Casey Morris (0:00)

There's something sacred about live connection. It's the digital version of a classroom's aha moment and when done right, it's the gateway to a six figure teacher business. Hey teachers, welcome back to the CEO Teacher Podcast where we blend passion, purpose and profitable teacher business tips with your entire heart. I'm your host Casey Morris and today we are diving in to what I think is the number one tool that that helped me go from burnout middle school teacher to a multiple seven figure business owner. Now, it wasn't overnight, it took years to develop, but hopefully I'm going to give you some tips and tricks today that are going to help you get started on the right track to live webinars tomorrow. So stick around. You don't want to miss it. Hey friend, it's Casey. I'm a teacher mom to four CrossFit enthusiast and I am a CEO teacher just like you. You know those incredible lesson plans and activities that you're already creating? What if they could be doing more than just impacting your students throughout the school year? What if they could also be padding your bank account without adding extra hours to your already packed schedule? I created a quick, fun two minute quiz to help you. It's going to help you discover your personalized teacher business path based on your skills and your dreams. It's going to help you get crystal clear on the next steps so you're not stuck feeling like what's next? And it's going to allow you to see inspiring examples of teachers just like you who are making extra income without ever leaving the classroom. If you're nodding along yes, that's exactly what I need, then you are where you're meant to be. If you're ready to unlock your best path Forward as a CEO teacher, go to Casey morris.com quiznow to get started. Let's turn your passion into profit together, one step at a time. That's K A Y-S E M O R R I S.com quiz so let's chat Live Webinars this is not a prerecorded snooze fest. This is not a slide deck that you rushed through between bell ringers. This is a real deal human connection and an event that turns your people into your people because you all get to know each other, have a real conversation and figure out what works and what doesn't. Knowing your data from your webinars specifically over the course of a couple of years will help you dial in exactly how to use sales strategies with your ideal clients, but also how to have a conversation with them that doesn't feel fake and feels absolutely genuine and authentic. So we're going to talk about the exact setup that you need, especially in 2025. And then I want to chat briefly kind of about the psychology of teacher buying behavior and also how you can connect with your people after the webinar goes off air. Now, I had a wild hair today, and I was thinking about circa 2013, Casey and I would stay up late at night and I would drink my coffee at night, like past 9pm so that I could stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning working on my teacher business. And I bought a course back then from the goat, Amy Porterfield. I'm going to talk about her in today's show, and it was called Webinars that Convert. Now, I could not afford her program at the time, but I watched her webinar on her program called Webinars that Convert. And I remember that it was so far over my head, I had no idea what she was talking about. And I just thought, wow, this woman is so amazing. But I thought back to that version of me and I thought, I wonder if teachers feel just like I felt in 2013 when it comes to webinars. So I'm just curious, do you feel that way? Are you overwhelmed? Do you not even know where to start? If so, send me a message on Instagram, Casey Morris, and let's have a conversation about it, because I've got a wild hair that maybe, just maybe, I want to create something specifically for teachers that teaches step by step what we've learned over the last decade when it comes to hosting live webinars for teachers. So, yes, everything I'm teaching you today is backed by real stories from real launches. We've been launching since 2018, but I've been hosting live webinars myself since about 2016. Okay, so let's talk about the webinar that, like, I mean, I don't know if I want to say, changed my life. It just changed how I viewed webinars. So we're going to rewind to 2017. I had had a few major flop webinars. Specifically on my first course, I did sell eight of them, but it was called the Entrepreneurs Photography School. In case you didn't know, I used to be an amateur photographer, and I thought I was going to just teach everyone how to be the best photographer, even though I wasn't a good one. So I did sell eight of them. Some of them became my very first students in my teacher business, which I love. That for them, meaning they were, they were around since the very beginning. But I did a few webinars on that program and they were awful. Slides were cute. Webinar presentation, horrible. So let's think about 2017 though. This is when I started to really get in my groove about webinars. I started understanding the psychology and figuring them out. So I. I'm sitting in my Toyota Avalon parked outside of my son's elementary school and I was so freaking nervous, like all day long. I couldn't eat. I was so afraid. I had been doing YouTube videos, but they were pre recorded so I could edit out anything I sounded stupid doing. And I had a really thick Southern accent back then. I've worked really hard on that for you guys with my podcast voice. But I was just so nervous about, you know. You know, it's like, am I going to say a cuss word? Am I going to sound dumb? Am I going to be a deer in the headlights? I was just so nervous, couldn't eat, my hands were shaking. And I was about to go live with my very first webinar. I think the first time for the day. I slaughtered at like 5:00'. Clock. And then I didn't realize that people had an evergreen webinar strategy. I thought that Amy Porterfield was doing webinars like every hour on the hour because I had watched and signed up for them, even though it was a replay of a webinar. So my first webinar, I think I did three in one day, which is insanity because I would never recommend that. I've never done that since, by the way. But I was so nervous. I did not have fancy tech. It was just me. My slides were okay at best. My outline was written, but it was on sticky notes with the slides. So I wanted to do just images and not a lot of words on the slide. So I had sticky notes all over my desk for like slide number one. And I was trying to stay on track, but. But what I did have, minus all the bad things, was a heart to help people. And I had this gut feeling that if I could just talk to other teachers, I could show them maybe, just maybe there was a different way than what they were doing. That night I cried. Not because I made $400, which was the most money I had ever made in an hour at that point, but because I saw the light come back into a whole group of other teachers eyes. Now that webinar was on interactive notebooks. And it wasn't long after that that TPT asked me to present that same webinar on one of their town hall ish type meetings and I made thousands of dollars in one hour. So because I had the heart to put myself out there, it didn't take long for it to truly gain attraction. But the key here is connection. Remember that connection converts and it always will. So that one webinar was just the beginning of the power I realized I had within me. Because behind the idea of a webinar itself. Now, I don't know how many webinars I've done since then, but if I had to guess, it's close to a hundred. And if you throw in live videos like Facebook Lives, YouTube Lives streams, it's probably close to 250. So just like with anything else in life, being a beginner is insanely hard. Walking into a CrossFit gym for the first time, even though I've been doing CrossFit for nearly four years, if I go out of town and I have to go to a new place, I have to convince myself every single step of the way to get my foot out of the door and go walk in. I love people, so once I'm in there, I'm fine. But just getting there is half the battle. So like anything else in life, being a beginner at something is hard and you're going to suck. You're going to mess up. Then one day you just don't anymore. It becomes easy, effortless, and worth every single hour that you invested to be a better version of yourself. Now, whether that's learning how to eat well again or getting into the gym or getting back into your bible starting little bit habits, eventually it'll just become what you do. And so I want to encourage you to put yourself out there when it comes to webinars because I can promise you webinars convert and I can also assure you that webinars are our number one way to make money. Hands down, I could do a webinar365 at this point. I can spend an hour with teachers on fire for learning. It's so much fun. And that's the best part. It's all within an hour. I'm a busy mom to four. I don't have a whole lot of time. Now. I hate when people tell you that and then they don't tell you the truth behind it. There's a lot of preparation leading up to that one hour. I would say weeks on end. However, once you hit live, it is just one hour. And once it's already created, you can replay it or redo it over and over and over again. So it's taken us years to perfect and a million and one errors to find out exactly what works and what doesn't. So I wanted to give you some tips and tricks on how to make the magic happen for you. First things first. Forget perfection. I know that sounds silly, but you have to. The first thing you need to think about is kind of like me thinking, what gym am I going to go to? It's what platform are you going to use? We have used all of the above. I'm going to mention here today, and I will tell you which ones we recommend. So, most reliable webinar platforms are Zoom, demeo and Ever Webinar. And Zoom is inherently the easiest for teachers because they have used Zoom in the past. But everwebinar has a lot of features that Zoom doesn't have. I don't recommend demeo. We did that back in the day. But I don't necessarily recommend it for the best use of your time. Some of you already have Zoom. However, adding on webinars is an extra amount of money, and that's kind of frustrating because you only need it for a day or two. But adding on like seats for webinars is an extra add on with Zoom, Whereas every webinar has like free trials and things like that. So what I love about Ever Webinar. Wait, no, it's Ever Webinar Jam and Hold on, no, it's Ever Webinar. But okay, what's so confusing? I'm going to take this back for just a second to kind of explain it, is that Ever Webinar and Webinar Jam are the same platform. Ever Webinar is used for evergreen webinars, meaning you've already recorded it live and then you're just going to replay it and you're going to send people to it or for eternity. So technically, I should have given you Zoom and Webinar Jam. Webinar Jam and every webinar are created by the same company. Webinar Jam is the live version of the webinar inside of their platform. Why we named it two different things, I don't know. I don't know. It makes no sense to me. But anyways, zoomio and Webinar Jam are my top live webinar setups platforms. Webinar Jam, if you record a webinar live on there, you can then put it into Everwebinar to have it run365. All right. If I'm confusing you, awesome. Maybe we're going to learn something Today. Okay, so next up is your slide strategy. Hands down, the most important part of your webinar setup. Let's talk slides. And no, I'm not talking about Google Slide templates that are cheesy and ugly. I want them. I want them big, bold, and beautiful. And I want you to forget about all of the things that you learned about making slides in your classroom. And I want you you to think fun, interactive, and focus on what matters most. The three Cs that matter the most when it comes to your slide strategy are connection, clarity, and confidence. So you don't have to have 87 slides with transitions and GIFs and glitter. Although I love that I try to do that. You need the right kind of content. You need something that feels like you're standing in front of your old classroom again, showing your students something new and exciting for the very first time. I love real life photos. I always share pictures of the beginning of our journey and what it used to look like. Because your slides are anchor points for the overall lesson. They're there to support the message. But remember, they're not there to steal the spotlight. You are the teacher. It's your job to steal the spotlight. So let me explain it this way. In the beginning slide one, you're not just introducing yourself. You're relating to them. You have to tell them who you are. Because once I didn't do that. And at the end of it, a guy sent us a message in the comments. He was like, why would I buy it anything from you when I have no idea if you've ever even been a teacher before? So don't just say, hey, I'm Sarah, a third grade teacher from Alabama. I mean, that's fine, but that's super, super surface level. Say something like, hey, I was grading papers during the Bachelor and crying because I felt like I was a failure. And then I volunteered for another committee and my brain was so fried and I was drinking wine, watching tv, and I thought to myself, you know what? I bet another teacher has felt like. I felt. I feel like maybe one of you have been in my shoes before. And so immediately when you share a story like that, people lean in because they connect there. Maybe it's through the Bachelor. Maybe it's glass of red wine. Maybe it's signing up for another committee that they didn't really want to do. But having a true connection piece in the very beginning of your webinar is going to help it convert. Now, there's a lot of messy middle in here, but the middle of your webinar so after those first initial introductions into the lesson and all of that, I want you to remember that your only goal, your only goal for the whole webinar is to teach one thing really, really well. Not five things, one thing. And I call that your framework. I teach one core component. Now, it could be five things compiled into one large framework, but overall, it's just one thing. The most profitable webinars, they don't overload with value. However, they do inspire with clarity. So let's say Your membership helps 5th grade teachers with classroom management through mindfulness practices. You could teach one course shift that they can make today to reduce chaos. So, for example, say something like, instead of starting your day with announcements and rules, let's try a three minute visualization activity with your students. And I want to show you exactly how it works. That's it. You'll give them a bite of that three minute visualization activity, but you're not giving them the buffet. The buffet is going to be the program that you sell at the end of the webinar. So your membership or a large curriculum or an extension of a product is where the transformation actually lives. The webinar, it just shows them what's possible. And while you're teaching, you'll want your slide visuals to follow this mantra. One idea per slide, big font, less noise. Think anchor chart, not textbook. So once you get through the messy middle, when you teach everything that you need to teach, you're going to want to add in slides from your students, maybe utilizing your products or member success stories, testimonials, if you will. Don't spend six full slides telling me that there's a PDF and Q&As and a Facebook group that goes along with your program. Instead, show me what your program has done for other people's lives. Almost always on night one of a big launch. Get emotional during this part because I get to retell the stories of my students and I go back to when they first started in our programs and I get to share stories about Joya from Australia and she got to leave the classroom just because she was blogging. And I shared her story on a webinar a couple of weeks ago and I said something about her making $180,000 and she messaged me on Instagram because she was live on that webinar just, just tuning in and she was like, casey, I've made over 300,000 dol now. Or it makes me think about Tara from Autism Little Learners. I love telling her story about her humble beginnings and her Sharing her idea for a dream home and being able to purchase that and leaving the classroom and hiring her best friend. Like, being able to tell those stories, especially live. It speaks not only to me, but also it comes from my heart, and it allows me to connect with other teachers and they get to say, wow, that could be me, too. So it could be. Maybe you don't have, like, crazy big success stories yet, but it could be something like, some teacher told me that my program helped them plan an entire month in 30 minutes. Or someone sent you a direct message and it said, you know, I didn't quit this year because of your program. When teachers are overwhelmed, they're not going to buy a product. Stuff doesn't sell. Stories sell. So please, for the love of all that is good, do not spend 40 minutes of your hour webinar telling us about everything that's in your program. I save about. I think I might give five minutes to the core and the meat of our program. Everything else is based off of storytelling and hype or excitement, because that's what slides should do. They should breathe life into your listeners. Now, in the final slide, live for a QVC moment, Webinars are my favorite thing. Okay, so at the very end, I feel like the lady on QVC that's counting down the jewelry piece. My best friend's mom used to buy off a QVC all the time. And, like, it's a core memory for me as a child. And so every time I went to her house, her mom and dad were watching qvc. And the person is like, it's the jewelry piece, and there's only three left, and they're counting down. We've got 10 minutes left to buy. Call this number. And so it's cheesy, but it really speaks to the teacher. And it uses psychology, like urgency and scarcity to get people to buy. So when you get to the offer, meaning you're saying the price point, I used to be so nervous here. But we have so much data that when I start explaining how nervous I am and how I feel guilty for taking money, people drop off the call. So all I can tell you is speak with confidence and clarity that what you're charging is what it is worth and people will stay. So say something leading into the sales part that feels good. Not like today, for 9.97, you can buy. Instead, say something like, I made this because I wish it existed for me and it's this much money. Or I see the work you're doing and I've built this to make your life feel a lot lighter, and you can purchase it starting at this price or something like, I'm inviting you to a better classroom experience, not just for your kids, but also for you, because you deserve it, too. And it's this much money. Forget the script. Honestly, just speak from your heart. That's what gets clicks. Don't apologize. Don't tell people that you feel guilty because your program or service is truly going to help them. And that creates a business that lasts. I know that we deal with guilt as teachers, but I promise you, if you can leave that at the door when it comes to your webinar, it will convert. And if you're worried that your slides aren't professional enough, let me lovingly say to you, just stop. Your audience is not looking for a designer. They're just looking for a guide. So be a teacher. One that lights the way and one that shows up even when it's not perfect. So if you have to choose between perfect slides and a powerful delivery, just pick you every single time. Because your story, your transformation, and your genuine energy. That's the real slide strategy. Of course, I'm going to tell you to use your face video on Always Boost Trust. I would say by 200 more percent than a voice standalone ever could. All right, and then my final tip for today is your energy. You are a magnetic person. No one remembers if your mic glitched, but they will remember if your voice was shaking or if you were nervous. And if you look them in the eyes and say, I believe in you when you really don't. So I got this idea from Amy Porterfield back in circa 2013, and I think she said that she played a song before every single webinar. And her song, I think, was Don't Stop Believing. So I took that idea and I play a song before every webinar. Now, historically, that song has been A Million Dreams from the Greatest showman. It was number one on my playlist. I would. I would listen to it on the way to my office. I would listen to it in the office, and it's so cheesy. But the line where it says, we can live in a world that we design, I would just pray on that. And I would think about all the teachers coming into my webinar and I would say, lord, help me allow them to build a world that they design, not one that has already been built for them or when they think they have to follow. And so since then, though, I've changed a little bit of my mindset around webinars. In the beginning it was kind of make or break, like I needed the money so bad. And now I just have been jamming to Brandon Lake and I just say, okay, thanks God for your grace. And I'm going to listen to this song gratitude. And I know that no matter what happens within this hour, money wise, I'm grateful to have a positive impact on the teachers inside of this webinar. And that's enough for me. And I know you'll provide me with more than enough. And so for me, it has such a great energy going into the webinar that once the song comes off, I'm ready to go. I usually drink an energy drink because, yeah, my webinars sometimes go live at 8 and 9pm but energy is everything and our team will tell us automatically. They know and I know which webinar is the best. Even though I think say the same things and I do the same slides, my energy affects everything that I do inside of the webinar. So remember, just sell without sleaze. And I think that you already can do that because you're a teacher. But the main highlights here are don't list features. Remember, stuff doesn't sell stories. Do. So instead of saying something like, you get this many lesson plans and video trainings, say something like, so this teacher, Melissa, she was drowning in Sunday night planning. Now she pours a glass of wine, downloads her roadmap inside of our program and gets her weekend back. So remember, you're the teacher and repetition is our jam. So you're going to say your call to action as many times as you can. So during my QVC moment, when I have the countdown on the screen, I am going to repeat. I'm going to just give you an example. Casey morris.com go. That's our purchase now button. I'm going to say that between every question and I'm going to remind them of how much time they have left to purchase it within the hour. So before the pitch, you want to give them the link to join during the pitch, meaning after you say how much money that it's going to cost, you're going to say something like, ready to do this? Head on over to Casey morris.com go. And then before you close, so even after the time countdown is over, even if you're nervous, especially if no one bawled or something like that, be confident and say, hope you could join us again. And if you didn't get in within this hour, you won't get this and this and this. But you could still join us. And then of course, in order to seal the deal, you gotta follow up with emails. You need at least a 5 email sequence that recaps the webinar, maybe shares testimonials that you shared within the webinar, maybe have another email about an faq, another email that tugs on their heartstrings, and then finally a last call, maybe on the last day. Okay, I hope you got a lot of information. I could talk about webinars all day long. So this is just the bare minimum of how your webinar could get started again. If you're interested in learning more about webinars, send me a direct message on Instagram at Casey Morris and we can chat in the DM so I can really get a feel for what you're looking for and what you need. And if maybe us creating a program or service for you is in our best interest too. Thanks so much for listening. In the future. We're going to be releasing an email marketing program in the coming weeks. I can't wait to talk more about that. But as always, remember, your best is yet to come and I'll see you right here next Wednesday.