Power of Iterations • How I Built my Signature Program Organically

In this series...
Power of Iterations • How I Unleashed my Masterclass Organically
Power of Iterations • How I Unleashed my Boutique Brand Organically
Power of Iterations • How I Unleashed my Genius Organically
Power of Iterations • How I Built my Signature Program Organically

Whether it's a workshop, a virtual training or something in between, your masterclass, your life's masterpiece, can be created the hard way or the graceful way.

Having lived at the intersection of digital wizardry and personal development for over 20 years (yeeps!), I assure you the graceful way is easier, more peaceful, truthful, and joyful.

First, a few definitions.

EFFORTLESSLY + SAFELY

The process of creation becomes effortless when it's unfolds organically the way Life (aka Universe, God, insert belief of choice) planned it, like rivers flowing to the ocean. The kink, aka suffering, occurs when our ego adamantly wants its way. Then we end up swimming upstream, against the current of Life, battling every river molecule that comes our way.

What will it you choose today? Flow downstream (and accept the timing, twists and turns) or battle upstream (and tightly clench the ego's way)?

"[Life] is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
– WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, MACBETH

I'm also among the rare advocate for safety in the creation process. There is FAR TOO MUCH rah-rah-rah out there, signifying nothing. Just do it rah, just put yourself out there rah-rah, just record a Facebook live every day rah-rah-rah. Barf 🤮.

No woman (or no human) can create if they don't first feel safe. (Thank you Paige, you inspired me to write this section. ❤️)

If you haven't put your wisdom or your life's masterpiece fully "out there" yet, it's NOT because you're lazy, dumb or incapable. It's because it has NOT been safe to do so. You don't yet have that big protective "love moat" around your castle to defend against critics, idiots and assholes.

Like me, in this life and/or others, you were likely burned at the steak, hung by the neck, or "off with their head", for being too clairvoyant, too powerful, and/or too knowing. Therefore, your root chakra (the foundation of safety) was burned and/or your throat chakra (the seat of self-expression) were smashed. It's not your fault... and it is your opportunity to choose differently now.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO UNLEASH?

One more definition. I prefer the term 'unleash' rather than create because 'create' often carries images of crazy hair, dark circles under the eye, lone mad artist in a dark damp basement. We do NOT have to do drudgery like those masters or artists did huuuuuudreds of years ago.

You CAN chose grace instead, which I define as the convergence of ease, peace, truth, joy and trust. Grace will invite you, not to create, but to have no fear, to let go... to unleash your masterpiece. You have to watch this scene, it's THE definition of 'unleash' (context: when Jean was very little, her unmastered superpowers accidentally killed her parents, so she's been terrified of using them ever since):

CREATE YOUR MASTERCLASS ORGANICALLY

At Guide to Grace, we make it safe to express, joyful to create and a relief to unleash. We fill every corner of the process with grace.

Assuming you can name your ideal client avatar in 4 words or less and your Brand in 3 words or less, here's the most effortless and safest way to unleash a masterclass that is soul-aligned, marketable, and profitable.

STEP 1 • OBSERVE PATTERNS 1-ON-1

Start 1-on-1. If you want to unleash a masterclass that is of service to others, it has to be desirable and needed. So meet with your ideal student, client, or customer. Invest the time, deep presence, and level 4 listening to find out what they deeply want and/or need (often two conflicting camps).

Track all your observations. By the 10th student/client/customer, patterns will emerge. If not, hone in on your ideal client avatar and study a few more clients.

STEP 2 • ORGANIZE INTO A ROADMAP

In my business, I started noticing that within the same week or two, my clients were all having the same struggles with busyness, overwhelm or perfectionism. I paid attention to patterns.

Then I strung together a basic 12-step roadmap of tools to guide any busy, overwhelmed and perfection stricken woman. It was not even roadmap 1.0 yet, it was version 0.8. But we all have to start somewhere, then we can build on top of that.

STEP 3 • RECRUIT BETA GROUP

With a basic and clear visual of the journey ahead, I was able to articulate myself much clearer and ground/guide a few friends and colleagues in a Beta Group. Over the phone, I trained on core concepts for 15min and coached, mentored and implementing tools with them for 45min. I recorded the audio. Iteration no. 1 complete.

For the same hour of my time, three women benefited from my wisdom. No, it's not a million, but three is better than one! They each paid much less than the cost of a 1-on-1 program, and I earned much more for that hour.

STEP 4 • RUN AUDIO PROGRAM

WIth audio assets in hand, incorporate all notes and feedback, add visual aids or worksheets as requested by your students. Then run the program again.  My students listened to the audio training (from iteration no. 1), and we now spent a full hour together. And afterward, they had worksheets to complete. Iteration no. 2 has been organically created :D.

My program sold because it was built from the needs/desires of actually people, my people. There's an exquisite peace inside when you know what you created is desirable, therefore marketable, therefore profitable. Remember to record everything.

STEP 5 • RUN VIDEO PROGRAM

Again, incorporate all feedback and execute all upgrades needed from the previous iteration. With richer audio training in hand, I had a VA overlay my existing visual aids (simple images designed in Microsoft Powerpoint, nothing fancy) on top of the audio track. And tada, I had iteration no. 3, a video masterclass.

I was able to charge more with each iteration and didn't have a massive upfront expense on hair/makeup/film equipment/production crew/editing team, rah, rah, needlessly more rah. I did upgrade from phone line to Zoom and recorded my face for the next iteration.

STEP 6 • TO EXPAND OR NOT EXPAND

I very quickly realized that when we're unleashing your life's masterclass, nobody cares about my face. There was no need whatsoever to weave in my face into the video recordings. Power of discernment! HUGE money and time saver. If you're a makeup artist, then yes, it'd be handy to see your face. If you craaaaaaave to talk and/or be seen, then YES absolutely show your face. But my energy, my tools, and my wisdom were rich, face or no face.

With time, I saw many holes and added many tools, to the point where two entire programs emerged. I didn't realize Life had taken me down a path of building Part 2, then creating Part 3, then assembling Part 1, to unleash a full Opportestiny™ Masterclass. Life is funny that way. Ha!

BENEFITS OF ORGANIC APPROACH

"Ella, you make it seem so simple," I hear a lot. That's because it is simple... but not easy. If you don't know the 42 parts of you running the show, if you aren't intimately connected to your Sacred Archetypes, if you've got wounded children running amok in your psyche, you won't even reach the point of naming/claiming an ideal client avatar or a brand... then what you unleash won't be nearly as useful, desirable, or sellable as you'd hoped.

So 2020 is your chance to unleash your very own masterclass. To be the owner of digital assets that can never be destroyed in a fire or lost in an earthquake. (It could live on forever if you make a backup to the cloud, wooooooo!)

You can sell your masterclass on its own, you can combine it to increase the value of your other workshops, products, experiences, and/or services. The sky is not the limit, it's just the start.

It may seem like A LOT of work, many iterations, round and round we go. To be clear, you're not going in circles, you're converging in a spiral. At each iteration, you can increase value, group size, program price, visual assets or resources, collaborations, leadership opportunities, etc.

All your upfront investment goes towards that convergence, that central point of "This is me!" unleashed. Oh and the passive income is pretty sweet too ;)