Hey guys, and welcome back to my channel.
Are you ready to turn your current knowledge
and expertise into a profitable online course?
You heard that right - the knowledge and
expertise that you ALREADY have. That means
you don't have to go out and learn a new
thing, spend years getting to the top of your
field or your niche.
You can actually take what you have now: your
skills, your knowledge, because you have so
much life experience and you can turn that
into a business that helps a ton of people and
generates you a great profit.
And that's why in today's video, I'm walking
you through my step by step process for
determining what your unique area of expertise
or as I like to call it, your zone of genius
is, find out what that is and package it up
into a profitable online course.
This is the best place for course creators,
digital entrepreneurs and business owners who
are ready to achieve financial freedom and
security by creating a launching an online
course business.
So if any of those are you, subscribe to my
channel and hit the bell notification button
to be notified every time a new video drops on
Fridays.
I've personally been creating and selling
digital courses for almost four years now and
it is hands down my favorite business model.
And that's because you can take something that
you know and replicate it as many times as you
need to.
You could help hundreds to thousands of people
with what you know and turn that into a
passive income stream that benefits you and
your family as well.
So let's dive in.
So step number one is to determine your area
of expertise and decide on your course topic.
Now your profitable course topic will be at
the intersection of four key things.
And the first one is: number one, what are you
good at? What do you have experience with?
This can be just about anything, it can be on
the job experience, it can be hobbies, it
could be things that you've just done for a
really long time.
It could just be things that are strengths of
yours. Maybe you're good at giving advice or
listening... how can you take that and turn it
into something that people need?
So get out your pen and paper and start
writing down everything that you have
experience with or unique knowledge - anything
that you know a little bit more than the
average person.
Criteria number two is, does the world need
this? Is it a problem? Does your expertise
solve a problem that people are hungry to
solve? So basically, we're asking, "Is there
demand for this?" Can you help people?
If yes, you've got a good potential course
idea.
Criteria number three is: can you make money
from it? Are there other competitors? Are
there other people out there selling something
similar? Are people buying products or courses
or advice of any kind? Are they spending money
to solve this problem?
And criteria number four is: do you enjoy it?
You know, it's one thing if you're good at
something, but if you don't enjoy it, you're
going to have a hard time growing a business
and sticking with it in the long term.
So think really hard about this, can you see
yourself talking about this topic that you're
choosing? Can you see yourself talking about
that for months or years on end?
Once you've found a course idea that is at the
intersection of four of those criteria, then
you have a good topic for your course.
Step number two is to start building up your
audience. In order to have a profitable
course, you're going to need an audience of
ideal customers and clients who you can sell
it to.
So this can be done in a number of ways. But
whatever you choose, whichever platform you
choose to grow your audience on, you'll need
to get super crystal clear on who exactly
you're targeting.
So you should be asking yourself questions
like "who do I help?" Who is the perfect
couple customer for this course that I am
thinking of creating?
Get out the demographics. So what age are
they? Where do they live? Do they have kids?
Are they married? How much money do they make?
All of these things are important things to
know, so you can paint that picture of your
ideal customer or client, so you can get clear
and know exactly how to market your course to
them.
In addition to that, you need to ask yourself,
"How can I use my skills and knowledge to help
people in my ideal audience?", "What specific
problems can I help them solve or which
specific goals or hopes or dreams can I help
them achieve?"
These are all super powerful, and this is what
is going to make your course stand out and
make it profitable over a course that maybe
you like and enjoy to teach, but it's not
something that easily sells.
So when it comes to actually building up your
audience, I suggest that you start with one
single platform when you get started.
And that is because it can be big time suck to
be on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all of the
platforms at once. And you're going to get
overwhelmed and not get any momentum on any of
them.
So choose which one that you enjoy making
content for the most. And the one that you
know that your ideal audience is present on.
Now, on these platforms where you're building
your audience, you'll need to be creating
content that speaks to them.
So the goal is to provide a ton of value,
build up that trust, and get that audience to
form a relationship with you. Get them to
trust you and really look up to you. That is
your goal with building your audience on
whichever platform you decide to go with.
So if you are just starting to build your
business and build your audience, which
platform have you decided to go on? For me, I
personally love YouTube, and I love Instagram
and that is where I'm focusing on. I started
on Instagram several years ago,and now since I
have that platform down, I'm focusing in on
YouTube to expand my reach.
Share in the comments below which platform
you're using, or which one you plan on
focusing on to build your audience!
Step number three is to package your knowledge
or expertise into an online course. Now, the
first step in doing that is to write an
outline of everything you're going to cover
inside the course.
So break it down into modules, different
sections of the major things you need to
cover. And from there, you can break down each
module into specific lessons. So what are each
of the things you're going to cover in your
course to get people to the outcome that they
want?
Now, when it comes to actually recording your
course, your options for your tools and
equipment to do so are basically endless. But
I like to keep things really simple in my own
course creation process.
So here is what I use. If you are going to be
creating courses that are screen share, where
you're showing tutorials, or if you're
speaking over slides, the best thing to do is
use a program like Camtasia or Loom.
That way you can record your screen, and if
you want, you can also record your face as you
speak over the slides as well.
Now, Camtasia is a paid product, but it is
super simple to use in order to record your
screen, record yourself, and actually edit
those videos afterwards. Camtasia has a great
editor that you can use that is super simple
and easy to understand to edit your videos to
perfection.
Now, if you don't want to go the paid route
just yet, Loom is a great free tool online.
Loom does similar things, you can use it to
record your screen and also record yourself
while you are speaking. The only thing is that
Loom does not have very robust editing
software, so you can do basic edits with it.
But if you want to edit your videos more than
just cleaning it up a little bit, you're going
to need an editing program like Camtasia, or
like what I'm using now Adobe Premiere Pro.
When it comes to recording yourself, you can
just use your webcam if you're speaking over
slides or doing screen shares. I personally
use an external one, an external webcam, and I
will link to the exact one I use in the
description below.
Now, for videos like this, if you want to do a
talking head video where you're explaining
things to your audience directly, then you can
use something other than a webcam. Right now I
am using my iPhone X and I have it set up with
a Neewer ring light.
So again, you can do that. If you want to get
fancy you can get a DSLR, but for me, the
iPhones have great cameras now anyway, so you
can get away with just using your phone.
Again, I will link to all of those tools and
equipment in the description below. But if you
want to learn a bit more about the tools and
equipment you use to film an online course,
then check out this video up here.
Step number four is to set up your course
online. Now, your course will need a home
online where people can access it, where they
can buy it, where you can promote it. It needs
somewhere to live, where only people who buy
it can gain access.
Now, there are two platforms that I've used
and recommend and they are Teachable and
Kajabi. I've used Teachable for years, but I
recently switched over to Kajabi because it
had a bunch of new features that I just wasn't
getting from Teachable. But they are both
really great platforms are both super easy to
use.
And I highly recommend that you check them
both out and see what one feels like the right
place for you. If you want to learn in-depth
how to set up your course from scratch on the
Kajabi platform, check out this video here
where I walk you through the entire process.
But basically, once you've signed up for
either Teachable or Kajabi, you set up your
account, and then you can start uploading all
of your course content.
So you can upload all of your videos, upload
your written content, your PDFs, your
downloads, and all of that straight into the
platform. It is super easy to do.
And then it makes it really easy for your
students to access all of the information you
cover, and follow it to achieve the results
that you've promised them.
Step number five is to set up your sales
machine. Now you've got your course up, it has
a home online. Now you need a system to take
that audience you are building, get your offer
in front of them, and get them to sign up and
buy your course.
Now, the first thing you'll need is to sign up
with PayPal or Stripe, or both. I have signed
up for both - it gives people different
options for payments, which is always a good
thing.
So you can go and sign up with those, with
either of those, with both, and then you can
integrate them with whichever course hosting
platform you are using. So these integrates
straight into Kajabi, into Teachable, so you
can accept your payments straight through the
platform.
Next you'll need to set up your offers inside
your course hosting platform. So this will be
your pricing structure. Are you going to be
offering a one time payment, a payment plan
spread out over months, or are you doing some
sort of membership?
Again, this can be set up straight in your
course hosting platform. And you can also set
up things like coupons and discounts if you
want to offer those in your marketing.
You'll also need to create your sales page in
order to sell your course to the people that
need it. You can, again, create your sales
pages straight in Kajabi, straight in
Teachable, and with both of them you can make
really gorgeous sales pages and include all
the information that you need your potential
customers and clients to have.
Now, with your sales page, you should be
focusing on the outcomes of your course and
not necessarily the features. As I mentioned
before, people buy the transformation. So what
is the outcome of the course? What does their
life look like at the end?
And you also want to focus on the problems
that your courses solve. So if there is a
specific pain point or struggle that you know
a large portion of your audience is struggling
with, then you need to highlight that in your
sales page to show them that this course will
help them solve those problems that have been
driving them absolutely crazy.
You'll need to come up with a plan or strategy
to promote your course to your audience. So
this could be things like Facebook ads, it
could be emailing your email list, it could be
promoting on Instagram, on YouTube. Start with
your strengths!
So if you have a huge audience on Instagram, I
would start there, and start promoting your
content to that audience. If you have a really
big email list, start there. Your strengths
are your key to getting this thing off the
ground, and you can always expand out later
and make your strategy more all encompassing
when you've got the time and the revenue
coming in so you can focus on those things.
And at the end of the day, selling your course
is all about building up that community of
ideal customers and clients, providing a ton
of value, starting conversations with them,
and building that trust. But when you do this,
when you follow these steps, then your course
is likely to sell really, really well, and
your profits will be great.
But if you're stuck coming up with a course
idea, you're not sure yet what your area of
expertise is, or you just need a little extra
help, check out this incredible free guide
which you can grab in the description below.
This is the Profitable Online Course Idea
Starter Kit, and it's going to walk you
through the entire process of coming up with a
killer course idea, a name, an audience, and
selling it before you even creat it.
Now, validating your course is a super
important part of the process. And I also walk
you through that in this free guide. Again,
you can grab that in the description below.
Also, if you want to join an amazing community
of course creators and digital entrepreneurs
just like you, I'd love to invite you to join
my exclusive free Facebook group, The Course
Boss Club.
Inside, you'll find community as well as I'll
be in there sharing my latest tips and tricks
for growing and scaling your online course
business.
You can join the community as well, at the
link in the description below.
Check out these videos next on how you can
take your course business to the next level.
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