“Become an entrepreneur and be free.” “Enjoy your time with flexibility.” “Finish soon work and play with your children.” I will not continue because you must have already read and heard too many sentences like these. And the truth is that they are a half-truth.
Because being a digital entrepreneur has two faces. Depending on the path you take, you can feel free as the wind or tied to a clock that will always run against you.
The Nightmare of the Enslaving Business
I think you’re already beginning to understand what I mean, especially if you’re freelance and you’re dedicated to offering services. No matter how hard you try, the top of your business is yourself and the 8 hours you want to work a day. If your rate is 20 dollars, the maximum you can earn will be 160 dollars per day. If you charge them at 30, 240 dollars.
But it’s the same. The fact is that you can only aspire to raise the price of your time and cross your fingers to not get sick and stay without entering a single euro during that day.
Forget about vacations, days off, lifestyle and scale your project online. If you continue to depend solely on your time, you will always be a slave to your online business. That’s why you need to sell products. I refer to digital products and, above all, to online courses.
Think About it
Now you are pouring all your knowledge and effort for hours into a single client. What if with that same job you could help hundreds of clients?
I had it clear almost from the beginning. If I wanted an online business that would give me the lifestyle I was looking for, I needed to be able to sell my knowledge so as not to depend solely on my time.
Why Do You Need to Create an Online Course?
I imagine you reading until now and nodding with each word. But still, you ask yourself: “Is it really a good option for me to create an online course?”
I’m going to give you 4 powerful reasons and I think that after your doubts will have dissipated forever.
- Creating and selling online courses positions you as an expert in your niche. And, if you are a reference, I assure you that your target will trust you more.
- With an online course in your portfolio, scaling up the business is infinitely easier and, moreover, without having to make a large investment. For me, the training became a catapult towards growth.
- The great advantage of selling online courses is that, as with any digital product, you do not need to worry about logistics or maintenance costs that physical products do.
- The e-learning is living an explosion. The portal elearningindustry.com estimates that the market will grow at least by 24% in most countries. There is a demand for online courses and you can offer solutions.
Tips to Get Profitable Online Course Ideas
That said, it’s time to get to the point. I’m going to give you some tips to get an online course with which you can sell profitably.
Begin with your Expertise or Passion
You might have a passion for something but not an expert in that field, and that’s why I used the word “or.” When you must have undergone the mandatory process of researching about the course you aim to write about or teach. You must have assembled your required resources during this period, and this means you know much more than before-even enough to tutor people on.
With that being said, you can agree with me that passion alone can give you the right and enough push to get this done.
However, if you’re an expert already, this should make a lot easier, you’ll be able to identify in time the required subject matters, and you won’t waste time marketing your course. Most times students prefer to purchase a course from a tutor with about ten years’ experience than an almost newbie who just delved into the course six months ago just because it’s their life’s passion.
Trim your Options
You should know your options and trim down to the specifics; will your course be focused on entertaining or will it have monetary value? Is it a course for adults or kids? Is this a self-improvement course or for professionals? Most course creators assume that by trimming down their project, possibilities would be eliminated, but that’s the truth and the point of it all.
Uncovering an Idea that ensures your course stands-out from the crowd of an already existing set of courses on e-learning websites should be your priority. If you’re focused on just creating a “course,” you will just be wasting your time. Try to trim down to “A management course,” then, you’re making a head start.
Refining your idea is also a necessity which ensures you will have something you focus on, develop and sell. This means that “A management course” becomes “A factory management course.” It might sound absurd to you, but being specific on your created course tends to generate vast interest.
Discover your Value Concept
You’ve hit upon a topic and what next? You need to understand your audience size to ensure you charge them appropriately. Usually, people tend to go for courses which provides that they will have a return in investment; a worker can buy a course to improve skills in the office to gain promotion, but that doesn’t mean you should focus on the monetary aspect of your course, No. Note, some people would pay for courses they don’t plan on venturing into.
Test for Delight
Testing your idea is a must, you need to know if there is any interest in your course. Banish the thought of someone stealing your course idea and publicizing it from your mind. There is already a similar course like this in the market today, in fact, you should hope there are because it means there is an interest in the course.
Publicize your idea and monitor the response you get, this depends typically on blog traffic, and comments to is an excellent tracker. If before, you do receive about two comments in your post, but no comment on the course, that raises the red flag of being on the wrong track.
Always Revisit Your Drawing Board
Always check back to your drawing board even if you’re successful in your course idea. Possibilities abound that there are areas that could be improved via going through some steps plenty of times. If you’re not successful on the first try, don’t be discouraged, with time you will hit the right part, and your ideas will align perfectly.
Carefully pick out areas which aren’t adding up for your audience, it might be too, or you aimed to carry everybody along. Identify your audience, the right price which is a necessity in a virtual classroom; then everything will fall in place.
