Business Made Simple University: Online Course Reviews

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What are the offered online courses?

See below for reviews and information.

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• StoryBrand Messaging Framework
• Marketing Made Simple
• Mission Statement Made Simple
• Enneagram Made Simple
• Proposals Made Simple
• Communication Made Simple
• Hero On A Mission
• Negotiation Made Simple
• How to Grow a Business

Meet with an BSMU Expert.

Our team of award-winning marketers is ready to help you exceed your revenue goals.

Here's what to expect:

• 1 minute: Introductions, pleasantries [something about the weather], etc.
• 27 minutes: *insights on digital marketing and quick wins to help you accelerate growth*
• 2 minutes: Defining the next steps

We look forward to talking to you. 👋

Business Made Simple University Introduction

Business Made Simple University is a set of online courses designed to help you succeed at work. Bestselling author, Donald Miller, started this company along with the company StoryBrand.

They aim to have everything you need to develop yourself and your team in one place at a very affordable price. I would say that they are already hitting that goal after taking all four courses they have available right now.

As a StoryBrand certified guide, I make marketing easier by creating marketing that works using the StoryBrand framework. What is the cost of a course for a Business Made Simple certified coach? When I started as a StoryBrand guide, the online course cost nearly $1,500. While that may be a high price point for some people, it was worth the investment for just that one course.

If you want to grow a coaching business and build on the StoryBrand certification program, I can’t recommend the Business Made Simple program enough. After adding several highly valuable online courses, I think you'd be crazy not to invest. I also recommend Miller’s book, Building a StoryBrand.

You need to know a few things before embarking on this journey. First, it isn't for everyone. I don't think you'll see a return on your investment if you don't truly implement all of the content into your own life and company.

Look at the Business Made Simple University courses and the StoryBrand guide certification cost as an investment to yourself and your business. Simply learning these strategies won't magically make you more money or boost your coaching business. It would be best if you put them into practice.

Second, I would prioritize the order in which you take the courses. Chances are that you are a busy business leader and need to make wise decisions regarding your time. Although this is a simple certified coach program, read the rest of this blog to figure out which courses you should spend your time on and in what order.

What you can expect after implementing Business Made Simple University:

• A clear vision for your life and business
• An effective sales funnel
• Your customers will finally listen and buy
• Understand yourself and others better

Is it worth the investment?

You might wonder if you should invest in buying into the Business Made Simple University. I can't suggest the product enough. The StoryBrand Certification cost pales compared to the knowledge gained and growth I’ve seen in multiple businesses. Its resources have been notably valuable to me, and I can see how they could apply to any stage of life or your professional career.

Who is it for?

This product is for business leaders, non-profit leaders, and anyone looking to get a competitive edge at work or in the marketplace. Those who are trying to increase their personal productivity are going to get a lot of value from it.

StoryBrand Messaging Framework

Did your last marketing effort flop? What you are saying has a lot to do with that.

Countless companies are wasting money on marketing because their messaging isn't compelling people to work with them. The StoryBrand Messaging Framework is revolutionary because it teaches you to stop playing the hero in the story and instead invite customers INTO a story.

Have you ever been to a party and someone asks what you do only to have difficulty explaining it? What's worse is that you can start explaining it and see their eyes glaze over. Learning the StoryBrand Messaging Framework will change that for you. The next time someone asks what you do, you will have a one-liner to whip out to make people want to buy from you.

When you clarify your message, your website starts working for you, your sales increase, and marketing becomes profitable, not painful.

The StoryBrand Messaging Framework is taught by Donald Miller, creator of the SB7 framework.

You can trust Donald Miller because he has studied stories for decades and has extensive business and writing experience. He has consulted with hundreds of companies to help them clarify their messaging.

Companies that clarify their messaging win in the marketplace. The human brain is drawn to CLARITY and away from confusion. If customers are confused about your offer, they'll look past you for somebody who can say it clearly.

Once you clarify your message, your company will begin to grow. Register for the StoryBrand Workshop today and spend two days with Donald Miller. Why? Because nobody will know how much they need your product or service until you tell them correctly.

7-Parts of the StoryBrand Messaging Framework:

1. Character
2. Has a Problem
3. And Meets a Guide
4. Who Gives Them a Plan
5. And Calls Them to Action
6. That Helps Them Avoid Failure
7. And Ends in a Success

What you can expect after implementing StoryBrand:

• Customers understand what you do

• Convert more leads

• Marketing that works

• Clear messaging

Who is it for?

While it would be interesting to use it at a personal level to tell better stories, it's primarily targeted to business leaders who have some control over their marketing message. This course is highly worth your time if you do anything with marketing or sales.

Click here to see great StoryBrand websites examples.

Marketing Made Simple

This course is absolute fire. That’s slang for “this course is amazing.” I would suggest making this course third in your lineup. Start with the “StoryBrand Messaging Framework” course and then the “Mission Statement Made Simple.” As a StoryBrand guide, I always create sales funnels for clients, and this might be the best training on how to do it yourself. This course gives you a simple plan to execute to grow your company. This is likely the best starting point for the marketing plan you’ve been looking for.

If you do not have a sales funnel, you leave a lot of money on the table. Why is that? Most customers are not ready to buy after they know your product or brand. In relationships, this would be as if someone were willing to marry you on the first date. The funny thing we forget is that working with people is also a relationship. You, as the brand, need to build a relationship with customers so that they trust you and will buy from you.

This course will teach you to move customers along the three stages of the marketing journey, from curiosity to enlightenment and finally to commitment.

What are the contents of the course?

• Understanding of a sales funnel
• Crafting a one-liner
• How to wireframe a website that sells
• How to build lead generators
• How to date your customer through email campaigns
• How to write an effective sales letter

What you can expect after implementing StoryBrand:

• A predictive way to build relationships with customers

• Convert more leads

• Marketing that works

• Clear messaging

Who is this for?

• Entrepreneurs
• Business owners
• Marketing directors
• Marketing teams
• Marketing consultants

Mission Statement Made Simple

The bottom line is that most businesses have mission statements or core principles that aren’t working. The chances are high that it’s long, confusing, and unmemorable. The result of not having a great mission statement for your company is that your people are not aligned and are bored. Instead of moving people forward, your lack of a great mission statement lets people wander in various directions, inevitably costing the business money.

Imagine for a moment how your business would transform with a mission statement that mattered.

Picture how much more engaged you'd feel if you knew that your daily work played into an important story.

I think Donald Miller and the team at StoryBrand do a great job creating a simple-to-understand framework for crafting a mission statement and guiding principles. There are two ideas that I think of after taking the course.

First, it reminds me of another mission statement framework from the “Entrepreneurs Operating System.” If you’re considering using guiding principles from Business Made Simple University, I think it’s worth your time and effort to check that out. They call it the vision and traction organizer.

The second idea that comes to mind after taking the Business Made Simple Course is the 7-Part StoryBrand framework for creating your marketing message. It would make sense that the two have much in common, but this feels more like an extension of that idea translated into your company’s internal messaging.

If StoryBrand is for your outward marketing, the "Mission Made Made Simple" course is for internal marketing and clarity.

What do the guiding principles consist of?

In this course, you'll learn why you need to replace your mission statement with a set of Guiding Principles.

Your set of Guiding Principles consists of five statements that provide focus and direction in your life and work.

• Mission Statement
• Key Characteristics
• Critical Actions
• Your Story Pitch
• Theme

What you can expect after implementing the Guiding Principles:

• Create alignment and unity

• Increase employee engagement

• Help you recruit better talent

• Increase productivity

Who is this for?

• You can create this set of Guiding Principles for your own life, your team, and your organization.

Enneagram Made Simple

From my experience, greater self-awareness has led to more personal and professional fulfillment. The enneagram might be the best tool to encourage growing your self-awareness. The course defines self-awareness as understanding how your personality affects those around you. Take the time to learn about yourself (and those around you); it will only help improve your relationships in and outside of work.

As a word of caution, I love this course and have found it to be the best enneagram teaching. If you've already read Ian Chron's book "The Road Back To You," I'm not sure it's worth the price tag if you're buying into business made simple for this course alone. This is still a great addition if you find any other resources helpful.

What a Team lacking self-awareness is costing you:

• People in the wrong roles
• You lose top talent
• Experience unnecessary conflict
• People don't communicate well

What are the contents of this online course?

• A detailed explanation of each enneagram type
• How to best work with people of each enneagram type
• How you can grow as a person with your primary enneagram number

What you can expect afterward:

• Improved communication
• Healthier home and work cultures
• Reduction in conflict
• Improved employee engagement and retention

Proposals Made Simple

One of the biggest mistakes is that people think they should start with their story. Most business owners don’t think they need to send proposals, costing them new business. Impressing your client doesn’t get their attention. Telling them how you’ll solve their problem does.

If you’re not familiar with the SB7 (StoryBrand framework), don’t worry. If you’ve learned the StoryBrand framework, think of this as a deep dive into how to apply the framework to your proposals. This course is easy to understand and will significantly increase your proposal's success rate.

If you want your proposals to reflect the value you’ll bring to your client, this course is for you.

What are the contents of the course?

The Hook

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Identify your customer’s external problem
• Understanding the internal problem and how your potential client feels.
• Get insights into the philosophical problem and how to align yourself with the customer.

The Solution

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Position your product as the medicine for the pain. So you don’t wait to frame your product incorrectly.
• Describe the benefits, not the features. This will help people see how you will improve their lives.
• Avoid the curse of knowledge, which will equip you not to use complicated language that confuses your customers.

The Plan

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• You'll lose the deal if you don’t give your customer clear next steps in your proposal.
• Leverage the benefits of a plan so you can lift the fog for your customer and help them understand how simple it will be to work with you.

The Price

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Position the price as an investment, not an expense.
• Explain to the customer how much it will cost them not to work with you.

The Guide

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Establish empathy
• Demonstrate authority
• Use testimonials and social proof

The Call to Action

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Close the deal
• Avoid vague calls to action
• Use active language
• Include a plan for how they need to sign
• Other tips like reiterating the customer’s pain and repeating the problem you solve

The Cover Letter

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Use your cover letter to convince your customer to read your entire proposal.

What you can expect after implementing Proposals Made Simple:

• A higher percentage of conversion to sales
• More signed contacts
• Fewer people ghosting you on deals
• Feeling great about your offer

Who is this for?

• Entrepreneurs
• Business owners
• Freelancers
• Client Managers
• Salespeople

Communication Made Simple

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this course after being slightly disappointed with the Proposals Made Simple course. After learning the StoryBrand framework, the Proposals Made Simple course just felt like a lesson on how to translate the StoryBrand framework into a proposal. This Communication Made Simple course is different. While there are elements similar to the SB7 framework, I felt I was learning something new in every module.

As a business owner, I think it would make my job much easier if all our teams took this course. It would help give them the confidence they need to bring ideas to the table within a proven framework.

What are the contents of the course?

• The course is broken down into eight modules, but its teachings focus on two categories
  • The Communication Made Simple Framework
    • Define the Controlling Idea
    • Posit the Story Question
    • Agitate the Problem
    • Define the Stakes
    • Position Yourself as the Guide
    • Provide a Plan
    • Include a Call to Action
    • Foreshadow the Climactic Scene
  • The Communication Made Simple Playbook
    • Cooperate speech
    • A cooperative video
    • An email and email sequence
    • Social media posts
    • A press release

What you can expect after implementing Communication Made Simple:

• The ability to get more people to buy into your ideas
• More influence at work
• A better understanding of how to communicate within a team

Who is this for?

• Directors
• Team leads
• Middle and upper management
• Anyone trying to make a change
• Anyone trying to get people to buy-in

Hero On A Mission

I’m so glad that BSMU made this course. As a big fan of the Full Focus Planner, I was skeptical about learning about another system. The missing element that this course solves over my existing system is that it starts with the end (your death) in mind.

The course is an exercise in a passive form of Logothephy, a concept created by Victor Frankel. Donald Miller does a great job of asking prompting questions that get you to consider what is most important to you. I found that personally, it helped me realign some items in my life that are important to me.

Even if you already have 10, 5, and 1-year goals, this course will add substance to those goals and help clarify what you are put on this earth to do.

What are the contents of the course?

The course is broken up into four modules.

The first module has two lessons, the second has three lessons, and the last two only have one lesson a piece.

You’ll cover items like

• Creating a life plan
• Writing a eulogy
• Defining your story summary
• 10-year goals
• 5-year goals
• 1-year goals
• A daily planner  

Who is this for?

• Anyone

What you can expect after implementing Hero On A Mission:

• Greater meaning in your life
• The ability to work on the things that matter to you
• More peace and internal alignment
• Getting more important work done

Negotiation Made Simple

This is certainly a course I wish I had taken a while ago. Dr. John Lowry broke down the elements required to be a sophisticated negotiator, and I took pages upon pages of notes. I wasn’t sure how comfortable he was on camera, but the course contents were terrific.

I’m excited to leverage some of the techniques that he mentions. I will say that most of the course is pretty high-level and isn’t filled with tactics to get you a better deal. After watching this course, I’m convinced this is the best negotiation method. It will empower you to negotiate with confidence. If you consider yourself a negotiator, you will love this course; if you don’t, I think it’s even more important that you watch it.

Contents of the course

It is broken down into six modules, in addition to an intro and an outro. The size models are based on the six things every great negotiator does.

1. Managing Yourself
2. Cooperation & Competition
3. The First Move
4. The Power of Cooperation
5. Dealing With Tactics
6. Satisfying Both Parties

Who is it for?

• Most relevant to those in leadership
• It applies to everyone, as people spend 50% of their day negotiating.

What you can expect after implementing Negotiation Made Simple:

• More confidence in your dealmaking
• An improved ability to collaborate
• More money because you’ll feel equipped to ask for more
• A proven framework to use when negotiating.

How to Grow a Business

The Operating System Your Business Has Been Missing

This is by far my favorite course. First, I suggest taking the StoryBrand, Hero On A Mission, and Mission Statement Made Simple.

I couldn’t wait for my partners and team members to take the course. It has given our leadership team a common language for the economics of our businesses. I purchased a printer just so that I could use the workbook regularly.

Contents of the course

• Cockpit (Leadership)
• Right Engine (Marketing)
• Left Engine (Sales)
• Wings (Products)
• Body (Overhead)
• Fuel Tank (Cash Flow)
• Intro & Outro

Takeaways from each section

Cockpit (Leadership)

• The two primary objectives of a leader are casting vision and measuring progress.
• A mission statement should clarify where you are going, why it matters, and how you will get there.
• When you develop your team, you get a better and better return on your payroll investment.
• Investing in them is the most critical factor in retaining talent, so they constantly evolve into more value-driven professionals.

Right Engine (Marketing)

• Offer a plan, a path for customers to do business with you.
• Always talk about what is in it for the customer, not how awesome you are.
• Never play the hero; always play the guide.
• When you run an effective marketing campaign, sales should be predictable.

Left Engine (Sales)

• The primary job of the sales team is to connect the customer’s problem to your product.
• Enlighten your customers through:
  1. Proposals
  2. Emails
  3. Follow-ups
  4. Face-to-face interactions
• Track both the number of leads and the number of qualified leads.

Wings (Products)

• Assess the profitability of your products.
• Assess the profitability of new products.
• Install a process for new product development.
• Install a customer service process.
• Improve the customer journey.
• Which 20% of our products are responsible for 80% of our revenue?
• Are there extensions of successful products we could create and sell in the same market?

Body (Overhead)

• Stop spending and start investing.
• Keep overhead light.
• Overhead is okay; it’s the point of the aircraft (business). It provides value to employees and helps us accomplish our mission.

Fuel Tank (Cash Flow)

• Without steady cash flow, your business will crash.
• Create a compensation package for each team member.
• Protect your profits.
• The business is not your bank account as the owner.

Who is For?

• Everyone in your organization or business
• Especially leadership
• Business owners should use this as an operating system to run their company.

What you can expect after implementing How to Grow a Business

• Confidence in your ability to lead your business
• Improved talent and cash management
• A predictable pipeline of marketing and sales
• A common language to keep your team focused on the right things within your business

Evan Knox

StoryBrand Certified Guide

Founder of Caffeine Marketing

Meet with an BSMU Expert.

Our team of award-winning marketers is ready to help you exceed your revenue goals.

Here's what to expect:

• 1 minute: Introductions, pleasantries [something about the weather], etc.
• 27 minutes: *insights on digital marketing and quick wins to help you accelerate growth*
• 2 minutes: Defining the next steps

We look forward to talking to you. 👋

‍