I use the acronym M.O.D.E.L.S. to note the following six kinds of lesson structure…
M – MISTAKES.
O – ORGANIZES.
D – DIFFERENCES.
E – EXPERIENCES.
L – LANDMARKS.
S – SHORTCUTS.
Let’s take a look at each of these in greater detail…
M.O.D.E.L. #1: Mistakes
The entire arrangement of this particular type of lesson is to reveal mistakes you’ve made, or mistakes that are commonly made among those participating in whatever pursuit your FTM site covers.
This is an especially great lesson when you can share mistakes, problems and potential pitfalls that usually aren’t forecast.
In other words, share those things that might sideswipe
your readers because they never see them coming.
A few possible lesson titles include…
- What To Do When ___________ Happens
- 7 Warning Signs That Show You’re _______________
- 5 Problems No One Prepared Me For (And How YOU Can Avoid Them)
- Three Ways To Overcome The Common ____________
- Are You Headed For _________ Disaster? Take This Quiz.
There are undoubtedly some things you’ve done wrong, some insights you’ve learned the hard way and / or some tips you wish you’d known ahead of time in terms of getting past barriers (both seen and unseen).
A lesson detailing these “mistakes” is a great idea for a future entry into your series.
M.O.D.E.L. #2: Organizes
This is a MUCH-NEEDED and MUCH-WANTED lesson in virtually every major market and niche – so it’s a given that you should incorporate it into your lesson mix.
The idea is simple –
Create a weekly planner or schedule that details activities
the reader should complete for each day of the week.
One of the most asked questions that I’ve received over the past 8 years I’ve been online is this: what should I do each day?
This lesson answers that question.
Some examples include…
- 3 “Things To Do” Every Day For ___________ Success
- The ___________’s Weekly Activity Schedule
- The ___________’s Week At A Glance Planner
- How To ___________ in 1 Hour Each Business Day
- Your Daily, Weekly and Monthly __________ Checklists
When you hand your readers an action plan broken down into daily activities, you do them a great service. You break things down into reasonable, reachable tasks. And your customers can visualize actually getting them done simply because they are no longer looking at the whole, but at the parts.
And, in addition to that, you receive a great benefit as well. You’ve just brainstormed ideas for half a dozen or more future lessons. That’s right, future lessons can be written to further explain or enhance each of the activities that you include on the schedule!
Another great lesson to include in your FTM series.
Note: Just as an aside for you grammar geeks, I realize that “organizes” is a verb and not a noun as the other “models” are. But it fits my outline and this is my lesson so I’ll use it in this manner if I want to. J
M.O.D.E.L. #3: Differences
Every single one of us likes to see improvement in whatever pursuit we have on our agenda.
- If I’m trying to compete as a tennis player, I want to improve my shot-making and strategizing.
- If I’m trying to make money with an FTM site, I want to improve various aspects from opt-in rate to conversion rate to click-thru rate.
- If I’m trying to raise my kids right, I want to improve their behavior! J
The point is: we all want things to be better. Even if we’re completely satisfied and content, we’d still welcome anything to make a good situation great and a great situation the best it could possibly be.
That makes the sharing of “differences” … small changes, tweaks, adjustments, variations … that can improve our experience or results from the experience.
Some ideas include…
- 5 Simple Changes To Get Better _________ Results
- 3 Things You Can Do Today To Speed Up Your Results
- How I Cut My __________ Time In Half With Even Greater Results
- 12 Tiny “Extras” That Automatically Improve Your __________
- Built-In Triggers For Doubling Your Output
If you can share any kind of simple, effective changes that your clients can make in order to achieve faster, easier or better results … they’ll thank you by staying with you.
M.O.D.E.L. #4: Experiences
You probably have some unique experiences that you can share that others haven’t gone through. This is especially true for those of your customers who are just starting out.
A lesson devoted to sharing things you’ve learned is
another wonderful option for you to offer as your weekly content.
Example: I’ll give you an example of an experience that I’d quickly share if I had a “running” FTM site. After several weeks of following a training program for running a marathon, I developed several problems. Plantar fasciitis, ankle soreness, displaced knee cap, swollen IT band, etc. All of these were on the same leg … my left leg. I talked with my next door neighbor about this as she’s a physical therapist. Her first question was: do you run on the same side of the road all the time? I replied, “yes” and she said “there’s your problem”. Roads are sloped down to allow water to run off the edges. By running only on one side, I was forcing my leg to be positioned in an unnatural way. Not one of the 10 books that I’ve looked at on running have ever suggested that you should run on both sides of the road. I started doing this and haven’t had trouble since.
My point is this: I wish someone had told me about this before I had to experience it myself.
That’s what this kind of lesson is all about … sharing those things that you wish someone had told you about before learning it by your own experiences.
I guarantee you that your members would much rather you say, “Look, here’s what I learned, here’s what I recommend based on this”, than they would like to learn it themselves.
Some example lesson ideas are…
- 10 Things I’ve Learned About ___________
- The Most Valuable ____________ Lesson In The World
- 5 Case Studies For Figuring Out How To _____________
- 3 Things Nobody Told Me About _______ (And I’m Still Mad!)
- The Top 7 Coolest Things I Discovered About ____________
- Off The Beaten Path: 5 Things No One Knows About ________
Do you see how you have so many lessons inside of you? You just need to see HOW to share this information by looking at some different “models” for structuring your content.
On to the next one…
M.O.D.E.L. #5: Landmarks
Here’s another lesson idea that most members are sure to appreciate. With this one, you simply share some “landmarks” for readers to identify on their trek to the completion of whatever it is that you’re teaching them.
In other words, you provide a timeline of events, milemarkers, activities and results that the reader can look for to track their progress.
Consider it the GPS for your FTM. It’s a positioning lesson to let the reader know what to expect along the way and how to know they are headed in the right direction in their pursuit.
No one wants to look back weeks into an endeavor and realize they made a wrong turn someone along the way. Instead, we want to know that we are making progress and headed towards the intended destination.
A few examples include…
- What To Expect Your First Year In _____________
- How To Know You’ve Made It As A ______________
- 3 Indicators You’re Headed In The Right Direction
- Your Week-By-Week ____________ Timeline For Success
- A Printable Look At Your First 90 Days
One of the real needs within most information based businesses is to not only hand the reader a roadmap that illustrates how to get from here to there, but also to tell them “You Are Here” repeatedly throughout the trip so they can see progress.
Progress usually translates into persistence. That’s a good thing because you’re customers are getting what they paid for. And you’re getting a satisfied customer.
One more “model” to go…
M.O.D.E.L. #6: Shortcuts
This is one of my all-time favorite kinds of lessons … and is by-far one of the best received lessons for obvious reasons as you’re about to see.
The idea for this lesson is to share “shortcuts” to success.
We live in a microwave world.
We want results.
And we want them NOW.
I don’t know any dieter who wants to lose 10 pounds slowly. And I don’t know any parent who wants years of struggles before their kid learns to behave. No one comes to mind when I try to remember someone saying at a stop light, “Wow, I wish that red light hadn’t ended so soon.”
Unless there is some kind of enjoyment in the process itself, we’d just as soon skip it (or speed it up) so we can get to what we really want.
A lesson detailing shortcuts to the desired result is yet another solid consideration.
A few examples include…
- How I ___________ Faster Than Anyone Else I Know
- 3 Shortcuts That Save Me Hours Every Week
- The Real Secret To Getting __________ As Quickly As Possible
- How To Get The __________ Results You Want In Half The Time
- 5 Things You Can Do To “Speed Up” Your Results
- Is It Taking Too Long? Try These Time-Savers…
I don’t know about you, but I’d love to get the results I want faster than I’ve been getting them. Build a better microwave and you’ll rule the world.
With that, we come to the conclusion of our “models”.
