They say, “You can’t please everyone”.

It’s a cliché…

But it’s true.

Take this message I got the other day from someone (not a student from The Course Creation Academy, but someone who gets these free weekly emails).

She wrote:

“Hi Heloise. Wow, reading your email was too much! I like to keep things simple and am looking to create an online course…. Your email was repetitive and long and to be honest, left me feeling dizzy 😂 Anyway, best wishes with what you do.”

Now, of course my instinct was to feel a little stung by that.

And I know a lot of people who write, make art, or run businesses who feel utterly hurt by criticism.

They take every forum comment personally.

They recoil from negative online reviews.

They feel devastated at disappointing feedback.

It might be something that worries you too.

The fear that by creating a course, then putting it into the public realm, you’ll run the risk of feeling hurt if someone doesn’t like your style or approach.

You might feel too shy…

You might think the idea of thousands of people reading or watching your stuff is too intimidating.

And I get that.

Totally!

Because I felt exactly like that for many years, running my publishing business behind the scenes while my husband was out front, taking the flak (but mainly also the praise!)

But what I learned in that time though, was that no matter what you do, and what you say, there will be one or two people who aren’t into it.

That’s just a fact of life.

It’s the same for anyone who does anything creative or worthwhile… publish a book, release an album, set up a Twitter feed, share tips on a vlog…

There’s no way everyone is going to love it.

Quite frankly, that’s impossible!

But here’s something important to remember.

When you create a course, you get full control over the persona you present to the outside world (see my in-depth blog post on this and why it’s so important here).

It means that a person who is critical isn’t judging you personally (even if they think they are!) It’s not like a stranger coming up to you in the street and criticizing your hair or clothes!

What they’re doing is responding to the content.

And, of course, the good news is that the content that annoys Person A will be the thing that delights Person B.

You can’t please one without annoying the other

You see, only a few days before that negative feedback email, I got another one from one of my lovely CCA students – Sam which said:

“I just love everything you do!!!! Thanks for being so fantastic!!!!!”

So there you have it…

One reader found my email newsletters too repetitive… too long… with too much information…

While another reader loved what I was saying and the way I was saying it.

How can this be?

Well, quite simply, it’s all about the way human beings respond to other personalities.

We all have our own outlook on life…

Our own tastes…

Our own quirks…

And we tend to automatically respond with positivity to those whose outlook, tastes and quirks chime with our own.

Similarly, we can experience annoyance if the other personality clashes with ours.

Which would make you assume, then, that to grow the biggest list of customers you need to remove the personality and quirks from your work.

Surely, that way you won’t annoy ANY people, and you’ll make more sales!

Well no.

Quite the opposite.

Being human SELLS

To be a successful course creator, you should get as much personality into your communication as possible.

Because the aim is to build a relationship that inspires trust.

To do that, you need to come across as a real human, not a robotic marketing machine.

That doesn’t mean revealing everything about yourself, your views and your family history.

But it does means injecting some personality…

…Writing or speaking in your own natural style (or at least a style that resonates with your ideal customer).

…Not being afraid to share some of your likes and dislikes.

…And telling it how YOU see it.

But of course, in the same way as not everyone in life wants to be your best friend, not everyone will take to the persona you’ve presented in your content.

Which is totally fine!

Because those people will probably not buy from you in the end and it’s not as if they are forced at gunpoint to read your emails or watch your videos.

They can simply unsubscribe and find a voice that suits them better.

Meanwhile, the people who DO remain on your email lists and courses will really like you.

And they’ll be more likely to want to work with you, listen to what you teach and be loyal customers.

Much more so than if you toned everything down to please everyone.

And here’s the crux of it…

If you try to change the way you do things to please the person who doesn’t like it, all you’ll do is lose the people who DO like it.

So there’s no point in trying to be all things to all people.

Because you’ll end up pleasing nobody.

Far better to cultivate a slightly smaller, but more loyal audience.

Those are the people who will be loyal to you.

Those are the people most likely to buy more courses from you in the future.

Those are the people who will recommend you to friends, or leave nice reviews online.

So don’t worry if the odd person doesn’t get what you’re doing, or doesn’t like it, or moans about it.

It usually means you are doing something right, not something wrong.