I’ve spent the morning planning for the next 6 months and now I’m waiting for my kids’ dental appointments to be over, hoping my computer charge will let me get a little more written.
And I have to admit, I’m kind of terrified. For the past 6 weeks or so, I’ve been working to create my first online course: Fun French 101. It’s a free 4 week course that will allow me to get used to the tech I need to use, start a mailing list, and figure out what people do and don’t like about the current design of the course.
So here is the lowdown on my struggles and my successes.
Struggles
Struggle #1:
Just doing the work. When you have three kids, it’s hard to carve out the time to get much done, especially when you have to record videos that require a relatively quiet house.
Struggle #2:
Video quality. The quality of my videos kind of stinks – a lot. Because this is a free beta course and I know it won’t bring in any money for a while, I have spent my money only on the necessary software, and NONE on lighting or stuff like that. I do have a $20 microphone that I purchased earlier, but that’s it. So I’m really disappointed with how plain (and unflattering) they look. But do you know what? It’s not going to stop me. And 5 years from now, when I am able to produce some really nice videos, the old ones (from now) will make a great “You can do it!” story.
Struggle #3:
Tech. OH. MY. GOD. I am SO not a tech person. I’ve had to learn video recording and editing, as well as a WordPress plugin that is not always as intuitive as I think it should be. But I’ve kind of come to peace with tech. I’ve always told myself that I’m not good with tech. However, I don’t think that’s true. I think tech is like math. No one is inherently “good” or “bad” with math OR tech. It’s just that some people have spent more time doing it than others. And when you spend more time doing it, you get better at it. I’m already so very, very proud that I found a work-around that fixed a glitch on my course page. I was inserting a picture, and for some reason, no matter what I tried it showed up twice. I could NOT get the second one to disappear. So I inserted the image as a “cover” instead and low and behold, only one image. Win for me! So let me rephrase that first sentence. I am SO not a tech person – YET! But I will be.
Successes
Success #1:
Doing it scared. I feel so very out of my league. But I’m not going to stop. Because everyone has to start somewhere. And I firmly believe that anything worth doing is worth doing badly – until you can do it well. I’m not going to be good at this for a while. But it is definitely worth doing. So I’m going to do it the best I can, even if that’s not super great.
Success #2:
I am totally rocking the WordPress plugin. (Well, relatively speaking. Compared to when I started.) See Challenge #3 above for my awesome “I found a work-around that worked!” story.
Success #3:
Right now, I am on track to launch my beta right on schedule. And if I stick to my plan, I will have evey single lesson completely uploaded one day before the course opens. Wish me luck and NO sick kids!
Other: Expenses
Here is the current breakdown of what I have spent this month:
- Vimeo for video hosting – $84 for the year
- Screenflow software – $175 for the year
- Learndash plugin for WP – $189 one-time fee
- Domain name for future use – $12 for the year
- Serious Side Hustlers subscription – $29/month
TOTAL $489