The Death of Big Courses & Rise of "Real" Creators (2026 Predictions)

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AI ads are getting louder, funnels are getting messier — and creators are officially over it. Joanna and Michelle break down what’s actually going to work in 2026 (and what’s quietly dying).

What You’ll Learn:
How AI saturation is creating a huge opportunity for human-first creators
Why milestone-based planning beats traditional goal setting (especially if you “fall behind”)
Which digital products, offers, and formats are gaining traction — and which are losing steam

Timestamps:
04:45 – Introduction
04:45 – Why New Year goal-setting keeps setting creators up to fail
06:30 – The milestone mindset that finally gets projects finished
14:45 – AI ads, brand laziness, and the authenticity advantage
23:10 – “Fly-on-the-wall” content and the rise of voyeur-style marketing
27:15 – The slow death of massive async courses
31:40 – Simpler funnels, easier buying, and what customers actually want

References & Resources:
AI-generated ads
Digital memberships
Online communities
In-person retreats
Hannah Louise Poston

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📱 Social: @themichellepualani | @joanna_atwork
📩 Michelle: hello@michellepualani.com
🌐 Joanna: millennialmktr.com

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Transcript

Michelle Pualani: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to the Click Tease podcast. Today we are chatting about this year's predictions. What are we gonna see in marketing digital business systems, as well as content creation. We're keeping it super simple today, just going over some of the basics of where you can invest your time and attention.

We'll do a little catch up. Recap of this holiday season, thinking about goal setting and maybe the approach that you're taking isn't quite right for you. You feel like you failed before and you're setting too high level of expectations and putting too much pressure on yourself. So why not try something different instead?

All right, let's get into it. ta ta ta ta ta, by the way, came up with the best commercial idea from that song. You know, the Missy Elliot song? That's like ratta ta ta ta ta ta ta. So if I was the Racha brand, I would do sriracha, cha cha cha cha, cha cha, cha cha. And it's like spice. So good. And then the kasan would continue from there.

Very [00:01:00] clever. I know and then it stuff in your head.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, it's great marketing. 100%. 100%. Awesome.

Michelle Pualani: So we just wrapped up the holidays and 2025 is now technically behind us, 2026, a new year ahead. And for me, in terms of like recap and what has happened 2025, if you're into Chinese New Year or universe or any of those kinds of like things, 2026 was the year of the water snake and there was, it was supposed to be all about shedding.

Shedding, releasing, letting go of, and I feel like that for me in a big way. I closed an entire brand last year that I'd held onto for a long time. I let go of a lot of programs that I feel like I was just sitting on. I closed Instagram accounts, got rid of emails, and like decluttered in a big way in my life.

Emotionally, physically, digitally, relationships, just so much. And, uh, over the holidays we went to Tahoe, which fantastic. Uh, we stopped going [00:02:00] to family or being with family last year. Very complicated. You know, stuff going on there on the background. Someday I'll share about it, but ultimately that was kind of our decision.

So Jeremy, my husband and I went up to Tahoe. We spent Christmas on the mountain last year. Had an amazing time. I've gotten into snowboarding over the past years, which has been fantastic. And it was just nice to just be on our own and not have to be on any other anybody else's timeframe. It did storm this year in Tahoe, so we didn't get as much time on the mountain as we would've liked one beautiful, crisp, clear day.

But going into the end of the year, 2025, you're like, yes, I'm gonna hit it hard. 2026 New Year's resolutions. We got things going, like goals are set. It's clean slate. And then I got sick and not like terrible sick, but just sick enough so that I couldn't go out and do things. And then I just started my period and so, and then I hurt my wrist.

It's just been like [00:03:00] thing after thing after thing. And so I was like, okay. I thought I was ready for the new year. I thought I was ready to start this whole new content creation thing. I thought TBH, blah, blah, blah. We're getting this investment, we're doing all these things, and I just want to give you grace as you're listening because a lot of times you can gear up for things and say like, okay, January one, or even January five yesterday, and say like.

This is the start. This is it. This is what's gonna happen. Everything is gonna flip 180. I'm done with the old year in with the new or whatever. That kind of change pivot time is for you and you can feel like so much is hinging on it, but it's okay to. Have that fall apart. Like for me, it felt like it fell apart.

Now it wasn't the end of the world. Like I read a bunch of romance novels, which I've just been loving and got caught up on some stuff, finished some things, whatever. Took care of the bare necessities and it's fine. Like, I'm gonna get up tomorrow, I'll feel a lot better,

Joanna Newton: better.

Michelle Pualani: I can start over. I can do it.

[00:04:00] Then. I've put so much pressure on myself for years to. Basically set myself up for failure and disappointment to not meet my own expectations. And so like for me, I know that was a long story and Joanne and I have been trying to talk less on the podcast.

Joanna Newton: that's a goal, which we're doing great at.

Michelle Pualani: You're doing great with Joanna has is a godsend. She's literally been tracking our time of talk on each podcast so that we are not monologuing because we were, we were monologuing and we've evolved and we've come so far, which I'm proud of us for.

Joanna Newton: Yeah.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah.

Joanna Newton: proud of us.

Michelle Pualani: I'm so proud of us.

Joanna Newton: We are so proud of us. I, you got me thinking, um, Michelle, as you were talking about this like problem that's like absolutely inevitable as business owners, content creators, whatever we do, we have these goals and the we, these things we want to do, and then something happens. You get sick, you hurt yourself, you have. [00:05:00] A life catastrophe, like life happens. And something clicked for me as you were talking because I've changed the way I project managed something in my life. I realized that it completely solves that problem, so I'm gonna share it with you and everyone on this podcast. A lot of times when we think of something that we're working on, especially when it's like future casting, building something new, I think most people are really good at getting like a client work done on time or like something that's very time sensitive or something that's already moving. You've made a commitment, but it went. Comes to those growth things, right? Like I want to launch a new YouTube channel, or I want to launch a new digital product. It is so easy to push it off and push it off and push it off. And a lot of times if you've ever used a project management tool or thought through how you're gonna do this, you say, okay, well I'm gonna do this this week, this next week, this the week after, and all of that.

And then what happens? Life [00:06:00] happens. So you say, okay, I'm gonna do it next week, and all of those dates push back, okay, I'm gonna do that thing next week. And you do that, and you do that, and you do that. Brandon and I at Millennial Marketer, our goal end of last year, we decided we're launching a membership in 2026, and I. would say, okay, to do that, we've gotta do this by this date, this by this date, this by this date. What I did instead, and I didn't even realize that this is like solved this problem when I did it, is I set up our action plan by milestone. So the first goal was to get 50 people into a free challenge. So we just focused on getting 50, no timeframe, no set goal. Our goal is 50 people in, uh. The challenge. So that means if one week we got two new people, we made progress. If we got 10 new people, we made a lot of progress, right? And then once we hit that [00:07:00] 50, that's when we were gonna work towards our next milestone and our next milestone.

And our next milestone. And I'll tell you, we have been trying to launch a membership for like three years and like it's happening. of this project management shift, because right, like if you say, oh, I'm gonna make it next week, then you push back, you push back and you push back. But with a milestone mindset, we've been able to, some weeks we make very incremental change.

Some weeks we make big change and like that's actually okay. And it's been a really exciting way to think about getting stuff done.

Michelle Pualani: I like that approach and then it's not so time-based. 'cause I, so I don't use planners anymore. I went through a whole phase of trying every single planner from Boss Babe to this just really beautiful aesthetic one to. Habit tracking bullet journal type deals to Brendan Burchard, planner to all, all of the things.

And I've just realized like that is not my mo I, [00:08:00] I am not good at approaching my management, my time, my tasks, my priorities. With a planner because all I did constantly was one, I would just miss days. I just wouldn't do it on certain days. My consistency level is terrible. Like as someone who comes from habit formation and behavior change, my ability to stay consistent on a day-to-day basis is pretty much like brushing my teeth and doing my skincare routine.

That's like the only thing that I can legitimately show up for on a daily basis, and I don't know what that says about me, whether it's an attention thing or I don't, I don't know.

Joanna Newton: don't

Michelle Pualani: I can't tell you. I have not diagnosed that problem officially, but I do know that. I'm able to tackle a ton of things because of the way that I manage my time, my energy, my tension now, and it looks different than how other people do it.

So especially when you're in this time of the new year starting, [00:09:00] people are setting resolutions, we're creating goals, we're working. We have a great episode on that. So if you're not. Hit subscribe for the Click Tease podcast. Go back and listen to the previous episode on goal setting, which takes a very different approach than maybe what you've heard or seen before, and that might be effective for you.

You might have been trying to do the same thing over and over and over and over again, and not getting the results that you want, but you're seeing all these other people be successful with that process. Well, that process might not work for you, and it's okay to make a change, like if you seriously want to accomplish that thing.

Change it up. I don't set timeframes anymore on myself either, and it makes it so much easier. There's actually a study on this for a sales team. I can't remember where I read about this, but. And it was some big brand like Microsoft or Hewlett Packard or like something something really big is that when they actually removed the pressure of sales quotas from their team, their performance [00:10:00] improved because instead of coming in and feeling like, oh my gosh, like I have to do X number of sales every single day.

They actually started to enjoy the process again. So sometimes we put so much pressure, we put so much expectation on ourselves, especially around goal setting, especially around like accomplishments and getting all this stuff done. And as business owners, we're wearing all of these different hats and we've got all of these things we've gotta check off.

And for me. That process has completely changed to simplification and action taking, and what Joanna's just demonstrated is taking action little by little every single day, every single week, as opposed to. Fulfilling another strategy, doing more planning. Oh my gosh, I have to go back to the drawing board.

I've gotta rework this. I've gotta replan this. I've gotta actually do 16 steps before I take that first one. That's gonna get something out into the world. And that's an overthinking mindset, and that does show your intellect. It shows your maybe education, your [00:11:00] training, maybe you were really great at school.

But when it comes to business, when it comes to content creation, when it comes to your marketing and life, you've gotta act. Faster. And that's one of my big things that I'm working on this year is going from ideation to creation so much faster. And so that's, that's my goal. So now that I'm feeling better, that's gonna happen.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, and I think you bring up so many good points because like so often we. Planned for this like ideal version of ourselves that like doesn't exist. And there's this one YouTuber that I really like. Her name is Hannah Louise Poston. She's a like makeup and fashion YouTuber and with a, but she has a very different approach than a lot of other, um, content creators in that space.

And she talks about not buying clothes. this ideal version of yourself that doesn't even exist. So think about like if you literally never wear heels, if you have heels in the back of [00:12:00] your closet and you don't wear them because your feet hurt, don't keep buying heels because then you'll be constantly frustrated.

You don't have footwear you like and not wear the heels, and then you're just in a situation. So you should shop for the person. You are not this like ideal version of yourself. And I think the same goes with. Planning. Um, a good example of this is I'm just not a morning person. I am not an early riser.

There were times in my life where I would say, I'm gonna start waking up at, you know, five 30 to get my workout done first thing in the morning. Every day I'd hit snooze every day. I'd start my day failing. And like there is. Merit if you want, if there's a negative habit that you have that you wanna change, like that's not what I'm talking about, but like I don't need to wake up early to have a productive day and I can wake up at the time that makes sense for me and plan my [00:13:00] day based on how I work versus try to work the way I think my day should be.

Michelle Pualani: I think this is just the biggest learning lesson, and I know that technically we're not talking about this today, so keep hanging around. We're actually talking about predictions for 2026 that we're seeing in marketing and content creation. Thank you for being here. By the way. It's one thing, I'm actually listening to this romance novel right now where there is a podcaster as the female character and male character sports and relationships.

It's pretty cute, but what's one of the things that they have been doing? And I just wanna thank you. If you're here listening to the Click Tease podcast, who, Joanna and I. We're just so grateful to have you here and we're super excited about what this next year looks like because it's gonna be a huge growth year, a huge building year.

We've got some changes up our sleeves that we anticipate happening. Um, we have our. Uh, Substack, which Joanna manages and goes out every single week. So you can find that on the show notes, [00:14:00] sa subscribe to it. It also comes to your email and those are very tactical, tangible things that you can use in your business marketing and content creation.

So just thank you for being here. We so appreciate you and I think we should get into it. Let's predict, what have you got, Joanna? What are we gonna see coming in 2026?

Joanna Newton: So my first prediction I think about 2026, and what I expect to happen that we will be seeing more and more terrible ads. Like, I, I hate to say it, but I saw a big increase towards the end of the year of, of getting served AI created ads. And I think in our feeds, in our worlds, not from individual creators, but from brands, I think we're gonna see a big increase in that area. And I actually think that's a good thing for us. So I think as these larger, larger brands, larger people are re relying on AI to create ads. It [00:15:00] gives smaller creators a chance to capture attention. So as people are. don't think people like it. Like, like I really don't like whenever you get an AI ad, I always go and look at the comments. If it's like a AI social ad everybody's just ragging on it, like they hate it, like they want, especially when it's, um, humans like, right. I think we've talked on this show about some good ways to use AI and AI content creation, and that we really don't want to use it to get rid of the human element.

I think it gives people like the ick to, for less lack of a better word, so. I think we're gonna see an increase in it, but I think it's actually a place where you as a creator show up very authentically and very real and like without that like perfect mask and actually connect with people more. So I see it as an opportunity for us to not switch to AI content creation, but to double down on that human element that we can offer as [00:16:00] creators.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, this is one of my core predictions too, in terms of ai. Now I will say that AI is only gonna get better. So right now it is a little bit easier to be able to discern and say, okay, that like that person has too, like good of skin, but. The way that AI is gonna format now and learn, and the coders and like what we're seeing in terms of creation, it's just gonna get better.

And so we are going to see expansion, especially with larger brands, when you have a huge business that's focused on profitability, that is dedicated to its shareholders, and they need to see success over time. They're going to invest in AI strategies that decrease human investment of time, labor, attention, energy and talent acquisition.

Like from a business perspective, it makes sense to invest in AI right now because it can be incredibly profitable and beneficial to your systems, [00:17:00] to your scalability. Like there are a lot of positives that are gonna come with ai, and I see the use of that being only exponential in terms of it, its growth, but even.

Adam Moi. Am I saying his name? Name right? Instagram, Adam Moi.

Joanna Newton: even know who that is.

Michelle Pualani: Moi. Okay. You know who I'm talking about? The Insta Instagram. He's the Instagram. CEO.

Joanna Newton: Oh,

Michelle Pualani: Oh my gosh. Joanna, you that is your homework. Hello? Google. Okay. So anyway, I follow him and pay attention. 'cause he puts out a lot of like just Instagram updates and things like that.

But he also speaks more generally to content creation. And one of the posts you put out recently was about this development in AI is that it's only gonna get better. It's only gonna be more prevalent. We're gonna see it happening all over the place. But what does that mean? It means exactly what you said, Joanna, is that we as individuals, as business owners, as.

Coaches as content creators, as people who are representing our personal brands. That means we get to lean heavily into authenticity. That means that we get [00:18:00] to show up as ourselves and step more into a robust character of what it is that we're trying to create. Because I still think, and, and I. I feel this way based on like spirituality, universal intelligence.

Like when you think about energetics, like I believe in there being something else, right? Like there is our physical reality in this physical plane, but there has to be something else there. And I don't know exactly what that is. I can't describe it, I can't necessarily explain it, but I believe that it's there.

And I think that there is consistently with human beings. Even though there will be relationships built on AI chat platforms, you can develop friendships. Like there will be that side of things, and I see that evolving over time. Side note, Joanna, you gotta say something right now, but I gotta tell a side story so

Joanna Newton: I'm just gonna talk so that way [00:19:00] when I track it, you didn't talk for too long.

Michelle Pualani: I don't.

Joanna Newton: I talked, so what is your side note?

Michelle Pualani: Okay, perfect. So my side note is my niece. My niece turns six in February and she was visiting us the other day and trying to have a conversation with Siri. So when you think about young people and how they're engaging with AI right now and the development, if you even think about pulling up chat sheet, BT, I don't know if you've ever used the voice.

Conversation mode with chat GPT. If you haven't yet and you're listening, pull it up. I think it's so interesting to pay attention to. Jeremy showed me a toy. It's very popular. It was sold out. We couldn't get it for our niece and nephew, and it's a dinosaur and it has an AI voice activated response. And so your talking.

[00:20:00] To a toy. You're talking to ai. You're talking as a child to a non sentient being. That's obviously based off of language learning models, et cetera. It's obviously talking more about like row, row, row, your boat, different things. But just imagine next generations and where we see our relationship building and connections going.

With AI, with robots over time, which I think is so interesting. All that to be said. I still believe when it comes to content creation, when it comes to personal branding, when it comes to marketing, there is going to be a disconnect with that ai. And so I think as a human being, you will always have that edge, and I think the more you can lean into it now, the better.

Joanna Newton: Yeah. I also think that there's always, with everything like a pendulum swing, like something becomes very, very saturated and then like swings back in the opposite [00:21:00] direction and then you end up. In a different but like not so extreme place. I will say you had your experience with your niece. daughter actually has a very like, averse reaction to ai. So, you know, she's gen alpha, she's eight. Um, you know, she's had electronics as part of her life, like forever. she will say things to me like. I've had too much screen time today. I need to do something else. I don't like, I don't wanna watch a movie tonight. I don't wanna play video games. I wanna like get away from screens.

So she'll like make that call for herself. She also has a dislike for AI content. Like she doesn't want anything to do with it. So I think. It's very possible for like Gen Alpha as it gets like saturated for them. They're like, wait, I don't actually want this. Um, and I see that happening as well. So I think that, [00:22:00] um, you know, AI is going to be a part of your business, but like, don't. Don't outsource your face like, like I just think that's something that you should keep and hold onto. And then we've talked about this on the podcast before, but using like be authentically, you use AI for efficiencies, for automations, for repetitive tasks, for finding information out of your own information, right?

Like things that make sense to use AI for. Um. But like, let you be you. And I think that's what we're gonna see a lot of, um, in 2026 is like true authenticity. Because even people who don't use AI can sometimes put up a big front on camera or in their writing or in whatever content they're putting out where like what they're putting out and who they are doesn't match. But I think we're gonna see feeds be less curated. People creating content that feels more like they're on a FaceTime video with their friends. [00:23:00] Um, that kind of feel I think we're going to see is more important. As that AI content becomes bigger, we're gonna see that jux to juxtaposition, which I think will be really interesting.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah. Okay. My next prediction in terms of content, and I'm seeing this a bit, is that. A lot of our content is framed from like us, right? Like we're the ones in the video. We are directing the shots, we are developing the creative process. We are showing up for it, or it's our POV kind of lens. But I'm seeing a lot of content, a lot of ads that are almost like staged third party interactions.

And so it's almost like a fly on the wall type deal. If you've ever seen the content where. Um, it's like from a window and they're watching like a, like a girl's walking down the street, but the girl is somewhat unaware, theoretically unaware of the person who's filming her, or a guy who's running. I don't know [00:24:00] why this is my algorithm, but it is.

And so,

Joanna Newton: You're in the voyeurism algorithm.

Michelle Pualani: whoa, Joanna. 

Joanna Newton: Okay. Voyeurs and doesn't have to be sexual. It isn't. 

Michelle Pualani: Okay, so I didn't think we'd get into kinks today. Um, so.

Joanna Newton: Okay. Now we know.

Michelle Pualani: Now we know if you're not watching the video, I am 100% blushing right now. Here we go. Moving on. So the point of these videos is that someone is capturing this thing without the main subjects, theoretically knowing that they're watching them and a lot of it is staged or.

It's very interesting and I see that growing in terms of content creation, that it's like people are happening upon [00:25:00] a scene or happening upon something because it automatically creates this curiosity and this intrigue as a consumer. And as you know, those first initial three seconds are the most important in your content creation and content development because people are deciding what they're gonna con, they're gonna continue to watch.

Or not and anything that looks like it's catching something in the act, I think is like absolutely going to grow when it comes to content creation, marketing, I, I, you see it from a commercial perspective to a social media perspective, to an ads perspective.

Joanna Newton: And I think, right, we want that like gossip feel. We wanna be in the know. So if you're like watching something you don't think you're supposed to watch, or like people are unaware, it's like reality tv, right? Like reality TV is likely way more staged than we think it is, but you feel like you're watching something like, Ooh, I shouldn't be really seeing this.

So when you can create that in your [00:26:00] content that just. Brings this level of intrigue. I know a lot of people that's what that like skit content does, even though you know it's staged. 'cause a lot of times people are playing two characters, but when you say, Hey you, I wanna give you a tip, it's like only one level of content.

But when you play two characters and you're someone not in the know and then the other character is someone who's in the know it, it's just more intriguing. Interesting, entertaining. And so I love that idea of like the fly in the wall content. The, the look inside that's a little bit different and less like direct to the people that you're talking about. One of the big trends that I, I expect to see this year, um, is really kind of in the product space. So my business, I talk to people who make digital products, program services all of the time, and this is a space that has been like very saturated with all kinds of options and coaching and memberships and live [00:27:00] cohorts and blah, blah, blah, and all of these things. I personally see a big shift in move to. Memberships and digital products that have some sort of live component in interaction. I kind of have been seeing almost the, the death of the asynchronous large course, and I think it's because people who have products and done things, they buy and buy and buy these things and don't use them. And I think that people are craving a if, if they're looking for a solution to a problem. They want access to a person, they want access to other people. Some sort of like live moving component to it. So what that means is, you know, that have weekly q and As A course that has a community feature where you can actually chat with people, even if it's not like the main expert, [00:28:00] content that. Develops over time, so it's not a stagnant course, but maybe you're getting something new every single week. Right. I think I'm seeing that work better from the sales side for my clients, and then I'm also watching other people kind of adjust their programs where we're kind of getting rid of the sort of stale singular course.

The other thing that a lot of people do. To combat that are like big cohorts where you're like in a $2,000 mastermind that has these live sessions. I also kind of see those going away because people wanna be able to kind of come in, go as they please. So thinking of digital products as being more like living, breathing memberships that people can be a part of and have that community, I think is where a lot of online program is, is going to go.

Michelle Pualani: Definitely, and I think the simplicity. Of the nature and the products and offers that we're giving to people, right? Like I feel like it used to be, [00:29:00] well, you get this and you get this and you get this and you get this and you get this and you get this, and then you're like, oh my God, whoa. Like I haven't seen a landing page that has that like whole swath of things anymore.

Joanna Newton: Yeah,

Michelle Pualani: well as like the simplicity of funnels and systems. We've talked on the podcast about before, and Joanna shared with her clients how. We're shifting away from those really complex landing page funnels that takes you through a million different things before you get to the actual offer. And even just keeping that in the dms and having simple conversations, like I think people are tired and fatigued and overwhelmed from the noise of flashy and over the top.

And what I think to be more like a ClickFunnels approach of like,

Joanna Newton: yeah.

Michelle Pualani: know, upsell downsell, upsell downsell. Change this, add this, do this thing. Like I'll click out of stuff these days and now I'm, I'm not every user by any means, but a lot of times, like

Joanna Newton: like

Michelle Pualani: if I get to two or three different ops option, like offers within a funnel framework, I will [00:30:00] stop the purchasing process because now I'm just pissed off.

I'm like, I just want.

Joanna Newton: too much.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, you want simplicity, like people wanna be able to buy as easily as possible. So the lower barriers that you have to, that purchasing process, I think is huge from like a business and systems perspective. Along that vein of the live interactive component, I really think people are moving more and back to retreats in person, like opportunities to be able to do popups, gorilla style events, like things that are engaging people in a unique, creative way.

Um, yeah, I'm, I think that that's going to only grow and expand. There's this creator. I think it's Cat. GPT is her name and she focuses on ai, but she's done a couple different things. There's this glass block that's shaped like an iPhone that she started that is like, you have the habit [00:31:00] of like picking up your iPhone and things like that.

So having a glass block instead of an actual phone. And then she launched a physical phone product where it's like one of the old school telephones, you know, that we used to use with the dial. So you can pick it up, but you plug it into your phone or it's Bluetooth on your phone or something like that.

But you can actually pick up the handle and talk on the phone because you know, the first prediction, of course, is this. This ai, I think we always have almost a direct response in the app, exact opposite direction. So when we see things going more future oriented, more tech oriented, people bring back records, they bring back.

Different generations hearkening to times before. And so I think that as human beings and you know, as nostalgic, emotionally driven beings, we are gonna be connected to things that are more traditional in our past. Uh, things that we're of a [00:32:00] quote, unquote, simpler time. So I think that along with, again.

The development of AI technology, innovation, the drive for that, we're simultaneously gonna see a need for human connection, simple offerings and things that kind of bring us back to our roots in a really big way.

Joanna Newton: Yeah. And I even, like, I just see that in my life too, like with, with my family, like we've been making bread and like doing things like that instead of like buying it. Um, and this idea of like being a little bit more. Homegrown. Not that technology isn't obviously part of our lives. I work on a computer all day, like all of those things.

But, um, it's that reaction like when you see when something picks up, something else kind of comes up in that opposite of, of balance and balancing those things out. So. Finding ways to unplug, finding ways to [00:33:00] get, you know, away from things and, and if you're creating digital products, programs, and all of that, you can like hop on that trend, right?

Like an in-person retreat might be very, very appealing for people. A lower tech digital course that doesn't have. Thousands of downloads and these complicated things, but that just like delivers what people need when they need it instead of being so overwhelming, right. There's a lot of a lot of things that make sense and for us as creators, that actually I think is helpful because you don't have to worry about like having all of the bells and whistles, just worry about having the right thing. That just gets to the point and gets people what they need rather than feel like you have to like pad it with with complications. And I think that's really cool and exciting to look into 2026 and think about that. Like how can you simplify, how can you get right to the point? How can you simplify your sales processes and what you do in a way [00:34:00] that feels human, feels authentic and right for that potential client?

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, I think tuning into those needs, I mean, there's so much crap. Let's be honest, like there's so much crap in the online space, whether that is paid or free. And when I was first getting into online business, it was so easy to wanna sign up for every webinar and get every freebie and pay for, you know, $17 here, $97 here, do the $297 courses, and then sign up for the $3,000 courses, and then do the groups and the masterminds and the coaching and the dah, dah, dah.

And if it's like, if it was there, I probably spent money on it. And you realize just how much like you don't need it. And for me, in my products and where I'm heading with, especially like in the business marketing consulting side of what I'm doing. I want to make things as simple as possible, as accessible for PO as people like for PO people as possible.

'cause you're right, people sign up for those things [00:35:00] and on part of course, it's their prerogative. Like you can't make people do something that they don't want to, that they're not gonna do. Absolutely. But I have also gotten a lot of things and then been completely overwhelmed by it. I'm the student and they're the teacher.

And so as now being in my teacher time, like in my teacher role, I want to make things accessible so that the student feels like they are held so that they feel like they're walked through the process so that they feel like they are capable of doing it. And I think a lot of teachers, mentors, coaches are just like, well, if you can't do it, like you're not meant to be doing it or, you know.

If you're not gonna put in the work, then that's on you. And I think that's a huge issue in this space is. Again, you as an individual, as a coach, like you cannot take on the responsibility of doing it for your client. Like if you're a personal trainer, and I've been a personal trainer, if you're a personal trainer, I cannot do your pushups for you.

But guess what? If you can't do pushups, if you [00:36:00] can't do a hundred pushups on your hands and feet, which is unlikely that a lot of people can, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna regress it for you. I'm gonna start small. Can you do one pushup? Let's start there. And I don't think enough coaches, teachers, and educators today in the online space take that responsibility and onus on themselves.

They basically are like, here's the super complex, complicated system and all of this stuff, and here's all the resources and you should be able to do it by yourself because I did it by myself, or I figured it out, or whatever the case is. Wow, I just got a soapbox. Apparently I feel very passionately about this.

So yeah, so I'm working on simplifying.

That's my soapbox and I am sticking to it. So thank you so much for tuning in today. We're so grateful that you joined us on the Click Tease podcast. Make sure you hit subscribe, go to the comment or the show notes section and sign up for the substack because every single week we put out episodes that are more conversational.

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