Michael Williams,
Guided Autobiography Instructor https://michael336.substack.com/
My ideal clients are lifelong learners who have stories and wisdom to share. I am interested in people who are not afraid to explore the stories they tell themselves and others. They'll be open to reframing those stories if necessary in order to live more positive, nourishing lives. My Guided Autobiograpy skills help you transform your life experience into memoirs, short stories, and legacy narratives. My marketing knowledge can help you publish and share those stories. I've been listening to and sharing stories for 50 years. If I've learned anything, it's that stories have the power to bring us together and make us more authentic and compassionate. What's your story?
Michael Williams,
Guided Autobiography Instructor https://michael336.substack.com/
My ideal clients are lifelong learners who have stories and wisdom to share. I am interested in people who are not afraid to explore the stories they tell themselves and others. They'll be open to reframing those storie…
5:02
What if only a few people show up?
After setting up your registration and tracking systems in the last couple of lessons, a common thought might creep in: "What if hardly anyone registers? What if only one or two people actually show up live?" This is a normal feeling... but allow me to offer a perspective shift that might transform this anxiety into an opportunity. Every Session is Valuable Practice: Whether one person shows up to your live FTA webinar, or ten, or even zero initially, consider each time you prepare and offer your teaching as incredibly valuable: You are honing your craft: Every time you structure your thoughts, practice your delivery, and manage the technology, you get better. You are testing your material: You gain insights into what resonates, what's clear, and what might need adjustment, even just through the act of preparing and speaking it aloud. You are practicing presence: You build comfort and confidence in sharing your energy and knowledge in an online format. Trust the Process: Growth Happens Over Time Especially when you're starting out, or testing a new topic, attendance might be small. Please know that this is normal. If you keep launching FTAs consistently and continue practicing market discovery to choose topics your audience genuinely wants (as we covered in Modules 2 & 3), your attendance will likely grow over time. The key is persistence and relevance. An Inspiring Story of Dedication: To put this in perspective, I want to share a deeply moving story about service and dedication beyond numbers. It's a reflection by the spiritual teacher Adyashanti about his first teacher, Arvis Joen Justi: "When she first started to offer teachings at her house, she would sit down after preparing everything, but nobody would show up. Still she wrote a talk, set up her meditation room, and opened her house even single week, week after week. Sometimes, out of compassion, her husband would sit with her, but mostly she sat alone. She continued to do this for an entire year without a single person coming. That is dedication! What service to the dharma, the Buddhist teaching - not being in service to how many people appear, to numbers or normal measures of success, but to doing what she was called to do. After a year, one person came, and for the next year it was Arvis and that one person. As word slowly spread, more people arrived, until sometimes she would have fifteen or twenty people. Her dedication was a great teaching for me. It touched my heart because it spoke to what service is: the willingness to put ourselves in a position of giving, to be an embodiment of what we are dedicated to, and to put our life, time, attention and energy into the most important things. Even when Arvis was sitting in her living room alone, she was in service to all the people who might show up in the future. Many years later, I ended up being one of those people." (You can find this reflection shared on my Facebook profile here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10112514950126433) Your Service Matters, Regardless of Numbers Think of your FTA webinar, even if only one person attends live, as an act of service – service to your dedication, service to honing your message, and service to all the people who might benefit from it in the future, whether through the recording or future iterations. Action Step / Reflection: Take a moment to reflect on the above story and the idea of teaching as practice and service. Comment below sharing one thought about how this perspective might help you approach your upcoming FTA webinar, especially concerning your feelings about attendance numbers 🙏🏼
2:48
Let this community be a safe harbor for your authentic energy...
Thanks to Gregory Vahanian for this nurturing segment!
I like the "lighthouse" and "harbour" analogy. Providing a safe space or container so that people can find the time and space to find it within themselves.
4:32
The misaligned energy of most marketing teachings
Thanks Gayatri Aptekar for this segment!
I try to think of marketing as a conversation with a good friend. If I can get into that mindset, I feel better about "marketing" my content and services.
3:25
Software for group programs
Popular options include... FB Group (private) Simplero (the platform you're on) MightyNetworks Heartbeat Circle.so Sutra Which software platform do you use (and love) to run your group programs?
The client with whom I work most with, works with me on Gold Star Pro. Customer service is excellent and they have worked at including just about everything a solopreneur would want on one platform. An all-in-one platform. https://www.usegoldstar.com They have only one monthly/yearly pricing option. No tiers.
@Mary Veerkamp A year later and I'm now using Teachable.
4:07
Welcome to Course Creator's Journey!
A warm welcome here! I see my courses as a learning community that I'm facilitating -- we learn from each other, I learn from you, as well as you learn from whatever I share that is relevant to you. I invite your questions and your replies to each other's questions. Be helpful, be kind, be engaged in the chat as much as you'd enjoy! Each of us who participates in this course is a culture-setter... You influence our course's culture with every interaction. How would you like for this course community to feel like? What are a few top values you'd love to see? Comment below. Some principles for us: Comment once, reply twice. For each comment that you make, try to find 2 other comments, especially those with few replies, and try to add a reply – with your encouragement and suggestions, if appropriate. This helps to balance the comment/reply ratio, making the community more like... a community :) Co-Learning Community. Nobody here (not even the "teacher") knows everything about the topic... as we each learn from our actions in the world, we can share that learning with each other here. So let's create a co-learning environment! Even the "teacher" will learn from your comments :) Keep all sharings confidential. Let's keep this a safe space for sharing by promising to keep all comments (particularly the personal ones) confidential. Receive deeply what others see/feel from you, especially if you're sharing something personal. It’s a meaningful practice. It’ll help you integrate and express better your energy signature. Let me know below if these values are helpful, and if you have any suggestions. The values we embody together here is what makes this course experience amazing for each other 😊 If no comments below and no ability to comment, first log into the course.
Great to be here. I look forward to learning from George and everyone else.
3:25
Values from your Content
Find a piece of content where one of your values was clearly displayed. (Could be the same piece of content you shared in an earlier exercise.) What aspect of the content displays the value(s)? If you'd like, comment below with the link, inviting others to reply with what values they see… (If you don't see any comments below, it means you're not logged into the course, or perhaps not enrolled. If you haven't enrolled, you can do so here.)
Necessary context because the subject is a bit technical: 75% of my new clients book an astrology reading with me because they Google "12th house sun" and find this article.
They are looking up this term because someone told them they "have a 12th house sun" and "it is the worst thing that can happen to you."
@Ada Pembroke You are affirming, clear and concise, knowledgeable about your craft, and exude warmth without being patronizing.
Here is a piece I wrote two years ago, which got the best reader response than any other of my content. I'd appreciate your comments on its inherent values. https://medium.com/@doc-the...
I've had some of my best workshop experiences with only one or two people. I'm committed to showing up and doing my best if only one person shows up. I record it and it still goes out to others.