1/ We seem to be naturally settling on a "competitive positioning" with our courses in Forte Academy, that defines what we uniquely offer while also shedding light on modern online education:
"Professional meta-skills with a personal growth component, leveraged by technology"
"Professional meta-skills with a personal growth component, leveraged by technology"
2/ Why professional?
Because it connects to a return-on-investment for the course being offered, making it easier to justify the time, money, and effort required. Also opens possibility of company reimbursement
Because it connects to a return-on-investment for the course being offered, making it easier to justify the time, money, and effort required. Also opens possibility of company reimbursement
3/ Why "meta-skills"
Meta-skills can be generalized across jobs, professions, & industries, meaning they give ppl MORE options instead of over-specialization. They are very difficult to impart through free content, but require socialization and coaching
Meta-skills can be generalized across jobs, professions, & industries, meaning they give ppl MORE options instead of over-specialization. They are very difficult to impart through free content, but require socialization and coaching
4/ Why a personal growth component?
Most difficult skills are difficult because they require deeper change at psycho-emotional level. It's not an info transfer problem, but again a socialization, accountability, modeling, feedback problem that can only be done in groups
Most difficult skills are difficult because they require deeper change at psycho-emotional level. It's not an info transfer problem, but again a socialization, accountability, modeling, feedback problem that can only be done in groups
5/ Why leveraged by technology?
Pairing each skill with a technology tool or platform increases the ROI by giving leverage to what is otherwise a personal, subjective learning process. Provides a way to produce tangible results outside your head as a result of your learning
Pairing each skill with a technology tool or platform increases the ROI by giving leverage to what is otherwise a personal, subjective learning process. Provides a way to produce tangible results outside your head as a result of your learning
6/ All 5 of our courses hit all 4 of these criteria, without intentional planning on our part:
Get Stuff Done Like a Boss pairs GTD-based personal productivity (professional meta-skill) with personal task managers (tech) plus self-awareness (personal growth component)
Get Stuff Done Like a Boss pairs GTD-based personal productivity (professional meta-skill) with personal task managers (tech) plus self-awareness (personal growth component)
7/ Design Your Habits pairs habit formation (professional meta-skill) with habit trackers (tech) and self-discovery and behavior change (personal growth)
8/ Building a Second Brain pairs personal knowledge management (professional meta-skill) with digital notes apps (tech) plus new, more dynamic, creative ways of working it unleashes (personal growth)
9/ Write of Passage pairs blogging (professional meta-skill) with online media platforms (email service providers, website builders, social media) and intellectual and creative self-development (personal growth) required to truly take advantage of them
10/ The Annual Review pairs goal-setting (professional meta-skill) with self-reflection and introspection (personal growth), taking advantage of digital archives to provide working material and inspiration (tech)
11/ This gives us a strong "investment thesis" for which courses to launch in the future, differentiates us from all other online schools, communicates benefits students are receiving at multiple levels, and gives us a strong moat that isn't vulnerable to knockoffs
12/ It is our "personal monopoly" – the intersection of skills, knowledge, offerings, and audience niches that we can define and dominate on the new online education frontier. Luckily, there are infinite such intersections, more than enough for many thousands of online schools
