Hey, what's up? In this article , I wanna help you figure out whether or not you should sell an online course. Pros and cons. Let's talk about it. Alright, now if you have any sized audience, helping and serving them through an offering of some kind can be a great way to build your business. Sometimes, that offer can be an online course. But sometimes, it can and should be something else. So, we're going to talk about the pros and cons, whether or not it's the right time for you to get started with an online course.
I've sold millions of dollars on online course sales and have actually been an affiliate for many others as well. So, I have a lot to talk about. So, let's do this. Now, you know your audience or you are going to know your future audience better than me. So, just take all of this with a grain of salt. But I will say that online courses are a fantastic way to serve your audience. But like I said, it's not right for everybody. So, let's start with the cons. Number one, building an online course does not happen overnight. It is something that takes a lot of time and effort. Especially if you put videos into it and worksheets and other things like that. It's not gonna happen overnight. So, in order to create something of value, something worth people's money that they would pay for, you're going to have to take some time and effort to put something great together. Now that being said, although it might take some time, there are ways to make sure that you're putting your time in the right place. Meaning, you can pre-sell your product or your online course beforehand to ensure that it is actually something that people want before you build it. The other benefit of that is you can actually have a cohort of initial students that can help you actually build a course to the way it needs to be without you actually creating stuff that doesn't necessarily need to be in there. This is how every single one of my online courses has been launched. It's been launched with a pre-sale and validation process so that I know it's something I should continue to move forward with. But also, so that I have students in there initially who I can communicate with to help understand what needs to be in here and what doesn't need to be in here. Plus, by the end of that, I have testimonials so that when I go public, it's that much stronger in my sales. Another thing you have to realize about online courses is that you are not going to get 100% completion rate.
As much as you wanna try and help encourage people to go through those lessons and actually complete the course, it is just not going to happen in most cases. Now, there are things you can do to help a person along. You can create emails that go out if a person doesn't complete a course in a certain time or other things like that. Helpful FAQs on certain lessons that may be more difficult than others. But generally speaking, more people will buy your course than people who will finish it. And to many people, including myself, that can be a hard thing to grasp. But on the other hand, if you have all of the information there, how much is it your responsibility to actually do the work for them? Well, it's obviously gonna be something that they're going to have to do on their own too. Which is why other kinds of work and offerings can be a little bit better for you. For example, coaching which you can have the one-on-one accountability there to help a person along. Books which are a little bit easier to consume on the go. Those kinds of things can be different offerings that can help a person through the same process. But I will say, teaching an online course has been great because although I haven't had 100% completion rate and hardly anybody has, you are going to see results because of the way that that content is structured as opposed to something that you might offer for free on a YouTube channel or even for free on a blog post series.
Having a person pay for a course has them have some skin in the game. So they will be actually more likely to complete it. So, even though the completion rate of your course won't be 100%, it's definitely going to be higher than all the free stuff that you are promoting because people get it for free, they're likely not gonna take any action at all. At least for most people. And finally, the other thing to realize with online courses is that you want to make sure that they stay relevant. So, things change over time. For instance, I have a course called Power-Up Podcasting where I teach people how to start podcasting. I'll put a link to it down below so you can sign up for my upcoming free training related to that. But, podcasting is a growing and thriving thing now so things are always changing, new products are coming along, there's better, easier ways to do things. So, it's my job as a course creator to make sure that things are up-to-date in the course or else people go in there and they see that something is out of date. Well, they're going to ask for a refund and we definitely don't want that to happen. So although an online course when you create it, and you'll hear me talk about this in the pros section of this video, although it is something that you can put out there and it can become evergreen, it can become part of a natural, automatic sales process, well, you still have to keep the content in there up-to-date or else people are gonna leave and potentially ask for their money back.
The final thing I'll say about this is I don't want you to just create an online course because people are saying create an online course, right? Once I had created a membership website because that was the thing and everybody was doing it and because that was the main reason, it failed. You wanna do an online course because you know it is something that can help serve your audience because it is something that you can put together that you know is going to be of value and that will help you with all these pros that I'm about to share with you right now. First pro with building an online course is obviously become something that you can sell and offer to people. Now, you might want to even create or think about creating a free course which can help bring people in, build your email list, give them a little bit of value, small wins that thus then leads them into a bigger course or premium program or a coaching program or other products that you might have. So whether it's a paid course or a free course, it can still help you in your bottom line. But there's obviously many more benefits than just the money. And again, the money should just be a bi-product of how well you serve your audience. But another cool bi-product of serving your audience with something like an online course is that you're going to build authority in the space that you're in. Not everybody in the same space you're in has an online course. So by you having one, it shows that wow, you're actually teaching this stuff. You have something sort of of value there. Even if a person doesn't buy from you, they're going to be more likely to pay attention to what you have to offer whether it's free or paid because you have something like that for sale. Very similar to why a lot of people create books and write books. Because it actually adds to their authority and the trust that they can have with their audience. Online courses do the very same thing. Now, one of the major benefits of creating an online course is that unlike coaching, unlike even group coaching, you can serve a lot more people in a short period of time. Yes, you're going to have to do out some time up front to create the thing and then sell it. But, once you have that course created, it can be something that you can sell over and over again to an unlimited amount of people essentially. It becomes a very scalable offer.
A lot of people like to take their coaching services and take them and turn them into an online course for people who can't afford their one-on-one coaching services. It becomes a great solution for those who can't afford those higher level programs but you're still able to teach them and give a taste of what it might be like to work with you with something like an online course. In addition to serving more people in that way, which is great, and the more people who get served, the more rewards you will get, you can automate the process. You can turn it into something that can be sold in evergreen manner and obviously the way that you teach is through the lessons that you've already pre-recorded in there. So again, it can be automated and add to the passive income that you have in your overall business model. In addition to that, there might be opportunities for you to also include affiliates in this program as well. For example, in my Power-Up Podcasting program, I mentioned microphones and other pieces of software and other programs that can help take a person's podcast to the next level. Those things aren't my products. Those are other people's products. Therefore, I can earn a commission through affiliate marketing. Not everything I mention in there is an affiliate offer but many of the things are and because it just completely aligns with what they're there for in the first place, it is something that I can just make additional income on beyond the course cost itself. This is also, by the way, how a lot of courses that are free also generate an income is through the affiliate offers that they offer in there too. Now, having online courses is also a great way to see, okay, who in your audience is a customer, a buyer? And who of those people who are your online course customers? Some of them might want some additional help. So it's very common to have some additional offerings beyond just the online course itself.
The online course is essentially a stepping stone toward a higher level coaching program or a mastermind program or a group coaching program of some kind, an in-person workshop which I've done before too. A great way to frame that is, you know, hey, here's an online course and if you're somebody who's like me who's also very busy and you just don't have time to go through all of these things on your own, well, why don't you come to San Diego for a weekend and go through the Power-Up Podcasting course yourself in a weekend and we can get it all done in a shorter period of time? There's a lot of value in that to get all that content in a short period of time. So, having a workshop on top of your online course for people who just want all of the things in a shorter period of time could be a higher level offering that you can offer that wouldn't be too hard to do because all that content's already there. You're just helping people in person in a shorter time period. So, those are some pros and cons for you about whether or not you should create an online course. But either way, make sure that no matter what you do, you're serving your audience because your earnings are a bi-product of how well you serve them and online courses can be a great way to do that. So, let me know below. I would love to know whether or not you have or are going to create an online course. Let us know what it's going to be about and some of the things that are going to be in there. Plug yourself a little bit. Team Flynn, you're amazing.
I've sold millions of dollars on online course sales and have actually been an affiliate for many others as well. So, I have a lot to talk about. So, let's do this. Now, you know your audience or you are going to know your future audience better than me. So, just take all of this with a grain of salt. But I will say that online courses are a fantastic way to serve your audience. But like I said, it's not right for everybody. So, let's start with the cons. Number one, building an online course does not happen overnight. It is something that takes a lot of time and effort. Especially if you put videos into it and worksheets and other things like that. It's not gonna happen overnight. So, in order to create something of value, something worth people's money that they would pay for, you're going to have to take some time and effort to put something great together. Now that being said, although it might take some time, there are ways to make sure that you're putting your time in the right place. Meaning, you can pre-sell your product or your online course beforehand to ensure that it is actually something that people want before you build it. The other benefit of that is you can actually have a cohort of initial students that can help you actually build a course to the way it needs to be without you actually creating stuff that doesn't necessarily need to be in there. This is how every single one of my online courses has been launched. It's been launched with a pre-sale and validation process so that I know it's something I should continue to move forward with. But also, so that I have students in there initially who I can communicate with to help understand what needs to be in here and what doesn't need to be in here. Plus, by the end of that, I have testimonials so that when I go public, it's that much stronger in my sales. Another thing you have to realize about online courses is that you are not going to get 100% completion rate.
As much as you wanna try and help encourage people to go through those lessons and actually complete the course, it is just not going to happen in most cases. Now, there are things you can do to help a person along. You can create emails that go out if a person doesn't complete a course in a certain time or other things like that. Helpful FAQs on certain lessons that may be more difficult than others. But generally speaking, more people will buy your course than people who will finish it. And to many people, including myself, that can be a hard thing to grasp. But on the other hand, if you have all of the information there, how much is it your responsibility to actually do the work for them? Well, it's obviously gonna be something that they're going to have to do on their own too. Which is why other kinds of work and offerings can be a little bit better for you. For example, coaching which you can have the one-on-one accountability there to help a person along. Books which are a little bit easier to consume on the go. Those kinds of things can be different offerings that can help a person through the same process. But I will say, teaching an online course has been great because although I haven't had 100% completion rate and hardly anybody has, you are going to see results because of the way that that content is structured as opposed to something that you might offer for free on a YouTube channel or even for free on a blog post series.
Having a person pay for a course has them have some skin in the game. So they will be actually more likely to complete it. So, even though the completion rate of your course won't be 100%, it's definitely going to be higher than all the free stuff that you are promoting because people get it for free, they're likely not gonna take any action at all. At least for most people. And finally, the other thing to realize with online courses is that you want to make sure that they stay relevant. So, things change over time. For instance, I have a course called Power-Up Podcasting where I teach people how to start podcasting. I'll put a link to it down below so you can sign up for my upcoming free training related to that. But, podcasting is a growing and thriving thing now so things are always changing, new products are coming along, there's better, easier ways to do things. So, it's my job as a course creator to make sure that things are up-to-date in the course or else people go in there and they see that something is out of date. Well, they're going to ask for a refund and we definitely don't want that to happen. So although an online course when you create it, and you'll hear me talk about this in the pros section of this video, although it is something that you can put out there and it can become evergreen, it can become part of a natural, automatic sales process, well, you still have to keep the content in there up-to-date or else people are gonna leave and potentially ask for their money back.
The final thing I'll say about this is I don't want you to just create an online course because people are saying create an online course, right? Once I had created a membership website because that was the thing and everybody was doing it and because that was the main reason, it failed. You wanna do an online course because you know it is something that can help serve your audience because it is something that you can put together that you know is going to be of value and that will help you with all these pros that I'm about to share with you right now. First pro with building an online course is obviously become something that you can sell and offer to people. Now, you might want to even create or think about creating a free course which can help bring people in, build your email list, give them a little bit of value, small wins that thus then leads them into a bigger course or premium program or a coaching program or other products that you might have. So whether it's a paid course or a free course, it can still help you in your bottom line. But there's obviously many more benefits than just the money. And again, the money should just be a bi-product of how well you serve your audience. But another cool bi-product of serving your audience with something like an online course is that you're going to build authority in the space that you're in. Not everybody in the same space you're in has an online course. So by you having one, it shows that wow, you're actually teaching this stuff. You have something sort of of value there. Even if a person doesn't buy from you, they're going to be more likely to pay attention to what you have to offer whether it's free or paid because you have something like that for sale. Very similar to why a lot of people create books and write books. Because it actually adds to their authority and the trust that they can have with their audience. Online courses do the very same thing. Now, one of the major benefits of creating an online course is that unlike coaching, unlike even group coaching, you can serve a lot more people in a short period of time. Yes, you're going to have to do out some time up front to create the thing and then sell it. But, once you have that course created, it can be something that you can sell over and over again to an unlimited amount of people essentially. It becomes a very scalable offer.
A lot of people like to take their coaching services and take them and turn them into an online course for people who can't afford their one-on-one coaching services. It becomes a great solution for those who can't afford those higher level programs but you're still able to teach them and give a taste of what it might be like to work with you with something like an online course. In addition to serving more people in that way, which is great, and the more people who get served, the more rewards you will get, you can automate the process. You can turn it into something that can be sold in evergreen manner and obviously the way that you teach is through the lessons that you've already pre-recorded in there. So again, it can be automated and add to the passive income that you have in your overall business model. In addition to that, there might be opportunities for you to also include affiliates in this program as well. For example, in my Power-Up Podcasting program, I mentioned microphones and other pieces of software and other programs that can help take a person's podcast to the next level. Those things aren't my products. Those are other people's products. Therefore, I can earn a commission through affiliate marketing. Not everything I mention in there is an affiliate offer but many of the things are and because it just completely aligns with what they're there for in the first place, it is something that I can just make additional income on beyond the course cost itself. This is also, by the way, how a lot of courses that are free also generate an income is through the affiliate offers that they offer in there too. Now, having online courses is also a great way to see, okay, who in your audience is a customer, a buyer? And who of those people who are your online course customers? Some of them might want some additional help. So it's very common to have some additional offerings beyond just the online course itself.
The online course is essentially a stepping stone toward a higher level coaching program or a mastermind program or a group coaching program of some kind, an in-person workshop which I've done before too. A great way to frame that is, you know, hey, here's an online course and if you're somebody who's like me who's also very busy and you just don't have time to go through all of these things on your own, well, why don't you come to San Diego for a weekend and go through the Power-Up Podcasting course yourself in a weekend and we can get it all done in a shorter period of time? There's a lot of value in that to get all that content in a short period of time. So, having a workshop on top of your online course for people who just want all of the things in a shorter period of time could be a higher level offering that you can offer that wouldn't be too hard to do because all that content's already there. You're just helping people in person in a shorter time period. So, those are some pros and cons for you about whether or not you should create an online course. But either way, make sure that no matter what you do, you're serving your audience because your earnings are a bi-product of how well you serve them and online courses can be a great way to do that. So, let me know below. I would love to know whether or not you have or are going to create an online course. Let us know what it's going to be about and some of the things that are going to be in there. Plug yourself a little bit. Team Flynn, you're amazing.
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