Seven years ago, I was teaching an evening graphic-design course in Brooklyn twice a week. One student — a young married woman with children — made the long trek from Monsey for every class.

One week, when she had to miss a class, she asked if I had a recording of the class so that she could make it up. I’d actually recorded the class for some students who had to miss several classes due to a scheduling conflict, so I offered it to her, too. She was so thankful.

When she came in the next week, she gushed about the clarity and how super convenient it was. “I prefer the recording,” she admitted, “so I don’t have to travel and so I can watch it when it works for me.”

That was my lightbulb moment. Her reaction changed my business and personal life. If I record my courses, I realized, I could reach many students worldwide, and I’d be able to let my business take a back seat to my personal life.

This was a novel concept at the time; online and USB/distance learning courses were not yet mainstream. I decided to record my Graphic Design Foundations course, which I had already been offering live for five years. I even recorded the questions students asked in the live classes — that made distance students feel as though I was right in the room while they were learning, they’d tell me afterward.

Now, I focus exclusively on video courses students can take from home, either online or via USBs.

In the last seven years I gave birth to twins and went through a medical situation with one of my children. I thank Hashem for sending this student to me. Because of this change in how I do business, I was able to maneuver through these intense situations with more ease. I was able to run the business at odd hours of the day (or was it the night?).

My success with online courses has led to yet another opportunity for me: helping other women (and men) take the immense knowledge and life experience they have and package it into a product that can keep on selling. This way, they can make money and spend more time with the people they love. And now, I’m here to help you. Let’s get started.

Why Convert Services into Products?

When you offer a service, you’re basically trading time for money. Say you’re an accountant who teaches clients how to create a business budget. Sure, you get paid for your time, but your time is limited, so you can only see a certain number of clients in a day. That limits your income potential.

You’re probably also repeating a lot of the same information to each client. If you’re able to take this repetitious information and create a video series with fill-in-the-blank worksheets based on these budget planning sessions, you cut out the preparation work. That means your client meetings can be shorter and more productive, as you simply go over the worksheets and fine-tune the budget.

Now you’ll have more slots available for work you are truly needed for — making you more money. As a bonus, you’re doing more of the work you enjoy, as opposed to tedious busy work, so you’re less likely to suffer burnout.