Creating an Online Course – No Skills Required

Articles, Marketing, Training,

At least that is what I had hoped since … I have none. I’m about to bare my soul. Approximately ten months ago, I decided to set about creating an online course. I have since worked on this 7 days a week every week. Now, I’m about as dumb as a box of rocks in this particular endeavor. I still am. I had literally no idea as to …

  1. How to create a course from scratch
  2. How to organize the lesson materials
  3. Where and how to offer it
  4. How to price it
  5. How to market it

So … I watched a lot of videos. I read a lot of articles. I did a lot of research. I bought some books. Still feeling totally unprepared … I dove right in and … I was correct in my assessment.

Online course creation

I quickly found out that there is much more to creating a course than just typing some things up and recording a few videos. While I did need to invest in some new equipment and software to do so … the mechanics were not all that challenging once I got the wrinkles ironed out and the basics down. 

Organizing the materials … not too bad. I’m pretty good about visualizing how things should flow. That being said, creating and organizing a course, loading it on a platform, laying out and editing everything involved in the school site … it’s a butt-load of work and a ton of details! On top of that, I can’t even draw stick-people.

Where and how?

Where to offer it? Virgin territory for me and there are a ton of options ranging from self-hosting on my WordPress site, online course superstores like Udemy, to dedicated self-controlled platforms like Teachable.

I ended up on Teachable. It was not the least expensive option but it did have all of the features that I believed were needed. In my price range, it was the only platform that ticked off all of my boxes. Most importantly, they offered 5 days per week live chat support and they have been awesome! Good call.

The right price?

How do I price my course? Well, let’s just say that I believe that I know what it is worth. However, what I think it is worth and what someone will be willing to pay for it … we may be miles apart. As they say … something is worth exactly what people are willing to pay. Eye opener.

I am still trying to figure this part out. I recognize that there is a sweet spot somewhere. That price point where increased volume justifies a lower cost offer. I just haven’t found that yet, but I will. I’ve always been a big-ticket sale kind of guy so giving stuff away and making it up in volume … I’ve never been here before.

Marketing your online course

I have been in sales my entire life. During this time I have never knowingly attempted marketing. I have never taken a course or even read a book on this subject. I had never had a marketing person on staff at any company where I had worked. Everything I know about marketing is what I am learning now and it … is … painful.

Let’s just say that I have newfound respect for those who are successful in this field. Patience is not one of my virtues and, so far, what I have been doing has shown little measurable success. 

That being said, what I lack in patience I make up for in persistence so I am not discouraged. I went into this thing having the same expectations that I did with my book. None. I’m rarely disappointed.

It would have been nice if I hadn’t quit Twitter with 10,000 followers a couple of years ago. If I had kept up with my newsletters, I would probably have a pretty nice mailing list right now. As it is … I have neither. Shoulda’ woulda’ coulda’. Oh well.

Commitment 

I’ve given myself two years to make this work. I purposely paid for annual subscriptions for Teachable, Mailerlite, Zoom, Calendly, and others to remove any temptation to throw in the towel and cut my losses. That and I don’t like monthly recurring charges and you generally save on annual plans.

I am having fun! I love learning new things and accepting new challenges. Making a ton of money doing this would be wonderful, but the money part is way down the line on my list of priorities. At my age, thankfully, I have the money that I need to live quite comfortably. 

If nothing else, this project is keeping me out of trouble. Thus far, the rewards have been in the work itself. I’m hoping to reverse that and to do so soon!

Craig M. Jamieson

Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!
Send this to a friend