Online Course Creation: 3 things you need and the 1 you don't

So you’re thinking about creating an online course or membership – fantastic!  You’ve got what it takes.  You’re a subject matter expert, you have the credentials and the experience.  Heck you  may have even written a book or taught courses. If you could just get an online course put together, it will sell like hotcakes. (Does anyone say that anymore?) 

I’ve been around this block and I have seen a few people have ridiculous success but most crash and burn. Here are my top 3 tips on what you NEED to do to make money with your online course or membership and the 1 thing you DO NOT NEED. 

NEED

1. Define your audience.  

I can not stress this enough. You can’t speak to the entire universe.  Well, you can try but I promise you, no one’s gonna listen. If you are a parenting coach, don’t start out trying to help every parent. Speak to those that want to listen. Maybe you have experience with assisting parents of special needs kids or more specifically, parents of kids with ADD. Or, maybe you have raised several athletes, in particular, baseball, so you know the ins and outs of that.  

Now that you’ve defined your audience, add in your personal flare. You’ve heard it before and I’ll say it again, “you do you”. Using our parenting example, you’re the expert that helps parents with kids with ADD and you’re raw and real AF. You tell it like it is with all its ugliness and tears. Parents in this category resonate with you because you share their pain and you show them there’s a way to get to the otherside. 

2.  Provide a transformation

Be sure you understand what your audience is really looking for.  I see this time and time again. Someone builds out a whole program, system, curriculum — that no one wants. You missed the mark.  You assumed you knew what your people needed but you didn’t. If this has happened to you, it’s OK. Just go back, regroup and ask the necessary questions.  

You have to find your people, hear their pains and struggles and ask the difficult questions. Then, truly listen. What is the biggest thing they need and can you help them get there? Using our parenting example, maybe you  have a whole program on how you can get your ADD student to be a Rhodes Scholar.  Well that’s fantastic but it’s so far off from what the parent needs right now, they’re not even going to listen to you. What they really need right now is to make the screaming and fighting stop. They are so overwhelmed and stressed, they’re afraid for the child to come home because they know the homework nightmare will settle in. Can you help their immediate pain?  If so, you may be able to get them to listen. 

What I’ve described is the deep understanding and emotional intensity that comes with the problem. If you can understand and communicate that and translate their nightmare into a solution, you have the makings of a revenue stream.  

 3.  Begin to cultivate a community (even a small one) 

Assuming you have done the work and defined your audience and have the solution your audience desperately needs, now you need to begin growing your own small tribe. But, how? Where do you feel most comfortable? Online, in-person? If online – Facebook, TikTok, LInked In?  Pick 1 place and begin to share your wisdom. Create a group.  Invite some people that you know are in your category and begin speaking to them in your unique style. Write blogs, do posts, do videos. Answer questions, share your story. They will listen

Then, begin to find other places where these people are and begin to communicate with them there. Share ideas and solutions. Invite them to your group. Slowly but surely you will begin to establish your credibility.  People will sense your authenticity, desire to help and great ideas and they will gravitate to you. This will not happen overnight. It can only be created from a consistent habit of communicating with your audience.

DO NOT NEED

1. Perfection

Yup, that’s it. I could outline lots of things like fancy graphics, sales pages, professional developed videos, expensive platforms and software. You don’t need any of it. When you get started, you need an email provider, 1 social media platform and your expertise. It doesn’t have to be pretty, fancy or expensive. If you have a solution that people want, they will pay for it and they don’t care what it looks like. 

You can post private videos to both YouTube and Facebook for free. People can pay you through PayPal or Venmo. You can do group or 1-1 coaching through Google Meetup or Zoom which has a free plan. See what I’m getting at here. You can literally create a revenue stream without setting up all the bells and whistles first.  And, now that I’ve done this a bunch of times, I can tell you, this way makes much more sense. 

When you get traction and know you are on to something, now’s the time to start spending some money on landing pages, platforms and video edits. 

Bottom line, if you don’t have a defined niche, a solution or transformation that the audience needs and people that are actually listening to you, you will not sell anything. Build the following first by doing the hard tedious work.