How many students did you have on the launch of your very first audio course? Or, how many students do you dream of having? While we all dream of four-figure signups, very few people actually achieve it right from the get go. But that’s exactly what Shae Bynes of Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur did. 

After Shae launched her first audio course, she quickly gained over 1,000 student enrollments. Not only that, her audio course also created a vibrant student community, with an impressive number of likes and comments from students on every audio track of the course. We spoke to Shae recently to find out about how she created her first audio course, why she chose Soundwise to deliver her audios, and how she marketed her audio course. 

So, Who is Shae Bynes? 

Shae Bynes is the founder and CEO of Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, a business that inspires and offers mentoring to Christian entrepreneurs all around the world. 

Shae came to found Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur after a career in real estate when, through a friend of a friend, she met Anthonia Geer. They hit it off right away and knew they had to do some project together. The result is the creation of Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, which inspires and teaches entrepreneurs how to run their business aligned with spiritual principles, through their podcast, short films, books, courses, and mentorship program. 

How Did Shae Find Soundwise? Why Choose Audio Over Video for Her Course?  

Shae discovered Soundwise after being frustrated by the lack of audio-friendly course platforms. Shae has been podcasting for over seven years and has had a lot of positive feedback from her listeners who love going about their lives while listening to the sound of her voice. 

Since her students were already used to learning from her through her podcast, she started creating an audio-only course. She sent out a survey to her audience and found that a whopping 70% preferred audio over video, confirming her intuition that because her listeners are busy entrepreneurs, an audio course would be a better fit for their lifestyle, because it allows them to multi-task and learn on the go. 

When she discovered Soundwise, she was excited to find that she could provide her students with the extra reading materials they needed alongside the core audio lessons, just like on a video course platform, at the same time retaining a mobile-based listening experience. She signed up as a user and loved it, as she already enjoyed using Audible and found the user experience to be comparable. She knew the Soundwise app would be a hit with her students.

How Did Shae Create Her First Course? 

Shae had been sharing her inspirational faith-driven content for several years, so she wanted to take her free content a step further and create a foundational course for entrepreneurs who felt a disconnect between their working lives and their spirituality. 

When Shae sets out to create a new piece of content, whether that be a new podcast episode or a complete audio course, she starts in the same way. First, she connects with God and asks for inspiration of what her audience needs to hear. Often, this reflects what she’s already living, doing, and feeling in her own daily life. 

To receive inspiration and creative wisdom, Shae enjoys going on walks by the water, as she finds peace and strong connection to her creative source there. She also developed the habit of sitting down for a couple of hours in the morning, to develop and extend the concepts she feels compelled to teach, and writing down everything she can think of surrounding the concepts. This provides her with talking points she can use as she creates her audios, but she is by no means rigid about this outline. As she creates her content, she lets the ideas and inspirations flow out of her however it occurs – and that authenticity is what her audience connects to deeply. 

What is Shae’s “Secret Sauce”? What Made Her Audio Course Quickly Gained Traction? 

Shae attributes much of her course’s success to the fact that she lives what she teaches, and because of its authenticity, her teaching resonates with people deeply. Her content connects with her students on an intellectual as well as a spiritual level. Shae’s audience finds both her free and paid content to be truly transformational. While listening, many have had revelations, epiphanies and breakthroughs about what next steps to take in their lives and their businesses while deepening their spiritual connection. 

Because Shae’s audience connects to what she teaches on such a profound level and feels the effects of it radiating out into the rest of their lives, they express their gratitude by liking and commenting on her lessons. The enthusiastic way her listeners have been using the community feature of the Soundwise app--to share their revelations and connect with one another—comes as a nice surprise to Shae, as she wasn’t deliberately trying to make people like or comment on her course. In her own words, “it turned out to be really nice that people are able to do that on the app…because of the uniqueness of what we teach, seeing fellow students having the same revelations affirms one’s own truth and makes people realize they are not alone on this unique path.”

The bottom line is that to Shae, there’s really no “secret” to making her content popular. She believes that if you create teachings that are authentic, transformational, and touch people on a deep level, your audience will feel compelled to share your content. That in itself is the best marketing and the key to creating a vibrant community around your content.

How Did Shae Market Her Course? 

Shae has successfully done what we all hope to do – she’s created genuine, authentic content that connects with her students on an incredibly deep level. As mentioned, it’s this connection that has powered much of her marketing, as her students were more than willing to share the course with others with no prompting from her. 

Since she released the course, she’s found that it has taken on a life of its own. While the organic sharing of her course has been a major player in her success, it’s not the only form of marketing Shae does. 

While this course, Firestarter School, comes with a price tag, it’s also a starter course she’s using as a paid lead magnet. As you may already know from your own marketing efforts, lead magnets are a tried-and-true way of giving something away for free in order to enroll new potential customers’ into your circle of influence. 

Now, however, some leading marketers are moving to paid lead magnets to further qualify potential customers and move only serious leads into their sales funnel, to make their marketing effort more targeted and efficient. That’s exactly what Shae chose to do. As a result, those who take this course are much more likely to sign up for her higher-level mentorship program. 

Shae actively promoted the course on social media and through her podcast, making sure she got the course in front of her audience whenever possible. Shae has a Facebook group where new members are given three things to do upon joining, one of which is to check out Firestarter School. She also promotes the course on a popular Bible reading app and gives those new listeners the first few lessons of the course for free. 

While in the beginning she offered the course for a set price, she now offers a “pay what you think it’s worth” model. She wanted there to be an investment, so that people have at least some skin in the game. But she also wanted the course to be accessible to those who need it. But note that she only uses this model for this introductory course, and her other courses and programs are offered for a set price.  

TL;DR

If we have to summarize the success secret to Shae's audio course, it would be-- provide a genuine solution to a deep problem. There're a lot of courses out there that teach entrepreneurship skills, from how to do business launch, to marketing, to hiring, etc. But for many entrepreneurs, regardless of their business skill level, deep down they're frustrated about the seeming disconnect between their business life and their spiritual life. This is a profound issue, yet not that many people can even articulate the issue and very few educational resources address the issue. Shae not only identified the problem-- because of her own personal experience-- and brought it into the spotlight, but provided an answer for it in a most authentic and insightful way, which deeply resonates with her students and creates a transformational impact. 

Shae is now working on a follow-up course that will take her students deeper on their journey, and she continues to create transformational content that helps guide her audience through the trials of business by connecting with God. 

Check out Shae’s audio course, the Firestarter School, on Soundwise.