Here’s the Easiest Way to Begin!
By Sahira
So many belly dance instructors have found themselves teaching online this year, whether by choice or by force. Never has it been so easy to connect with instructors and students all over the world – and that’s a beautiful thing! And while the pandemic will eventually end and we will be able to dance in the studio together again – I’m here to tell you that the online class revolution is here to stay. I’ve been teaching online for the last nine years and in that time have learned A LOT (mostly the hard way). I’ve experienced the tech issues, snafus and glitches and suffered through a lot of trial and error to build a successful online belly dance business. When I first began teaching online I offered only live classes. But I quickly saw the value of
recording each class and posting the videos into convenient packages to sell to students to take at their own pace. Fast forward to today and I am blessed to have an online studio that is home to hundreds of students taking thousands of hours of recorded classes with me each week!
There are so many ways in which a recorded class package can allow you to reach more
students and offer more value than teaching live classes alone. Recorded class packages allow you to: Offer additional value or practice resources to your live weekly students.
Integrate new students into class or allow students who have been absent an easy
way to catch up.
Reach students you have connected with through social media or out of town
workshop events
Expand your class offerings to students far beyond your city.
Showcase your teaching style to potential workshop and class teaching gigs.
Keep a detailed record of your creations as an instructor.
I want to share with you two ways you can take your online live classes into the recorded
content realm to expand your offerings, reach new students and create recurring income
streams that don’t depend on your being in the studio every day.
If you are already teaching live classes online chances are that you have almost all of the technology needed to create a library of recorded classes. And there comes a point beyond which you cannot trade any more of your time or energy to teach more hours in the week. So
why not take some of that incredible content you’ve created and use it more than once?
So how do you get started creating your online class video library? One class at a time! And it’s easier than you think.
Please do not overwhelm yourself and feel like you have to have hundreds of hours of content available before anyone would be interested in buying from you. Instead, start simply by basing your first offering off of something you are already doing.
The easiest way to create online recorded content is by recording a live online class you are currently offering. This is a very popular method at the moment and I see all kinds of instructors offering this in their online platforms. For example, you plan to teach an 8-week Technique and Combinations Series on zoom, offer the recordings of the class to your students as part of the package. These recordings can then be sold as a package for others who did not attend the original online course. Just be sure that the package is advertised as a Zoom class recording when you release it for sale so students know exactly what they are purchasing.
Zoom makes it very easy to record the
“Record” button at the bottom of your
screen. Do be aware that Zoom will record
whatever it is that you are seeing, so if you spend most of your class in Gallery Mode to be able to see all of your students, the recording will contain all of your student’s videos as well. If you would prefer to give your students a video that is mostly your screen so they can focus on the instruction then I recommend either logging in from another device to record Speaker View or asking a student to record for you and send you the recording after class.
Once you have offered a few Zoom recordings in your newly created library, you can try your
hand at recording a few videos that are specifically created for your library. These videos
allow you have greater control over setting, content, and quality.
When you create content specifically for your online library you have the flexibility to format
the class a bit differently to maximize the student’s learning experience. Instead of recording
an hour-long class with warm up, drills, technique, combination, zills and cooldown, for
example, you can record each of these concepts as their own segment. Then when students log in they can choose to work on exactly what interests them and what they have time for that day. It also allows you to create less repetitive content – for example, a complete package will have just one warm up and one cool down and students will utilize the same video for those elements each week.
There are so many ways in which a recorded class video library can benefit you as an
instructor.
With an online library you are no longer required to trade your time directly for income.
Recorded classes almost never expire and allow you to create "evergreen" content that is
always relevant and useful to your audience.
Recorded classes allow you to work when it's best for your
schedule, not when it's best for your students’ schedules.
Additionally you can pre-plan content releases so you can take a vacation but still look like
you are releasing material, thus allowing you to take time off without missing a beat!
Considering expanding your offerings to include a recorded class library? I would love to
share more details of the process with you in order to set yourself up for success!
Learn more with my “Recorded Content for Recurring Income” course, which is part of my 7-part “Designing Your Ideal Online Classroom” course on Teachable at SahiraBellyDances.Teachable.com Here is a special discount code for “Recorded Content for Recurring Income”. Enter this at checkout for $10 off the course price. RCLIBRARY10
Sahira is a lifelong performer and has studied music, drama and dance since the age of two. She has dedicated the last 20 years of her life to the art of belly dance and her favorite thing in the world is to share the dance with others. She has trained in both Egyptian and Tribal style belly dance as well as Modern and West
African and loves to incorporate all of these influences in her art. Sahira is a lifelong musician and head over heels crazy about the zills. She is known for her warm and inviting energy and her tendency towards the ridiculous.
Learn more about her at SahiraBellyDances.com or
@SahiraBellyDances on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram