Whenever I hear someone say this, my initial reaction is: “No way, YOU don’t!”

It’s almost instinctive. And I’m seeing it among my client base too.

Gone are the days when someone with influence could TELL folks who listen to them what is the best way they can learn to do something.

In the good old days, apprentices went through a process. A brick-layer’s pupil would spend weeks mixing mortar, handing over bricks, spreading it smoothly, and doing every task his mentor ordered him to do - until in the end, he became an expert mason.

Today, people want to learn differently. Their way. And they are voting with their wallets for that freedom and choice.

Our job, as teachers and sellers of e-learning material, needs to combine two things - effective learning methods with attractive, in-demand packaging - so that students get the material in a way that maximizes their learning ability, but providing it in a way they WANT… even if it is NOT the best way.

Because, unless they get it THEIR way, they’re going to refuse to study it at all!

I first crossed swords with a teacher about this recently - when Rich Schefren put out a lengthy manuscript about the ‘Attention Age’. In my opinion, it was too verbose - especially for a document lamenting limited attention spans.

Rich responded in two elaborate comments - this one, and then this - highlighting his side of the argument. Which makes perfect sense - except that not everyone agrees with it.

Do we EXCLUDE the non-conformists? Or do we INCLUDE them - by taking their unique needs/wants into consideration?

Can anyone afford to be ‘exclusionary’ in today’s connected marketplace?

Another example is Yaro Starak’s ‘Blog Mastermind’ course, which is made available ONLY in a series of modules presented sequentially at 1-week intervals.

Surely the best way to present the content to a blogger who is getting started. But what about others who want/need the more advanced modules, the ones related, for instance, to ‘making money from blogging’ or ‘marketing a blog’?

Right now, they cannot get this on ‘Blog Mastermind’ - except by waiting for 20 weeks, while the foundational material is delivered in the course! (I know because I asked on Yaro’s blog if such an option was available - it isn’t)

In a comment on Caroline Middlebrook’s blog, Yaro also explained this further:

“My intention for experienced bloggers is that they go through and study the Mastermind… I know there are plenty of new ideas in Blog Mastermind that even the most experienced bloggers won’t have implemented or completely grasped yet.”

Even though that’s undoubtedly correct, there’s no getting around the fact that many people - myself included - will NOT wait 20 weeks to get to the lesson we want NOW.

And there’s a ‘market gap’ right there… selling modules at SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER prices than one of the monthly installments - and relying on that to offset the disadvantages and inconvenience of setting up more complex delivery systems.

There’s a significant shift in the e-learning marketplace. So I have stopped straight-jacketing myself into packaging teaching material into the way *I* think is best. Instead, I now offer a ‘recommended’ version, along with ‘components separately’ to fit my buyer’s choice/taste.

Why say “No” to a prospective buyer when you can just as easily give them what THEY want - at a price that makes sense to you?

This is the kind of thing I’m experimenting with:

• Complete Internet Infopreneur SYSTEM homestudy:
  http://InternetInfopreneur.com/system.htm
• Modules a’ la carte:
  http://InternetInfopreneur.com/modules.htm

I predict it will soon become necessary for every seller of e-learning material to do this - create versions of learning programs to fit diverse tastes, preferences and wants of their audience. Look at how well iTunes does selling individual music tracks as against conventional powerhouse music labels selling multi-track CDs!

The marketplace is getting more discerning and demanding about what it wants - and what it won’t accept or wait for.

Are you ready to be the one to buck that trend? Are you so influential that you will change this trend?

What do you think?