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It is time that our industry expects evidence-based practical education, delivered by professional educators, at a reasonable cost, in a format that is convenient and flexible enough to fit the busy lives of students and professional colleagues requiring continuing education credits. In short, students and colleagues deserve affordable, flexible, convenient, expertly delivered, high-quality education.
Netflix Solved the Affordability Issue in Education?
Netflix was the answer to the problems people had with Blockbuster's business model. Although Blockbuster's pricing initially appeared easy and affordable to customers, there were layers of fees and post-purchase charges. Blockbuster Video used to charge $1.99 to rent a video, but that was just the beginning. They also charged more to rent a new release ($2.99 - 4.99), much more to buy a video ($39.00 - 85.00), there was a monthly membership fee ($24.99-29.99/month), insane mark-ups on in-store items (e.g. snacks); and of course, the word "Blockbuster" became synonymous with rage-inducing late fees. These extra fees could quickly turn a $10.00 video night into a $40.00 "Blockbuster evening" for movies you may or may not have the chance to actually watch. Not to mention, Blockbuster was not nearly as convenient as what Netflix would become. Customers had to go to Blockbuster, try to find what they were looking for, wait in long lines, drive back home, and then only have an evening or two to watch the rented movies, and then drive the videos back to the store prior to some return time, purposefully chosen to be inconvenient to maximize late fees. Then Netflix comes along and offers a monthly membership fee that is less than the average spend for a Blockbuster evening, with a library of shows, movies, and documentaries 1000s of times larger than any Blockbuster store, that never have to be returned, can be viewed anytime and from anywhere... and there are no late fees. In fact, there are no additional fees of any kind. Netflix was not a little better, it was a new business model that exponentially improved the cost and experience of renting shows and movies.
Like Netflix in a World of Blockbuster Videos:
If Netflix can do it, can it be done in education? So far, the Brookbush Institute is the only approved/accredited education provider in the industry attempting a true monthly membership. That is, an affordable monthly (or yearly) price, you can cancel anytime, and all certifications, courses, videos, and features are included, with no additional fees. There are competitors who are "pretending" to offer a monthly membership plan, but it is really a payment plan that locks you into a hefty fee paid over time (between $400.00 - $2200.00 per certification, often hiding an embarrassing amount of post-purchase costs.) For more, check out this article - How Much Does a Personal Training Certification Cost (Including Hidden Fees)?
A More Ethical Business Model:
Implementation of a Netflix-like monthly membership model has some ethical advantages. First, it has reduced the upfront cost of education by 30-50 times, allowing more individuals of every socioeconomic background access to high-quality education (and more individuals the chance to "try" education with low financial risk). Further, the low monthly cost promotes lifelong learning. That is, learning that may be enjoyed as a regular habit and not an irregular, expensive, sacrifice that has to be endured biennially. Imagine if the amount of regular engagement in education could match even 30% of the amount of time spent binge-watching Netflix. Last and perhaps most importantly, while selling education for a large upfront fee can rely on marketing/branding to convince people to buy before developing an opinion about a product, membership models rely on retention to fully realize member value. This implies that the monthly membership model aligns with the goals of education. That is, the value of education should be directly correlated with the ability of the product and content to meet the student's needs and educational goals.
The Brookbush Institute is a company built to innovate. The monthly membership model is a paradigm shift in pricing, facilitating on-the-go learning is a company objective that has exponentially improved our colleague's enjoyment of the learning process, building every course from a comprehensive systematic review (often citing 10-100 times the number of peer-reviewed original research studies as similar companies) has improved the accuracy of content to an unprecedented degree, and built into everything we do is the original mission of optimizing delivery. For more information on our innovations in education, check out "The Best Personal Training Certification?" (and the other articles on our blog under the category "Certification and Accreditation")
Brent Brookbush
Brookbush Institute
+1 201-870-0718
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