Phase 1: Listen before building - why you need to validate first

Have you ever hosted a webinar teaching a skill you know pretty well?

Did you interact with your participants and ask questions?

Did you send a feedback survey afterwards to see if there's further interest in similar content?

Congrats, you've held a masterclass and validated a course topic.

Today, I want to talk to you about the importance of validation. Having fallen into the trap of using hundreds and hundreds of hours on something that no one wanted to buy, I really know what I’m talking about. At Taida, we don’t do anything anymore before validating it first.

Sometimes you have to prepare to look a little scrappy in front of a lot of people - marketing an MVP, using free tools, and not putting effort into the details.

“What if they think this is the best I can do?”

Whatever. You fine-tuning the font of your logo and editing perfect videos on an expensive platform without having any idea what the market looks like, and in the worst case, creating something no one wants to buy, is so much worse than you doing it fast and lean and having someone raise their eyebrows at an unfinished layout. If there’s a real interest in what you’re selling, a logo that’s not unique or a lack of high-quality pictures won’t stop them from signing up.

And even if they don’t, at least you know early on that this wasn’t the direction.

In online education, the best way to validate a topic is by hosting a masterclass.

It's as simple as that: choose a topic people come to you for advice (and that’s connected to your course idea, obviously), pick a date, create a form, send it to your potential learners and publish on your channels with an actual transformation promise.

And then deliver. No monologues and 1-hour promotions of your company - but practical tips and concrete examples. An hour that really creates value in your participants' lives.

After the masterclass is over, send a feedback form asking specific questions about your future scaling plans. These people, the people who came and took the time to answer your survey afterwards, are your first superfans. The group of people you want to keep close and validate your future plans with. Engage them early on and create a course together with them, keeping them on the loop throughout the creation process.

This is how we help experts scale their knowledge at Taida.

Curious about the other 4 phases? Check this blog post explaining the whole framework for course creation.

We created a guidebook for creating your first Masterclass. Download it below. :)

Masterclass creation guidebook 👇