Case Study 4/4/2016 Green Screen Essentials!

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another online teaching case study! In this week’s case study, we are going to be discussing: How To Use A Green Screen To Create Amazing Videos!

Recently I have been learning how to create better videos for my online students. Using a green screen is an awesome tool and it can be very engaging! We will be discussing 3 specific tops in this post:

1)   How to buy a green screen and lighting kit

2)   Setting up your green screen and lighting equipment

3)   How to shoot and edit your green screen videos!

Let’s get started!

1)   How to buy a green screen and lighting kit

So where do I suggest you go to buy your green screen? The internet of course! In fact my green screen only cost me about $20.00 from Amazon (after shipping and handling!)

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Now, it is also very important that you are able to light your entire green screen! This way you do not get shadows or “spots” when you record your video. This is why I have purchased two “Cow-Boy Studio” lighting kits! For only $50.00 each, these were a great investment!

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2) Setting up your green screen and lighting equipment:

So when it all of your equipment arrives at your doorstep just go ahead and start unwrapping it!

**IMPORTANT**

Before you hang up or put your green screen against a wall, make sure you STEAM it and to get all of the creases out! You do not want your green screen to have any creases because it they will show up in your video and it will not look very professional!

Pro Tip: I actually went to my local dry cleaners and had them professional press my green screen. It looked amazing and only cost me $7.00!

Now, once you have everything out of the boxes and are ready to put things together, I wanted to make the suggestion you keep your lights “semi” close and also at all different angles shooting at the green screen. This will allow enough light to hit the green screen and also reduce shadows! I have lights on all sides, above me, and even a little behind me! However, you will have to see what works best for you! But just my suggestion J

4)   Once you have everything set up its now time to start filming your videos!

I personally use a Cannon HD camcorder because I think the quality looks better, but you can use a webcam or iMac camera. The results will differ depending on which camera you use. Now, once you film yourself against the green screen you will need to edit your videos!

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Using iMove/ Camtasia, After Effects, or Final Cut Pro will easily allow you to use the green screen effect you are looking for. All you have to do is overlay a your original green screen video with a background of your choice and poof! Your video will instantly be transformed!  See Below!

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I hope you were able to learn a lot about green screens today! It’s now time for your to go out there and start filming your new videos today! 

There are many ways to begin teaching online, but this should give you some great ideas that have worked for myself and many other online instructors! Stay tuned next week were I discuss more online teaching strategies.

Thank you for reading our blog post today! If you have any questions please feel free to post your comments below!
Also, you can check out all of my blog posts for FREE by going to: http://joeparysacademy.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,
Joe Parys​

Case Study 3/21/16 Why Traveling Helps Your Online Teaching!

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another online teaching case study! In this weeks case study, we are going to be discussing: Why Traveling Helps Your Online Teaching! 

I will be discussing and showing you specific examples from my own traveling experience! Here I am in beautiful Orange Country California! 

Let's Get Started! 

So why am I sharing my own ​personal traveling story here with you today? Because traveling has enhanced my online teaching 100 fold!

In fact, some of my best selling online video courses have been from videos shot all around the world! 

Recently I have discovered how easy it is to create high quality videos simply using my iPhone 6S plus! I simply plugged in my microphone, fired up my FiLMMIC PRO App (available for only $10.00 on the app store) and grabbed my "selfie stick" and I was instantly able to create awesome videos!

 Here is a screenshot from a video I filmed on the beach this weekend! 

In addition to creating high quality videos while traveling, showing your students around new environments stimulates their learning and inspires them to learn more! I know from personal experience that when I saw an instructor teaching from a "cool" location, it inspired me to create that lifestyle for myself! 

And Well, it looks like I am on the right track :)  

What is also so great about traveling is that it enhances your worldly view. With over 100,000+ students now from over 185 countries world wide, its important for me as an instructor to get out their and see the world (as best as I can) through my students eyes! The best way to do this is to get out their and start traveling! 

This weekend I was able to visit Orange County, Los Angels, Palm Springs, Tempe, and Phoenix all in the same week! Its amazing how different things are even from just one state to another! I have also been able to travel to Greece, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Martin, and many other places! 

Traveling and Teaching has never been so easy, and with technology the way it is today you can work from pretty much anywhere at anytime! I hope this post inspires you and if you have any questions please feel free to message me anytime! 

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks case study! There are many ways to begin teaching online, but this should give you some great ideas that have worked for myself and many other online instructors! Stay tuned next week were I discuss more online teaching strategies.

Thank you for reading our blog post today! If you have any questions please feel free to post your comments below!

Also, you can check out all of my blog posts for FREE by going to:

http://joeparysacademy.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,

Joe Parys​

Case Study 3/7/2016 Udemy's New Pricing System!

I will be discussing three major topics in this blog post. The three main areas we will be discussing in this post are:

1) My reaction to the new pricing system and how it will affect my own courses moving forward

2) March 2016 Promotion Strategies and when to change the prices of your Udemy courses

3) Pricing strategies for the future and beyond here on Udemy!

Let's Get Started!

1) My reaction to the new Udemy Pricing System

My first reaction to the new pricing system was complete "shock and disbelief". "Only $50 as a maximum? $20 minimum? Seems like such a small range and wont everyone choose the same prices now?"

But once I did my research and read more as to "why" Udemy was doing this, I began to understand and think that it will benefit everyone moving forward! Incase you have not heard about the new pricing system, here is the email sent out by CEO Dennis Yang March 2nd, 2016:

"Hello Instructors,

Over the past few months, we have spoken with many of you on the phone and in person. Thank you for sharing with us. One topic has come up again and again throughout these conversations: our pricing. In this email I'll share with you an update to pricing and promotions on Udemy as well as next steps for you.Current Pricing
Students are Confused by Inconsistent Pricing 
Today, prices are inconsistent and complicated for students. List prices range from $9 to $300, but the reality is that 90% of sales occur with a coupon code, and at a price less than $50. Students have been telling us how much they're willing to spend for an online course, but we haven't been listening as well as we should. We want pricing to be accessible and intuitive for students - to serve as an easy entry into learning, not a barrier.

Instructors are Frustrated by Constant Discounts 
I've heard directly from you, our instructor community, that our promotions train students to wait for the lowest price and lead to an erosion of your average selling price. This has also encouraged inflated list prices, which makes it difficult for you to generate organic sales, and we've heard from many of you that deep discounts hurt your brands.

New Pricing
Reducing Discounts and Increasing Trust: Updating our Pricing 
To address student and instructor concerns, today we're announcing changes to pricing and promotions on Udemy. First, discounts, for both Udemy and instructor coupons, will be capped at 50% off.

Additionally, we're announcing a change to list prices on Udemy: list prices will be capped at $50. This, combined with the reduction in discounts, will help keep courses accessible for students going forward. Effective April 4, 2016:

• Courses on Udemy will be priced between $20 and $50; we will also continue to support free courses. Please see our Global Price Matrix for localized ranges.
• Each course price will be individually set by the instructor between $20-$50, within $5 increments.
• Course discounts, for both Udemy coupons and instructor coupons, will be capped at 50% off; we will also continue to support free coupons.

Learn More

We need a pricing model that combines both instructors' desire to minimize discounts with students' desire for fair and consistent pricing. We believe that combining lower list prices with smaller discounts will help ensure that Udemy remains a sustainable and accessible marketplace for both instructors and students for years to come.

We all believe that people everywhere should have access to the skills and courses necessary to build the lives they imagine for themselves. This belief is why I joined Udemy, and why so many of you teach. I'm honored to work alongside you, and our entire team is standing by to answer any questions you might have. If you'd like to set up some time to speak, please fill out this form.

At this time we ask that you view this post for the next steps you need to take, as well as a more detailed explanation of this change.We're thrilled to partner with all of you on this journey, and we couldn't be more optimistic about our future together.

Dennis Yang

CEO, Udemy" 

What does this mean for all of us online instructors? It means we need to work with this new system, instead of against it. I will prove my own personal strategies in step 3 of this blog post!

After looking at my own sales data a majority of people were willing to buy my online courses at $10 to $25 dollars. I think this is why Udemy is going to this new pricing strategy and I believe it will work moving forward!

2) March 2016 Promotion Strategies and when to change the prices of your Udemy courses

Since today is March 7th and the new pricing system will not be in place until April 4th, this offers us instructors a unique opportunity to promote our courses. Why? Because $1 to $9 coupons and coupons with massive discounts (Anything beyond 50%) will cease to exist past April 4th.

My suggestion is to leave your courses the same price as they are today and not adapt the new system until April 4th. Why?

a) Udemy is still running its discount promotions in the month of March (I have received a ton of March affiliate sales so far!)

b) This will be the last chance (possible ever) to receive full price purchases of your Udemy courses! I received one as an affiliate sale already this month!

c) Run a massive $9.00 course super sale all the way until April 3rd or 4th. This new pricing system creates wonderful leverage to discount our courses below the future prices. As described above 50% will be the biggest discount moving forward and if your courses are the minimum $20 then $10 is the absolute lowest price for a course ever again on Udemy. So if we create and use our coupons below this mark ($9.00) as a super special I would image a lot of students would like this and want to buy our courses at this price!

3) Pricing strategies for the future and beyond here on Udemy! 

So what are our options moving forward here on Udemy? What should I charge for my courses moving forward? This will be a difficult question to answer because the conversion data for your Udemy courses is certainly going to be different than the conversion data for mine! According to Udemy my courses are selling at around the average of $20 (with some of my bestsellers at around $25 on average). This means that I will most likely choose to list all of my courses at $20 to start and some of my bestsellers at perhaps $25. This will hopefully lead to more sales and will help me against my competition who will be selling similar courses but perhaps at a higher price? Only time will tell but I think this is going to bring in more students (especially organically) and put more money in our pockets as instructors! A Win Win for Everyone!

These are just a few ways you can take advantage of the new Udemy Pricing System and cash in on this unique opportunity! 

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks case study! There are many ways to begin teaching online, but this should give you some great ideas that have worked for myself and many other online instructors! Stay tuned next week were I discuss more online teaching strategies.

Thank you for reading our blog post today! If you have any questions please feel free to post your comments below!

Also, you can check out all of my blog posts for FREE by going to:

http://joeparysacademy.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,

Joe Parys

Case Study 2/8/2015 A Beginners Guide To Teaching Online - What I Wish I Knew When I First Started Teaching Online!

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another online teaching case study! In this weeks case study, we are going to be discussing A Beginners Guide To Teaching Online - What I Wish I Knew When I First Started Teaching Online!

This case study was actually inspired by student feedback for students just getting started teaching online on Udemy!

I will be discussing three main areas and showing you specific examples from my own online courses! The three main areas we will be discussing in this post are:

1) How To Set Up My Udemy Instructor Account Quickly and Easily

2) How To Choosing A Topic To Teach Online and When To Launch Your First Course!

3) What Sells Best On Udemy and Other Online Websites!

Lets Begin With Question 1)

1) How To Set Up My Udemy Instructor Account Quickly and Easily 

The easiest way to being setting up your Udemy account for getting paid students is to go to:

https://support.udemy.com/customer/portal/articles/1594257-become-a-premium-instructor?b_id=3056

Here they will show you step by step how to update your instructor page and add in your Paypal account!

They also show you step by step how to edit your profile and how to change the price of your Udemy courses! This is an excellent tool and will help you easily get started teaching online!

I remeber it taking me more than 1 week to get my profile figured out and I just wanted to hopefully make this process easier for all new instructors!

2) How To Choosing A Topic To Teach Online and When To Launch Your First Course!

When I first began teaching online I chose a topic I knew a lot about and had the proof to show for it! This really helped me in creating my first course because it made the whole teaching part easy! I would suggest if you are new to teaching online to start with teaching a subject you know and are passionate about! This will give you momentum to learn, create momentum for your next course, and continue to become a better online instructor. Here is a phrase that I wish I heard early on as an instructor:

"If you are not embarrassed by your first course, you did not start soon enough!"

Here is my first goal setting course:

Now in 2016 I am a little embarrassed by! Why? Because the quality of the videos is lower because my awareness of how to create the videos was low! 

Here is an example of my first course lecture! A powerpoint example!

Now, after creating this course I ended up creating a whole new course on goal setting because I became more aware of how to create higher quality videos!

This course has received higher more 5 star reviews and look at the difference in engagement in the video lecture! It is a night and day difference :)

So what is the message? Try your best to learn as much as you can about how to create amazing videos first and then start creating your online courses! It will save you lots of time and the students will enjoy your courses more!

3) What Sells Best On Udemy and Other Online Websites! 

After creating more than 30+ courses here on Udemy what I have found to sell the best is highly technical courses! This is why I have hired and am working with professionals who know how to create and teach these subjects! Here is an example of my newest course on Android Development! It has enrolled over 8,000+ Students in its first week!

It has also received some very nice reviews because we have condensed the amount of information in the course! The saying "less is more" can definitely apply to online teaching! It's important to get to the point and not waste your students time :)

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks case study! There are many ways to begin teaching online, but this should give you some great ideas that have worked for myself and many other online instructors! Stay tuned next week were I discuss more intermediate teaching strategies and how to begin making your first online sales!

Thank you for reading our blog post today! If you have any questions please feel free to post your comments below!

Also, you can check out all of my blog posts for FREE by going to:

http://joeparysacademy.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,

Joe Parys

Case Study 1/7/2016 FREE Courses or Paid Courses? What Are The Benefits and Drawbacks

Case Study 1/7/2016 FREE Courses or Paid Courses? What Are The Benefits and Drawbacks

In this weeks case study I will be show you the results from my free course compared to my paid courses here on Udemy. Now, I must admit I only have 1 FREE course and this will be a smaller sample, however, I do think there is a lot of things we can learn and take away from this study.

1. Why create a free course on Udemy? Is there any upside?

When it comes to creating a free course on Udemy I am going to discuss three key upsides and three key downsides. These upsides and downsides are based upon my own experience so please take them with a grain of salt.

Upsides:

• Creating a free course allows students to sample your work firsthand and builds trust! This was a big eye opener for me when I first started online. I first gave my course on goal setting away for free to thousands of students! Fortunately many of those students really enjoyed the course and we willing then to pay a small premium to enroll in my next courses. This is the exact strategy I still use in my free course on confidence and self-esteem!
• Creating a free course does not necessarily need to take a lot of time energy and effort. Free courses (at least a lot of them I have seen) tend to be sample courses to an even bigger (paid course). Keeping this in mind, my free course is only 10 total lectures and it only took me a day to create!
• Free courses (when done correctly) build your credibility and boot your social proof! My free course is the #1 rated self-esteem course on Udemy and my larger paid course is a top paid course as well. This is because my engagement and completion of the course is very high! Many free students really enjoy participating in FREE courses! (this has just been my experience!)

Downsides:

• You cannot earn "direct" income from a free course. However, you can put coupons to other courses at the very last lecture of your free course to encourage students to continue their learning with you! This is exactly what I have done and while the earning are minimal, I have student who enroll in my "FREE" course enroll in my "PAID" courses each and every month!

(almost $70.00 last month from my free course!)

• You are not allowed to use promotional emails to FREE students in your FREE course. This is always a bit of a bummer, but I believe the main reason we are not allow to promote is to avoid spamming our free students.
• Engagement and motivation can be tough with free students because we sometimes do not value things we don't pay for! However, if you course is engaging and interactive, students who enroll for free can still be very engaging and wanting to learn!

So, should you create a free course? I say absolutely! The upsides in my opinion outweigh the downsides and you can truly create a win win situation.

Action step: Start brain storming how you can create a new free course today! And then put that energy into action! If you would like to see me create a free course on a specific subject, please post here in our discussion!

Sincerely,

Joe Parys

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Joe Parys