📫 Ask Sarah: Running Online Group Programs & Masterminds (Episode #04)

“Ask Sarah” is a private monthly podcast for you to ask questions about business, life, parenting, or anything you’re curious about. This podcast is one of our perks for paid subscribers. When you upgrade your subscription to go paid, you’ll get access to the previous conversations on parenting sleep, how discipline and willpower change as a parent, how I keep up with habit building when exhausted, a detailed case study on content marketing as a solo entrepreneur, and all future episodes.

Plus, you’ll get a private RSS feed, access to private viewings of some of my paid talks, exclusive chat forums and our book club conversations. This is only just getting started, so if you’re thinking about going paid, make sure you lock it in during our January Sale which ends in nine days.

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Designing online group programs: an inside look at The Wise Women’s Council’s design, structure, and methods

The specific question I got for this Ask Sarah podcast episode was regarding how I’ve designed and built the Wise Women’s Council. This is the sixth cohort running, and I’ve been running masterminds, retreats, and group programs for over ten years now. Running the Wise Women’s Council generates over $200k in annual revenue, and has become an incredible community and alumni network. A few years ago, I had someone ask me all about the program design and structure. Here’s the question I got that prompted me to record this episode:

“How did you design The Wise Women’s Council and why did you design it the way you did? How did you decide on the model for your membership? Have you been in other programs like this structured in the same way?”

The Founder Summit, part of the Calm Company Fund. Photography by Michael Freas.

In this episode of Ask Sarah—our bonus podcast for folks who upgrade to become paid subscribers—I’ll go over how I planned out the group’s structure, created goals, figured out what works for me (and what I hope works for you) and how to get better at creating other mastermind groups over time. Creating a group program is not easy. In this episode, I’ll share:

• What it takes to make a group program fit your community specifically

• The biggest mistakes people make when designing a program and why it makes your audience feel overwhelmed and drop out (This is not the goal!)

• What most people don’t remember to consider in both the design of the program as well as the sales page—and how to make your program stand out.

• Plus, you’ll get access to the key takeaways summary, quote highlights, and a written transcript of the conversation.

ASK SARAH EPISODE #04: BEHIND THE SCENES — DESIGNING OUTSTANDING ONLINE GROUP PROGRAMS

This episode was recorded in 2019. While I no longer use Teachable as the platform for my community today, the design thinking concepts, structure, and design principles are very relevant in today’s online-focused world.