You may be wondering if it is worth your time and effort to create an online course for your coaching business? The answer for me, is a resounding yes.
So, why create an online course as a coach, the following 7 reasons will give you an insight!
- Huge market for online courses.
- Leverage your time better.
- Create more leads for your coaching business.
- Your positioning in the market.
- More impact in the world.
- Repurposing of the content.
- Increased income.
Benefits of an online course for your coaching business
1. Huge market for online courses
Figures reported in Forbes suggest that the e-Learning industry is expected to grow to $325 billion by 2025 (up from $107 billion in 2015). This shows that the market is growing hugely for online courses.
Why not get your slice of that pie?
2. Leverage your time better
Having a course allows you to move from working only one to one with clients to one to many. This means that you can serve and help many more people in your target market with the skills that you have.
You are also creating an asset that you can use again. So, yes, there is work involved, but because you have invested that time you get to reap the benefits again and again.
Which leads me neatly to point 3.
3. Create more leads for your coaching business
The students that have gone through your course are also great potential clients for your other offers. They will have grown to know, like and trust you more during the process of learning. There is a good chance that they have had their appetite whet for more results.
It makes them far more likely to say yes to your higher ticket offers than a prospect that hasn’t worked with you before. According to the book Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%, whilst only 5-20% to a new prospect.
4. Your positioning in the market
By having another layer to your offers, it helps to elevate your higher ticket offers. This makes it easier to increase your prices for 1:1, or group programmes. This is particularly valuable if you want to move your coaching practice from mainly 1:1 towards one to many.
5. More impact in the world
This ties in with point 2. By helping more clients, you are able to increase the impact your coaching has in the world. I am guessing that a large part of why you started your coaching business in the first place was to help others. An online course is a great way of helping many more people than you could reach working 1:1.
6. Repurposing of the course content
The content you create for your course, can also be repurposed for many other uses as well. Into a blog post series, social media, an email series, mini-courses or lead magnets. You can transcribe snippets of video, offer checklists or workbooks, create webinars or master classes, the list is endless. You can use these to grow your email list too.
You could use it with your 1:1 or group programme clients as well. This can help give them the knowledge and skills they need outside of your usual coaching hours. This allows you to concentrate on giving support and accountability. Stops you spending time repeating the same information to each new client.
7. Increased income for your coaching business.
If you have more to offer your potential clients, this will increase the likelihood of meeting their needs and budgets. Whilst also increasing your revenue streams.
It gives you the opportunity to offer a downsell to prospects that might not be ready, or willing to pay, for your 1:1 coaching.
What’s holding you back?
You have now seen the reasons why you should create an online course for your coaching business. How about some of the things that might be getting in the way or holding you back from creating it?
- Procrastination
- Time needed to create.
- Fear
- Will it to be a success.
- What are the steps to creating a successful online course?
1. Procrastination
This is an all too common problem, not just around course creation, but more generally too. You will most likely know all about it. Often, it is a symptom of other underlying problems.
These may include some of the other parts mentioned here. Lack of clarity about the process, fear, doubt about whether your online course will be a success.
It may seem that the whole process is so large that you don’t know where to start. If this is the case, then chunk it down into smaller bite sized tasks, then tackle each of these in turn.
You may not have clarity around the steps you need to take to create the content, the marketing and selling, and how to deliver it. These can all be solved by gaining the knowledge and skills and finding out the steps.
Working with an Online Course Coach can smooth the process for you. They can support you along the way, shin light on what you don’t know, and also bring accountability too.
2. Time
Yes, it will take some time and work, but remember, that investing time into creating your course will help you to move towards helping more people. As well as bring more clients and give you an asset that you can make money from, again, and again.
From practical experience, it takes around four hours of work per week, for six to seven weeks to get your course ready from start to finish. The time needed will vary depending on how long the course is, and how much of the work you do yourself.
If time is very limited, because of other commitments, then much of the work needed can be outsourced, or done by a virtual assistant.
3. Fear
You may face fear and doubt. ‘Who am I to teach this subject.’
If you’re achieving results for your clients already, then let go of this thought. You don’t need to be the world’s leading expert before you start to teach. You already know more about your subject than your students.
You already help them in your 1:1 or group programmes, so you can in a course format too.
The technology is often a sticking point. In truth to get started there is very little that you need, most of it you probably have already. All too often coaches get caught up in all the shiny objects that they are being told in marketing they need.
4. Will it be a success?
Whilst there are no guarantees of it being a success, there are steps you can take to increase the chances.
The most important step will be to find out what your target audience wants to learn about the topic, before you create anything.
This allows you to create valuable content that delivers a great learning experience for your students. It also makes sure that you deliver the results that they want, and that potential students are willing to pay for.
5. What are the steps to creating a successful online course?
There are many sources of information on the steps to creating an online course. From blog posts, PDFs, videos, and courses. All are a great way to gain clarity around the steps needed.
However, this can be a double edged sword. If the sources only cover one part of the process, or even conflict with each other, it can leave you more confused.
Much better to find a source that shows you the whole process. One that you know works, rather than try and put the pieces together yourself.
I often liken it to a jigsaw puzzle. You can find all the pieces of the puzzle. But, without the picture on the box, it can be hard to see how it fits together, particularly, if you pick up pieces from a different puzzle!
Next steps
Having gone through seven reasons for why to create an online course as a coach, and looking at some of the reasons you may be held back, it is over to you to take action, and create your course! To learn more about the process have a look at this post.
If you are looking for help in turning your course idea into reality, to get the step by step instructions on how to create your profitable online course then get in contact to find out how we can help you.
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