Help a course creator get unstuck!

[m1nu]

My Side Business Journey:

Hi everyone! I’m from Switzerland, and I’ve built an e-learning platform specifically for students. The platform offers explainer videos on topics like accounting, economics, and law—basically, the essential knowledge needed for apprenticeships or studies in these fields. Since launching in early 2020, it’s been running successfully. While it hasn’t been a life-changing venture, it has provided me with enough income to reduce my workload at my main job.

Even though it’s an online course, the scalability is somewhat limited due to the size of the Swiss market (just 8.7 million people, with four different languages!). The content is tailored specifically for this market, so expanding beyond Switzerland would require significant adjustments.

I’ve invested a considerable amount of time in creating and promoting this platform. When I think about the financial return on those hours, it’s clear that the pay-off isn’t great. In the meanwhile I moved the plattform from LearnDash to Skool, just because of the mobile app and the minimalistic interface. Now, I’m at a crossroads and need to decide on my next step.

Skills I’ve Gained:

- Deepened my understanding of education
- Gained experience in online marketing (ads, copywriting, funnel building, etc.)
- Community-building
- Created animated videos using Vyond
- Set up websites with WordPress
- Developed e-learning content with LearnDash
- Skool-Plattform knowledge

My Options Moving Forward:

Option 1: Expand My Current Business with further topics

Pros:
- The product already fits the market
- Almost no competition

Cons:
- The videos are relatively easy to replicate
- Students are increasingly turning to AI for study help
- Video creation could soon be automated by AI
- Expanding content would require a significant time investment
- Scalability is still a challenge
- Main target-customers are students -> Not really strong buy-power

Option 2: Create Animated Ads for Lead Generation

This idea has been on my mind for a while. Companies and freelancer that offer animated education / explanation videos are already quite a thing. But most of them don't really concentrate on the lead-gen side of these videos. They don't consult the customer how they can implement these videos for getting customers. The market for SMMA (Social Media Marketing Agency) services is are also quite saturated, but maybe there’s an opportunity in offering animated videos as a unique selling proposition for lead generation.

Option 3: Build a Personal Brand Around One-Person Businesses and Community Building

I’m not looking to become a “guru,” but I’m intrigued by the idea of building a personal brand focused on one-person businesses and community building. In the meanwhile I think I gained enough "skin in the game" to be enough experienced to talk about these things. Over time, I could monetize this by offering consulting services on how to establish a one-person business or grow a community.

Now what would you guys think? Any recommendations, thoughts?
Would help me a lot to hear some opinions!

 

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[Librarian4869]

Hi!

Cool! Just an idea that popped up in my mind while reading this. Have you tried selling this as a package to schools? As you have no competition & the courses you're selling aren't necessarily things that are taught in schools as standard. There might be interest there - schools will have more buying power than students (I guess).

 

[m1nu]

Hi!

Cool! Just an idea that popped up in my mind while reading this. Have you tried selling this as a package to schools? As you have no competition & the courses you're selling aren't necessarily things that are taught in schools as standard. There might be interest there - schools will have more buying power than students (I guess).

Nice thought! The thing is: teachers don't really like to get replaced by a random dude like me. So schools aren't really open to educational videos they could implement in their classrooms. But that surely doesn't count for all schools - it's just my experience till now.

 

[PursueLiberty]

How hard would it be to translate everything to an English version? There might be market in less developed countries, where it’s harder to get educated? You could combine option 3 into this with a general chat and private conversations with you.

 

[Gypsy Soul]

My Side Business Journey:

Hi everyone! I’m from Switzerland, and I’ve built an e-learning platform specifically for students. The platform offers explainer videos on topics like accounting, economics, and law—basically, the essential knowledge needed for apprenticeships or studies in these fields. Since launching in early 2020, it’s been running successfully. While it hasn’t been a life-changing venture, it has provided me with enough income to reduce my workload at my main job.

Even though it’s an online course, the scalability is somewhat limited due to the size of the Swiss market (just 8.7 million people, with four different languages!). The content is tailored specifically for this market, so expanding beyond Switzerland would require significant adjustments.

I’ve invested a considerable amount of time in creating and promoting this platform. When I think about the financial return on those hours, it’s clear that the pay-off isn’t great. In the meanwhile I moved the plattform from LearnDash to Skool, just because of the mobile app and the minimalistic interface. Now, I’m at a crossroads and need to decide on my next step.

Skills I’ve Gained:

- Deepened my understanding of education
- Gained experience in online marketing (ads, copywriting, funnel building, etc.)
- Community-building
- Created animated videos using Vyond
- Set up websites with WordPress
- Developed e-learning content with LearnDash
- Skool-Plattform knowledge

My Options Moving Forward:

Option 1: Expand My Current Business with further topics

Pros:
- The product already fits the market
- Almost no competition

Cons:
- The videos are relatively easy to replicate
- Students are increasingly turning to AI for study help
- Video creation could soon be automated by AI
- Expanding content would require a significant time investment
- Scalability is still a challenge
- Main target-customers are students -> Not really strong buy-power

Option 2: Create Animated Ads for Lead Generation

This idea has been on my mind for a while. Companies and freelancer that offer animated education / explanation videos are already quite a thing. But most of them don't really concentrate on the lead-gen side of these videos. They don't consult the customer how they can implement these videos for getting customers. The market for SMMA (Social Media Marketing Agency) services is are also quite saturated, but maybe there’s an opportunity in offering animated videos as a unique selling proposition for lead generation.

Option 3: Build a Personal Brand Around One-Person Businesses and Community Building

I’m not looking to become a “guru,” but I’m intrigued by the idea of building a personal brand focused on one-person businesses and community building. In the meanwhile I think I gained enough "skin in the game" to be enough experienced to talk about these things. Over time, I could monetize this by offering consulting services on how to establish a one-person business or grow a community.

Now what would you guys think? Any recommendations, thoughts?
Would help me a lot to hear some opinions!

AI is already being used by e-learning companies. AI is now generating videos to teach students with good results.


BUT....

Do you offer any AI/ML or process automation training courses in your curriculum? This could help people compete with what is already out there in the market.


*** I love e-learning companies. The internet has a huge reach.

 

[Gypsy Soul]

Khanmigo: Free, AI-powered teacher assistant by Khan Academy

Khan Academy’s AI-powered teacher tool streamlines your prep giving you more energy for teaching and students. Khanmigo is free for educators.

www.khanmigo.ai

 

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[m1nu]

How hard would it be to translate everything to an English version? There might be market in less developed countries, where it’s harder to get educated? You could combine option 3 into this with a general chat and private conversations with you.

Would be quite difficult because in topics like law and accounting you've got many country-specific details like currencies, legal articles and so on. And yeah: you need to fight with the big players like khan academy.

 

[PursueLiberty]

Would be quite difficult because in topics like law and accounting you've got many country-specific details like currencies, legal articles and so on. And yeah: you need to fight with the big players like khan academy.

True, i’m not very familiar with this industry. But it seems like Ai will change it and make it harder to compete, maybe going more personal and using the fact that your information conforms with local laws could be a USP? I never knew about Khan but at a quick glance they offer “basic” knowledge, maybe you could offer professionals more education? Just suggestions on the top of my mind.

 

[m1nu]

True, i’m not very familiar with this industry. But it seems like Ai will change it and make it harder to compete, maybe going more personal and using the fact that your information conforms with local laws could be a USP? I never knew about Khan but at a quick glance they offer “basic” knowledge, maybe you could offer professionals more education? Just suggestions on the top of my mind.

What I already tested was to offer an individual tutoring offer combined with my e-learning platform. It was like an exam preparation with 100% money-back-guarantee if they don't pass the test. It worked! But the thing is, that I overall feel the urge to move away from the whole students-topic because they only afford to pray low-prices.

 

[PursueLiberty]

What I already tested was to offer an individual tutoring offer combined with my e-learning platform. It was like an exam preparation with 100% money-back-guarantee if they don't pass the test. It worked! But the thing is, that I overall feel the urge to move away from the whole students-topic because they only afford to pray low-prices.

Yeah I get that, what I see in the Netherlands is that professionals pay pretty high prices for coaches or different types of business education/tutoring. I heard a story from a friend, their company hired someone to give a day of training to their team. Wanna know what the guy charged? €4k for a day and they had to pay his hotel and gas. Companies here have certain budgets for those kind of trainings, don’t know the situation in your country and how your experience/expertise could fit in something like this. If this is even something you would wanna work towards.

 

[Andy Black]

Thread added here:

CHAT - [Master Thread] Selling Courses

Here's a thread to chat about selling courses. I'll keep this opening post up to date with links to progress threads and other related threads. Please reply and tag me if there's any I've missed or if there's any new ones. I'll add them to this opening post. # People who know a bit about...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

My quick thoughts:

8m people is plenty.

I'm looking at GoHighLevel to host my courses. They just added communities too.

What about continuous professional learning? Accountants and lawyers often have to keep learning.

What about courses like Excel/ Google Sheets? I think Excel is the most in demand course subject.

Maybe think about your offering to schools and colleges. What do they not like teaching but it needs to be done? Can they outsource that to your platform.

Plenty of course creators just want the tech impmenented for them. And the marketing.

 

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[m1nu]

What came to my mind yesterday was something along the following lines:

An agency for digital education?

I could offer something along the following lines:

- Customized e-learning solutions (with LearnDash etc.)
- Content creation: Explanatory videos with Vyond, dubbing (is also possible with A.I.), as an up-sell it would be possible, for example, to create promotional videos for the companies, which serve as VSL and present their product or service in 90 seconds.
- Advice and strategy: Advice on the selection and implementation of LMS systems.
- I could create a pool of explanatory videos on various topics, which I would then make available (would that already be SaaS?)

The first points I see as obstacles:

- Heavily dependent on LearnDash. I currently don't know of any other alternative that is as “lean” as possible and allows me to create different types of quizzes. I think this is a “must” if you want to do it professionally.
- If I create other topics, I don't have the technical knowledge. How do I do that? If I get someone with specialist knowledge on board, it costs a lot of money

 

[Librarian4869]

@m1nu How are you getting on mate?