Dr. Lindsay Padilla is a teaching + learning consultant for trailblazing entrepreneurs who want to create value-packed, student-centered digital content that get their clients (students) A+ results, while making a lasting impact on the world! Using her years of teaching adults online at a community college and the ridiculous amount of learning she has done in all things education, she specializes in translating 1:1 client work experiences into signature courses, group programs + membership sites, as well as mapping out instructional content into a conversion machine that she lovingly calls the “Teach First Funnel.”

2:20 The journey for Lindsay so far

Lindsay shares her story as to how the path to teaching started. She knew intrinsically that she also wanted to be a teacher and so began to take actions towards that with little pivots along the way. She enjoyed high school and wanted to teach high school.  When she began teaching, she didn’t like the subject that was in her curriculum being history however what she was quick to discover was that she enjoyed the essence of the subject which was learning about people and the past.

Growing up in suburbia, once she finished her first degree, she moved in with a friend from college and her in in Huntington Beach to pursuit her master in sociology. This is where she fell in love with the subject and wanted to teach it all day every day or to anyone who wanted to listen. 

It was clear that teaching was not only her gift, but her passion also. After her masters, Lindsay pursued her doctorate at the University Of San Francisco.

7:35 How Fitness ignited the Coaching path

Having such a long academic spurt meant that when she had received her doctorate, Lindsay was out of the continuous writing routine that academia demanded of her. She filled the gaping hole of time with nothing other than working out. Committing to a workout routine for over a year, she then began coaching in areas of health.

Being inspired by Amy Porterfield and other entrepreneurs who continuously talked about business’ and the lives they were creating around health, Lindsay bought 90 day year –and began to dissect exactly why she was on the path she was on.

One day she found herself sitting with coach Melissa Griffin at lunch whom she helped her think through some things for her course. Lindsay explained things to her in a way that aligned exactly where Melissa wanted to take her course in the value that it provided her students. This was when she turned to Lindsay and said, “Why aren’t you teaching this?” That was just the  “aha” moment Lindsay  needed and everything else was lining up. She was inspired, ran home and she knew that her business would involve helping others to create courses.

11:56 How Her Business Looks Like Now

When Lindsay started her business, she was on lots of calls and began co creating courses with her clients. During this time, she went back to teaching that August which effectively meant she was running a business full time and classes full time. She eventually left in the middle of the school year, even though financially, that decision didn’t make sense, she knew that the money would find her after she made this choice.

Diving into her business, she had five clients that hired her that she serviced which eventuated in her running an “MBA,” course which was “Misfit Business Academy,” as a contest on Facebook.

 

From there, Lindsay went into high level course co creation whilst working with established people in the industry and was working to make sure that her client’s courses would sell to expectations.

At the same time, she began talking to Emily Hersh who’s business seemed to have services that would complement Lindsay’s. It made sense for the two to form a partnership.

A year later, as Lindsay intuitively felt all along, some money came through! She received this from her house and used this to invest in things like team building and hiring people full time. The scaling allowed her to move away from the VIP course style creation and focus on smaller business’. She wanted to serve that population and by putting a team under allowed her to manage and grow her services. She was able to be more productive and less overwhelmed.

 

17:05 Biggest struggles when it comes to creating Courses

Being an industry leader in course writing and course creation, Lindsay explains the top three struggles she hears from clients when it comes to creating courses:
1. How do I make sure it’s good and that the students are learning?
2. How long should lessons be? What kind of content? What’s the best LMS?
3.  How do I motivate and encourage my students

Lindsay found that people seek validation from someone who has designed courses before, especially given how she had positioned herself in the market. When it comes to teaching, she dives into the deeper stuff with her clients and tries to understand the thought processes going on inside their minds.

19:50 How to Start a Course

Sharing some tips on the best way to actually get started to writing a course, Lindsay recommends:

1. Market Research – Know your market and assess any problems or gaps in that market. Make sure you find a problem and that you are actually solving that problem.
2. Avoid the burning desire to have it sold instantly; You can’t start with what you want to teach or what you think what your following needs.
3. Make time to Brain Dump. Whatever thoughts you have in your head, make time to actually dump those thoughts onto a page. The course may not be perfect however the brain dump process can be developed over time. 

24:01 Mindset & Courses

There are common feelings that teachers have and the core thing that was observed is that teaching can be very vulnerable. You are sharing what you know through knowledge, experience and story – that’s very revealing. You have to adapt to students and how they are feeling and responding.  We get scared that other pioneers that do similar courses to our expertise may teach different aspects that we don’t. The way you get around that is knowing that you are a different teacher. Who you are as a person is what teaching is. It is the connection of your inner self to lots of people. If you’re really teaching, your soul is bared to your students and you’re going through the subject together. You have to be ok with the fact that you put out course material exactly as it is in the way you express it best.

Students tend to mirror what you are putting out there. Rather than being worried about being challenged, let go of the pressure that you actually put on yourself to hold all the answers. The subject you’re teaching is actually in the centre, not the teacher. Both the teacher and the student are looking at it together and you look at things through totally different experiences through a live subject. The students will see you as the authority when you support them and guide them, not necessarily when you have all the answers.

34:42 Structural Side of Making Your Course Great

The results that you are promising your students –think about what is the student going to be able to do after this course. This can be broken down into certain milestones to which the student can achieve without your assistance. This will ensure your course is actually streamlined.

With adult learners, you find that they need to feel very autonomous and have constant motivation and reminders. Generally, these adults are busy so you need to make sure you don’t add any fluff to their schedules.

You can also catch the students who are in different places – those who are more advanced, can be advised to skip the step. However, bear in mind that some entrepreneurs of late aren’t getting basic enough. People don’t realize they don’t know the things they don’t know.

45:06 Connect with Lindsay

Connect with Lindsay on her soon to be revamped Facebook Group – The Teachers Lounge
http://www.lindsaympadilla.com/fb-group/

Tweetables:

“If you’re really teaching, your soul is bared to your students and you’re going through the  subject together:

“You have to be ok with the fact that you put our course material exactly as it is in the way you express it best. “