In this episode, Tara gives it to you real and unscripted- how often should you change your tech stack and course platform? Just because there is a new shiny tool that someone is marketing, it doesn’t mean you should jump ship- if there is something that isn’t working in your tech stack- you don’t start with the tool — are you tempted? Sure- but this episode may give you another perspective. And it may not be what you expect…
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Transcript
Hey everybody, it's Tara Bryan, and you are listening to the
Speaker:course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO,
Speaker:the success of your team and clients is based on your ability
Speaker:to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the
Speaker:fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical
Speaker:real life tips that you can use today to build your online
Speaker:experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you
Speaker:can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding
Speaker:more time or team to your business? If you're looking to
Speaker:uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it
Speaker:to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey,
Speaker:course launchers. Welcome to today's episode. In today's
Speaker:episode, I want to talk about something that I see all of the
Speaker:time. And here's the deal. And maybe this is a little bit of a
Speaker:soapbox moment for me, but I'm gonna say it anyway, is that
Speaker:your tool, your platform, your system for your where your
Speaker:course or your program lives is not the problem. Right? And so I
Speaker:had a client, send me an email yesterday that said, hey, what
Speaker:about this new tool looks really cool. Should I move my stuff to
Speaker:this tool? And I my response was why? Why do you want to move to
Speaker:a new tool? Is it because there's something around the
Speaker:tool that you're using or the platform that you're using?
Speaker:That's not working for you? Is it because there's something
Speaker:that you want to include in your customer experience that the
Speaker:platform that you're using doesn't do? Or is it because one
Speaker:the it's the shiny new object that everybody's talking about?
Speaker:Or is it something that you want to try and fix a gap that you
Speaker:have in one of your goals? Right. So most of the time, this
Speaker:is in sales and marketing, where it's like, changing your
Speaker:platform is not going to sell your course or your program for
Speaker:you, right a platform is is the foundation that allows you to
Speaker:launch and package your program in a way that allows you to
Speaker:serve your people at the highest level and give them an
Speaker:experience where they're able to get your material on demand.
Speaker:They're able to interact with you in different ways. And
Speaker:you're able to build something that can be automated and can be
Speaker:created as an experience. It has nothing to do with the sales,
Speaker:the marketing, the shiny new object, all of the bells and
Speaker:whistles and all of the things now I will say the caveat to
Speaker:this is if you're using 52 million tools, instead of one
Speaker:system that actually helps you to fulfill on your on the
Speaker:promise that you've made your customers, then yes, you're not
Speaker:on the right platform, right, you need to really consider what
Speaker:your needs are and get on the right platform. But if you're on
Speaker:the right platform, and everything is operating, how you
Speaker:want it to from a customer experience perspective, just
Speaker:changing platforms, because somebody's talking about it,
Speaker:it's the new shiny thing, or there's one or two things that
Speaker:it will do it, your system won't do. It's not necessarily a slam
Speaker:dunk in terms of well, you need to change, right. And so one of
Speaker:the things I'm working with my clients on all the time is let's
Speaker:start with the right foundation. Let's start with the platform
Speaker:that makes sense for what your bigger and broader goals are. If
Speaker:you're trying to build a certification program, if you're
Speaker:trying to build a school, right, like a university or Academy
Speaker:where it's more than one course or program, then yes, there's a
Speaker:lot of thought that needs to go into that before you just like
Speaker:willy nilly grab a platform that somebody is selling, right? You
Speaker:need to really think about what you need from a business
Speaker:perspective, in terms of the requirements. That's one of the
Speaker:things that I help people do is like, let's get you on the right
Speaker:platform that makes sense for you. But it's a very strategic
Speaker:conversation. It's not a Oh, somebody sent me an email about
Speaker:a cool new tool. Like, there's got to be a compelling business
Speaker:reason why you would change platforms. So often people who
Speaker:aren't getting traction are focused on that, like, I'm just
Speaker:gonna, you know, add this platform or add this one or
Speaker:change to this one or change to that one, or I'm on 52 million
Speaker:ones because somebody has been talking about them. Anytime
Speaker:somebody's making a buying decision around what they need
Speaker:for their business based on a suggestion from someone else.
Speaker:They're not looking at it from a strategic you know, sort of from
Speaker:an ownership or strategic perspective. So I always help
Speaker:people kind of dial that back. So you're starting with the
Speaker:right foundation, when I recommend a foundation for a
Speaker:customer, it is very, like well thought out, right? It's not,
Speaker:I'm not picking a shiny tool, I'm not picking something that
Speaker:somebody is just has determined that this is the next best tool.
Speaker:So I have, I have another client that I work with who is moving
Speaker:to, to a different platform. And it's a well thought out
Speaker:transition from, you know, sort of the infancy or the beta
Speaker:program of where they were in their business to what they need
Speaker:now, right. And so she came in, she has built an enterprise, an
Speaker:empire, and now the than the needs she have, has, are totally
Speaker:different than when she started, right, she started with one
Speaker:program, and then now it's morphed into something that's,
Speaker:that's broader and bigger. So that is the time to change. It's
Speaker:not like I'm not getting enough sales. So therefore, I'm going
Speaker:to change all of my platforms to get more sales. That doesn't
Speaker:make sense, right? If there's a tool that helps you increase
Speaker:your awareness, or your visibility and your authority in
Speaker:the marketplace, that could be a great enhancement to your, your,
Speaker:your system toolkit. But it's not just like somebody sent an
Speaker:email, and there's a cool new product out there that you want,
Speaker:want to try. I really discourage people from doing that, because
Speaker:what happens then is, that's when you kind of get the
Speaker:disjointed tech stack, that becomes the thing that you're
Speaker:spending all of your time dealing with, instead of
Speaker:actually getting those customers and getting them in the door. So
Speaker:if you have that sort of tendency where you're just,
Speaker:you're like out an app sumo or you're out, you know, paying
Speaker:attention to what everyone's doing in the market, and you
Speaker:want to just grab the new thing, awesome. But do it in a way that
Speaker:serves your business, that doesn't dilute what you're
Speaker:trying to do, or just like, allow you to stay in the swirl.
Speaker:Because that is one of the key indicators of whether or not
Speaker:you're going to be successful is it Are you focused on the right
Speaker:activities at the right time, nine out of 10 times changing
Speaker:your your platform, from one to the other in terms of kind of
Speaker:your core business platform, right. So if you're creating
Speaker:courses, and programs, you have one core platform that's holding
Speaker:all of your assets, if you're just constantly changing that on
Speaker:a regular basis, then you're probably spending time and money
Speaker:and resources that you don't need to be worried about at this
Speaker:moment. If you're ready to scale and you're ready to really dial
Speaker:in that customer experience. And the platform that you have
Speaker:doesn't do what you need it to do, then that's the that's the
Speaker:reason to start moving in a different direction. Or if you
Speaker:feel like your whole thing is like put together with duct tape
Speaker:and paper clips, and you are looking to streamline how you're
Speaker:delivering and fulfilling on your promise, then that's
Speaker:another good good time to start looking at what your systems
Speaker:are, what your tech stack is, and how it will support you. But
Speaker:if your goal is sales, and you want to change your platform,
Speaker:because you think it's going to give you more sales, the two are
Speaker:do not have anything to do with each other, right? Like, if you
Speaker:can't get sales, they're not even getting into your course.
Speaker:And so it doesn't really matter what's in your course yet.
Speaker:Right? What matters is how you're how you're talking about
Speaker:it, how you're how you're able to fulfill on the promise that
Speaker:you is that you are fulfilling on to get them in the door,
Speaker:right, like two different problems you're trying to solve,
Speaker:get customers first, and then worry about what the platform is
Speaker:doing or not doing. And I'm going to tell you in this stage
Speaker:of the game in 2023, most of the platforms are going to do what
Speaker:you need them to do.
Speaker:From a standard sort of mechanics perspective, there are
Speaker:certain requirements that are that my clients sometimes need
Speaker:because of the complexity of their their business or how
Speaker:they're fulfilling on their products and they still want to
Speaker:automate 100% Absolutely. There are specific reasons why you
Speaker:would use one tool over the other. That's what we're experts
Speaker:in helping people do is when they have a complex need,
Speaker:fulfillment need, we help determine the right systems,
Speaker:right but when you're first getting started when you're
Speaker:creating kind of a basic customer experience in terms of
Speaker:your course or program, most of the tools will do what you need
Speaker:need them to do. And so it's just a matter of what your
Speaker:appetite is for, you know, kind of four different components or
Speaker:buckets of what you need in your tech stack. And I'm not going to
Speaker:go through that detail today, if you are one of those people who
Speaker:you want to make sure you're starting in the right
Speaker:foundation, and you may have some complex needs that you want
Speaker:to talk through, just give me a shout. And we'll talk through
Speaker:with kind of what those four pillars are. But in most cases,
Speaker:you're the you know, the rabbit that you're chasing when you're
Speaker:early in your business, is you need to be able to get customers
Speaker:to bring them into your program, once they're in your program,
Speaker:then you can fulfill on that promise, then, you know, as
Speaker:you're helping more and more people, you're dialing things in
Speaker:more and more and more, right, you go from the MVP to the 1.0,
Speaker:to the 2.0. to, to, you know, continuing to to add features
Speaker:and functionality and different things. But starting starting
Speaker:with the wrong foundation, or switching your foundation on a
Speaker:regular basis is just it just like you're just sort of just
Speaker:chasing, chasing your tail. So there you go. That is my sort of
Speaker:rant or soapbox for today is and I'll tell I'll tell you like my
Speaker:response to him was, you know, it's just a platform. And, and
Speaker:it could be a great platform, there could be some super cool
Speaker:things with it. But if you are working with somebody who is a
Speaker:specialist in in the tools and platforms that are out there for
Speaker:courses and programs, they should be able to make any
Speaker:platform work with the right requirements, but you pick out
Speaker:your requirements first, and then you choose a platform or
Speaker:then you customize the platform. You don't just choose any random
Speaker:platform because at this point, they're all sort of, they're all
Speaker:sort of equal in terms of sort of that base experience. And so
Speaker:it's it and so the I know that his objective was to get more
Speaker:customers, and changing platforms is not going to get
Speaker:more customers. So there you go, that is my lesson for you today.
Speaker:I hope that serves you. If you are tempted by the shiny object,
Speaker:like I need to change my whole tech stack, based on new systems
Speaker:that come out, I encourage you to go through the activity of
Speaker:determining what you actually need first, right outside of the
Speaker:tool, and then determine the proper tool for you because
Speaker:there's some awesome tools out there. There are some ways that
Speaker:some operate better than others. But at the end of the day, it
Speaker:needs to match your goals, not the other way around. So there