Becky Budgeter

Creating a mini-course that actually sells on Teachable is about clear value, short lessons, and a simple sales path — not perfection. Below is a practical checklist and a step-by-step plan you can follow today, plus a short worked example you can copy and adjust to your topic.

• Do: Focus on one clear outcome students can achieve in a week or less (e.g., “Save $200/month”).
• Do: Break content into bite-sized lessons (5–10 minutes each) and include one quick homework or template per module.
• Do: Use a simple sales page, a clear price point, and one promotional channel (email or Facebook group) to start.
• Don’t: Try to teach everything — avoid long theory sessions or too many bonus modules at launch.
• Don’t: Overcomplicate tech — Teachable’s basic setup is enough for a first launch.
• Don’t: Wait for perfect video/audio; clear slides and a confident voice are enough to get started.

1. What you’ll need
   • A course goal (one sentence outcome).
   • 3–6 lessons with one action each.
   • Simple materials: a 5–10 slide deck, one worksheet or template, and a recorded video or audio for each lesson.
   • Teachable account, PayPal/Stripe set up, and one promotional list (email subscriber list or social group).
2. How to do it
   • Outline: write the outcome, 3–6 lessons, and the single action for each lesson (15–30 minutes).
   • Create content: record short lessons (phone or laptop camera is fine), export slides as PDFs, and add one worksheet.
   • Build course on Teachable: upload lessons, add brief descriptions, set a clear price (see example below), and write one-paragraph sales copy that states the outcome, who it’s for, and the guarantee or refund policy.
   • Launch: announce to your list and one social place, offer an early-bird price for 7–10 days, and collect feedback from first students.
3. What to expect
   • First week: low sales are normal — aim for feedback and 5–10 paying students to validate your idea.
   • After feedback: iterate lessons, tighten the sales page, and run small paid ads or partnerships if you want scale.
   • Metrics: track conversion (visitors → buyers) and student satisfaction; improving those two doubles sales over time.

Worked example (copy-and-adapt):

• Course title: 5-Day Budget Reset — Stop Overspending Without Cutting Fun
• Outcome: Reduce monthly overspend by $150–300 in five actionable steps.
• Modules / Lessons:
  1. Day 1: Quick money snapshot (10 min + worksheet) — know where $ is leaking.
  2. Day 2: One simple ruleset to control spending (8–12 min + template).
  3. Day 3: Replace one costly habit (video + checklist).
  4. Day 4: Build a tiny emergency buffer (10 min + step plan).
  5. Day 5: Keep it going—weekly check-in system (10 min + printable).
• Format & price: Short videos + 5 PDFs, price $27–47, early-bird $19 for the first week.
• Launch expectation: 5–15 sales from a small email list; use feedback to raise price or add extras later.

Simple tip: start with a low price and a clear refund window — it reduces buyer hesitation and gives you feedback fast. Quick question to make this more useful: what topic do you want to teach, and who is your ideal student?

Thanks — keeping exit tickets short and time-saving is a smart place to start. I like that focus because a quick, aligned check can tell you a lot without taking much class time.

Here’s a practical, low-effort way to use AI to make exit tickets and short formative checks that you can tweak in minutes.

1. What you’ll need
   • The single learning objective you want to check (clear and narrow).
   • Time limit you want students to spend (1–5 minutes is typical).
   • Preferred format: multiple choice, one short-answer, or quick self-assessment.
   • A way to collect responses (paper, Google Form, LMS, sticky notes).
2. How to do it (step-by-step)
   1. Choose one tight objective for the exit ticket (e.g., “identify the main idea of a paragraph”).
   2. Decide the format: 3 multiple-choice items or 1 short-answer + 2 multiple-choice are reliable and quick to grade.
   3. Ask the AI conversationally to generate small sets tied to that objective — for example, say you want three MCQs at a basic level with one correct answer and brief explanations for each choice. (Keep it simple; you’ll edit.)
   4. Edit quickly: remove anything off-target, simplify wording, and make sure distractors are plausible for your students’ misconceptions.
   5. Create a quick answer key or rubric (1–2 bullet points for what earns full credit on short answers).
   6. Use the ticket in class, collect responses, and scan for common errors to plan the next small-group focus.
3. What to expect
   • AI will save time but usually needs light editing for age-appropriateness and clarity.
   • Start small: one or two tickets a week. You’ll get faster as you reuse templates.
   • Use the results immediately — the power is in acting on quick patterns, not in perfect questions.

One simple tip: keep a folder of 5–10 ready-made tickets you trust, labeled by objective. Rotate them so you’re never making a new one from scratch during a busy week.

Quick question to help tailor ideas: what grade level and subject are you teaching?

Nice and practical thread idea — keeping prompts simple and focused is exactly the right instinct.

Here’s a friendly, step-by-step way to get clear, usable founder stories and About pages from an AI without wrestling with jargon. I’ll tell you what you’ll need, how to run a short session, what the AI should produce, and a few short prompt frameworks (not copy/paste commands) you can adapt.

1. What you’ll need
   • A short facts list: company name, year started, one sentence on why you started, one key struggle, one proud result, core values, and target customer.
   • A preferred tone: warm, professional, playful, or direct.
   • A target length: a one-sentence hook, one-paragraph blurb, or 300–500 word story.
2. How to do it (simple session)
   1. Gather the facts into a few bullet points (5–8 items).
   2. Pick the tone and length from above.
   3. Tell the AI the goal in plain language: the structure you want (hook → challenge → action → mission) and the audience (new visitors, investors, press).
   4. Ask for 2–3 short variations so you can choose what fits your voice.
   5. Read the drafts, pick the version you like, and edit a few personal touches (names, specific dates, or a brief anecdote).
3. What to expect
   • Two or three drafts that follow your chosen structure and tone.
   • Clear hooks and a narrative arc — not final copy, but a solid first draft you can polish in 10–20 minutes.
   • Options: a short About blurb, a longer founder story, and a one-paragraph mission statement.

Prompt frameworks (short, adaptable)

• Concise About: Ask for a 2–3 sentence blurb that answers “who we are” and “why we exist” with a warm tone and one line about benefit to customers.
• Founder Story: Request a 3-part narrative: a one-sentence hook that shows motivation, a middle that describes a concrete struggle and what you did, and an ending that states your mission and invite to learn more.
• Team & Mission Blurb: One paragraph focused on values and how your team solves a specific customer pain.

Quick tip: start the story with a tiny moment — one line that reveals why the work matters to you personally. It makes the rest read as real, not generic.

Would you like a version that leans more personal and emotional, or one that stays brief and businesslike?

Quick win: In under 5 minutes, paste a short task list (5–10 items) and your team size into an AI tool and ask for a rough timeline with best/likely/worst-case durations — you’ll get a usable draft to tweak.

I like that you’re thinking about both timelines and resource needs together — that’s the right instinct because one informs the other. Here’s a practical, step-by-step way to use AI to turn your task list into an actionable timeline and a resource estimate, without getting lost in jargon.

1. What you’ll need
   • A concise task list with clear outcomes (5–20 items).
   • Who will work on it (names or roles) and their availability (hours/week).
   • Any fixed dates or hard constraints.
2. How to do it — step by step
   1. Group and order tasks by logical flow (what must happen first).
   2. For each task, add a short note: simple/medium/complex, or a rough hour estimate if you have one.
   3. Tell the AI: your ordered task list, the roles available and hours/week, and any deadlines. Ask for a timeline with ranges (optimistic/likely/pessimistic) and a resource allocation table (who does what and when).
   4. Ask the AI also to flag high-risk tasks and suggest where buffer time is reasonable.
   5. Review the output: adjust any estimates based on your local knowledge and re-run two quick iterations if something looks off.
3. What to expect
   • A realistic draft schedule with ranges rather than exact dates.
   • Clear assignments by role and suggested staffing levels (e.g., add 0.5 FTE for X week).
   • Sensitivity notes: which tasks drive the timeline and where extra resources shorten delivery the most.
   • A list of assumptions the AI used so you can validate them with your team.

Simple tip: start by estimating in hours for a single team member, then scale up to your actual staffing — it keeps numbers tangible. Would you like a short checklist you can paste into an AI tool to get started, or do you prefer to walk through your actual task list together?

Quick win: in under 5 minutes, pick one page of a deck or one report PDF and ask an AI to pull 4–6 concrete numbers (revenue, growth, burn rate, runway, ARR, margin). Then check those numbers yourself — that gives you a fast, practical sense of how well it works on your material.

AI can be very helpful at extracting clear, explicitly shown numbers from investor decks and reports, but its reliability depends on a few simple things. It’s usually strong when the data is typed in tables or bullets and labeled clearly. It struggles more with messy screenshots, complex charts, inconsistent labels (like “Net Sales” vs “Revenue”), or numbers buried in long paragraphs. Expect accurate pulls for straightforward, visible figures and more errors when the tool has to infer or read images.

1. What you’ll need
   • The investor deck or report file (PDF, PowerPoint, or images).
   • A short list of the metrics you care about (3–8 items).
   • A device and an AI tool that accepts file uploads or copy/paste text.
2. How to do it (step-by-step)
   1. Open the file and note which pages/slides likely contain the numbers.
   2. Ask the AI to extract only the metrics on your list from those specific pages.
      • If the tool accepts file uploads, upload the file; if not, copy the relevant page text.
   3. Copy the AI’s results into a simple table or sheet so you can compare easily.
   4. Manually verify 3–5 key figures (the largest or most important ones) against the original slides — mark any mismatches.
   5. Note the types of mistakes (wrong page, OCR error, mislabeling) and decide whether you’ll trust the AI for full extraction or use it as a first pass.
3. What to expect
   • Good results for clearly labeled numbers; more work for charts, images, or ambiguous terms.
   • Common errors: swapped units (thousands vs millions), OCR misreads, and missed context (e.g., forecast vs historical).
   • Plan to do a quick human review — AI reduces grunt work but doesn’t replace judgment yet.

Simple tips to boost accuracy: give the AI the exact metric names you want, point it to specific pages, and provide a tiny glossary if terms vary. If you want, I can give you a one-page checklist to use every time you run an extraction. Do you mostly work with PDFs or with slides (PowerPoint/Google Slides)?

Great question — using AI to plan a weekly time‑blocked schedule can save time and reduce the stress of guessing what fits where. I like that you’re asking about a practical routine rather than a magic fix; that mindset makes this useful and sustainable.

What you’ll need

1. Basic calendar (digital or paper) where you can create blocks of time.
2. A simple list of the week’s commitments: appointments, work tasks, family duties, errands.
3. An idea of your energy rhythms (when you focus best) and non‑negotiable times (school runs, meetings).
4. An AI helper (a chat tool or app) to suggest arrangements and reminders — no tech skills required.
5. 10–20 minutes to set up the week and 5–10 minutes midweek to tweak it.

How to do it — step by step

1. Collect tasks: write down everything you want to get done this week. Be specific (“write 500 words” vs “work on project”).
2. Estimate time: next to each task, note a realistic time chunk (15, 30, 45, 60 minutes). If unsure, err on the high side.
3. Group by energy: mark tasks as high‑focus, medium, or low energy.
4. Create rough blocks in your calendar: place high‑focus blocks where you’re sharpest, routine tasks in low‑energy slots, and add 10–15 minute buffers between blocks.
5. Use AI to refine: share your list, time estimates, and fixed commitments with the AI and ask for a suggested block layout that keeps buffers and respects your energy windows. Treat its output as a draft — you’ll personalize it.
6. Review and adjust: move things if a block feels too tight. Give yourself 1–2 flexible blocks for overflow or breaks.
7. Set reminders and a midweek review: a quick check on Wednesday helps you reallocate any unfinished items without panic.

What to expect

After the first week you’ll see what time estimates were off and adjust. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s making good commitments visible and manageable. AI speeds up the drafting and suggests sensible buffers, but your judgment tailors the final plan.

Quick tip: start with just 2–3 blocks per day for the first week so you don’t overwhelm yourself while you learn the rhythm.

Question to help me tailor more: do you prefer a digital calendar or paper planner?

Nice focus — promising a solid cover letter in 10 minutes is realistic. Quick win: spend the first 3–5 minutes writing one clear sentence that says who you are, the job you want, and one achievement that shows you can do it. That tiny sentence gives an AI a great starting point.

What you’ll need

• Your resume or a short list of 2–3 accomplishments.
• The job title and one or two lines from the job description (key skills or requirements).
• Decide the tone: professional, warm, or somewhere in between.
• A device with an AI writing tool or assistant you’re comfortable using (browser, phone app, etc.).

How to do it — step by step (10 minutes)

1. Minute 0–3: Write that one-sentence pitch: role + experience + standout result (e.g., reduced costs, grew sales, improved a process). Keep it simple.
2. Minute 3–4: Pull two bullets from the job listing that match your experience.
3. Minute 4–7: Ask the AI to expand your one-sentence pitch into a short cover letter (3 short paragraphs) that ties your top accomplishment to those two job points and ends with a clear interest in next steps. Say the tone you chose and the length you want.
4. Minute 7–10: Read the draft, tweak one or two phrases to make it sound like you (swap words, add a personal detail), and check that it addresses the employer’s priorities. Save or paste into your application.

What to expect

• A usable first draft in under 10 minutes that highlights one clear accomplishment and matches the job’s needs.
• Needing one quick pass to personalize wording — don’t send the AI’s first output verbatim without that touch.
• A stronger chance to get to an interview when you link your achievement to what the employer actually asked for.

Simple tip: keep one short version of your “why you” sentence saved so you can reuse it and tweak per job. Quick question to help me help you: what field or job title are you working on right now?

Quick win: In under five minutes, pick one piece of recent content and paste it into an AI tool to ask for a style-check — look for a short list of issues (tone, jargon, punctuation) you see repeatedly. That immediate scan will show you what rules matter most.

You’re asking the right question: AI can absolutely help keep a large team aligned to a content style guide, especially for routine, repeatable checks. A useful point to start from is that AI is best as an assistant for consistency and speed, not a replacement for human judgment — it flags likely problems so editors can focus on higher-value decisions.

Here’s a simple, practical way to set this up:

1. What you’ll need
   • Your current style guide (even a one-page summary of must-follow rules).
   • A set of representative content pieces (3–10 samples).
   • An AI tool or service you can use interactively, and ideally a way to plug checks into your editing tools later (editor plugin, CMS hook, or simple checklist).
2. How to do it (step-by-step)
   1. Make the guide machine-friendly: extract 8–12 concrete, prioritized rules (e.g., preferred voice, forbidden terms, punctuation quirks).
   2. Run your samples through the AI to see which rules it reliably detects; note false positives and misses.
   3. Create a short automated checklist based on the reliable rules. Start as a manual checklist editors use, then automate the easiest checks first (spelling, forbidden words, preferred terms).
   4. Pilot in one team: add the AI-assisted check to pre-publish steps and collect feedback for 2–4 weeks.
   5. Refine rules and automation, then roll out across teams with a simple onboarding doc and a short demo session.
3. What to expect
   • Quick wins on consistency and fewer routine edits.
   • Some false positives; expect a human-in-the-loop for ambiguous cases.
   • Improved team alignment over time as the guide is refined and acceptance grows.

Simple tip: start by automating the 20% of rules that cause 80% of edits (common word choice and formatting problems).

One quick question to help tailor this: what kind of content does your team mostly create (short marketing posts, long-form articles, legal/regulated copy)?