Sunset over the Mississippi River from my trip to Baton Rouge
This time for real.
You know how sometimes, in a push to get a project off the ground, you put something out there you're just not happy with. Well, that's precisely what happened to the Finishing School online courses!
Back in January, after working on the website for over a year, we launched our online classes with what in retrospect seems like a super complicated way to take classes. It just didn’t feel right to me. I couldn’t get excited about it.
We went back to the drawing board, and with a lot of thought, research, and testing, we completely refigured the way things work. Oddly, to make the site easier for people to buy courses, made it much more complicated on the backend. It hurt our brains hard. Webmistress Reb and I went home many days with drool trickling from the corner of our mouths, the outward manifestation of our brain-dead stupor.
Here’s how it works:
FREE Social Membership:
If you've been our classes, you know that bringing women together, to learn from each other, is what the Finishing School for Modern Women is all about.
The free social membership entitles you to be part of our community through the Forum, interacting with women near and far to share thoughts, insights, ideas, resources, accomplishments, and so much more.
I am super excited about the Forum and can already see ways this will extend the relationships we start in live classes. For example, after the Conversations of Color panel discussion, many of the people who attended wanted to continue the conversation. If we’d have had the Forum at that time, we could have kept the communication flowing in a group discussion on our secure site.
Social Members can purchase classes individually for $39, whenever they like from the Course Catalog. We have two courses available now and plan to add a new course each month, so check back frequently to see what’s new.
All new members get the Orientation Course free too. This course answers the question, “Where to start?” Go to “My Courses” after you sign up to access our orientation course of super short videos on how to get started, cruise around, and get the most from your membership.
Monthly Membership:
With a monthly membership, you get all the perks of being a Social Member plus:
Monthly Course of your Choice from the Course Catalog: Courses are divided into five to eight video lessons, that are 5 to 15 minutes long. They can be done on computer, phone, or tablet on your schedule. Between each lesson are short, interactive quizzes. There are exercises designed to help you explore the information and apply it to your life, similar to what we do in our live classes.
Workbooks – Each course comes with a downloadable workbook to help you follow along with the videos, take notes, and work on the exercises in the quizzes.
Exclusive access live webinars and archives – Join the interactive monthly live video webinar for open discussions and Q & A, special guests, or panel discussions on topics announced in advance. The webinars will be recorded and archived so you can watch, even if you can’t make the live event. Webinars will start in September.
Since we’re just getting started, our tempting introductory member price is $30 a month, with automatic recurring payments for as long as you like. If you think you’ll take a class each month, this membership is a no-brainer. You can always switch to a free Social Membership, or cancel anytime if the monthly membership doesn't work for you.
Annual Membership
You can save even more money with an annual membership. For one payment of $288, you’re in for an entire year of breakthroughs and growth. That comes to only $24 a month, a savings of 20%. We appreciate your commitment and offer a 21- day money back, no questions asked, guarantee.
What’s Next?
One of the big lessons I've learned in the past six months is that our online classes are just like Modern Women – never finished! While I'm much happier with where things are now, I realize that I'll always be working to make the experience and courses more fabulous. I'm okay with that. I already have a commitment to myself to work toward continual improvement in everything I do. Why would this be different?
In the Own Your Power class, we talk about hiding from brilliance and the ways we do this to ourselves. My go-to hiding technique is “overcomplicating and endless polishing.” I want to wait until things are “perfect” before I release them into the world. I’m trying to get better about learning when to say “DONE!”
I NEED YOUR HELP! We've spent the last couple of weeks tweaking and testing. I'm finally ready to invite my inner circle (that’s you!) to check out the improvements. I need help getting this off the ground and giving it all an excellent test before I send it out to the world. Please consider helping me with this in at least one of three ways:
Simply take a good look at the site and kick the tires a bit. I would love to hear your thoughts and constructive criticism. You can email me with feedback at jill@finishingschoolformodernwomen.com, or click on “contact the headmistress” button on the website.
Sign up for a free Social Membership and come play with us. Check out the orientation course to learn how to get around and join in on the fun in the Forum. The more people that play, the more interesting it will be for everyone, so this helps me a bunch.
You can access our site on phones and tablets, so you don't have to be at a computer to join us. It helps to test how it works on a variety of devices, so let me know what device you're using in your feedback.
3. Become a monthly member! I’m excited about the live webinars and am already planning the special guests we’ll meet, and the online panel discussion we’ll have. But, you'll have to become an online member or a Finishing School member to get in on that!
I’m excited, and a bit nervous, to finally get this kicked this off. I feel like we still have a little way to go to get the site ready for a full public launch. I absolutely need your feedback to get us there. Since you’re part of our community, I feel like we’re in this together. The collaboration of so many people has helped me make the Finishing School for Modern Women what it is today.
I appreciate your thoughts in taking my mission of helping women own their power to the next level!
Join us!
Headmistress Jill