I’m nearly pee-my-pants excited because the pre-sale for my first online course, Lights Camera Lawsuit: The Legal Side of Professional Photography starts tomorrow! I’ve been working on this for well-over a year, and it’s so close to finally coming to market.
I’ve spent the last week promoting the bejezus out of this, and I’m so pleased that the response has been so positive:
Looks like a powerful product… I’m sure it will prove very popular!
Super good idea, and i love the curriculum.
Sound like a good (and much-needed) product.
Just forwarded it to every photographer I know
I will never stop being amazed at your entrepreneurial talents – what an amazing idea.
On the eve of the pre-sale, I wanted to respond to some of the questions I’ve received about this course.
What inspired you to create this course?
I’ve worked as a lawyer for eight years and a model for five. Basically, I’ve worked on both sides of the camera without having to touch one. I’ve seen there is a great need for quality information about photography law, and, unfortunately, most photographers can’t afford to hire a lawyer to help with all their legal needs. I’ve seen too many photographers make costly mistakes that were completely avoidable, particularly related to their contracts and copyright. I created this course to save other photographers from making the same mistakes.
Why did you create a course instead of another type of product or event?
There are three reasons. First, by creating a course, I can maximize the number of people I can help while keeping the price down.
Second, the material in the course is evergreen (at least until the law changes), so I want it to be available when people are ready for it and looking for a reliable resource about photography law.
Third, people who buy the course will be able to access it again and again, versus a live event which is a one-and-done deal. If there are changes to the law, I can update the lesson in question or add an additional lesson to the course, and everyone who had purchased it to date will get it at no additional cost.
Does the course include contract templates?
No, and here’s why – I’m not allowed to under the rules of my law license. However, the course includes the list of provisions I include in my contracts and lots of sample verbiage from real documents I’ve created for photographer clients.
Where did the name Scarlet Maven come from?
Scarlet Maven is the name of my superhero alter ego.
Why did you have to create a separate business entity? What type did you create?
I created a separate entity, Scarlet Maven, LLC, to make it clear that there will not be an attorney-client relationship with people who buy the course.
On the advice of my accountant, I created an LLC for this business. LLCs are a great choice In Arizona, because they are basically set-it-and-forget-it entities. The state doesn’t require an annual report or fee. I don’t have to file anything with the state unless the company moves or dissolves.
What aspects of the course did you outsource?
Each lesson is going to be a screencast with a voiceover recording. I hired Elizabeth Fullerton at Boldfaced Design to create the templates for the PowerPoint slides.
Additionally, because I have no artistic talent and only had a feeling about what I wanted my logo to look like, I hired Dina Miller at Square Peg Creative to create the logos for Scarlet Maven and Lights Camera Lawsuit.
Both were money well spent. These ladies did a beautiful job.
How have you been promoting the course?
In addition to promoting the course through Scarlet Maven’s email list, I sent well over 500 individual emails to photographers, lawyers, and other professional creatives who might be interested in the course or who might know people who would be interested in the course.
The promotion won’t end with the pre-sale. I expect Lights Camera Lawsuit will be a course I sell for years to come, so I’ll continue to look for opportunity to reach more people about it.
What parts of this process were fun?
Creating the outline for the course and each of the lessons was fun. So has been talking with photographers about their needs and what they hoped to get out of this.
What new skills did you have to learn?
This venture gave me the opportunity to learn some new skills. This was the first time I ever created a website with Squarespace. It’s quite different than working with WordPress, but not too hard once you learn the basics.
This is my first online course, and I’m using Teachery for it. I was so glad and relieved to learn that this platform is super easy to use. I’ve also taken a number of courses that platform, so I know how easy it is for users as well.
What challenges did you face?
Scarlet Maven is my side business, so one of the challenges I faced was making time to devote to the business, create the course, and promote it. I still have my full-time job being a lawyer, writer, and speaker where I don’t always control when I have deadlines or when work gets dropped in my lap.
The biggest challenge I faced, by far, with this venture has been managing my anxiety.
- What if no one likes it?
- What if no one buys it?
- What if I screw up making it and it never gets to market?
These are the types of fears I wrestled with on a daily basis. Sometimes they caused me to procrastinate working on the course. The best way I knew to manage them was to focus on the next task in front of me instead of being consumed by the bigger fears related to the course’s overall success.
Lights Camera Lawsuit Pre-sale: February 14th-18th
The pre-sale for Lights Camera Lawsuit: The Legal Side of Professional Photography will last only five days!
Pre-sale Starts: Friday, February 14, 2020 at 8am AZ Time
Pre-sale Ends: Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 6pm AZ Time
Pre-sale Price: $199 (60% discount)
Please subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out on this fantastic pre-sale price. I’ll never offer this course at this price again.
When the course goes live on March 16, 2020, the price will be $497. This is still a bargain for 10+ hours of legal information, but why pay more?