Starting your own business is one of the most powerful ways to take control of your career. It gives you the opportunity to pick a project that excites you, choose the hours you work, and align your work with your values. 

However, the challenge is deciding whether or not you're ready for such a dramatic change. 

As discussed already there's a big difference between having an exciting business idea, and it actually being a financial opportunity for you to pursue. 

A good low risk place to start when it comes to dipping your feet into the world of entrepreneurship could be to set up your own online course.

There's many reasons why setting up an online course can be a good idea:

• Firstly, it will help establish yourself as an industry expert: A big part of establishing the foundation of any career is to become an industry expert (earlier in the course we actually advise that you can go about doing this by writing a ‘book’ or ‘product narrative’ as a means to developing your understanding of your industry).

So why not as a part of this process, transform that research into an actual commercial product such as an eBook, app, or online course. Surely it’s a win win?

Not only will it help keep you motivated and improve the focus of your industry research, but it will also act as the launch pad to building your own side hustle. Essentially you're doing two things here. You're laying the foundations to your long term career by becoming an industry expert, while also creating the blueprint of your own consultancy product.

• Secondly, it will dramatically boost your status: Once you create a product, that pretty much means you’re now in business. You will now be transforming yourself from someone who occasionally posts interesting stuff on social media, into the CEO and Founder of an actual company, someone who not only understands the industry but is an active participant within it. This will not only help develop your marketing skills, but by dramatically propelling your business status in this way it will attract recognition and trust with future clients or employers depending on what direction you choose to take your career moving forwards.
• Thirdly, it’s relatively low cost and low risk: An online course is a business model that you can start-up for relatively cheap. You can almost think of your online course as your baseline product, which acts as the launch pad to help you access new and exciting future consultancy opportunities. And by following the exercises in this course you’ll also now have a much clearer understanding of how to go about the whole process.
• Fourthly, it can be very profitable. The e-learning market is booming and has already been valued to become a $375 billion industry by 2026.
• Fifthly, it can act as a passive source of income: You've probably heard the phrase make money in your sleep, sounds wonderful right? Well, one of the most attractive things about this business model is that you can have an income even when you're not actively working. Setting-up an online course can take a bit of time and effort initially, but once it’s all been set-up properly you then have the flexibility of how much time you want to invest into it. Realistically you can work on promoting your online course part-time. To this extent it acts as a passive source of income, giving you more time and flexibility to also focus on other areas of your career and life.
• It can also be a lot of fun: Setting up an online course allows you to tune into and express your genuine passions and talents, and share your purpose and mission with the world, so what’s not to like?
• It can also all be done remotely from the leisure of your home: This again not only saves you time and money, but keeps you safe in a post-covid world.
• An eighth benefit is that you’ll be moving with the times: Consumer habits are changing and moving online. Digital trends have already been there pre-covid, but they’ve now skyrocketed due to the effects of the pandemic. Going online allows your business to work 24 hours a day, to a massive global audience, and keeps your digital skills sharp, which is highly valuable in today’s economy.
• And last but not least, there is the idea that traditional academia is now in decline: The economy is shifting away from being academic based to more skills based, in which evidence of specific skills associated with a job role is now becoming more desirable than a general university degree. This is good news for online course creators as it means people are now more likely to see an online course as an affordable option to help fast tracking their careers. A research study by the Federal Reserve Bank found that only 27% of graduates went on to build careers directly linked to their degree. Soft skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication and leadership are all significantly valuable in today’s economy and are areas that lack any sort of official certification within the higher education system.

By this stage you should already have a business idea and plan. 

This means that you’ve already picked a problem, found a solution, you know who your audience is, and you have a clear and strong offer on how your product or service will add value to your audience.

Now all you need to do is transform that idea into an online course. 

Here’s how:

Firstly, it’s a good idea to think about the title for your course.

Here are a few core principles to bear in mind to help you create a good title for your online course:

• Firstly, use power words in your title such as ultimate, kick start, super charge, comprehensive, definitive, secret... just to name a few.
• Secondly, your title needs to speak directly to a specific type of customer: Make it clear who the course is for, as to help customers feel confident that the course is for them.
• And thirdly, your title should be transformational: The idea of an online course is to take your customers on a transformational journey to success. So think to yourself how will your course transform your customer?

Once you’ve understood these core principles you can then use this four level deep technique to help you flesh out the title. 

Here’s an example:

1. The first level is to just keep it simple and outline your initial topic, for example: “How to create a blog”
2. The second level you can then go into a bit more detail about the topic and add some power words. For example: “The ultimate guide to creating a blog” just to make it sound a bit more attractive.
3. The third level we can then bring the customer into the focus. What’s the industry niche that you're focusing on? For example: “The ultimate guide to creating a fashion blog”
4. And for the final level you then want to communicate the transformational journey the customer will go on, for example: “The ultimate guide to creating a profitable fashion blog even if you have zero experience”

Finally, we now have a title that sounds snappy, highlights what type of customer should be interested in it, and also highlights the transformation the customer will go on.

Probably the key part to the whole process is actually creating your course curriculum. 

Creating your course curriculum involves mapping out the key concepts and skills your student needs to learn in order to master their transformation. 

You should already largely be doing this when creating your product narrative as discussed in Lesson 7.

When creating your curriculum you’ll firstly need to break it down into major milestones, and then the relevant steps required to achieving those milestones. Each step should be recorded as an individual video lesson.

So, for example on this course there are four key milestones in order for the customer’s transformation to take place, and then there are roughly six lessons in order to achieve each milestone, so in total that equates to around 24 video lessons.

We suggest your online course consists of exercise files and video lessons.

The video lessons can focus on providing clear background knowledge and theory relative to the practical exercises that the learner can then practice in their own time.

In this way your course is combining both theory and practical exercises to help fulfill the user’s desired transformation.

The next stage is then the technical side of actually recording and presenting your course.

Here are a few important tips to bear in mind for this stage.

Firstly, find the right platform to host your online course on.

There are a few to choose from, but Teachable and SkillShare would be the two that we’d recommend. Teachable is great if you have quite a long and extensive course, whereas SkillShare tends to be for shorter courses.

Secondly, you then need to have at least a basic understanding of how to professionally present the course.

Typically the format that most of your video lessons will take, will be what is known as a ‘talking head’ format, in which you buy a decent quality camera and microphone, and record yourself, using as much natural light as possible.

As you speak into the camera it’s a good idea to have a PowerPoint presentation up on screen to help keep your audience engaged with the content.

You’ll also want to use a screencasting format during certain sections of your videos if you want to take your audience ‘over your shoulder’ and show them whatever is on your computer. If you use a Mac the easiest way of doing this is by using the Quicktime app.

In terms of choosing a microphone: The Blue Yeti mic retails at around £120. This is a great all-around mic and is excellent for recording screencasts and most learning assets. Another mic worth checking out if you have a little more budget is the Apogee MiC, which retails at around £170.

In terms of camera options: If you’re looking to make a bigger impression in terms of picture quality then you may want to consider a DSLR set-up. For example, if you’re savvy in how you go about it, you can pick up a DSLR camera for about £250, and a good quality lens for about £150.

Getting a good microphone, camera and lighting set-up makes a huge amount of difference to the quality of your video so it’s important to get it right.

Alternatively, if you’re too camera shy and don’t feel you quite have the flair for all of this you can always look into hiring a professional freelance presenter to present your content for you.

If you do decide to present the course yourself, then good for you.

This is probably the biggest issue you’ll have with the idea of creating your own online course, is the anxiety of actually presenting on camera. 

However, if you bear in mind these tips you should be far better prepared for the task at hand.

A confident communicator connects to others in three ways: 

• a good script
• an engaging voice
• and body language

Let’s look at the script first.

It can take several weeks in order to outline your movie script and presentation, and to put everything into logical order. 

What we recommend is to script out your entire movies word for word. You can use a Powerpoint document and have everything written in the notes. And then use the actual PowerPoint slides to visually demonstrate what the learner will see during each part within the presentation.

Scripting definitely takes a little bit of time to do up front but there are several benefits to it. Firstly, scripting allows you to be very deliberate in what you're saying and the words you use. It allows you to choose your words carefully and to organise your movies precisely. It also makes editing the movies easier because if you need to retake something you don't have to remember the exact wording you used because it should be all written down. 

Make sure you write a strong introduction. If you don't quickly engage people into your presentation and give people a reason to listen, it's going to be difficult capturing their attention from that point onwards. 

You must give the audience a reason to listen in the very first sentence. In your opening statement to the audience tell them the single most important reason why they should listen to you. Open your presentation with energy and enthusiasm to capture the audience's attention.

Secondly, let’s talk about your voice

When it comes to managing your voice for a presentation, much of the problem is the feeling of anxiety before filming. 

Anxiety happens from what is referred to as racing brain syndrome or RBS. RBS happens when what you are saying and what you are thinking are out of sync. 

So it’s really important that you center and connect with yourself prior to presenting. 

It is always advisable to rehearse and read through your presentation out loud a few times before you attempt to record.

You could also use a teleprompter to help keep you on track too.

Make sure you have mastered your script, but don’t forget to relax and be yourself. Focus on just being you, not on what you think you might look or sound like to other people.

Also, beforehand, ask yourself how do you want to be perceived during your presentation? 

Do you want to be seen as calm, clear, professional, and informative.

Rather than telling yourself, oh, I feel anxious, instead be mindful of those words with everything you say and how you say it. 

By giving thought to how you want to come across during a presentation, you now have a direction. It's an essential step towards getting out of your own head where you make it all about yourself.

And finally, try and speak with a little bit of energy and conviction, and put a bit of life into your voice.

Finally, let’s talk about body language.

A really useful tip to coming across as a more confident speaker is to use your hands to help make your voice more interesting, while at the same time ensuring you keep meaningful eye contact. 

A good speaker engages you by making you feel they're talking directly to you.

You also want to be looking your best during the video presentation, so make sure you scrub up and dress up.

The final piece in the puzzle to creating your online course is your PowerPoint slides.

There are a few key things to bear in mind in order to deliver an engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Firstly, use a combination of fonts and font sizes to create visual contrast in your presentation. Also ensure these fonts match your brand guidelines.

Secondly there’s colour: First, select a primary color. This should be something that's bold and unique, you should be using whatever primary color is used for your brand. Then, select a secondary color. This can be a shade of your primary color. Third, select two neutral colors, one light and one dark. These are usually what you'll use for your text.

When it comes to adding photos to your presentation your goal is to not just simply fill empty space. It's to add value to what you're trying to teach, and demonstrate what your content is about, while selecting images that show cultural diversity and that look realistic.

It can also be a great idea to use icons: This helps reduce the amount of text and gives learners a visual way to remember each step.

Finally, also use animation: This allows you to reveal each concept as you mention it. The intention here is to help learners focus on each concept one at a time.

Finally, once you’ve finished the important job of creating, producing and publishing your online course it’s now time to start finding people to buy it.

We’ve already discussed how to go about setting up your sales funnel in the previous lesson, so we’d advise reviewing that. However there are a few extra things worth pointing out here too.

Firstly let’s talk about pricing your product.

Generally your market competitors will dictate the price of your product. So, at least at the beginning, it’s a good idea to try and undercut your competition in terms of price.

It’s also useful to consider offering special discounts from time to time, for example:

• Offering 20% off for one week only.
• Or setting up an affiliate scheme in which you give your customer’s money for referring a friend.

Secondly, have a personal story.

Explain why you decided to make this transition in your career. So you could say something like: “I've always been passionate about this topic, and have always been personally frustrated by this specific problem too. I knew that there had to be a better way, so I created this solution to help other people with the same problem”.

People also like conflict. Are you going up against a big bad industry? If you are, then you might also want to mention that too.

Also show some personality. What are you passionate about? What motivates you?

You should be able to largely use your answer from Exercise 17 to help with this.

Another tactic to marketing your course is to speak at live events.

After completing your video scripts you should now be well equipped when it comes to delivering your message, so speaking at live events won’t feel like such a daunting task.

If there’s a local conference happening in your industry, reach out to the event organisers to see if you can get involved as a speaker or panelists. 

You may also want to consider hosting your own local meetup group or attending other relevant meetup groups. This can be a good place to start when it comes to the world of public speaking, and building up some confidence.