Creating an online course was something I had been toying with for the best part of two years.
Frankly, I had absolutely no idea where to even start and how I was to condense everything I had known into bite-sized chunks so that people could actually understand.
It felt like every which way I turned there was more noise and traffic and no real clear path which felt I could realistically implement. So I stumbled along creating some content and videos, but not really knowing how this was going to lead me to where I needed to be which was to get clear on the chronological nature of creating an online course.
So unbiased fact number 1 is
1. Niche Down On The Outcome First; Not The Audience
People like results. Whether you are a travel agent who wants to help other travel agents build an online business or whether you are a therapist helping a niche group of people, people will buy your outcome first and justify it with the features and benefits second. In short, people want to know whether you can increase either their wellness, revenue, confidence, customers, appointments, and intimacy or reduce their addictions and or body fat.
So getting clear on what you are helping people solve is an important first step and the way to do that is to test the market and your clients or audience with your assumptions on what they need help with first before going all out and building. For a long time I confused the concept of niching down with the concept of niching on a specific group of people, but thinking about an outcome first before creating an online course will help fast-track progress.
This brings me to unbiased option number two
2. Get Clear On Your Messaging
We live in a two-second attention world, where you are all but a scroll away from being forgotten. So having attention-grabbing and clear messaging that resonates with your audience is paramount. Invest in skills that will help you craft your messaging and the rest will be so much easier. You can get a free guide on how to mine your market for messaging so that it lands every time using free tools at your fingertips.
3. Test and Validate Your Idea Before You Launch
This is crucial and if skipped will become really quite soul-crushing because you can put in a lot of time and effort into building an online business without having anyone interested in buying it. The best way to do this is that after you have decided on your outcome and nailed your messaging, you actively reach out by literally getting scrappy with how you find your first handful of people to validate your idea and help you implement it. This is not offered for free and you do put a value behind it so that when you offer it to your audience, the offer that you are making will be so strong that people will want to pay you to progress with their goals. This is where point number 2 above is crucial for success.
4. Get Ready to Play the Long Game
If you are not ready to put in the effort and hours that go into creating an online course, then this option is not for you, and unbiased fact number 4 is that it will take you a lot longer than you think it will. Spending long nights, weekends, and time away from friends and socialization will be the norm. Children will be ignored, dinner times may not be perfect, and cleaning the house will become a thing of the past as everything will be taken over by course creation. However, the good news is that you only have to do it once to realize the benefits.
5. Get a Support System Around You
Needless to say that when you are getting busy, it’s important to set clear expectations on what you will and won’t be able to do, but in a way that your significant other or people who you live with understand that this is important for you. Without this, you can be stuck in a cycle of guilt and resentment for not pulling your weight.
6. Create a Course Outline Before You Create Anything Else
This can be just a rough outline and does not have to be fully fleshed out. I created mine on a flight to and from Melbourne and I still have remnants of the notes from that time. I only had my course details on a sheet of paper which I read out to people during a one-on-one call, but I had worked on the concept of crafting my offer around messaging that I knew my students wanted as I had put in the work into the messaging.
7. Build a Small But Engaged Audience
You will need to do what it takes to create a small community of people who want to engage with you on the topic you specialize in and for the outcome, you are wanting to deliver. This does not have to include paid ads when you are just starting out, but build a community by investing in understanding what your audience wants first and then actively start to create content that will attract your audience to what you offer. Having a way to funnel your audience into your own world away from social media is also a way to communicate what you do without the idiosyncracies of social media platforms. This will usually be with building an email list.
So whether you are wanting to start a podcast or a YouTube Channel, the commonality is that you will need an element of visibility which is what a lot of people struggle with. The reason for that is that there is an element of fear of failure or fear of success. However, conquering that fear will pay dividends in the end. Ready to improve your visibility? Join the waitlist for Cringe to Confident. A place where course creators, consultants, or introverts can get past their fear of social media and go from feeling judged scared, and insecure to confident in attracting the right audience, even if they are introverted, shy, or just getting started.
8. Keeping Your Students Engaged is Just As Important As The Course Design
Imagine that It’s week 6 in a 6-week module and you have been at it for weeks. Planning ahead will help stave off disappointment if you start to see course participation dwindle. Keeping your audience engaged and participating in the course can be an all-consuming experience by itself, let alone creating the course. Keeping your audience engaged can include things like answering questions, providing feedback on assignments, and hosting live Q&A sessions. You can also do LIVE videos within the group if you host a course and have a Facebook group or a private community outside of social platforms.
9. Plan Out Low-Tech Tools and Resources
When you are starting out, it can be difficult to navigate what tools will be handy and which won’t. The absolute minimum required is screen recording software such as loom. A zoom or online meeting software, an email autoresponder called a customer relationship management tool or short for CRM to help plan out your email sequences with automation and scheduling. A good microphone and lighting are also crucial for your video as well as a place to host your course content.
10. Everything Will Take You Longer Than You Think
Creating an online course is going to take time dedicated to it and you will need to spend some time consistently over a period of time by packaging up your expertise in a way that takes the student on a journey toward the transformation that was promised. That, along with with an understanding of the basic fundamentals of how to promote your course after it has been validated.
Both of these things do take time and are something that most people when starting out just won’t realize. However, preparing yourself to set aside time and commit to it weekly will be the best thing you can do to future-proof yourself and move away from overwhelm with one-on-one clients to freedom.
