Progress Report 14: Pivoting my Niche

New audience for the new year

Hello, happy Friday!

Can you believe it’s already December?

Feels like just yesterday I started this newsletter to build in public my first online course. Yet somehow, 8 months have already gone by!

I’m still working on consistency, but I’m proud of myself for keeping this going. It’s been fun sharing and engaging with you.

It’s that time again

This time of year is usually particularly busy. Many people have started to prepare for that major event we’ve all been waiting for. The one on all our minds.

You know which one I’m talking about, right?

🎄 The annual performance review! 🎄

So in the spirit of this occasion, here’s a quick tip I hope you find worthwhile:

Laraine 〰️ enjoy learning again @BrainOfLaraine

Performance review tip: Tell your boss your upskilling goals for 2023. And ask them to play a role by providing feedback + accountability. 🌱 It’s time to take initiative in your own career growth!

Now, let’s see what’s been going on with my online course. ⇩

Big Update: I’ve pivoted my target audience from online course creators to online learners

To be completely honest, I think my original course idea didn’t make sense. 🥴

My first course shouldn’t teach other people how to make their first course. While my expertise is in L&D training and e-learning, online course creation is a whole other game.

And for these past 8 months, I’ve been playing around and experimenting. Paying attention to what’s working for me.

Which has finally led me to my new niche.

Despite all those years of education, isn’t it weird how we never learned how to learn? And what sucks most is how this holds us back in our career and personal growth.

As an instructional designer, I’m hyper-aware of upskilling and adult learning strategies. And I’ve realized to make more of an impact in education, I need to change the angle.

Instead of fixing learning problems on the education provider side, I want to work directly with the consumer—the learners.

So now I’m focusing on this:

I help millennials enjoy learning again.

I help them learn how they learn best, using adult learning techniques and a “personal curriculum” framework so they can confidently upskill for their work and life endeavours.

This pivot sets off a few changes:

• The brand of this newsletter will transition from “I’m Learning Out Loud” to “Enjoy Learning Again”.

• I’m still building in public, but my progress reports will be published quarterly. This way, I can focus my writing time and energy on ELA content.

• My goal is to launch the beta of my online course by June 2023. (You read it here, keep me accountable!)

One of my biggest barriers is not having a strong Course Market Fit. Here’s a great article about this by Dr Philippa Hardman.

I'm going to continue experimenting and watching out for what resonates, as well as who sticks around for my new content. Keeping my eyes peeled for signals of what y’all want to learn. 👀

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Thanks for following along

It’s funny how, in some ways, I’m coming back to my original niche debate (way back in Progress Report 2). The alternative idea was a soft skills course for novice UX/UI designers.

As a new entrepreneur, I’ve realized that pivoting should be viewed as an expected turn on the route. Not a detour. So watch out—I’m coming around the corner!

⇨ Some next steps for you:

• Keep following along if you’re interested in upskilling and career or personal development. The next newsletter will be about how to enjoy learning again.

• Share with a friend - Do you know someone who has plans to learn a new skill, go back to school, or change jobs in 2023? They may benefit from having some companion content about how to maximize their learning.

• Unsubscribe if you’re no longer interested in receiving these emails. Seriously, no hard feelings!

Stay tuned for more updates.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend ✌️

Laraine