In yesterday's post, we talked about avoiding Shady McShadersters and seeing the signs of courses and businesses that don't deliver on their promises. Well, today we have a roundup of some amazing courses from AHAS members, friends, and colleagues, all chosen because of their stellar reputation and because they address areas of business makers often struggle with. They cover everything from social media, to wholesale to legal.
I'd love to know-- what are your favorite courses and how have you benefitted from them? Let us know in the comments below.
CAITLIN BACHER, CAITLINBACHER.COM
AHAS MEMBER
BOSSY BIZ LADIES
From Caitlin's website:
IMAGINE KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE NEEDS TO HEAR IN ORDER TO BUY.
I will teach you how to know your customer’s inner most thoughts without EVER asking them. You will become so in tune with their needs and desires that they will think you’re a mind reader. The key to a profitable social media strategy is to anticipate what your customer needs and to make them feel like your product or service is the answer to they’re prayers.
HOW WILL IT FEEL EACH MORNING TO CHECK YOUR STATS AND SEE YOUR NUMBERS SKYROCKET? You will learn how to systematically gain RELEVANT followers quickly and easily on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. Once you learn who your target audience is, understand how they need to be sold to, and implement growth tactics that will increase relevant followers dramatically, then your sales will increase. The brilliance of a profitable social media strategy is that once your systems are in place, you can keep growing and growing.
LELA BARKER, LUCKY BREAK CONSULTING
AHAS MEMBER
LUCKY BREAK UNIVERSITY
From Lela's website:
LBU Live is my flagship teaching program. More than 200 creative brands, from a variety of product categories, have graduated from the program and gone on to secure shelf space in major national retailers and beautifully curated modern boutiques. They've also scored national press and quit their days jobs to work full-time building their businesses. The comprehensive live program contains all six LBU modules and is taught in a small-group setting, in two live semesters per year which run for 8 weeks each. In that program, a limited number of makers + product designers work synergistically through each module with direct support and feedback from me via a private Facebook community and weekly coaching calls.
I'm often approached by creative brands who need specific pieces of the LBU program, but perhaps not the program in its entirety. Or entrepreneurs who need access like, yesterday. Although the LBU modules layer and build upon one another, LBU On Demand is a convenient way to take advantage of only the curriculum pieces you need on a schedule you design. The curriculum is shared between the LBU Live and LBU On Demand programs - it's identical in nature. If you're building your wholesale program from the ground up, I encourage you to work through the LBU On Demand modules in succession.
DANIELLE SPURGE, THE MERRIWEATHER COUNCIL
AHAS MEMBER
ETSY TRAINING COURSE
From Danielle's website:
You don't have to spend hours tweaking listings and guessing + checking strategies. You don't have to pay any more of your hard earned money on promoted listings that only promote feast or famine in your business. Gain priceless insights regarding buyer behavior, visual branding, navigation and SEO. Learn the exact things you need to do in your shop to get more traffic, exposure and sales.
Are you overwhelmed with information? Etsy doesn't have to be intimidating. I've identified the key areas that are worth your time and effort - and I'll teach you how to optimize them. This training contains loads of highly effective instructions and tips. Stop wasting time on things that don't matter and start getting found, featured and making real money with your shop! Invest in yourself.
KATIE HUNT, TRADESHOW BOOTCAMP
AHAS MEMBER
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO WHOLESALE
From Creative Live's website:
Expanding into retail sales after selling online is a huge transition, but you don’t have to make the leap alone! Learn about proven wholesale strategies that can add additional revenue to your business. You’ll learn:
- How to determine if you are ready to wholesale
- Which sales tools every wholesale business must have
- How to set prices that work for both you and your retailers
In A Beginner's Guide to Wholesale Sales, Katie Hunt will show you how to expand your reach and expose your products to a whole new audience – when your business is ready for it.
CLAIRE PELLETREAU, CLAIREPELLS.COM
GET IT RIGHT: FACEBOOK AD COACHING
From Claire's website:
Everyone and their mother is talking about Facebook ads. Not a day goes by that you don’t see someone asking for the Very Best Person who can create and run ads that kill it every time. You’ve even asked around yourself to see if you can afford hiring a professional to take this extreeeeemely annoying task off your launch plate. Courses are cool and all, but you simply don’t have time to
- sit down to learn the ins and outs of the Power Editor and then
- turn all that new know-how into living, breathing campaigns.
(OK, Facebook campaigns don’t exactly breathe but given the way your results can literally go up and down over the course of one day, it certainly seems like they have a life of their own!) So instead of sitting in that dark cloud of doubt, taking shots in the dark when it comes to your budget or your audience, let’s work together when you most need help. We’ll nail down the perfect strategy, tweak your landing page’s headline and figure out the right A/B test for your ads that’ll give you useful info about your audience right off the bat.
KIFFANIE STAHLE, THE ARTIST'S JD
INCREASING WEBSITE TRUST
From Kiffanie's website:
You are doing everything you can to attract customers who value what you create. But, you aren’t making as many sales as you planned for. So you keep tweaking and experimenting. Hoping that your tweaks will build trust with your website visitors. Crossing your fingers that your experiments will lead to more sales.
And in your research, you keep coming across information about privacy policies, terms of service, disclaimers, and sponsor disclosures. But you dread dealing with the legal stuff. So you skip over creating those details. Either because you assume they have to be stuffed with legalese or they are only for the big brands, like Etsy or Anthropologie.
But what if those pesky legal details could boost trust with your website visitors? And make it more likely that they will hit the “buy” button? What if you had tools on your website that:
- established boundaries
- protected your butt
- explained what you know about your customers
- made it clear when you were getting a kick-back for recommending things
And what if those things required zero legal jargon? If you want to turn that “what if” into a reality then you can.
