You might have heard of entrepreneurs like Pat Flynn, who are crushing it with their online businesses. There are several people like them who are earning millions by monetizing their skills by selling online courses.
Can you do it?
The answer is YES!
Like life, there is no shortcut. In fact, it takes prolonged dedication, patience and a willingness to walk a terrain that nobody close to you might have ever walked before.
From Zero To Hero
Start from zero. Take one learner at a time. If you use self-hosted platforms like Spayee (Create and Sell Online Courses), you will have the whole analytics in front of you in the dashboard. A few years down the line, you will be rushing towards a 6 figure business or more.
On various platforms, build a loyal following, starting from zero.
“The Product first” vs. “The Audience first” approach
There are two approaches to get successful in the course selling business.
The Product first approach
In this approach, you first build your online courses, then search for your clients. You must understand that this approach has some serious drawbacks. Launching a course without doing the analysis part would put you in a position where it would be hard for you to find the clients.
Without doing the market research, you won’t know things like:
If people are interested in your course?
If people trust you with the course content?
If you can reach thousands of targeted people through your social media network?
The paid advertisement could be an answer to all your problems. However, it comes with its own drawbacks like being costly.
The audience first approach
This would be an eye-opener for you. You need to build an audience first, then sell your products to them”. People who know and trust you are more likely to buy your courses.
So, I need to start to build an audience from scratch first. It could also be your offline coaching that you can leverage to market your online courses.
1. Choose a topic you’re passionate about
If you start brainstorming you`ll immediately recognise your hobby for a particular topic. If you have mastered it, you can teach other people too. You can also teach people an academic subject or just some skills. Your hobby should be able to teach other people what you have mastered over a period of time.
If you want to draw some inspirations, some examples would be Personal Finance, Software training, Social media etc.
2. Give first, ask later
Givers profit the most when they learn to strike a balance to benefit from their generosity for themselves.
Takers do have a distinct signature: they clearly like to get more than they give. They put their own interests ahead of others. They feel that the world is competitive & a dog-eat-dog place.
On the contrary, you should be paying more attention to what other people are doing and what you need from them.
Inevitably, most of the top online course creators give most of their content for free on their blog, youtube channel or social media handles.
3. Engage
Engage with your audience and build a relationship with them. If you have committed to starting an online course selling business you followers are your everything.
Always be ready to help them and form a connection with them. By doing this, you will also learn what they are struggling with. Once you collect hundreds of such questions, it would serve as a blueprint for your own online course without ever guessing which topic you should be talking about.
