5 things to know BEFORE creating an online course (so it actually sells!) - from a 6-figure course creator

Thinking about creating an online course or program?

Maybe you’ve seen course creators making 5, 6 or even 7 figures with an online course business and decided that you want that for yourself too.

But I see SO many people spending all this time and money creating a course only to find out it simply doesn’t sell. Or they get that initial sales boom and then they find themselves in a situation where they’re just not making any more sales.?

And I’m so excited that you’re here because we’re going to make sure that’s not you!

I first had the idea to create an online course when my first YouTube channel really started taking off.

I was teaching Instagram strategy on my channel and the people in my community started to actually ask for a course.

This was yearsss ago (circa 2018) the industry was nowhere as established as it is today, so I was like “ohh… an online course! That’s cool!

Looking back I’m like, aw you’re so cute, you had no idea this would become a 36 BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY!

So I spent the better part of six months creating a course, putting together a curriculum, making it look super pretty, making sales pages… the whole nine yards.?

And when I launched it, it sold. A lot. And I thought to myself, oh hell yeah I got this right on my very first try!?

But after a few months, my sales started dwindling and I couldn’t understand why. Wasn’t an audience, this thing that I had,? the main thing you need to sell a course??

Turns out, I couldn’t be more wrong in thinking that, and that brings us to the first thing to know before creating an online course:

1) You don’t need an audience.?

Truly, you don’t need a single follower.?

What you do need is to know your ideal client better than anyone else, and this was my first mistake.?

What you do need is to know your ideal client better than anyone else, and this was my first mistake when I launched my first online course many years ago.

I just winged it and gave my clients what I THOUGHT they needed, not what they actually needed.?

So the sales came, but they didn’t KEEP coming.?

So here’s the first step to creating a course that actually sells and KEEPS selling, whether you have 1 million followers or zero:?

Going through a round of what I call inside my program as ICIs, or Ideal Client Interviews.

This is where you are going to talk to REAL people who fit a description of what you think your ideal client could be, about what they want and need so that you can truly understand their problem.?

During these conversations, you are going to pay super close attention to how they describe their problem and write down the actual words they use to express their pains and their desires so that you can later use those same words in your messaging.?

The goal is to really hone in on who your ideal client is - or isn’t – and really get to know them better than anyone else so you can effectively obliterate your competition.?

What’s even better: during these conversations, you’re really just going to be listening.?

At this point, you’re not selling anything at all.

What you ARE doing is developing trust and building real relationships with the people who NEED you and the solution that you can provide.?

And here’s the magic: this first step is where you start building your client list, because the people who really need the solution you provide are going to be your first clients.?

In fact, you’ll notice that when the person you’re talking to is truly your ideal client, you’re going to experience what I call the credit cards in your face effect.?

What happens is that as you’re talking about their problems, if the person is the right fit, they will start to realize that you’re the key to their transformation and before you even mention an offer, they’ll be like OMG HOW DO I WORK WITH YOU??

Now at this point we’re only doing research, so I’ll get to what to do when you experience the credit card in your face effect later in this article.?

OK, so what should you be asking in these conversations??

Here are some of the questions that my clients use in my Digital Business Builder methodology:

1.What are your biggest frustrations when it comes to ____.?

This is where the person really lets you in on the things that are keeping them up at night, and as you dig deeper, they’ll tell you about all the things they’re suffering with and wishing for..

2. What do you search for, read, or watch when you’re trying to find solutions to this problem?

This question gives you insane insight into what they’re already looking at so that you can research your competition and make sure that what you create is even better and more specific to their problem than anything that’s already out there.?

3. If you could snap your fingers and be in the perfect program to help you with this situation, what would it include?

Here you can get a really good idea of what to include in your curriculum, because you know what your clients are really wishing for and would invest in.

4. What have you invested in before to solve this problem and what did that investment deliver… or not?

This is a good indicator of what this problem has already cost your client, and it will be really useful for when we’re talking pricing later in this article.

Now let me ask you this:?

Have you ever seen a piece of content and thought “OMG, this person is reading my mind?”

These interviews are the first step to be able to spark that exact feeling in your potential clients!

2) The next thing you need to know before creating your online course is that you need to focus on a true transformation.??

You already know exactly what your client needs from the ICIs you did, so now you’re going to get super clear about the transformation that you can provide to them.?

And this is one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they're building out a curriculum - they don't clearly identify their client’s exact starting point and exactly what they want to achieve.

This is another mistake that I made back when I created that first course.?

My course was a full Instagram course, but it didn’t help my clients to achieve any specific goal, like close more sales in the DMs or get more Reels views.?

It just tried to teach everyone, everything about Instagram. So the results weren’t that tangible and I wasn’t able to scale.?

Here’s another prime example of this from one of my clients who is a dog trainer.?

So she is a reactivity expert and her ideal client’s starting point is that they had dogs who would constantly bark at people on walks or go totally crazy whenever they saw other dogs.?

But her mistake was to create a dog training course where she would help anyone with a dog,?be it with potty training issues, or doing tricks, and sure, throw in the reactivity part in there as well.?

This is a problem because if you don't pinpoint where the person is, this place where they are in the most crucial and urgent place to actually make a decision to invest and do the work to achieve the outcome you provide, then you have a program that’s not going to actually provide a solution, real results.?

People tend to pack their programs with all this information and it puts their client on this crazy long journey that takes them off track and doubles or triples the amount of time to achieve the transformation that they actually need.

So after working together we pinpointed that really painful starting point and now she’s able to meet her clients where they are - struggling with a reactive dog - and she can give them the exact steps they need to solve this problem that they’re struggling with.?

Your job as an expert is to make sure that your program includes only what is absolutely necessary to get your client from that point A, that most crucial and urgent place where they are super frustrated and in pain, to point B, where they can finally say they solved their problem, and you want to get them there FAST, without any frills or extra information that they don’t really need.

That’s true transformation.

And to be honest if your course doesn't deliver transformation and results it just won't last.

?you might get an initial surge of people who are interested, like I did with that first course, but it won't stand the test of time.?

Results are the fuel behind any thriving, scalable online course business.?

3) Okay so now that you are clear on these first two things, you’re ready to sell!

If you’re thinking of creating an online program, then you should know that one of the first steps is to sell it!

Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, “but wait, what am I selling? I haven't created a program yet!”?

Well, remember when I said that I spent a good part of 6 months creating my course first with all its bells and whistles??

Yeah, you’re not going to do that, and you’ll thank me later!

What we do instead is we presell our courses because even if you are the best person in the world at what you do, you’re not necessarily good at teaching it yet.

You have to get good at delivering the steps that will get that transformation, getting feedback, and then making it even better.

Plus, If you presell your course and nobody buys it, then that’s a clear indication that your course idea is not good for the market, and then you don’t waste time or money creating it.

So here’s how we do this in my Digital Business Builder mastermind:?

Remember those ideal client interviews??

After you collected all the information you need to create the best, most transformative program possible, you’re going to reach back out to the people who proved to actually be your ideal clients and you’re going to sell your program.?

And they’ll buy because they already know and trust you - you have a relationship.?

In fact, they were ready to throw their credit cards at you, remember?

So you’re going to get your group together and then you are going to teach your curriculum live on weekly zoom calls and GET FEEDBACK.

You’ll continue to build out your curriculum week by week so that you can keep on improving as you go, and you’ll offer Support calls after delivering each lesson to support your clients in getting insane results and get additional feedback.

The way to make an online course is not to create it, it’s to refine it and keep making it better so you always have the best course in your niche.

And the best part is you get to get money in the bank as you do this!

My client Thais made 23k when she first presold her course, and my client Julie made almost $40k.?

This means that by preselling your course, you can have that financial security and peace of mind as you iterate your course and make it better.

4) Speaking of MONEY, another thing you need to think about before creating your course is pricing.?

When it comes to pricing your course, it's important to understand that price has nothing to do with how long your course is, the number of modules, the bonuses… none of that matters!

The price of your course should be based on the end result that your course provides.?

Remember, people don't want more information. They want to reach their goals faster.

My program, the Digital Business Builder, gets my clients to preselling their course in 45 days or less, and then iterating that course and scaling their businesses to 6 or 7 figures.

That's the VALUE of the result.

So when you’re pricing your course, think about what your clients? are getting as a result, and what is that worth to them??

A simple rule is to think of the value of the result as 10x the price.?

If the result is worth 10,000 dollars to them, then charge 1,000 dollars.?

If it's worth 100,000 dollars, then charge 10,000 dollars.

“But Lu, what if my course is not about making money?”??

Then think about what that result could be worth??

How much would losing weight be worth??

Or saving their marriage be worth??

Or having a dog that doesn’t attack people or other dogs be worth??

And you already know the answer to this because you ASKED in your ICIs.?

When pricing your online course, always keep the end result in mind and think about the value it’s worth to your clients.?

That's how you'll be able to determine the right price for your course.

5) So I mentioned scaling your program and in order to do this, you have to think about the model that you’ll use for your course after you presell it.

Now remember how I told you that I’ve learned ALL the lessons in my years as a course creator? ?

Well, for many years I sold my courses using the Launch model, which involves opening and closing your course at specific times, creating an influx of clients all at once.?

While this model can be effective, it can also be overwhelming, stressful, and inconsistent.

* STORY TIME *

Because I used the launch model for my online course business, which often meant creating INSANE amounts of content for social media leading up to the launch, going live like 7 times in 7 days before opening cart, and generally putting a shit ton of effort into generating leads so that I could fill up each cohort.?

And after a few years of that I had insane, debilitating burnout.?

My burnout was so bad that I didn’t work for a full year - no content, no launches, nothing.?

As I lay in bed crying and looking at dog videos, I thought my business would die but honestly, I didn’t care. I was done.?

And then I started to notice a little miracle.?

Before going POOF, GONE,? I had been creating videos on YouTube and linking them to some of my products, including courses.?

And those products kept selling, even though I wasn’t lifting a finger. In fact, my channel saw serious growth during that year and my business thrived.?

And so came the AHA moment: if YouTube keeps growing over time and generating sales while I’m literally DYING, then who needs launches?

Enter the Evergreen model.?

The evergreen model is a more consistent approach, allowing you to sell your course over time, without going through those insane launch cycles.?

With evergreen, you're able to create what I call a "fantastic sales factory" and have new clients every day.?

And when you consistently have clients coming into your program, instead of a huge influx all at once, you’re able to give better support, which means better results, and you can even count on? older clients to serve as mentors for new clients.

In the Digital Business Builder, I teach my clients how to create that Fantastic Sales Factory using YouTube as fuel so that they’re consistently being put in front of their ideal client without having to create content like madwomen, so that they can scale their businesses and make sales in their sleep.

Pretty cool, right??

If you want to take it a step further and you are ready to package up your knowledge and your skill set to impact more people and stop trading time for money, then click the link below and fill out an application to speak to me so that I can guide you through the process, talk to you about your goals and your dreams, and walk you through how to actually make them happen.?

All you have to do is click here:

And if you want more tips on how to build a profitable online course business and use social media to scale it, I have new videos every single week so go ahead and subscribe to my YouTube channel:

Your success is inevitable!