Your Mission Accomplished Story
I've done a lot of online courses with varying degrees of completion and success. I've always been a bit of a 'fringe player' though, and never fully jumped into an online community.. But there was something about Marisa's intelligent, encouraging approach, backed up by a serious team of business leaders that helped me to commit and go all-in this time. I booked every single call and training into my calendar and didn't skip ANY of them. I made friends in the Facebook group and in our coaching calls and didn't hold back on asking questions or offering feedback to my 'group-mates'. I totally got into the achievement and gamification part of the program and simply followed the process, hit my milestones and played hard in the community and my coaching pod. I've always been overly perfectionist at the risk of not getting my courses out there, but with the way the coaches kept us moving along I designed and delivered my Video Branding Bootcamp in 6 weeks using Marisa's Bird's Eye View template. I hit Mission Accomplished just a few weeks into the course, but the main achievement was that I was having fun in my business again. Adding Heroic and Xperiencify to my toolkit was the game-changer, and thanks to the support from Marisa, Don and Murray, I'm getting my online business set up, handling the tech, and excited instead of terrified to launch. I didn't know I could develop such great friendships online and even though we're from countries all over the world, I feel like I'm part of a kind and connected community. I can't wait to meet all these great people in person at M2M. This was easily the most fun I've ever had with an online course, and I feel like it's just the beginning of my Experience Product journey : )
What is your biggest takeaway from EPM?
The framework for taking my business delivery online, the community and relationships, and tackling a lot of the tech challenges I've encountered when designing and delivering online programs. In the weekly tech calls, Don just cut through all the researching nonsense I often get into and gently pushed me into DOing, rather than endlessly spinning in tech minutiae. The 'iterate your way to awesome' approach was my mantra, and I know that I'd still be trying to perfect my course rather than deliver it, if I hadn't taken EPM.
How did EPM help you become successful?
The coaching, group support and gamification strategies for getting and keeping us in the game were epic - I've never engaged with an online program this deeply, and therefore never really experienced the value of an online course this much. But I was in from the first ka-ching : ) There was such authenticity, genuine enthusiasm and integrity from the leadership team that I just leaned in to their coaching, experience and expertise. I saved myself a year's worth of spinning in indecision by taking EPM #grateful
How has EPM and your success impacted your life?
I've enjoyed a lot of success in my documentary business over the last 5 years, but I was working with mostly corporate clients and losing my passion for it. I wasn't having as much fun and my creativity was circling the drain. At the time I found EPM I was planning to wind things down and move towards semi-retirement over the next year or two. But seeing how I could introduce gamification into my business lit something up inside me and rekindled my creativity. Now I've got my second wind and am excited about ramping up my business, but this time with an online delivery. I really wasn't ready to retire anyway!
What has been the biggest change in your business?
I've always loved teaching film production in person, but I also wanted to travel in the winter, and so had made the decision to wind down my company. I'd considered creating an online course, but I've been disappointed with the lack of traction my students made when I delivered digital trainings in the past. Now with Xperiencify and learning how to design, deliver and market my courses I have a platform to deliver my courses in a way that will work for my clients, help them get real results . AND I've found a way to run my business from anywhere in the world!
What are you most excited about moving forward with your Experience Product?
I've launched and just finished delivering my 5 Day Video Branding Challenge with excellent engagement and results, so I'm excited to deliver my Video Branding Bootcamp starting this Monday; creating more Experience Products (thanks to Marisa's encouragement in the final call, I've already started creating my one-to-one coaching program), getting even more involved in this community, going to M2M in March, and hitting my stretch financial target this year with my Business 2.0!
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I felt confident that I would get value from this course when I signed up - the elegance of the delivery, the intelligence of the content and the quality of the coaching team were evident from the start. But what I didn't expect or see coming was to feel as loved, supported and encouraged throughout this course by Marisa and the EPM team. There's a vibe here that I've never experienced before in an online community and I'm beyond grateful that I said Yes to this opportunity. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this work : )