**Scenario: Photography course for beginners** Variables used: - [EXPERTISE] = Portrait and landscape photography, 12 years professional experience - [AUDIENCE] = Hobbyist photographers who want to go from "auto mode" to confident manual shooting - [TRANSFORMATION] = Before: Takes photos on auto mode, deletes 90% of shots, intimidated by manual settings. After: Shoots confidently in manual, understands light, and creates photos they're proud to print and share. - [AUDIENCE SIZE] = 3,200 Instagram followers, 800 email subscribers - [EXISTING PRODUCTS] = Free "5 Camera Settings" PDF download - [PRIMARY GOAL] = Revenue --- ### Phase 1: Product Vehicle Classification **Classification: Level 2 — Skill Builder ($149)** Your numbers support this. 800 email subscribers is enough to validate a self-paced course if your open rates are healthy (above 35%). You already have a free lead magnet pulling people in, which means you have a functioning top of funnel. The transformation you described — auto mode to confident manual shooting — is a complete skill arc that fits naturally into 6-8 modules. Why not Level 3 (Cohort): You don't have the audience depth yet. A $500+ cohort course needs at least 2,000 engaged email subscribers to fill a 20-person cohort reliably. You'd end up discounting to fill seats, which poisons your pricing forever. Price recommendation: $149. Photography hobbyists spend freely on gear but resist spending on education unless the price feels like "one nice lens" territory. $149 hits below the impulse threshold and feels like a no-brainer compared to the $800 lens they bought last month. ### Phase 2: Student Identity Spectrum (2 of 4 shown) **Level 1 — The Spray-and-Pray Shooter:** - Observable behaviors: Shoots 200 photos at every event. Relies entirely on auto mode. Crops aggressively to "fix" composition after the fact. Judges photo quality by whether it's blurry or not. - Internal narrative: "I just need a better camera." Blames equipment for results. Believes some people are born with 'an eye for photography' and they weren't. **Level 3 — The Technical Plateauer:** - Observable behaviors: Understands exposure triangle, shoots in manual, owns decent glass. But photos look "correct" without looking compelling. Gets consistent results but nothing that stops a scroll. Edits for 45 minutes per photo because the raw image never feels finished. - Internal narrative: "I know what I'm doing technically, so why don't my photos look like theirs?" Watches YouTube tutorials that repeat what they already know. Starting to wonder if photography is just about expensive locations and lucky moments. **Self-Sorting Question:** "When you take a photo you love, do you know exactly WHY it worked — or does it feel like an accident you can't repeat?" ### Phase 3: Course Modules (2 of 6 shown) **Module 1: From Equipment Believer to Light Reader** - Identity Shift: - Before: "Better photos require better gear. If I had that lens, my work would look professional." - After: "Light is the instrument. The camera is just the container. I see light before I see subjects." - Core Content: The Light-First Framework — training your eye to read quality, direction, and color of light before touching your camera. One exercise: spend 20 minutes in a room photographing the same object as the light changes. No settings adjustments. Just observation. - Proof Element: Side-by-side comparison — a $400 camera in beautiful window light vs. a $3,000 camera in harsh fluorescent. The cheap camera wins every time. This breaks the gear myth in 10 seconds. - Implementation Gate: Photograph one subject in 5 different lighting conditions using only your phone. Post your favorite to the course community with a one-sentence explanation of why the light worked. You cannot proceed until you've posted. - Checkpoint Language: "I read light before I pick up my camera. I choose when and where to shoot based on what the light is doing, not what the subject is doing." **Module 4: From Deleter to Curator** - Identity Shift: - Before: "I take 200 shots hoping 3 are good. Deleting photos is my editing process." - After: "I take 15 shots because I saw the image before I pressed the shutter. Editing is refining, not rescuing." - Core Content: Pre-visualization — the discipline of composing the final image in your mind before shooting. Includes the 5-shot exercise: arrive at a scene, take exactly 5 photos, and make one of them portfolio-worthy. Constraints force intention. - Proof Element: A student case study — someone who went from 400 shots per session (keeping 8) to 30 shots per session (keeping 12). Their keeper rate went from 2% to 40%, and their editing time dropped by 70%. - Implementation Gate: Go to a location you've photographed before. Take exactly 10 photos. Before each shot, write one sentence describing what you want the viewer to feel. Submit your 3 best with those sentences attached. No re-shoots allowed. - Checkpoint Language: "I see the photo before I take it. My camera confirms what my eye already composed." ### Phase 5: Launch Readiness Assessment **Ready to launch?** Conditionally yes. You have the audience (800 subscribers), a functioning lead magnet, and a clear transformation. But you need one thing first: proof that people will pay. **Minimum viable version:** Don't build all 6 modules. Build Module 1 and Module 2 as a $29 mini-course called "See Light Like a Pro." Sell it to your email list this week. If 20+ people buy at $29 from an 800-person list (2.5% conversion), you have validation to build the full course. If fewer than 10 buy, your positioning needs work before you invest in production. **Recommended first step:** Send one email to your list this week with the Self-Sorting Question as the subject line. See how many people reply and what level they identify as. Replies = demand signal. Silence = positioning problem. **Next product level:** After 50+ students complete the $149 course, launch a Level 3 cohort called "Portfolio Sprint" — a 6-week live experience where students build a 10-image portfolio with weekly critique sessions. Price: $499. Your course graduates become your cohort pipeline.