and learning about the building process?
What factors affect the price point of an online course you’ve launched?
Assignment Idea
To give students the experience of launching an online business, get them to create a video and/or text-based module for a skill area of theirs.
Because it’s something they enjoy, they shouldn’t have issues coming up with the content. Developing text and video will be challenging. However, I believe this is a beneficial skill for students as it forces them out of their comfort zones and builds on a skill that’s leading the way in digital marketing.
If a student enjoys it, they could continue on and have this be the start of their first side hustle.
🎥 The Why Video
Why?
I focus on building a business or a brand in class, but I’ve rarely had students project their why.
Jeremy Ross Miller does a wonderful job identifying his why with a step-by-step breakdown of what to include.
Students have the mindset to come up with some unique and exciting business or branding ideas. If the consumer doesn’t know why they’re doing it, they will be less bought in. Identifying your why is almost as important as the business idea itself.
Teachers will benefit from identifying their why as well. I share why I teach to my students regularly and have it published on the internet as a first impression for others.
Discussion Points
In your opinion, is what or why more important in business?
Can you build an effective brand without first sharing why you’re doing it?
What’s the advantage to a why video over a text-based explanation?
Assignment Idea
Have students identify a passion area of theirs and develop a why video around that.
I encourage students to share it with others, but if they don’t want others to view it, I respect that.
I find students enjoy creating these as it ties in with their own interests. Additionally, I find the greatest motivator to completing these is sharing your on why statement. Rather than doing a video, I share it in front of the class and get them to dissect the three parts that Jeremy shares. This gives them a foundation to build off with their own.
🥫 Packaging is Important
Why?
Branding and packaging are marketing pieces students must learn, but many don’t consider their impact and importance.
This thread gives teachers and students a simplified look at the psychological effects of packaging when making purchasing decisions.
If your students are anything like mine, they have difficulty with developing packaging for a product. Resources like this one give us more to help them understand why companies spend money on something that has little use for the consumer.
Discussion Points
Why is packaging so important as the first impression for consumers? What messages can it give to the potential customer?
Is packaging as important as the product itself?
What factors determine colour choices for both the product and its packaging?
Assignment Idea
To show students how impactful both packaging and colour have on a customer’s decision, have them redesign current brands using new colour schemes.
Starbucks and Apple are great choices for this as their packaging is available in the thread. However, there are many more you can pick from.
I typically get students to present their designs to the rest of the class to analyze how these factors affect a consumer’s opinion on a product.
📝 Building a Successful Newsletter
Why?
Austin Rief, one of the co-founders of The Morning Brew, recently shared that the daily newsletter has reached 1 million unique opens.
Learning how they made it happen can assist students in understanding growth hacks for their own marketing and entrepreneurial efforts.
These strategies aren’t limited to email-based businesses either. Many of Austin’s ideas can be implemented anywhere to help grow an audience and increase sales.
It’s important to share a variety of business models to show students that they aren’t limited to physical goods or services. The internet is a powerful tool where money can be made in various ways.
Discussion Points
The Morning Brew and the ☕️ emoji go hand-in-hand. Do you believe that creating a connection between an emoji and a brand is a strong marketing tool?
Are subscribers or opens more important to you? Why?
Is it better to focus on one thing (like newsletters) or branch out to various income streams?
Assignment Idea
To show students how to drive someone to open an email, have them choose a news article and develop 5 unique email subject lines.
Once they’ve come up with them, have students list their subject lines without any context.
This can develop a discussion amongst the class on which is most impactful while still giving information on what the email will be about.
🚀 Welp, That Was Fast
A few weeks ago, I shared how Matthew Kobach was building the social media strategy for Fast, a checkout solution for e-commerce.
Well, the strategy worked. Fast had a successful launch event that lead to thousands of viewers and branded hoodies sold.
The recap on their launch is a great learning moment for students. Success in entrepreneurship doesn’t mean they have to come up with a unique idea. Sometimes it just requires you to solve a problem better than someone else can.
Although Fast has a lot of competition, their approach to community building and partnerships with major e-commerce platforms could give them a quicker first step.
Discussion Points
Although Fast isn’t a unique business idea, what did they do differently to develop a launch with as much hype as it had?
Does the speed of checkout impact your purchasing decisions? Are you more likely to buy something if you don’t have to enter all your information every time?
How important are early-stage partnerships in success?
Assignment Idea
Students can identify the problems they face on a daily basis. The odds of others having those same problems are likely.
To get them in the entrepreneurial mindset, challenge them to develop a fictitious business idea that solves those problems.
Each student should prepare a 30-second elevator pitch to identify their problem, explain their solution, and convince their classmates why their solution is the best choice for them.
I find elevator pitches for fake solutions help with idea development for entrepreneurship courses and gives them a unique thought approach to marketing.
If you find value in these articles and think other educators can benefit from it, please consider sharing it.
Take care! Until next week,
Sean
