Innovative CE membership website models with Michael Kitcess

 

 I had the privilege of talking with Michael Kitces in preparation for us both attending FinCon ("a conference where money and media meet"). This interview will give you an inside look into his business and services and show you the steps he took to become an authority in the personal finance market. The best thing about this podcast is that you don't have to be in the financial industry or go to FinCon to get a lot of good insights from this interview. In fact, Michael shares how to duplicate his success in  your own industry. Some of the tips and insights that Michael gives have me thinking of how I can apply similar techniques in my own business, as well as the clients that we serve by creating their online course content and membership sites. There is a lot to learn in this interview, so whether or not you're in the financial services industry, you can take a lot from this interview and apply it to your membership site, CE courses, and online courses.

Get the free bonus audio interview where Michael shares his top membership website resources and productivity tools.

Click to Download the Bonus Audio

Podcast Questions with Michael Kitces

1. Give us a background of what your business does.
2. I see the word Educator all over your website, while most people would classify themselves by their degrees or other accelerates, it looks like education in one of your priorities. Do you consider yourself primarily as an educator?
3. Why did you start offering Continuing Education services on your website?
4. How are you uniquely qualified to help accelerate the growth of people's own financial planning knowledge?
5. How has this business model positioned you as an industry leader?
6. What are some ways someone in the financial industry can help more people and increase their revenue by creating online courses?
7. Bonus: What are some of the technologies used on your website to developer the members only content? (click below to download the bonus audio interview)
8. Bonus: what are the productivity tools you use in your business?(click below to download the bonus audio interview)
9. Where can people learn more about you?

Get the free bonus audio interview where Michael shares his top membership website resources and productivity tools.

Click to Download the Bonus Audio

My Notes During the Podcast with Michael Kitces:

• Michael has a B2C and a B2B business
• He considers himself an educator
• The financial industry is 5-10 years behind with technology (there could be some opportunities here)
• He went through a process of being able to offer Continuing Education credits
• The CE provider has to give a quiz or test to show the student went through the content and passed the quiz
• His business is growing 5%-10% per month since he gives his content away for free, but they have to pay for the CE quiz and credits
• He was a speaker, then had a newsletter service, then added blogs, and then added Continuing Education services, and not he’s adding more services and businesses to serve his audience.
• If you want to create an online course in the financial services industry, be more focussed and niche, not broad and general. There are too many people doing generic courses.
• He offers the content for free but charges for the CE quizzes
• He loves Evernote to plan, blog and organize his life and business
• Don’t make your business model, the content portion. Make the monitization strategy the implementation and strategy portion
• Get the free bonus audio and hear Michael answers to: "What are some of the technologies used on your website to developer the members only content” and “What are the productivity tools you use in your business?"
• Another great interview on the topic of membership sites: http://www.superfastbusiness.com/business/how-to-jumpstart-your-membership-forum/

Michael Kitces' Bio:

Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP®, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, CASL, is a partner and the Director of Research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, a private wealth management firm located in Columbia, Maryland that oversees approximately $1.3 billion of client assets. In addition, he is a co-founder of the XY Planning Network, the practitioner editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, and the publisher of the e-newsletter The Kitces Report and the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website www.Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning.

 

Beyond his website, Michael is an active writer and editor across the industry and has been featured in publications including Financial Planning, the Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Retirement Planning, Practical Tax Strategies, and Leimberg Information Services, as well as The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CNBC PowerLunch, NBC Nightly News, and more. In addition, Michael has co-authored numerous books, including “The Annuity Advisor” with John Olsen (now in 3rd edition), the first balanced and objective book on annuities written for attorneys, accountants, and financial planners, and “Tools & Techniques of Retirement Income Planning” with Steve Leimberg and others.

 

Michael is one of the 2010 recipients of the Financial Planning Association’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication to advancing the financial planning profession. In addition, he has variously been recognized as financial planning's "Deep Thinker," a "Legacy Builder," an "Influencer," a "Mover & Shaker," part of the “Power 20,” and a "Rising Star in Wealth Management" by industry publications. These awards were presented to honor Michael’s active work in the financial planning community, which currently includes serving as a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Financial Planning, national chair of the Financial Planning Section for the Society of Financial Services Professionals, and numerous other boards and committees for the Financial Planning Association and the Society of Financial Services Professionals at the local and National levels. Michael is also a co-founder of NexGen, a community of the next generation of financial planners that aims to ensure the transference of wisdom, tradition, and integrity, from the pioneers of financial planning to the next generation of the profession.