How You Can Make $728/Month Selling Online Courses About Your Hobbies

Want to know how to make internet money without leaving your house? Record voices over slides, and teach how to (insert YOUR thing)... that's it.

You'll think to yourself, "but I don't have a thing..."

Everyone has a thing. Here is my definition...

THING - A passion, hobby or interest you are drawn too sub-consciously.

For me, it happened to be hip-hop. But I wasn't confident it would work. First, Neville from Kopywriting Kourse tells me nobody will pay me for an online course about how to rap. Second, my friends ridicule my dreams of selling knowledge digitally. It's annoying. But I had one goal. To monetize my lifetime obsession of rap so Krysten and I could stop working.

I'm writing this for fellow introverts who don't WANT to be center of attention, but want the money that comes with it.

You have SOMETHING to share with the world, your perspective is yours alone. Nobody shares the same life experiences that have led you to this point. Nobody sees the world EXACTLY as you see it. It's time to stop letting fear win. It's time to make an online course that sells. And I can help you do that here.

Why You Should Trust Us To Learn How To Sell Online Courses

I create and sell online courses on platforms like Udemy, Podia, Skillshare, Teachable and more. I make ACTUAL DOLLARS online from teaching hobbies. Podia being my favourite.

For you, this might be new, or you’ve been procrastinating about making your course for awhile. My class on rap spent 5 years in the random drawer with my Alan keys and thumbtacks. But then I heard this guy Jacques on Side Hustle Nation's podcast. He was making 10k a month selling a course on how to play piano. I wanted to do the same with rapping.

Regular people are making bucket-loads of money selling online courses about all types of weird things. Sewing, drawing, guitars, mushrooms, orchid care, the law of attraction, etc.

I took courses about how to make courses Haha. Amy Porterfield’s Online Course, which is $1000, David Siteman Garlands “How to make an online course” course, which is even more pricey. After taking these courses, I realized the main value was in the blueprints and templates. And so that is the direction I want to point you in today.

Below you will find some of my results over the last couple years of selling courses online as a side hustle. This way you can decide if you want to read on and listen based on some of my results. I will say that I am definitely not the best at course creation, but I did it and published. That’s the difference.

Udemy Results

*This is an example of 1 month’s revenue (2020) on Udemy from selling courses online.

When you sell online courses as a side hustle, you can make one course and spread it across various online learning platforms. A great side business to make passive income as an introvert.

Yes!

Okay, look at the results from the EXACT SAME course on Skillshare.com.

Skillshare Results

If we rounded this off to an average over the last 6 months, I’d be looking at about $150 USD / month extra income. From the same course, uploaded on a different platform. This is acceptable in the course creating world. Which seems weird, but it is.

$150 + $180 = $330 / month. I’m Canadian this is like $500 / month. But just from these two platforms.

Last but not least, I use my own website and sell online courses. Selling your own course on your own platform (blog, etc.) can be a surefire way to increase your monthly revenue. You can make significant income from this side business as an introvert.

I have tried many platforms, but settled on Podia as my main course home.

Podia Results

This is my Podia Dashboard. I moved to Podia 60 days ago. Meaning that we have an extra $429.50 per month from Podia.

As we start to add the amounts' overtime, it starts to get up towards 1000/month. This is wild for me. Making a course about “how to rap” - and people buying it and learning from me. AND getting great reviews from over 2,000 students.

1. Research Online Course Topics

There are many ways you can research online course topics without having to ‘survey your audience’. Many times, we don’t have an audience to survey. Does that help you? My site focuses on the more introverted entrepreneurs out there who aspire to greatness with minimal social interaction. I see you.

You can find honest opinions about what people are looking for.

Pick a makeshift topic, one that you have in your mind. OR you can select from the list of 737 Most Searched Online Course Ideas below.

I have done this multiple times. This has worked for me in the “how to rap” niche, Pinterest Marketing niche, Tennis niche, poker niche and more.

1. YouTube Comments

You can find some absolute gold in the comment section of YouTube. Instead of surveying your non-existent audience, look at what other people are REALLY saying in the comment sections of Youtube videos.

Go to:

• Youtube.com
• Search topic
• Select Highest Viewed video OR relevant video with comments
• Sorty by “best comment”
• Start collecting the most up voted answers, issues and questions.

Separate The 8-10 Most Common Questions People Keep Asking Over And Over

For example:

This will give you a great baseline. Take everything you see that makes sense, and compile it into one giant document.

This is the finished product, at first it was much sloppier. I would cut and paste comments all over a Google Doc, or screenshot it and put it in there. I went through that entire list, and these were the most recurring themes.

You will start to notice a pattern emerge, the top comments will get repetitive. And as you start compiling comments and questions, you can start to organize the most relevant options.

** Pro tip: Make sure you write the amount of likes certain comments are getting, and grade them based on that.

Those recurring themes, are what you are going to use to build the outline of your online course.

1. Amazon Reviews for books in your niche
2. Reddit comments in your niches Reddit (If available)
3. Quora Question & Answer

All of this without having to talk to a human. Yet, you still get the raw, candid response you are looking for when building an online course to sell.

2. Pick An Online Course Topic (Or Choose 1 of the 737 ideas listed)

Download the list here! We total 900+ of the most searched topics.

You need to make sure the people will want to buy it. I went and did some heavy lifting for you. I compiled the most searched online courses by customers on Udemy, which is equal to 737 ideas.

Another 200 or so ideas and topics for an online course from Skillshare auto complete as well. There are some good ideas there.

3. Start At The End Result & Work Backwards

This is one of the most important pieces of information in this entire thing. The idea that you need to figure out WHY your customer would be searching and looking to a course online. They are looking for CHANGE. They are looking for a TRANSFORMATION. Someone to give them the steps, resources and tools they need in order to become a different person before they started.

That can mean, after they finish taking the course they will freestyle rap without stumbling over their words. That is the result. You need to get them there.

Think about where you want your student to be when they complete your online course.

4. Use Story To Help Sell Courses

Welcome to the second most important piece of this entire thing. The stories that will influence your student to take action. This is crazy important. Let me tell you a story…

When I made my first online course some years ago, I wanted to make it the best, longest course I could make. It would be jam-packed with information and I would tell you everything you need to know about the technical aspects of everything….

This is WRONG.

I did that. And it didn’t work. Nobody wanted to BUY my course. They just wanted information. I didn't create enough of an emotional response to stop them from clicking away. They would go searching for answers, like YouTube, Google, Udemy, Reddit, etc.

Sounds logical that you would want to give the student as much info as possible right off the bat.

But you need a hook. You need a story. Nah. Scratch that. You need multiple stories. Or you will miss out on a large chunk of your customer base. If you believe in your online course, there is no reason you should skimp out on selling it hard to your customer. It could change their lives.

There is a reason people go home and binge-watch Netflix, Amazon Prime and stream all night and day without batting an eye. STORY.

There is a reason research studies showing Ebay products with a story behind them, sell much better than products that don’t. Even if the product has NO value, like a general rock.

It’s the story behind the item that gives it weight when influencing your audience’s emotions.

So, how do you write a good story And Actually Sell online courses?

I learned this tip from Russell Brunson and his book Expert Secrets, but it truly does represent the structure of good storytelling for influence.

Character

Desire

Conflict

=

Story

His idea is that you are the character. Who wanted to do something, but had some sort of issue to overcome, and you learned how to do it. That sequence of events creates an awesome structure for a story.

This is a great way to identify potential online courses you could create.

So I know you already picked your topic. And so, you may have to dig a little for a story to really connect.

If you have a story that fits these types of circumstances in ANY way, shape or form. You have the start of a good story leading into the influence to sell your online courses. It really is human behaviour. We can be quite predictable species when certain factors are implemented.

You could honestly write about storytelling for days. There are so many aspects. That isn’t the point here. You are here to tell a story that is going to elicit an emotional response. This will connect the reader to you.

5. Write Your Course Outline.

This is where we are going to use the most common things people say across YouTube, Reddit, Quora and other resources across the web. List out 8-10 and use that as your table of contents categories.

Underneath each of those categories, write out 2-3 subcategories. And BAM, you have your course outline in a breeze. It will be desired, because you know there is a demand for those questions to get answered. To the point, because you know EXACTLY what the most important questions are. Money in your pocket. Now you just need to make sure your delivery is on-point!

6. Write Your General Online Course Script

With that being said, you should write a general script for your online course videos. I strongly believe you should do this. Some people like the bullet point method. In this method you use 2-3 bullet points per slide, and say whatever comes to mind.

I tried this, and you ramble… a lot. You will find yourself spending time trying to cut out your “UMS” and “AHS”.

Make A Script!

If you have a script, you can still go off course. But it provides you a jump off point. So if you get off the script train, you can still get back on whenever you need.

The first time I switched from bullet-points to a script, I saved tons of time editing. I started to enjoy watching my own videos. They weren’t embarrassing anymore, and I was having fun again. There wasn’t this nervous energy that was holding me back. I like that.

7. Design Your Slides

I really was annoyed at the process of designing and creating slides for my online course. I couldn’t find any good templates, and the templates I could find were for business pitch decks and crap like that.

Luckily, over the last few months, my favourite design site Canva started adding good e-learning templates. You can rebrand right out of the box. And they look good.

Go to Canva.com > Simple Presentations

I can’t tell you how hard of a time I had with this. But if you want to design your own slides easily, that look good, I recommend Canva. Honestly, I don’t think there is an easier option.

I also used Beautiful.AI before, and it was fairly easy. Just not the aesthetic I wanted overall.

The reason I do slides is that I am an introvert. I have turned the camera on for some of my presentations and videos, because it is necessary. But most things you can teach without a camera facing you. So if you are looking for good side hustles for introverts, you might be able to crush this and quit that J.O.B after all.

8. Record Your Lessons With Screen Recorder Software

This is pretty straight forward. You need a piece of software that will record your screen while you use it.

This is very easy to do, some apps make it easier than others. I personally use Screen-Cast-O-Matic on Windows, but others use Loom and many use Camtasia for Mac.

The real ease-of-use is that you can record the screen and your audio at the same time. So it makes it really easy for you to show your slides and record your voice over top while reading a script. Without ever having to show your face.

Now I will say, when you sell online courses showing your face CAN add to the experience, but it is NOT NECESSARY to make money.

And when you want to record something, you can choose to record your entire screen, or just the window that you have open. Like Microsoft PowerPoint, Google slides, Canva, or Camtasia, etc. And you can record audio overtop of the video recording.

Screen-Cast-Matic Is Pretty Solid

Screencast-o-matic also lets you edit the video right from the same window, and this is why I actually chose to upgrade this software. It is an all-in-one solution, and really speeds up the process for my course making. It makes it very easy to make it look and sound good.

The one thing you have to worry about is audio. You definitely want a good audio sound in your recording. The good thing about Screen-cast-o-matic is the audio is easy to edit. Mastering and mixing are the terms people use when talking about software to make your audio sound more clear. That way you can hear it better when you play it on speakers, car speakers, or headphones. It does it for you with a robot. Awesome for me, and potentially a time saver for you as well.

So, you CAN use your phone headphones with a mic, or your ear pods or whatever and use those. They tend to work okay. I personally use a Mic + Preamp setup because I use it for when I make music as well. Just a happy crossover. But you don’t need to buy anything really. You should use what you have to save on any type of costs. You want to spend as little as possible getting this going. Leaving the highest room for R.O.I when you sell online course.

9. Create Your Marketing Materials

Again, Canva.

If you are not a graphic designer who knows how to use photoshop, use Canva. It is epic. You definitely don’t NEED to paid version, the free version is perfect for what we need to do.

If there is a picture that you want but costs money, just go to Pixabay.com or Unsplash for free high quality usable images.

I personally do pay for the premium version of Canva, and for me it’s worth it because I use it a lot.

You Don't Need Photoshop Skills, You Just Need Canva.

I have used Canva to create all my social media covers, blog banners, video thumbnails, Facebook ads, Google Ads AND my Slide Presentations. It is literally a one-stop designing solution that provides templates for allllllll that stuff.

Making a sales page to sell online courses is incredibly important. Human behaviour and human psychology have evolved overtime to be sensitive to certain influence. This has been proven by the Direct Marketers (remember real mail? They used to send cold advertisements to your mailbox).

They figured out a way to form certain words and images to elicit an emotional response to purchase the product.

There are many ways to approach a sales page. BUT, I have reworked mine on Podia’s Online Course Platform and it’s been working quite well.

Copy My Sales Page

Go ahead and copy my sales page from the swipe file section of my site. I find these to be some of the most useful resources for people. You can use my successful sales page as a skeleton and change it to suit their course. A great starting point.

Now I will say that there are “testimonials” in my course sales page because I have received real feedback from students. DO NOT fake these testimonials. Just don’t put that section in there for now until you actually start to get some comments and emails.

One strategy to get some of these testimonials is to make your course free for the first 30 days. That way people will go through your course. Create a condition in that if you give them the course for free - they would need to return feedback.

I love the Podia sales builder for online course creation. I’ve used Kajabi, Teachable, Skillshare, Udemy, Thinkific and more online course learning platforms.

...as per Mr. Neville from Kopywriting Kourse. A very credible source. Even he disliked my idea.

1. Tell them what is possible and what can be done if they take your course.
2. Video (optional) - Consider making a video for your course.
3. Your “epiphany story” how the product helped
4. Show why they need it
5. Problem the product solves
6. Show what will happen if they don’t have it
7. Testimonials
8. What’s included in your course
9. Another Personal story (Or story of someone you know)
10. Justify the price - There are many ways to do this to sell online courses. For example, there is a Youtuber who makes money freestyle rapping on Youtube. I looked at his monetization and how much he makes and used that to justify the price of the freestyle rap course.
11. Industry Statistics
12. Show the pricing options - Make it simple. Use tiers of 2 or 3 pricing options.
13. Satisfaction guarantee - 30 day money back
14. Justify the pricing even more
15. How much better life will be with the product
16. Pricing info
17. Frequently Asked Questions
18. Address Objections
19. Contact Info
20. About the creator

These don’t necessarily need to go in any particular order. But it is important to remember that you include as many of these pieces as you can. These are used to affect human psychology and behaviour, and will help get them to buy your online course.

11. These Are The Best Online Learning Platforms To Upload Your Online Course

One of my favourite things about when you sell online courses as a side hustle, is that you can upload one course to multiple learning platforms. All over the place.

For example, I uploaded my course to Udemy, Skillshare and my own platform. That’s essentially 3 different audiences, and 3 different platforms automatically advertising and promoting your online course.

• Skillshare = $150 / Month
• Udemy = $180 / Month
• My Own Platform (Podia) - $400 / month

This is what the Podia platform looks like for learners when you create your online course.

example of my course outline in Podia's learning platform.

With this is mind, let me know if you have any questions about getting started for yourself. I believe that EVERYONE has a unique skill or interesting viewpoint that can absolutely sell online digital courses.

I hope I inspired you to create your own. Cheers.