Everyone should create an online course, right?
It’s the secret to making money while you sleep and making millions online, right?
If you’ve been following me for a while then you’ll know that I think the answer to both of those is “no”
Nope, not everyone should have an online course.
And nope, it won’t be the golden key to making money while you sleep (although it can help you to leverage your income)
So, let’s take a reality check for a moment.
If you’ve been thinking about creating an online course, here’s 6 questions you should ask yourself before you start:
Note: Try to answer honestly, and without bias… and if in doubt, do some research and ask your audience.
1. Does your content suit an online course?
Some content is great online, but some content really suits itself to face to face.
For example: You could learn how to make pottery online, from a video… but how much better would it be to be in the studio with the artist. They could show you were to place your hands, and correct your technique.
This is the case for most tactile subjects. They can be taught online, but think careful about how you can still make it a great learning experience.
2. Do you clients want an online course?
Sure, you could turn your website building services, into a “How to build your own website course”… but do they want it?! Or do they just want to pay you to do it for them.
For example: There are plenty of Accounting courses and qualifications available, but I have zero desire to take one, and would much rather hire an accountant to look after it all for me.
It’s easiest to build a course that suits your audience’s needs, as you will have warm leads to sell to.
3. Do you have an existing client base?
You don’t have to have a HUGE list, but it definitely helps to have someone to sell to.
Make sure you consider the question above.
You might have a list of 1,000 people, but if you’ve built that list on the basis of selling services, then they might not be interested in buying a DIY course.
You may need to start building a new audience to suit your course.
If this is the case, I highly recommend starting to build the audience before you start creating the course. This way you can create some excitement about the upcoming course, build a wait list, and ensure it’s what they really want.
4. Do you have the time to create an online course?
These things take time. Much longer than people realise.
Much like writing a book, there is a whole heap of work that goes into creating an online course.
It’s not just about recording the videos, making the PDFs, planning the support (although all of that is part of it) but then you’ve got the tech side as well.
Make sure that you have the time to create an online course, and that you aren’t relying on it to make you millions by Friday (because you’ll be disappointed).
And if you don’t have time to do it all yourself, consider hiring someone to help you out.
5. Do you have other sources of income?
Courses are great, and help you to build a leveraged income stream… but I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket.
Firstly, it can take a while to generate create the course, and to build an audience (or to get your existing audience used to the idea that you now sell courses).
Secondly, you need to consider times when you might not be making any sales from your course.
There might be time between rounds if you are running it live, with a fixed start date.
You also run the risk of their being technically difficulties which means your course is offline for a period of time.
Finally, there might be major changes in your industry or the way you do things which means you have to re-create all of your content, and completely restructure your course. Yup, it sucks, but it happens more often than you’d think. For example: If you have a course about Facebook ads, and then Facebook changes their interface or the way you set up an ad, you’ll have to change your course and re-create your content.
Do you have other income streams to support you during that time?
6. Do you feel comfortable with the tech?
You don’t have to do it all yourself, and you can outsource the tech side of course building (and even most of the content side of course building honestly) but it helps if you have a clear idea of what you want it to be like, and what you want it to do.
You also need to consider who will maintain it? And who will answer tech questions for students (how to log in, how to use the content etc) ?
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all about courses!
They can be a great way to add an additional income stream to your business, allowing more of your audience to access your support and content…
But I’ve seen far too many people jump blindly in, spending months building a course, expecting it to be the answer to all their income woes…
And it’s not that.
So build that course
But start with a clear plan in mind, and an understanding of how it will work for you and your business.
Are you looking to create your own course? Grab the free Course Creation Bundle.
Inside you get:
- Brain Dump Template
I show you the method I use, to easily get all of the ideas out of my head and into a workable format, and you can do it to - Course Creation Template
A step by step guide, showing you how to break down and outline your content. Simply fill in the gaps and follow the outline provided. - Course Creation Checklist
A handy checklist to make sure you have everything in place before you let your customers in.
If you are serious about creating your own course this year, make sure you grab your FREE Course Creation Bundle now.