85. Turn Your Expertise into a Profitable Digital Course
In this episode, we explore the underestimated value of personal knowledge and how to transform it into a lucrative online digital course. You know something that many others don't, and you can capitalize on that knowledge. We dive into the practical steps to creating your digital course, and I give you tips on scripting videos, choosing presentation styles, and pricing considerations. Once you understand your target audience and tailor your content effectively, you can start sharing the knowledge you have to others through digital courses.
Transcript
Years ago I heard a quote that said something to the effect of that we often undervalue the things we’re good at and overvalue the things we’re not.
And when it comes to the things you know, you might think “well everybody knows that.” And you would be wrong. I was recently visiting my sister who lives in Texas and I noticed her husband was building a playhouse for their daughter, my niece in their backyard from leftover lumber pallets.
She said the prices of lumber have gone up so much and that these pallets were going unused, so her husband decided to capitalize on the opportunity to use them to build a playhouse. I told her how amazing I think her husband is - and she told me he just shrugs it off as no big deal.
You might be doing the same. But did you know that US creators who have a side hustle selling digital courses might make $5,000 - $25,000 a year and good grief in the case of Amy Porterfield millions per year?
On today’s episode of the podcast let’s talk about how you can turn what you know into an online digital course. And ways it can support your business as an evergreen revenue stream.
First, if you’re not sure what a digital course is - it’s online education that you can offer through a digital platform like Kajabi or Teachable just to name a few.
These platforms allow you to upload video content as training modules and sell them as online courses. One of the most popular examples is Master Class. Master class offers a membership program that then gives you access to learning all kinds of skills from professionals. Like:
- Natalie Portman teaches acting
- Judy Blume teaches writing
- Chris Voss teaching you the art of negotiation
But Master Class and well known celebrities and industry experts aren’t the only ones capitalizing on turning what they know into paid education.
Last year I helped a client in Australia turn his knowledge about investing in commercial real estate into a digital course, another client turned their knowledge as a mortgage broker into a course, and most recently I’ve been working with a CPA to help create a course for bookkeepers and CPAs about how to scale the growth of their business.
And one past client turned her experience in wedding planning into a digital course on how to plan weddings. She called it the Big Wedding Planning Masterclass which is a great pairing to her podcast The Big Wedding Planning Podcast.
See, we often think the only way to gain a new skill or knowledge is to go back to college. And while that might be true for attorneys or nursing, there are many professions that don’t require medical degrees or passing the bar.
The best part is that adults, children, and, really, people of all ages can learn through a digital course. And as you may have already guessed from the examples I just shared, you can turn any kind of knowledge into a course - it doesn’t just have to be a profession. Do you know how to knit well, or how to repurpose furniture? Yeah there’s a class. And in case you’re thinking, but yeah there’s youtube for that. Digital courses and the kind of content shared on Youtube are different. Youtube is free, it’s small snippets of quality content that leads you into a bigger sales funnel for that youtube creator (maybe it’s joining their coaching program or buying their furniture or hiring them to remodel your house.) In the case of a digital course, you are teaching people how to do something instead of hiring you to do it, but charging them for the years and wisdom it’s taken you to learn it.
Alright, well I can see the lights turning on and maybe you’re thinking - hmm, this is a great idea, I’d never thought about selling my knowledge. Because after all making that transition from sharing your knowledge for free to charging for it can seem intimidating. And why would you even consider creating a digital course in the first place? Aren’t you busy enough running a business?
Yeah exactly, you’re over here chasing new lead generation strategies, serving clients, trying to keep up with your marketing and now I’m telling you to deviate and create a digital course? How does that play into your big picture scheme of growing a business?
Well, like I said when I started - a digital course gives you the opportunity to sell your knowledge and turn it into revenue. It’s content you create once that you can sell over and over again. Imagine waking up everyday to new sales for a course you created a year ago, two years ago?
But a digital course is also extremely valuable because it allows you to reach a
global audience to share your expertise. It positions you as an expert in something to an audience of people who might already know you, as well as those who haven’t met you yet. You’re also not limited by location or the need to travel. I purchased a course earlier this year from someone in Australia. I’d have never met this person ever, but an ad came across my feed, I bought his book, and eventually bought his course.
Digital courses are a great way to make a meaningful impact while also building your personal brand and making others aware that your business exists.
So here’s a few things you’ll want to consider if you’re going to go down this path.
First, what do you know well that you can teach? Where have you experienced successful wins? What problems can you help solve with what you know?
For example, let’s say you’ve been a real estate agent for 10 years, could you create a course for new agents to help them launch their business? What if you’re a graphic designer? Could you create a course for aspiring designers or existing ones who maybe know how to do great design work, but don’t necessarily know how to run a profitable graphic design business?
Once you know what you want to teach and how it solves a problem in the marketplace - you’ve got to determine a before and after state. This will help you sell your course better. Where am I before I take your course and where am I after? In the example of a wedding planner - before I’m over here trying to plan my own wedding with no experience. After your class, I’ve learned everything I need to know about vendors, venues, timelines, and ultimately executing a beautiful wedding for a fraction of the cost of hiring a wedding planner.
Next, you need to outline the key learning points of your course.
List common pain points your clients encounter to help you create your outline.
In the example of a wedding planner what are the common pain points of someone planning a wedding? Well how much should I spend on the wedding, where should we have it, when, who should be part of our wedding party? What about invitations and scheduling the honeymoon?
So your course outline might start by creating learning points that include:
- Determining your budget
- Selecting your wedding party
- Finding your venue
- Negotiating with vendors
- And so on.
If you're a real estate agent, are you going to teach new agents how to start their business? Well, what problems do most agents have when they first get started? The biggest one is how do I get clients?
So you might decide to make lead generation or marketing one of your training modules. And then break it down into learning topics like:
- Where to start with effective real estate marketing
- What are the marketing platforms for real estate agents
- Determining a marketing budget -how much to spend every month
- Creating a content marketing plan and so on.
What I’m saying here is you need to think like a student.
How can you take a big concept like planning your own wedding or investing in your first commercial real estate property and break it into more snackable pieces of content so that the big idea is met with smaller ideas and learning takeaways? What would you need to know as a student to achieve the desired outcome?
Once you’ve created your outline you’ll want to start outlining your video scripts. You might write each lesson module out word for word or you might just write bullet points that help you stay on track with what you’re teaching. A secret weapon I rely on are slide decks. Slide decks allow me to present to students in a way that gives them something to look at, and gives me simple cues for remembering what I’m teaching.
You’ll need to decide if all of your video teaching will be you facing the camera directly and speaking for the majority of the videos or if you’ll use voice over content, where you’re displaying your visuals, which means you’re not on camera, you’ve got visuals on the screen, but you’re doing the voice over of the presentation - or you may decide to do a combination of the two. Something like a Loom style video where you’re somewhere in the corner and your visuals are presented on the main screen.
Next, you’ll want to determine the price range of the course? Because if you’re going to charge 8,000 for the course, your content had better deliver on some big promises! If you’re going to charge $297 that’s ok too, you still have to deliver a ton of value, but don’t give away your highest level of knowledge.
I’d highly recommend doing some research too on what’s already out there that might appear like your competition. Is someone already teaching what you’re reaching and if so how are they doing it and how much are they charging?
You’ll want to leverage an online learning platform like Kajabi. I love Kajabi because you can host the course and sell it (accept payment, build sales pages and other landing pages for the course, all in one place.)
And while I’ve shared some of the big picture needs for creating a digital course, don’t forget to identify your target audience and their needs. Understanding who you're creating the course for will help you tailor your content to meet their specific challenges and goals.