Want to create and sell online courses, but feeling too skeptical? Wondering whether you can become a successful online course creator in a world that already has too many of them? No problem! It’s absolutely normal to have these thoughts and worries. Pretty much every single soon-to-become course creator feels this way before finally making the decision to take action and create something of their own. I felt exactly the same. 🙂
In this blog post, I want to share with you the 6 facts that you should be aware of before starting to work on your first course. Knowing and understanding these facts will remove some of the unnecessary fears and doubts that you may have regarding course creation.
1. You don’t need to be an expert to create and sell online courses
First of all, you don’t need to be an expert to create and sell online courses.
For a long time, the idea of having to be an expert pushed me away from creating my own digital course. I had a firm belief that I need to be an expert, and being an expert meant having a university degree in the field and at least 10 years of work experience. If those two are missing, then I have no right to teach other people, I thought to myself.
One day, while listening to Amy Porterfield’s podcast, a new, very simple truth was revealed to me. Amy said that feeling like you need to be an expert to create and sell online courses is actually a common limiting belief.
She then continued by explaining that as long as you have done something in life that has gotten you great results, or you have helped someone else do something that has gotten them great results, you can make an online course around that.
I never thought about it that way before! I know that I have always been a perfectionist, but I totally missed the fact that I was once again doing myself a disservice by taking the “all or nothing approach”. Being a perfectionist can really hinder your success, which is why it is some important to be aware of your thoughts at all times.
2. You don’t need a large following
One other thing that I was 100% confident about was the idea that to successfully create and sell online courses, you need a large following. I mean, if you don’t have people that follow you online, who are you going to sell your course to? Seemed like a very legit question.
However, after having become a student of Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy, I once again learned something that was very different from what I previously had in mind.
Amy teaches that you don’t necessarily need a following before you start creating your own course, although, of course, it helps a lot. In her program, she gives different strategies that will help you grow your audience as you work on your course.
And if you can’t grow a large enough following organically by the time you have completed your course, you can turn to Facebook ads.
In the past, Facebook ads would have been a no-no for me. I thought that they are expensive and not effective. I simply wanted to attract free, organic traffic to my course, rather than paid traffic. But the truth is that if you don’t have an audience, what other options, besides ads, do you really have..?
Also, since learning more about Facebook ads, I began to use them in other areas of my online business. And to my surprise, I actually found them to be effective and affordable.
So at the end of the day, if you don’t have a following online, no worries. Take action anyway.
3. No need to spend a fortune on equipment and online course software
This one is also something that many striving course creators get overly worried about. The short answer is – no, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on equipment and online course software.
Let’s look at it from another perspective, shall we?
Are you planning to make a more affordable online course or an expensive one? Well, I guess if you have a professional video camera and a microphone, you can afford expensive software, and your content is really good, then why not make the course also expensive?
However, if you know that you can’t afford at the moment the best gear out there, then you could definitely start by creating a more affordable course, where the quality of sound and video would not be a deal-breaker for your students.
One interesting fact, though…
I have seen $2000 courses that never showed the face of the creator/teacher. The course was made out of powerpoint slides, screen recording and a voice in the background. This proves that you don’t necessarily even need to buy a camera at all for your high ticket course if you don’t want to. As long as your students find the information valuable, your course will be successful, regardless of the equipment that you use.
4. You can raise the price over time
One other issue that I often see people discuss is the pricing.
Some of the newer course creators are confident that their content is amazing, but they just don’t feel comfortable selling the course at a higher price tag. They feel like they don’t deserve that kind of money for their information, even though it took them many years to gather it. Fortunately, Amy Porterfield teaches in her DCA program how to price courses correctly.
If you feel like this problem will concern you, know this…
You can sell your course for the first time at a lower price. Later on, as you update and improve the course based on your students’ feedback, you can also raise the price of it without falsely feeling like you are robbing your students.
So even if you start with a $299 course, it can become a $999 course in the future. So no need to worry too much about how much your course will cost once you launch it for the first time. This is a minor issue with solutions.
5. You don’t need a website to be an online course builder
Many people believe that in order to create and sell online courses, you need a blog or a website of some sort. This is not true.
Today, you can find plenty of platforms, such as Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachable, etc. that can host your online course for you. As a matter of fact, not only these platforms can host your course for you, but they also create landing pages, build your email lists, accept payments, etc.
In other words, these third-party platforms are an all in one solution for course creators. It’s no different from having your own website, except you don’t have to do any of the tedious and technical work that a site owner must do.
That being said, if you do want to host a course on top of your WordPress blog or website, you can absolutely do so.
6. It can change your life forever
Finally, please understand that your decision to create online courses can change your life forever.
As I already mentioned, I am a part of Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy, which means that I also have access to her Facebook group, where all the other course creators are.
If you ask me, “how profitable is course creation?”, I will reply that it CAN be extremely profitable. There are people in that Facebook group that make 6 and 7-figure incomes from their digital courses.
But, just like with anything else in the world, it takes time to get better at creating and selling online courses. It may be so that your first course launch will only make you a couple of thousand dollars, but if you continue working on it and improve the process, I see no reason why you shouldn’ become one of those success stories.
Click To TweetLife gives us choices. You either grab on with both hands and just go for it, or you sit on the sidelines.
– Christine Feehan
Moreover, as a successful online course builder, you will definitely be leaving your 9-5 job, which means spending more time with your loved ones, working from anywhere in the world and making more money than most typical office jobs will ever be able to offer you. If that is what your dream life looks like, isn’t it worth giving a shot?
If you have some hobby, a passion, something you are good at, that you could teach others, then you could make a digital course around that. For some people – possibly even you – this is one of the best ways to start a business online. Sure, there are many other options online as well, but it’s hard to beat a business, in which you get to teach people something you are genuinely passionate about.
Congratulations, you made it to the end! These were the 6 must-know facts before you start to create and sell online courses. I hope you found some answers to your questions. If you want to know more about course creation, Digital Course Academy or even blogging, feel free to either shoot me an email or simply leave your comment down below. 🙂
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