As Hugh Culver puts it: "Six months endlessly toiling away in your basement to build a 12-module monster nobody wants is not a good plan." Most courses don't fail because the creator lacked expertise. They fail because they skipped validation. Here's how to make sure yours isn't one of them.
The Most Important Step: Get Hands Raised Before You Build
The biggest mistake is spending months creating a full course before confirming anyone will buy it. The fix is counterintuitive: try to sell your course before it exists.
This doesn't require a polished sales page. You need three things: an outline, a title, and a clear description of the #1 outcome. That's enough to write this email:
"I'm building a course that helps [specific audience] learn to [specific outcome]. I'm looking for 5-10 people to go through it with me as a pilot group at a discounted rate. Would you be interested?"
Send this to your email list, past clients, workshop attendees, friends in the field, and LinkedIn connections. Post it in relevant social media groups. Your target: get at least 5 people to commit before you write a single lesson.
Why this works: you get validation that people want what you're offering. But more importantly, having real people waiting for your course creates accountability — a natural source of motivation that's far more powerful than self-imposed deadlines. For more on this approach, see How to Run Your First Course Pilot.
Mistake #1: Solving the Wrong Problem
You know your topic inside and out, so it's easy to assume you know what your audience needs. But the problems you think they have may not be the ones they're willing to pay to solve. The "curse of knowledge" means you've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner.
The fix: Talk to real potential students before building. Ask open-ended questions: "What's the hardest thing about [topic] for you right now?" "What have you already tried that didn't work?" Then listen — really listen — to their answers. Record the conversations (with permission) so you can review them later. For a complete research method, see 10 Ways to Research What Your Students Actually Want.
Mistake #2: Too Much Content
More isn't better. As one course creator put it after the Ruzuku 30 Day Challenge: "If we are overwhelmed creating content, our students will be in full panic mode when they attempt to dig into it!" Comprehensive courses with dozens of modules lead to low completion rates, poor outcomes, and disappointing reviews.
The fix: Apply the 1-2-3 formula to every lesson:
- Identify one clear result or "win" for the student
- Provide only the minimum content needed to achieve that result
- Include a straightforward action step so students apply what they learned
For an example: Danny Iny's "Inbox Zen" course focused on one specific outcome (getting your inbox to zero). Each of its 6 lessons followed the same pattern: a short lesson, one immediate action step (like "turn off email notifications"), and a practice task. Students could point to a concrete result after every lesson.
Mistake #3: No Clear Outcome
"Learn about photography" is not a compelling promise. Students buy outcomes, not education. If you can't articulate what they'll be able to DO after your course, they won't see the value — and neither will you, which makes the course harder to design.
The fix: Define your transformation in concrete terms. "Take professional-quality portraits with your smartphone" beats "improve your photography skills." For guidance on crafting this promise, see Design Your Course Backwards.
Mistake #4: Creating in a Vacuum
Some creators disappear for months to build "the perfect course" before anyone sees it. This almost always produces content that misses the mark, because without student feedback, you're guessing about what works.
The fix: Co-create with your students. Start with words on a white screen — no elaborate production needed. Write in a personal, conversational tone as if advising a close friend. Include content, action steps, and exercises. Read each lesson out loud before publishing — you'll catch gaps, missed concepts, and sequencing problems you never saw on screen. Then get it in front of real students and iterate based on their experience.
Mistake #5: Ignoring the Learning Experience
Content alone doesn't create transformation — experience does. A course that's just videos to watch is a library, not a learning journey. Students need to dosomething with what they learn.
The fix: Build each lesson around a cycle: learn something → take action → practice the skill → reflect on what happened → share insights with the group. This creates retention, builds confidence, and turns passive viewers into active learners. Platforms like Ruzuku make this easy with built-in discussions and activities alongside your content.
Your Next Step
Write a one-paragraph description of your course: who it's for, what outcome it delivers, and how long it takes. Then send it to five people who fit your audience and ask: "Would you be interested in this?" If three or more say yes, you have a course worth building. If not, you've saved yourself months of work on something nobody wanted — and you can refine your idea based on what they tell you they actually need.