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Debbie Friis-Pettitt's Method of Teaching 5,000 Learners How To Paint

Apr 17, 2024

Debbie Friis-Pettitt has created an extremely successful online learning company in a niche that includes watercolors and an extremely small palette.

Based in Prescott, Arizona, Friis-Pettitt began her work as a graphic designer for commercial graphic designs. Also, she was an artist working in pencil, and also produced work. Following her appearance in a variety of exhibits and shows, she was inspired to explore an entirely different medium, which was watercolor.

However, there was a problem that she felt intimidated by the color. The truth is that she couldn't endure for more than a period of six months. "I was armed with the palette of thirty or more hues, and I wasn't sure of what was the most effective method to determine what color to pick," explains Friis-Pettitt. "I did not know what chemically-based the properties of color were. This is why every attempt I made to draw myself it turned out a complete mess ."

In the course of the day, she found an artist online who taught the theory of color. "I began my work working with tiny palettes that contained only three shades. That helped me to learn to find the perfect level of balance, value, and harmony as well as blend my own color," she says.

The following years She has claimed that her artwork has been taken off. "My love for painting using my palette exploded when I noticed more and more customers saying that they'd set some of their color choices to the side" Friis-Pettitt adds.

Then, she started becoming famous due to her work using a restricted palette. She often won prizes at art exhibits. People began asking to lead workshops on watercolor limited palette painting. They were interested and began to teach live workshops in the summertime beginning in the year 2018. After observing the effects of covid for the initial period, she made the switch to online instruction with the help of . "The tiny palette impacted the work of lots of my students as well as me," she says. "From the moment I realized that, I took it up a notch and discarded my color palette that was opaque and started staining with transparent color, something that is the most popular choice for artists to advise students to avoid using it ."

Since launching her online business--Watercolors That Glow!--Friis-Pettitt has taught over 5,000 learners---continually pushing the edges of what she's "supposed" to do, and instead finding her own way via her unique niche instead. This is how she made her mark in a highly intensely competitive market

Skip ahead:

She signed up for

In order to draw greater numbers of students to enroll in her classes She decided that she'd like to offer classes on the internet. "People love online courses," she says. "In my past experiences, I've canceled the classes held in person as it's costly for students to travel ."

A painter introduced her . "I found myself capable of figuring out the solution. It's a possibility," she states.

and Teachable and Teachable Teachable Teachable and Teachable Teachable are her two preferred alternatives in online learning, however she decided to choose Teachable as she thought it was simpler to use. "It was very easy to design classes" she writes. "There was a couple of difficulties in learning, as well as a few bumps in the road however, overall I'm amazed by the way the structures are designed ."

" gets better and more" She continues. "There's absolutely nothing I can do to make it simpler for me to switch to a different service. They respond to all my inquiries immediately. ."

The librarian was created through the classes

With an online structure that she had created according to her own preferences, she was able create material for students to use.

The initial video she recorded included tutorials. Then, she put together a library of video clips which customers could purchase for the price of.

There are 60 tutorials available to choose from, you can select an annual subscription which allows users to pay an annual or monthly fee for access to all of the resources available. "In my beginning days, I didn't feel enough that I could offer a choice to sign up," she says. "It took until after I had completed over fifty courses before I began providing the option of subscription ."

Since launching her membership month ago, she is now 200 members. It is planned to grow the membership to include more classes in order that learners and subscribers an a on a per-course basis will always be able to access new details.

While she's delighted by the engagement of her subscribers, her goal isn't to hold her customers for as long as they can. "I want to see individuals capable of learning quickly and easily then, later on, go on to create their own work," she says.

The majority of her lectures are recorded, so students are able to take advantage of the place they want at any time at any time. Her livestreamed lectures is available on livestreamed lectures that she gives on a regular basis, at least every six weeks.

The money she earned was put in the top equipment

After she started to film videos, she began recording the video clips using her iPhone. To establish an organization that was sustainable over the long run and last for a lengthy time, she needed the right technology. However, converting to technological advancements can be a challenge for anyone. And she claims it took two years for her to reach the point at which she was able to determine the right specifications for her recording and filming recording set-up.

Since that the iPhone video recording speeds have been increasing, she's gotten into the latest technology to make editing and recording easy. The camera she's using is called Packshot. It's the Packshot which allows her to take close-up pictures. After that, she utilizes the editing program Camtasia which allows users to quickly switch between various images. "I believed that I had paid lots of dollars for this equipment, but it will pay off. Now, I can achieve the perfect setup" she says.

The setup she shows is consisting of a frame, in where the camera is placed at the center of the frame and pointing toward the region she is painting. "This lets me film as I paint with an remote control which allows me move the camera closer. Once I've done that, I'm then in a position to utilize Camtasia to edit my video," she says. Camtasia software to edit my video," she says.

"Now I'm in a position to film intermediate videos in just a few days. The bar that I set was crucial to achieving the high-quality video I'm capable of creating," continues Friis-Pettitt.

The price of her goods were maintained at a moderate amount.

Similar to many creators, she was required to face the problem of determining how to price her work.

While many have urged that she increase her price yet she's steadfast on charging an affordable cost. Her aim is to reach her clients with the most number.

Livestreaming courses are $65 USD. cost of the courses is priced at 35 dollars per course, and memberships start with a monthly fee of $14 USD which is $144 if you purchase each year. In addition, she provides bundles that include a variety of instructional video clips. Prices range at between $48-$84 USD.

To collect payment to collect payments, she uses payments.

"I am able to attract an increased number of visitors to my site because of my classes at a low cost. I am convinced that keeping my expenses low makes me more competitive.
Pricing is all about ensuring you are offering a reasonable price to ensure that the buyers are ready to test their options" adds Friis-Pettitt.

In addition, she keeps the price of her courses low, she offers an outstanding value for what she's able to. "I don't cut corners; I give everyone the opportunity to read an article, and I discuss much more than most instructors," she says. "That's why people keep coming back over and over. ."

To find the ideal cost artist, she suggests that they demonstrate their worthiness. For artists who are aspiring to succeed it is recommended that they are recognized by the community they live within. "It's important that you've gone to art shows and have won many awards since they're more likely to believe the fact that they can believe what you're saying" she says.

"You must show the area in which you are specialized," she continues. "There are thousands of artists teaching on the same subject that's why you need be able to stand out ."

The courses she taught were advertised through word of mouth

Her classes are popular with students of all ages. claims that most students over 60 are in her classes.

Livestream and La Carte classes are highly sought-after by professional artists looking to learn how to paint and maybe even sell their work, and her classes are a hit with enthusiasts. The target market she targets is almost exclusively female.

Her courses are promoted through the power of word-of-mouth advertising. she thinks that this can be done by anyone with an outstanding product or service that is friendly and teaches the class in a different method. "For instance, students in my class share their experiences in other Facebook groups whenever people ask questions about courses on topics that offer a small number of courses available," she says.

One thing that differentiates her classes and allows her to spread the message of her courses by word of mouthThe other thing that sets her courses apart is the fact that she explains each one of her errors.

"They can see every single particular," she says. "They are aware that I need to resume my work. They see me make the most grave mistakes. They observe my thinking processes. The watercolor artist community isn't a lot with this skill which is why it's so rare. that, it's possible to maintain students, then, they travel to share their knowledge on numerous websites. ."

In addition to word-of-mouth, her main way to gain traffic is via tutorials that are free that she provides. They are totally cost-free and let people see the things she offers as well as the manner in which she shares the knowledge she has acquired. Tutorials are also a way to get participants into her classes that cost money to attend. Her courses are then publicized.

Courses can be found on her pages on Facebook (which has a population of more than 9,000 users) and Instagram as well as her Instagram page, as well as Pinterest. "Pinterest is a great source for instructional videos that I utilize to teach. It is a great resource for my students' requests via Pinterest," she shares.

It's not just an online platform for discussion about her most recent tutorials that she's written, it's also a fantastic method to remain in contact with her followers. She says that there are specific guidelines for joining and also an exclusive Facebook group dedicated to the website and painting through the smaller palette. Members learn from each other within this group before visiting her site to purchase her classes. "Even even though I'm not the biggest fan of Facebook it's a site where appears to be a place where people are who are relaxed," she says.

Marketing for Friis-Pettitt is one of the greatest challenges she faces when it comes to managing her company. "I have to develop my marketing skills," she laughs. "Surprisingly I've never done any type of marketing. This is strange considering I'm pretty efficient with my site. My marketing strategy is in the opposite direction to ."

Private conversations with her remain confidential.

Friis-Pettitt's one-woman show. With no staff her goal is to keep her system efficient, automated and as simple as feasible.

She incorporates Zapier and Flow Desk into her site for greater efficiency. "There's only a small portion of the projects I'm working on," she explains. "It's mostly creating videos, and making sure I'm actively involved in platforms like Facebook and Twitter." ."

"I am trying to locate anyone who might be able to help me, however I've been unable to locate this person at present," continues Friis-Pettitt.

If she were to form any of the teams she has soon and then recruit another team, she wouldn't be able to keep the connection she's establishing with her students. "I respond to my own messages, reply to people who make posts via social media as well as assist my Facebook community. I quickly respond to every person in my network," she says.

"One thing people appreciate about me is that I'm friendly and willing to spend time with people. This isn't like I'm an automated machine or that I have personal assistants to manage my tasks," she adds.

The focus of her work was the details of her own

In response to a question regarding her greatest accomplishment in her career as an online artist She talked about the importance in identifying what interests her. "I've discovered a niche which makes me stand out from thousands of other artists working with watercolours" the artist says. "People aren't aware of these artists. Therefore, it is important to think about reasons for why they're looking at you in comparison to the 300 others they've just discovered through the web. ."

"You must find what attracts people's attention," she says. "For myself, the selection that I've picked from is vast. It's important to make something distinctive. If you do not take this step and you don't, you'll get lost at the bottom of the list with all the others ."

Furthermore, she says her decision to implement an a significant change to her teaching methods. "There's no problem with Skillshare or Udemy but these two platforms have the ability to regulate courses, however they are they are not the authors of courses' content. My personal opinion is that the most I could do right away was get going with determining the subject matter I was planning to cover," shares Friis-Pettitt.

She was steadfast even in the most difficult circumstances.

According to the study of Friis-Pettitt, the vast majority of course creators believe that running online businesses will be easy.

"It isn't an easy job This is one of the most challenging things I've done in the span of my life. It's great to have come across an online platform which will help me organize my classes in according to my style," she reveals.

What kept her going in difficult times was the enthusiasm she feels in teaching and her love of the arts. "Sometimes I'm made to put my head and lie down and cry" she says. "Then I stand up, get myself cleaned up and remind me that I've gotten up to what I'm at, meaning I'm at a place in which I'm able to carry on ."

"It isn't something that occurs at a rapid pace and I had to wait for 2 years before I was at this point," says Friis-Pettitt. "But it's essential to not stop. If you think you've made the best product and a excellent method of teaching and learning, it will occur. The process won't be completed in a hurry. It will take time ."

The 2024 outlook it is based on trends in the world of online creators Friis Pettitt thinks that numerous creators that may go under, and at this point is more so than at any other time being able to define a certain field that is highly specialized is essential. "The marketplace is already overcrowded," she says. "Unless you're able to go over and above what's typical, and have the capacity to be noticed and stand out noticed, you're unlikely likely to get noticed. ."

There are a variety of goals for her this year. One is to increase the amount of subscribers she already has. She is planning to create additional instructional videos in the next few months, and promoting them throughout the whole year. It is the goal to increase the subscriber base. "One of the reasons why I've never promoted my membership in the past is that I'm not sure that there's enough tutorials to be found on the website. I'm hopeful that by the end of this year I'll be able provide enough information that it can become a reality ."

Furthermore, she will develop a masterclass for three months the course, which will offer an intimate interaction with the students during making the work. After the course, students will have an understanding of the watercolor process, as well as drawing with just certain colors from the palette. "I'm planning to teach two master classes during the course of next year ,""" she informs us enthusiastically.

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