I talked to 10 course creators who have thousands of students and thriving online businesses on what it takes to be successful.
These men and women have wildly different businesses (from business branding to basket weaving…yes, you read that correctly), but…
There are 10 surprising themes that emerged. They made me lean my ear in a little closer and inch toward the edge of my seat.
If you are a course creator or an online business owner, read on so that you can re-focus on what will actually make the greatest impact with your online course success.
Transform Your Skills Into A Profitable Online Course
Anyone can do it!
Some were teachers, a few were simply tired of repeating the same thing to new clients, and others were unfulfilled in their day jobs and wanted more.
If you are already teaching a skill, you can turn it into an online course.
That’s what Krista Leavitt did as a hairdresser teaching women how to style their curly hair.
Lillian Hetet-Owen’s family had been teaching basket weaving for generations, and now she is able to reach more people with an online platform.
Luke Rosa was a high school history teacher, and now he offers memberships to access lesson plans and projects and resources to new teachers overwhelmed by creating new and engaging material.
Joe Furness and his wife created a training course for audiology assistants. They were selling paper copies in 2009, then moved online by 2017.
Since they had already been teaching their topics in person, they knew how to scaffold and structure the course. They just needed to record it and transition from in-person to online.
Not everyone had a plan laid out…
Let it unfold organically – or accidentally!
Dave Foy is a web designer and his course took shape by being helpful in Facebook groups and on YouTube.
Gina Horkey chronicled her journey when she first started out as a freelance writer. That grew her audience organically and her online courses developed after that.
“Just get started, the plan will reveal itself.”
Align Your Online Course with Your Mission And Purpose: Strategies for Meaningful Impact
There is always an emotional driver that is deeper.
For example:
Leavitt teaches how to style curly hair…but it’s really about empowerment and self-esteem. “More people can learn to love themselves a lot sooner.”
Hetet-Owen teaches traditional basket weaving…but it’s really a creative outlet that helps your brain calm down, and puts you in a zone where time doesn’t matter…
Foy teaches how to build better websites…but his audience’s problem is not that they want to know more about WordPress; it’s really about building a better business and gaining more status.
Build Lasting Client Relationships through Authentic Connection: Key Strategies for Retention and Success in Online Courses
While many created their online course to remove themselves from the part of teaching that felt repetitive, the community and the mentorship became powerful client retention strategies. This has also allowed them to increase their prices! However, cultivating friendships and transforming lives as a result of your guidance is the real reward.
Offer an experience, beyond just information.
Rajan Shankara is now a life coach and meditation teacher (after 12 years as a monk!). His courses evolved from a self-guided study to mentorship. The value of having his guidance alongside them allowed him to raise his prices…even in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic! His courses offer more than just information; they are an experience and a major shift in perspective. .
"Their whole life is being taken into account - you have to charge for it.”
Charging a premium price benefits both sides of the relationship. The client is all in, and that gives you (the creator) the capacity to make sure they are getting value for it. Selling is a really good feeling, but ultimately you need to be guided by client satisfaction.
Build community alongside your course.
Success is more about empathy. Money flows when you do it from your heart because people see your genuineness and authenticity. You have to love what you do more than money.
“They come for the course, but stay for the community.”
She intentionally modeled behavior for her community, and now it is a place where they can share their work, what they’re weaving, be inspired by what others are doing, celebrate and congratulate each other. Lifelong friendships have been formed!
There are many things you can outsource in a course business, but as Sarah Masci said, “the one thing that I’ll always stay committed to is being active in our student community. Connecting on a deeper level with my students, and letting them see me and all my messy imperfections, showing them that I’m a real person just like them, is the most rewarding part of this business for me.”
Authentic Marketing Strategies for Online Course Creators To Thrive in Your Niche
There isn’t one best way to get new students into your course. It depends on your niche and your personality.
Go where your audience is hanging out, and play to your strengths. Start with organic marketing strategies, then add fuel to the fire with paid advertising.
Rosa, the history teacher, found success on Pinterest and Google Ads – because that’s where many classroom teachers and homeschool teachers search for lesson plans and ideas.
Foy, the web designer, uses both free and paid webinars.
Leavitt, the curly hairdresser, is successful without paid advertising because she gets lots of word-of-mouth referrals from her regular customers (she also owns a brick-and-mortar salon).
Shankara, the former monk turned meditation teacher, uses SEO. He was trained as a writer in the monastery, and now shares articles about his experience and expertise. His longest clients came from reading his articles!
Adu, the branding coach, is full of personality so live video on Facebook and Instagram work for her.
Where are your ideal customers hanging out online? Whether it’s YouTube, Facebook groups, Instagram live, Pinterest, or podcasts…Choose one avenue for marketing that fits your personality and get a system in place before expanding.
Harness the Power of AI to Streamline Course Creation and Save Time
AI won’t do all the work for you…but it offers immense potential to make the process more efficient and streamlined. By leveraging AI tools, we can significantly reduce the time and effort required to develop high-quality courses while achieving exceptional results.
One key aspect to understand is that AI functions as a collaborator and assistant, complementing our expertise rather than replacing it.
It works based on the prompts and instructions we provide, allowing us to tailor its capabilities to our specific needs and desired output.
To maximize efficiency, you need to have a deep understanding of the subject matter. By leveraging AI, we can cut down on time-intensive tasks while maintaining the quality and integrity of our work.
AI excels in data collection and analysis, enabling us to make informed decisions throughout the course creation process.
We can gather insights on learner behavior, such as which videos they watch, where they pause or stop, which modules they complete, and what resources they interact with. By leveraging this data, we can identify patterns, address challenges, and optimize the course flow to enhance learner engagement and success.
Moreover, AI empowers us to align our promises on the sales page with the actual course content. By comparing students’ feedback and survey responses with the intended outcomes, we can ensure that our course delivers on its promises and continuously improve the learning experience.
While the abundance of data may initially seem overwhelming, it’s crucial to establish a system to effectively manage and interpret it. With the right approach, AI becomes an invaluable ally in organizing, analyzing, and leveraging data for continuous improvement.
AI is not just a passing trend; it is here to stay and offers significant opportunities for those willing to embrace it. By adopting AI in some capacity, we gain a competitive advantage, enabling us to stay ahead of the game and meet the evolving needs of learners in a rapidly changing landscape.
Embracing AI doesn’t mean sacrificing creativity or personal touch. It can actually make you more creative in the way you experiment with it and explore. By defining specific outputs and refining our prompts, we can unlock AI’s potential and achieve our desired outcomes efficiently.
When Erica Nash, online course strategist, looks at the success of her clients and their students, we can identify common themes that lead to positive outcomes.
– Clients often report increased confidence and clarity in their curriculum.
– Students experience fewer obstacles, progress faster, and achieve consistent and timely results.
– This leads to word-of-mouth referrals, social proof, and the creation of super fans who become loyal customers and advocates for our courses.
AI’s impact extends to freeing up time for course creators by reducing repetitive inquiries. As AI handles common questions and concerns, course creators can focus on higher-value activities and provide personalized support where it matters most. This fosters a sense of belonging, trust, and support among learners, ultimately contributing to their success and our own.
In the world of online courses, the idea of passive income is a myth. Course creation requires dedicated effort and ongoing refinement. However, by harnessing AI and prioritizing connection, community, and implementation support, we can create a learning environment that fosters growth, support, and long-term success for all involved.
Craft A Vision For The Future Of Your Online Course Business
Not one of them had money-related goals.
They all were about being change-makers, expanding their reach, and increasing their impact.
Leavitt wants to reach more people with paid advertising and expand to training hairdressers (not just customers with curly hair).
Shankara wants to turn his courses into retreats. He is focusing more on high quality mentorships for individuals, rather than a high quantity of students.
Adu wants to create more evergreen options to remove herself from the process and free up time to finish her PhD.
Horkey wants to set even higher standards of results for her students by teaching them more specialized skills so that they can command better freelance rates.
Masci wants to help others escape the confines and burn out traditionally associated with service-based projects, long, drawn out timelines, scope creep, needy retainers and hourly rates.
They all have a vision for the future of their business. They know that they have an answer to people’s pain, and it is an obligation to offer their solution.
As Adu said, “Now is the time to be an option. It’s time to show up, be a leader, and get paid.”
Avoid These Pitfalls: The 5 Most Common Mistakes Among Online Course Creators
These successful course creators have been in it for years and are openly sharing. Leverage their experience to streamline your success.
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Protect your time. Stop trying to do everything. Focus on what you do really well and keep it simple. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The need to get it just right is the biggest enemy of getting it done. Put yourself out there before it’s perfect. Modify as you receive feedback.
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Know your audience. Get in mind of your ideal client. Separate your offer from all the others out there.
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Validate your offer. Prove that people actually pay for your course by getting in the hands of potential purchasers who can give you feedback. Pre-sell the course, get feedback to shape the course, and have testimonials…all before your first official launch!
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Keep marketing! Find out where your people are online and share with them. “They’re not going to know about it unless you tell them about it,” said Horkey. Hetet-Owen underscores the importance: “You can create a course, but if you don’t market you’re not going anywhere!” (And my signature 3M Process can help you with all of your marketing, from strategy to copywriting)
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Get out of your own way. Your own insecurity is holding you back. Wondering what other people will think is holding you back. “I accepted I’m just going to have to be me,” said Foy. Adu shares: “The biggest challenge is me!” When she had inner conflict, her business was also in conflict. Your personal development cannot surpass your business development.
“When you’re okay with you, you can be the best version.”
Why Successful Online Course Businesses Rely on Professional Copywriters
While many of them wrote their own copy in the beginning stages, they all eventually hired an expert copywriter for two primary reasons:
For perspective. Even those trained in copywriting had hired another copywriter because “having an objective view on you and your stuff is one of the best things you can do,” said Hetet-Owen. Most people cannot see themselves the way that someone else sees them and their business; you need someone who is further removed from the process.
“A copywriter pulls all the stuff out of you. It helps to hire someone who knows what they’re doing.”
To save time. Copy that reads effortlessly isn’t effortless to create. Leavitt, who is also a busy military mom, puts it bluntly: “I don’t have time to waste.” Shankara agrees: “Doing it yourself is a fool’s errand in this world.”
“The time that it takes to write great copy is a lot longer than what people think.”
Masci agrees: “Once I stopped trying to do everything myself, I knew that outsourcing copy would be one of my first hires. The hours it saved me, and revenue it generated were so worth the cost!”
Whether you are good at writing or not, copywriters are a good investment for the time you will save and the perspective you will get.
One of the concern is outsourcing your authentic voice to a copywriter? How is that possible? Here are some of the ways we achieve amplify your authentic voice in DFY copywriting services.
Copywriting Is The Foundation For Easy Sales and Seamless Conversion
The people who land on your website don’t know you…
It’s your copywriting that builds your connection with your audience by reassuring them that they’re in the right place, showing your personality, and demonstrating your expertise.
Pre-sell your audience with quality copywriting and good content so that by the time they hit your sales page or get on a call with you, they already know that they want your service.
Make easy sales with these 3 copywriting strategies:
Let your audience know that they’re in the right place. The best copy makes your reader wonder “How does she know?!” As if you’ve read her mind, her journal, her deepest thoughts. She feels like you are talking directly to her. When you know your niche within your industry by hanging out in the communities, you can speak like your audience by using their actual words about their own frustrations and problems.
Show your personality! Don’t shy away from being human. Your copy will evolve as you evolve. When you know who you are and who your audience is, you will have a clear direction for your offer.
Do your market research. It can be as simple as being helpful in Facebook groups and YouTube (or wherever your audience is hanging out!). “What I assumed people would want is not what people wanted at al!” said Foy.
If you don’t know what to say in your copywriting, just answer what people have been asking about.
Avoid Burnout And Accelerate Success By Outsourcing
Why would you spend months on something that someone else can do in a day?
All of the successful course creators agreed on this:
Trying to do it all yourself is ineffective and leads to burnout.
Yes, outsourcing to an expert may seem more expensive, but it’s worth it:
…”have it done right because it’s going to be online for a long time,” advises Leavitt.
…“It’s an investment in the long term,” Adu agrees.
“You need to build a team around you because you can’t do everything.”
This all sounds great in theory. But where does the money come from?
How do you afford to pay for an expert to help you build your offer?
Pre-sell your offer as you build it.
Sell another product.
Have a part-time job.
Reinvest the money you have made back into your business.
Having the money to pay for an expert helps take the fear of making the investment away.
“Put the fear aside and take a leap of faith. Everything is a risk,” encourages Leavitt.
So what do you outsource?
The time-consuming tasks,
What you need most help with
The tasks you don’t want to do
The jobs you don’t have enough skill to do.
“Outsourcing is my love language!”
Create Freedom and Make a Lasting Impact With Your Online Course
When you have online course success, the passive income and making money while you sleep empowers the freedom to spend your time in the way that matters most to you. Whether that’s being able to participate at your child’s school, be home to raise your kids, pursue your Ph. D. or other ambitions…what does that look like for you?
The time and financial freedom are what draw many toward course creation, but ALL of the successful course creators said that the best part is that you make an impact in a way that matters.
You get the chance to:
– step up and help.
– see lives transform.
– reach more people than in a 1:1 service.
– pay it forward now as a mentor.
“Stay the journey in the tough times, keep that vision in front of you and keep pushing forward.”
Ready to Write Your Online Course Success Story?
Ready to take the next step towards creating online course success? Fill out our brief application now and let’s discuss how we can help you turn your expertise into a thriving online course business. I look forward to seeing how we can make a meaningful impact and achieve your goals. Book a call to chat here!
Thank you to all of my guests!
Krista Leavitt, the Curl Specialist
Rajan Shankara, Life Coach and Meditation Teacher
Lillian Hetet-Owen, Hetet School of Maori Art
Luke Rosa, Students of History
Joe Furness, Audiology Training
Shade Adu, Digital Brand Strategist
