Description: Interview with life coach, blogger and teacher Andrea Scher (from Superhero Life). Topics include how to create creative and successful online courses, and tips for marketing your courses in a real and authentic way.

About Andrea Scher

I’m Andrea Scher, creator of Superhero Life — where we all learn together to use our voices, share our superpowers and live life in full color. As an artist, photographer, life coach + mentor, I’m redefining what it means to be a SUPERHERO — ‘cause in my world, it’s got nothing to do with capes, spandex or sidekicks and everything to do with tenderness, intuition & baby steps of bravery.

Superhero Life is a love letter + resourceful playground for all my fellow creative superheroes. Moms who want to paint. Painters who want to write. Writers who want to travel. And travelers who want to come home.

I’ve been writing + teaching online for nearly 10 years — back when the web was a much quieter place. My intention is to make Superhero Life feel like a virtual oasis — a space for unhurried healing, beauty, and joy to unfold.

Learn more about Andrea at SuperheroLife.com.

Key Points & Takeaways

1. Andrea came to recognize that community was a key component of her courses… It was more fun and motivating to have people sharing and supporting each other. Reflect on how you can help people share and support each other in your programs.
2. Being an authentic leader and teacher is about really creating courses that are in alignment with what I most need in my life. Ask, “What course is next for me? What do I want to share? What are my edges right now? Where does my curiosity live?” Teach what you most need to learn — it creates the most alive experience for yourself as a teacher, and for your students.
3. “I’m in it with you, I’m in the experience with you.” Try relating to your participants as a community of people engaged in shared inquiry, rather than a traditional expert-learner relationship.
4. Andrea’s motto: “Fun and Easy.” That’s the learning experience she tries to create. Make it easy and fun for people to chime in and share their voice. Reflect on: What can be your motto for your courses?
5. Keep the bar low on sharing and contribution, by asking questions that are easy to respond to. For example, she asks people to share a single line or quote from a magazine that inspires them. This is an easy way for people to get started contributing. Try to ask simple questions that tap into emotion or prompt people to share stories.
6. Vary the media you include in your course. Andrea uses audio, video, downloadable PDFs, and other media to make her courses feel more playful, and “honor different kinds of learners.”
7. “Show, don’t tell.” Storytelling is core to Andrea’s work. Through stories, she can be vulnerable and connect with her community. Take the ideas and challenges you care about, and share them through stories.
8. Vulnerability is the secret to powerful teaching. By showing that you’re willing to be vulnerable yourself, and share your struggles and challenges, you create opportunity for your participants to do the same. For example, a health coach could share her own story of how she came to that work, and what was her personal awakening around her health.
9. Andrea tries to create a space in her course community that feels really safe and intimate, and attract participants who want to be in that kind of space.
10. You don’t need everyone to sign up for your course — just the right people. People who really resonate with you and your voice. You grow your audience by continually coming back to that place.
11. In your marketing: acknowledge, and then inspire. Acknowledge the need, desire or longing that your ideal participant has, and then inspire people with your specific solution. Try adapting these questions to your situation: “Is there a _______ (novel? painting? course?) brewing inside you? What if you could _________ in a day?”
12. Think of your course offering as a unique learning and community experience, tied to your personal experience and point-of-view. It’s not off-the-shelf content, and it’s not something people can get anywhere else.
13. Check out AlexandraFranzen.com for great insights on writing sales pages, about pages, and other copy that’s critical to your

Andrea’s coaching for creating authentic courses

People want real — really, really.

They don’t want you to be perfect, or the “expert,” or have the answer to every single question.

They just want real.

If you can bring your expertise and your passion and your real to the table, it will work.

You will attract a really beautiful audience, and they will trust you.

Be really generous with your heart, and be open, and you’ll create enormous goodwill over time.

Resources & Links

The Superhero Manifesto

Andrea has written The Superhero Manifesto for you.

She says, “This downloadable PDF is my little gift to you. Feel free to print out this poster, tack it on the wall, or simply read it and get inspired. I originally wrote this for my photo course but it also encapsulates the way I like to live.”

Get Andrea’s Superhero Maninfesto and get inspired »