The 99% Problem
Here's the uncomfortable truth that most course creation gurus won't tell you: if you just build a course based on your expertise, put it on your website, send a few emails about it, and hope it grows your business—99% of the time, you're going to be very, very disappointed.
This isn't pessimism. It's what happens when course creators get excited by the idea of creating a course without thinking through what it's actually going to do for their business. They wind up spinning off in directions that aren't productive, building elaborate content that never finds an audience.
We Need a Fresh Approach
The standard advice—pick a topic, record some videos, set up a sales page— works for a very small subset of creators. Maybe you've built a super popular blog that ranks well on Google and gets tens of thousands of visitors monthly. Those people are hungry for a solution, and a purely course-driven strategy might work.
But for most coaches, consultants, speakers, and service providers who want to grow and diversify their business with courses? We really need a fresh approach to how courses fit into your business.
The Four Powers of Online Courses
When done right, courses aren't just products—they serve four essential purposes in your business:
1Authority
A well-designed course positions you as the expert in your field. It's proof that you understand your subject deeply enough to teach it. This authority translates into trust, which translates into business opportunities beyond just course sales.
2Inspiration
Content consumption is passive. Reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos rarely leads to meaningful change. Courses, on the other hand, create structured pathways that move people from passive consumption to active implementation.
3Relationship
Every student who goes through your course develops a deeper connection with you and your work. These relationships become the foundation for coaching clients, consulting engagements, and long-term community members.
4Impact
If you want to make the world a better place, teaching people a skill may be the most powerful tool available. Courses scale your ability to help people in ways that one-on-one work simply cannot.
The Passive Income Trap
The course industry has been plagued by the "passive income" myth—the idea that you can record a course once and watch the money roll in forever. This fantasy has led countless creators astray.
The reality? The most successful course creators are deeply engaged with their students. They iterate on their content. They build communities. They treat course creation as an ongoing relationship, not a one-time transaction.
Think Customer First, Course Second
The key shift is this: rather than thinking about the course first, step back and think about your customers first—specifically, the journey by which customers come to work with you.
This "Customer Learning Journey" gives you a framework to reflect on what's actually going to be helpful and impactful. It starts with Discovery (how people find you), moves through Engagement (building trust), then Revenue (paid offers), Retention (keeping them engaged), and finally Referral (turning students into advocates).
When you understand this journey, you can design courses that fit strategically into your business—not as standalone products that hopefully sell, but as powerful tools that strengthen every phase of your customer relationships.
