Use a “pre-sale” strategy, not just building and hoping, to validate your course idea before you create it.
Sell the Cake Before You Bake It.
Imagine a baker has a brilliant idea for a new, exotic cake. She could spend a week and hundreds of dollars perfecting the recipe and baking a huge batch, only to discover nobody wants to buy it. Or, she could create a beautiful description, show a sample sketch, and take pre-orders at the counter. If ten people pay for the cake upfront, she knows it’s a winner. A pre-sale is taking orders for your course before you build it. It’s the ultimate validation that proves you have a hungry audience, preventing you from wasting months creating something nobody will buy.
Stop creating massive, all-encompassing courses. Do build a small, specific “minimum viable course” instead.
Build the Go-Kart Before the Ferrari.
You wouldn’t try to build a Formula 1 race car as your first-ever project in the garage. You’d start by building a simple go-kart. You’d take a basic engine and a simple frame and just figure out how to make it work. A Minimum Viable Course is your go-kart. Instead of a 50-module “everything you know” encyclopedia, it’s a short, focused course that solves one specific, painful problem for your students. It gets them a quick win and provides you with invaluable feedback that you can use to build the Ferrari later.
Stop just selling a course. Do build a community around your course to reduce refunds and increase value.
Sell the Gym Membership, Not Just the Dumbbells.
You can sell someone a set of dumbbells, and they can use them at home alone. But the chances they’ll stick with it are low. Or, you can sell them a gym membership. Now they get access to the equipment, but also to the trainers, the classes, and a community of other people on the same journey. A course without a community is just a set of dumbbells. By adding a community forum or group calls, you’re selling the entire gym. This shared experience creates accountability and support, which dramatically increases student results and makes them never want to leave.
The #1 secret to a six-figure digital product launch is building an email list first, not a social media following.
The Private Phone Line vs. the Crowded Town Square.
A social media following is like having a crowd in the town square. You can shout your message, but the town’s mayor (the algorithm) decides who hears you, and a distracting parade could march through at any moment. An email list is a private, direct phone line to every single person. You don’t have to shout. You can have a personal conversation, and you can be sure your message is delivered. Social media is great for getting people’s phone numbers, but the real, profitable conversations that lead to a massive launch happen directly through email.
I’m just going to say it: Your course is probably too cheap.
The Fine Dining Experience vs. the Fast-Food Burger.
A $1 cheeseburger is bought with pocket change and eaten without a second thought. A $100 steak dinner is an investment. The customer is more committed, they savor every bite, and they pay attention to the experience. When you price your course like a cheap burger, you attract customers who aren’t committed and are more likely to complain. When you price it like a fine dining experience, you attract serious students who are invested in their own success. A higher price signals a higher value and commands a higher level of commitment, from both you and your students.
The reason your digital product isn’t selling is because you’re selling the “what,” not the transformation.
Selling the Drill Bit vs. Selling the Hole.
Nobody wakes up in the morning excited to buy a drill bit. What they want is the hole that the drill bit creates, so they can hang a beautiful family photo. Too many creators sell the features of their course—the “what.” They say, “I’m selling 10 video modules and three worksheets.” That’s the drill bit. A successful creator sells the transformation—the “why.” They say, “I’m selling you the pride and joy of seeing your family’s smiling faces on the wall.” Stop selling your product; start selling the outcome it creates.
If you’re still not using a tripwire offer on your thank you page, you’re losing the easiest sale you’ll ever make.
The “Do You Want Fries With That?” of the Internet.
When you go to a fast-food restaurant and order a burger, what do they always ask? “Do you want fries with that?” They know that the moment you’ve decided to buy is the easiest time to get you to buy a little more. A tripwire is the same concept. After someone signs up for your free lead magnet, they land on a “thank you” page. At this moment of peak engagement, you can offer them a small, irresistible, low-priced product. It’s a simple, automated way to turn a free subscriber into a paying customer immediately.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about online courses is that it’s a “passive” business.
The Farmer’s Harvest.
A farmer doesn’t “passively” get a harvest. He enjoys the fruits of his labor after a long season of very active work. He has to plow the fields, plant the seeds, and tend to the crops. An online course business is the same. The “passive” part—the automated funnels and sales—only comes after an intense season of building the course, writing the marketing emails, and engaging with your first students. The ease of the harvest is earned by the sweat of the planting season.
I wish I knew this about digital products when I was starting out: The marketing is more important than the product itself.
The World’s Best Movie That No One Sees.
You could create the most beautiful, life-changing movie ever made. But if you film it on your phone and just leave it on your camera roll, it has zero impact. It doesn’t exist to the world. A mediocre movie with a brilliant marketing campaign and distribution plan, on the other hand, can become a blockbuster. A perfect digital product with no marketing is just a file on your computer. A “good enough” product with a great marketing system can change thousands of lives and build a real business.
99% of course creators make this one mistake: they don’t have a plan to get their first 10 students.
The Restaurant with No Grand Opening.
Imagine a chef spends months perfecting a menu and designing a beautiful new restaurant. Then on opening day, he just unlocks the door and sits in the back, hoping people wander in. It would be a disaster. He needs a grand opening plan: invite food critics, tell his friends, run a local ad. Your course launch is a grand opening. You can’t just publish it and hope for the best. You need a concrete, manual plan to get your first 10 “patrons” in the door through personal outreach, networking, and direct conversations.
This one small action of creating a simple 5-day email challenge will build more trust and sales than a month of social media posts.
The Free Cooking Class.
You could stand on a street corner shouting about how great your new cookbook is. Or, you could host a free, five-day cooking class where you teach people one simple recipe from the book each day. By the end of the week, they haven’t just heard about your book; they have experienced your teaching, gotten a real result, and now they trust you as a guide. A 5-day email challenge does the same thing. It provides a “quick win” and builds a deep sense of trust and reciprocity that makes buying your full course the logical next step.
Use a platform like ThriveCart or SamCart, not just a simple PayPal button, to create high-converting checkout pages.
The Express Lane vs. The Bumpy Dirt Road.
A simple PayPal button is like a bumpy, unmarked dirt road to your store. It’s confusing, it looks untrustworthy, and many people will turn back before they arrive. A dedicated checkout platform like ThriveCart is a brightly lit, multi-lane superhighway. It’s designed for one thing: to make the buying process as smooth and frictionless as possible. With features like testimonials, guarantees, and order bumps, it’s a powerful tool that is scientifically designed to increase the number of people who complete their purchase.
Stop just creating video lessons. Do add worksheets, checklists, and community calls to increase student engagement and results.
The Textbook vs. The Science Lab.
A course with only video lessons is like a science textbook. A student can read it and understand the theories, but the knowledge is passive. To truly learn, they need to go to the science lab. They need to do the experiments, mix the chemicals, and see the reactions for themselves. Worksheets, checklists, and community calls are the science lab for your course. They are the tools that move your students from passively consuming information to actively implementing it, which is the only way they will ever get a real result.
Stop just launching your course once a year. Do create an evergreen sales funnel to sell it automatically every day.
The Movie Theater vs. Netflix.
A traditional launch is like a movie’s opening weekend. All the marketing and hype is focused on a few short days. After that, it’s gone. An evergreen funnel is like putting that same movie on Netflix. Now, a new person can discover it, watch the trailer (your webinar or email sequence), and decide to buy it at any time, day or night. It’s a system that works for you 24/7, turning your one-time launch event into a consistent, automated sales machine.
The #1 hack for a successful course is to focus on a clear, specific outcome for a clear, specific person.
The GPS Destination.
You would never get in your car and just type “North” into the GPS. It’s too vague. You type in a specific address: “123 Main Street, Anytown, USA.” A successful course is a GPS. It doesn’t promise a vague direction like “Learn about marketing.” It promises a very specific destination (“Get your first 100 email subscribers”) for a very specific traveler (“New Etsy sellers”). This clarity is what makes the course compelling. The student can see the exact destination, and they trust that you know the precise route to get them there.
I’m just going to say it: Most people who buy your course will not finish it, and that’s not your fault.
The Gym Membership in February.
Millions of people buy a gym membership in January with the best of intentions. By February, most of them have stopped going. It’s not the gym’s “fault.” The gym provided the equipment, the classes, and the opportunity. The customer is responsible for showing up and doing the work. Your course is the gym. You can provide the best content and community in the world, but you cannot do the push-ups for your students. Your responsibility is to provide the opportunity; their responsibility is to take it.
The reason your sales page isn’t converting is because it doesn’t have enough social proof (testimonials and case studies).
The Restaurant with No Reviews.
Imagine you walk past a new restaurant. The sign looks nice, but there’s no one inside and you can’t find a single review online. Are you going to risk it? Probably not. You’ll go to the place next door with a line out the door and hundreds of five-star ratings. Your sales page is that restaurant. Without testimonials, case studies, and reviews, you are asking a stranger to take a huge risk. Social proof is the line of happy customers that tells every new visitor, “It’s safe and delicious here. Come on in!”
If you’re still using a marketplace like Udemy, you’re losing control over your pricing, branding, and student data.
The Food Court Stall vs. Your Own Restaurant.
Selling your course on a marketplace is like operating a small stall in a giant food court. The landlord (the marketplace) dictates your hours, takes a huge cut of your sales, and your customers are loyal to the food court, not to you. You’re just “the taco guy.” Building your course on your own platform is like opening your own standalone restaurant. You control the menu, the pricing, the ambiance, and you build a direct relationship with your customers. It’s the difference between being a tenant and being an owner.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need to be a world-renowned expert to create a successful course.
The Camp Counselor vs. The Professor.
If you’re a beginner trying to learn how to tie a simple knot, who do you want to learn from? A university professor with a Ph.D. in knot theory, or the friendly camp counselor who is just two steps ahead of you and remembers all the common mistakes? You want the camp counselor. You don’t need to be a world-leading expert to create a course. You just need to be a few steps ahead of the people you are helping. Your relatability is a feature, not a bug.
I wish I knew that a simple, low-priced e-book could be a great entry point into my product ecosystem.
The Appetizer on the Menu.
Not everyone is ready to commit to the expensive, main course steak dinner. That’s why restaurants offer appetizers. A simple, low-priced e-book is the perfect appetizer for your business. It allows someone to sample your “cooking,” get a quick win, and build trust with you, all for a very low risk. It’s the easiest way to turn a curious subscriber into a paying customer. And once they’ve enjoyed the appetizer, they are far more likely to trust you enough to order the main course (your signature course) later.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t build a waitlist before they launch.
The Line Outside the Nightclub.
A nightclub with a long line of people waiting to get in feels exclusive and exciting. A nightclub with no line feels dead. A waitlist for your course is that line. It builds social proof and anticipation before you even open the doors. It gives you a dedicated group of warm leads to market to on launch day, turning your opening into a massive event instead of a quiet fizzle. The launch doesn’t start when you open the cart; it starts the moment the first person joins your waitlist.
This one small action of hosting a free webinar that teaches one small part of your course framework will be your best sales tool.
The Free Sample at the Grocery Store.
You don’t just sell someone a whole pineapple. You offer them a small, delicious sample on a toothpick. If they love the sample, buying the whole pineapple is an easy decision. A free webinar is your sample. You don’t teach your entire course. You teach one small, powerful piece of your framework and use it to get your students a “quick win.” This live demonstration of your expertise and teaching style is the most effective way to prove the value of your full course and turn attendees into customers.
Use an affiliate program, not just your own marketing efforts, to scale your course sales.
Building a Volunteer Sales Team.
As a solo creator, you are a sales team of one. You can only make so many calls and reach so many people. An affiliate program is like recruiting an army of passionate, commission-only salespeople. These are other creators who already have the trust of your ideal audience. You give them a special link, and when they recommend your course and someone buys, you pay them a percentage. It’s a powerful way to scale your reach and get your course in front of thousands of new people without any upfront marketing cost.
Stop trying to create a “perfect” course. Do create a beta version and improve it with student feedback instead.
The Movie Test Screening.
Movie studios don’t just release a finished film to the world. They first show a rough cut to a small test audience. They watch what parts are confusing, what jokes don’t land, and what the audience loves. Then, they use that feedback to make the final version a hundred times better. A beta launch of your course is that test screening. You enroll a small group of founding members at a discount, and you co-create the course with them. Their feedback is the most valuable asset you have for building a true blockbuster.
Stop just having a course. Do create a value ladder with an upsell to a more premium coaching or mastermind group.
The Business Class Upgrade.
An airline doesn’t just sell one type of seat. They have economy, premium economy, and business class. They understand that some customers are willing to pay more for a better experience, more access, and more support. Your online course is the economy ticket. It gets the student to their destination. But for your most committed students, you should offer an “upgrade”—a high-ticket mastermind or coaching program. This is where you can provide more direct access to you and create a transformational experience, while dramatically increasing your revenue.
The #1 secret to high completion rates is to build a community and accountability into your program.
The Workout Buddy.
You can have the best workout plan in the world, but if you’re doing it alone in your basement, it’s easy to quit. But if you have a workout buddy who is expecting you at the gym at 6 a.m., your chances of showing up skyrocket. A community is the workout buddy for your course. Through group calls, forums, and accountability partners, you create a supportive environment where students feel like they are part of a team. This shared journey is the single most powerful force for keeping them engaged and helping them cross the finish line.
I’m just going to say it: The market for generic, beginner-level courses is completely saturated.
The Ocean of “How to Swim” Videos.
The internet is already a vast ocean, completely filled with free, generic advice on beginner topics. Trying to sell a simple “How to Swim” course is like trying to sell a bottle of saltwater to someone who is already swimming in the ocean. The opportunity is not in the shallow end. It’s in the deep, specific niches. Don’t teach “How to Swim.” Teach “How to Master the Butterfly Stroke for Competitive Masters Swimmers Over 40.” Specificity is the only way to stand out in a saturated market.
The reason you’re not getting testimonials is because you’re not asking for them at the moment of peak student excitement.
The Tip Jar on the Stage.
A street performer doesn’t wait until the crowd has walked away to put out their tip jar. They put it out right at the end of their most amazing trick, when the applause is loudest and the emotion is highest. That’s the moment of peak excitement. You should do the same. Don’t ask for a testimonial a month after a student has finished. Ask for it the moment they have a breakthrough or achieve a “quick win” inside your course. That is when their excitement is at its peak and they are most eager to share their story.
If you’re still not using an email marketing platform like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign, you don’t have an online business.
The Cash Register of Your Store.
You can have a beautiful store with great products. But if you don’t have a cash register and a way to communicate with your customers, you don’t have a business; you have a museum. An email marketing platform is the cash register, the customer database, and the marketing megaphone for your online business, all in one. It’s the central hub that allows you to build a relationship with your audience, tell them about your products, and process sales. Without it, you are just a hobbyist with a website.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need fancy video equipment to create a course.
The Story, Not the Pen.
A great author can write a masterpiece with a simple pen and a piece of paper. A bad author can have the most expensive, gold-plated fountain pen in the world and still write a terrible story. Your equipment is the pen. Your knowledge and your ability to get your students a result is the story. Your students are not buying your video quality; they are buying a transformation. A clear message recorded on your smartphone is infinitely more valuable than a confusing message filmed in a professional studio.
I wish I knew how to structure a course for transformation, not just information transfer.
The Recipe vs. The Cooking Class.
A recipe book is a simple transfer of information. It gives you the steps, but it doesn’t guide you through the process. A great cooking class, on the other hand, is designed for transformation. It starts with the goal (a delicious meal), walks you through the key milestones, and gives you hands-on practice. A transformational course isn’t a “brain dump” of everything you know. It’s a curated roadmap that starts with the student’s biggest pain point and guides them, step-by-step, to a specific, tangible outcome.
99% of creators make this one mistake in their launch: they don’t have a clear “cart open” and “cart close” date.
The “Sale Ends Sometime” Sign.
Imagine a store puts up a sign that just says “Big Sale!” with no end date. There’s no urgency. You’ll just think, “I’ll check it out later.” But if the sign says “50% Off Flash Sale: Ends Friday at Midnight!” you will make time to go today. A launch with no clear deadline is a sale that no one feels compelled to act on. By having a firm “cart close” date, you introduce real, ethical urgency that forces people to make a decision, turning “I’ll think about it” into “I need to buy this now.”
This one small action of creating a simple “tech stack” diagram for your business will bring you immense clarity.
The Blueprint for Your Digital Machine.
Imagine you have a complex machine, but no instruction manual or diagram. You’d have no idea how the parts connect or what each lever does. Your online business is a digital machine, with different software “parts” for your website, your email, and your payments. A simple tech stack diagram is the blueprint for that machine. It’s a one-page drawing that shows how each piece of software connects to the others. This simple visual brings incredible clarity and helps you spot inefficiencies in your system.
Use a cohort-based model, not just a self-paced model, to create urgency and improve student results.
The Guided Tour Group vs. The Self-Guided Museum Visit.
A self-paced course is like being handed a map at a museum. You can wander around at your own pace, but it’s easy to get lost or bored. A cohort-based course is like being part of a small, guided tour group. Everyone starts together, you move through the exhibits on a schedule, and you have a guide to answer your questions. This shared experience creates a powerful sense of community and urgency, ensuring that everyone keeps up and gets the most out of the museum.
Stop just selling a digital product. Do sell access to a private podcast or newsletter as a subscription.
The Magazine Subscription vs. the Single Book.
You can sell someone a great book. They read it, and the transaction is over. Or, you can sell them a subscription to a fantastic monthly magazine. Now, you have a recurring, predictable revenue stream and an ongoing relationship with that customer. A private podcast or a paid newsletter is that magazine subscription. It’s a simple, high-value way to monetize your expertise with a recurring revenue model, which is the holy grail of any sustainable online business.
Stop just teaching. Do provide templates, swipe files, and tools that help your students get results faster.
Give Them the Fish and the Fishing Rod.
Teaching someone how to fish is great. But if they’re starving, what they really need is a fish, right now. Your students are “starving” for a result. The best courses do both. They teach the theory (the fishing rod), but they also provide templates, checklists, and swipe files (the fish). These “done for you” resources are shortcuts that help a student get an immediate win, which builds the confidence and momentum they need to learn the long-term skill.
The #1 hack for coming up with a course idea is to find the intersection of what you know, what people will pay for, and what you enjoy teaching.
The Three-Legged Stool of Success.
A successful course is like a sturdy, three-legged stool. The first leg is your expertise: What are you skilled at? The second leg is market demand: What are people willing to pay money to solve? The third leg is your passion: What could you talk about for hours without getting bored? If you only have two of the legs—you’re an expert in something no one will pay for—your stool will fall over. The magic happens at the intersection of all three, creating a stable, profitable, and enjoyable business.
I’m just going to say it: A great sales page is more important than a great course for making your first sale.
The Movie Trailer vs. The Movie.
You decide which movie to see based on the power of the two-minute trailer, not the two-hour film. The trailer has to be compelling enough to get you to buy a ticket. The movie just has to be good enough to not disappoint you. Your sales page is your movie trailer. It has to be incredibly persuasive and speak directly to your customer’s problems and desires. Your course is the movie. It just needs to deliver on the promise of the trailer. But without a great trailer, no one will ever see your movie.
The reason you’re getting refund requests is because your marketing message didn’t align with the actual course content.
Promising a Steak Dinner and Serving a Salad.
Imagine a restaurant menu that has a beautiful, detailed description of a juicy, sizzling steak. You order it, but the waiter brings you a small garden salad. You would immediately demand a refund, not because the salad is bad, but because it’s not what you were promised. Refund requests are usually not a sign of a bad course; they are a sign of a marketing “mismatch.” Your sales page promised a steak, but your course delivered a salad. Ensure your marketing is an honest and accurate reflection of the transformation you provide.
If you’re still not using a deadline funnel, you’re losing the power of authentic urgency in your marketing.
The Personalized Flash Sale.
A deadline funnel is like giving every single new subscriber their own personal, automated flash sale. When someone signs up for your email list, a timer starts just for them. They have, for example, 72 hours to buy your product at a special price or with a unique bonus. This creates genuine, individual urgency without you having to run a stressful, public launch. It’s a powerful, automated system that respects the subscriber’s timeline while still leveraging the proven psychological power of a deadline.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need a huge audience to have a successful launch.
The Intimate Dinner Party vs. The Giant Stadium Concert.
You don’t need a stadium-sized audience of 100,000 people to have a successful event. You could have an intimate dinner party for just 20 people who love your cooking, trust you, and are happy to pay a premium for the experience. A small, highly engaged email list of 1,000 true fans can be far more profitable than a disengaged social media following of 100,000. It’s not about the size of the audience; it’s about the depth of the relationship you have with them.
I wish I knew that my best digital product ideas would come directly from my audience’s questions.
The Gold in Your “Sent” Folder.
As a creator, you are sitting on a gold mine of product ideas and you don’t even know it. That gold mine is the list of questions your audience asks you every single day in your emails, comments, and DMs. Every question is a sign of a pain point or a knowledge gap. If one person asks, it’s likely a hundred more have the same question. Stop brainstorming in a vacuum. Your next successful product is not in your head; it’s hidden in plain sight in the questions your audience is already asking.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t have a plan for what happens after the launch is over.
The Day After the Wedding.
A huge amount of energy goes into planning a wedding. But many people forget to plan for the marriage. A product launch is the wedding—an exciting, high-energy event. But what happens the day after the cart closes? You need a plan for the “marriage.” How will you onboard your new students? How will you continue to nurture the people who didn’t buy? A post-launch plan is what turns the short-term cash injection of a launch into a sustainable, long-term business.
This one small action of creating a Trello board to plan your course content will make the creation process 10x easier.
The Recipe Card for Your Course.
You wouldn’t try to bake a complex cake by just throwing ingredients in a bowl from memory. You’d follow a recipe card that lists the ingredients and the steps in a clear, organized way. A Trello board is the recipe card for your course. You can create columns for each module and then create a “card” for each individual lesson. This simple visual tool allows you to organize your thoughts, track your progress, and see your entire course outline at a glance, turning an overwhelming project into a manageable, step-by-step process.
Use a payment plan option, not just a single pay-in-full price, to increase your conversion rate.
The Monthly Gym Membership.
Very few people would be able to pay for a full year’s gym membership in one lump sum of $600. But almost anyone can afford to pay $50 a month. By offering a payment plan, the gym makes its high-ticket service accessible to a much wider audience. You should do the same with your course. By offering a payment plan, you remove the biggest objection for many potential students—the upfront cash commitment—which can dramatically increase the number of people who say “yes.”
Stop just making a course. Do create a signature framework that you can become known for.
The Recipe vs. The “Secret Formula.”
You can teach someone a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Or, you can teach them your proprietary, 5-step “Cookie Perfection Method™.” The first is a commodity; the second is a unique, branded system. A signature framework is your unique method for getting a result. It’s your intellectual property. By giving your process a memorable name and a clear structure, you transform your generic advice into a powerful brand asset that you can become known for in your industry.
Stop just writing an e-book. Do create an audiobook version as an easy upsell.
The Paperback and the Hardcover.
When a new book is released, publishers often offer both a paperback and a more expensive hardcover version. They are the same content, just in a different format for a different type of customer. An audiobook is the easiest “hardcover” version you can create. Many people prefer to listen while they drive or exercise. By simply reading your e-book into a microphone, you can create a premium version that many customers will gladly pay extra for, instantly increasing the value of each sale.
The #1 secret to a stress-free launch is to have all your emails and social media posts written before you start.
The Pre-Prepped Meal Kit.
Imagine trying to host a huge dinner party where you have to chop all the vegetables and mix all the sauces while your guests are already at the table. It would be chaos. A smart host does all the “mise en place”—the chopping and prepping—before anyone arrives. A stress-free launch is the same. By writing all your emails, social media posts, and sales page copy before the launch begins, you turn a chaotic, reactive week into a calm, orderly process. You’re not cooking frantically; you’re just serving the dishes you already prepared.
I’m just going to say it: The “passive” part of a course business only comes after you’ve built a robust, automated marketing system.
The Self-Driving Car Still Needs a Map.
A self-driving car is an amazing piece of passive technology. But it’s useless until a team of engineers has spent years designing the car and meticulously programming the GPS with a map of every single road. The “passive” income from your course is the self-driving car. The robust, automated marketing funnel—your emails, your ads, your webinars—is the complex map and software that tells the car where to go. The passive ride is only possible after years of very active system-building.
The reason your webinar sucks is because you’re teaching too much, not selling the transformation.
The Movie Trailer That Shows the Whole Movie.
A good movie trailer doesn’t show you the entire two-hour film. It shows you the most exciting parts, introduces the characters, and makes you desperate to know how the story ends. That’s what a good webinar should do. You’re not there to teach your entire course. You’re there to teach one powerful concept, prove that you can help, and sell the transformation that the full course provides. You are the movie trailer. Your job is to sell the ticket, not give away the whole movie for free.
If you’re still not using student success stories in your marketing, you’re missing your most powerful sales tool.
The “Before and After” Photo.
Weight-loss companies don’t sell their programs by showing you pictures of their scientists and their lab equipment. They sell their programs by showing you a powerful “before and after” photo of a real customer. That single image is more persuasive than a thousand words of scientific explanation. Your student success stories are your “before and after” photos. They are tangible proof that your system works, and they allow your potential customers to see themselves in the story and believe that they can achieve the same transformation.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that online courses are dead.
The Restaurant Industry.
Every year, thousands of new restaurants open, and thousands also fail. No one ever says, “The restaurant industry is dead.” They say that the bad restaurants are dead. The same is true for online courses. The market for low-quality, generic, “me too” courses is absolutely dead. But the market for high-quality, specific, transformational courses that solve a real pain point is booming. The bar for quality has been raised, but the opportunity for those who meet it is bigger than ever.
I wish I knew to build my email list from day one, even before I had a product to sell.
Building the Restaurant Before You Have a Menu.
Imagine you want to open a restaurant. You could wait until you’ve perfected every recipe to start telling people about it. Or, you could start a “supper club” in your home a year in advance. You could build a community of people who love your cooking and are eagerly awaiting your grand opening. An email list is that supper club. You should start building it from day one by sharing valuable content. It is the single most important asset you can build, creating a hungry audience that is ready to buy the moment you finally create the menu.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t have a clear onboarding process for new students.
The First Day at a New Job.
Imagine your first day at a new job. You show up, and your boss just points to a desk and says, “Good luck.” You’d be confused, overwhelmed, and feel unsupported. A good company has a clear onboarding process: a tour, an introduction to the team, a clear explanation of your first tasks. Your course needs the same. A simple welcome email and a “Start Here” module that explains how to use the course and where to get help can make the difference between a student who feels excited and one who feels instantly overwhelmed.
This one small action of surveying your email list will give you a better product idea than months of brainstorming.
Asking the Customer What They Want to Eat.
A chef could lock himself in the kitchen for months, trying to invent the perfect new dish. Or, he could walk out into the dining room and simply ask his loyal customers, “What are you in the mood for tonight?” Surveying your email list is walking out into the dining room. Instead of guessing what their biggest problem is, you can just ask them. Their answers are a literal blueprint for a product they have already told you they want to buy.
Use a “founding members” launch, not a public launch, to get your first students and co-create the course with them.
The Private Dress Rehearsal.
A Broadway show doesn’t open to the public on its first night. It has a series of private dress rehearsals and previews. This allows the cast and crew to work out the kinks and get feedback from a small, friendly audience before the big, stressful opening night. A “founding members” launch is your dress rehearsal. You invite a small group of students in at a discounted price, and you build the course alongside them. They get amazing access, and you get invaluable feedback to create a polished, proven product.
Stop trying to sell to everyone. Do create a product for a hyper-specific niche that you can dominate.
The Big Fish in a Small Pond.
You can be a tiny, insignificant fish in a giant ocean, competing with sharks and whales. Or, you can find a small, quiet pond and be the biggest, most important fish there. Trying to sell a generic “marketing course” makes you a tiny fish. But creating “The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Marketing for Handmade Soap Makers on Etsy” makes you the biggest fish in a very specific, profitable pond. It is far easier to dominate a small niche than to compete in a broad, crowded ocean.
Stop just creating one product. Do create a suite of products at different price points.
The Menu at a Restaurant.
A good restaurant doesn’t just sell one thing. It has a full menu with appetizers, main courses, and desserts, all at different price points. This allows them to serve customers with different appetites and budgets. Your business needs a menu too. This could be a low-priced e-book (the appetizer), your signature course (the main course), and a high-ticket coaching program (the dessert). This “value ladder” allows you to meet your customers where they are and serve them at every stage of their journey.
The #1 hack for overcoming the fear of creating is to “teach what you know,” not what you think you should know.
Singing Your Favorite Song.
If someone asked you to sing a complex opera aria on stage, you would be terrified. But if they asked you to sing “Happy Birthday,” you could do it without a second thought. “Happy Birthday” is a song you know deeply. Trying to teach a topic you think is “expert-level” is like trying to sing opera. It’s filled with fear and imposter syndrome. The hack is to start by teaching your version of “Happy Birthday”—a topic you know so well that you could explain it to a friend. Your confidence will come from your competence.
I’m just going to say it: Your free content needs to be better than your competitors’ paid content.
The Free Samples at Costco.
The reason the free samples at Costco are so effective is because they are a genuinely high-quality taste of the final product. They are so good that they give you the confidence to buy the giant, bulk-sized bag. Your free content—your blog posts, your YouTube videos—are your free samples. They must be so valuable, so helpful, and so much better than what other people are charging for, that your audience thinks, “If their free stuff is this good, I can’t even imagine how amazing their paid course must be.”
The reason you’re not selling anything is because you’re afraid to ask for the sale.
The Musician Who Forgets the Tip Jar.
A talented musician can play a beautiful concert in the town square. But if they are too shy to put out their guitar case for tips, they will go home with empty pockets, no matter how great their music was. You can create amazing, valuable free content for your audience. But if you never confidently and clearly ask them to buy your product, you are leaving your guitar case closed. You have earned the right to ask for the sale. Your audience expects it, and they can’t buy what you don’t offer.
If you’re still not using a lead magnet to grow your email list, you’re relying on hope as a strategy.
The Free Sample for an Email Address.
You wouldn’t just give your personal phone number to a stranger on the street. But you might give it to a business in exchange for a valuable coupon. An email address is a personal piece of information. People don’t just give it away. A lead magnet—a free checklist, template, or guide—is that valuable coupon. It’s a fair and ethical bribe. You are offering a small piece of high-value content in a direct exchange for their permission to contact them. It’s the professional way to build an email list.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need a custom-built website. A simple landing page is enough to start.
The Lemonade Stand.
To start a successful lemonade stand, you don’t need to build a permanent, brick-and-mortar storefront with fancy signs. All you need is a cardboard box, a pitcher of lemonade, and a sign that says “Lemonade: 50 cents.” A simple landing page is your digital lemonade stand. It’s a single page with one clear offer and one clear action to take. It’s all you need to validate your idea and start making sales. Don’t waste months building a fancy website before you’ve even proven that people want your lemonade.
I wish I knew that a simple text-based course could be just as effective as a high-production video course.
The Letter from a Loved One.
A slick, professionally produced Hollywood movie can be entertaining. But a simple, heartfelt, handwritten letter from someone you love can be far more impactful and life-changing. The production value is irrelevant; the power is in the message and the connection. It’s the same with courses. Students don’t need flashy animations and a studio backdrop. They need a clear, empathetic guide who can solve their problem. A simple email course or a well-written PDF can be just as, if not more, transformational than a high-budget video production.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t have a follow-up sequence for people who didn’t buy during the launch.
The Follow-up Call from the Car Dealership.
If you test drive a car but don’t buy it, the salesman doesn’t just rip up your phone number and forget about you. They follow up. They might call you next week to see if you have any questions or let you know about a new promotion. Most creators treat non-buyers like a lost cause. A smart creator has an automated email sequence that continues to provide value, handle objections, and nurture the relationship with the people who were interested but just weren’t ready. This is where a huge percentage of future sales are made.
This one small action of creating a “behind the scenes” look at your creation process will build massive buzz for your launch.
The “Making Of” Documentary.
The “making of” documentary is often just as exciting as the movie itself. It shows the passion, the hard work, and the creative process, which makes you appreciate the final film even more. Sharing “behind the scenes” content while you’re building your course does the same thing. It’s not just marketing; it’s building a story. It brings your audience along for the journey, makes them feel like insiders, and creates a powerful sense of anticipation for the day your “movie” is finally released.
Use gamification and progress tracking, not just a list of videos, to keep your students engaged.
The Video Game Level-Up Bar.
Video games are addictive because they are masters of gamification. There is always a progress bar, a next level to achieve, and a reward for completing a quest. A course that is just a list of videos is a boring instruction manual. By adding simple game mechanics—like a progress bar that fills up as students complete lessons or “badges” they can unlock—you tap into the same powerful psychological triggers. You make learning feel like an engaging quest, not a chore.
Stop just being a course creator. Do become a trusted guide for your students’ journey.
The Sherpa on Mount Everest.
You don’t hire a Sherpa to climb Mount Everest because they gave you a good map. You hire them because they have been to the summit before and can guide you safely through the dangerous parts of the journey. A course creator just sells the map. A trusted guide walks alongside their students. They understand the challenges, they anticipate the obstacles, and they provide the support and encouragement needed to reach the summit. The goal is not to sell information, but to facilitate a transformation.
Stop just having a single price. Do use tiered pricing to offer different levels of access and support.
The Car Wash Menu.
A car wash doesn’t just have one option. It has a “Good, Better, Best” menu. You can get the basic wash, the deluxe wash with wax, or the ultimate package with a full interior detail. Tiered pricing for your course is that menu. The “Good” tier could be the self-paced course. The “Better” tier could add group coaching calls. The “Best” tier could add one-on-one access to you. This allows you to serve students with different needs and budgets, dramatically increasing your overall revenue.
The #1 secret to a profitable digital product business is lifetime customer value.
The Coffee Shop’s Loyal Regular.
A smart coffee shop owner knows that their most valuable asset is not the single tourist who buys one cup of coffee. It’s the loyal regular who comes in every single day. The goal is not to maximize the profit on one transaction; it’s to build a relationship that leads to hundreds of transactions over many years. In your digital business, don’t just focus on the first sale. Think about the entire customer journey. A happy student who buys your $50 e-book today might be the same student who joins your $5,000 mastermind group next year.
I’m just going to say it: It’s easier to sell a high-ticket course to a small audience than a low-ticket course to a large one.
The Boutique Art Gallery vs. the Big Box Store.
To make $10,000, a big box store needs to sell a thousand $10 t-shirts. This requires a massive amount of traffic, marketing, and support. A boutique art gallery, on the other hand, just needs to sell one $10,000 painting to one perfect customer. It’s often easier to find and build a deep relationship with ten “perfect” customers who are willing to pay a premium for a transformational result than it is to build the massive, impersonal machine required to sell a thousand low-priced products.
The reason your students aren’t getting results is because your course is all theory and no action steps.
The Cook Book with No Instructions.
Imagine a cookbook that was just a collection of beautiful food photos and a list of ingredients. It contained no step-by-step instructions. It would be useless. You would have the theory, but no path to implementation. Many courses are like that cookbook. They are filled with interesting ideas but lack clear, “click here, do this” action steps. Every single lesson must end with a clear, simple task that moves the student one step closer to their goal. Results come from action, not from information.
If you’re still not using an affiliate management tool, you’re making it impossible to scale your partnerships.
The Automated Payroll System.
Imagine trying to run a company with 100 salespeople by manually calculating their commissions on a notepad every month. It would be a nightmare. You would make mistakes, pay people late, and no one would trust you. An affiliate management tool is the automated payroll system for your volunteer sales team. It automatically tracks every click, calculates every commission, and makes it easy to pay your partners on time. It’s the professional infrastructure you need to build and scale a successful affiliate program.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you can just “set it and forget it.” Even evergreen funnels need to be monitored and optimized.
The “Self-Watering” Plant.
You can buy a “self-watering” planter for your houseplant. It’s a great system that makes your life easier. But you can’t just put it in a dark closet and forget about it for a year. It still needs sunlight, you still need to refill the water reservoir, and you still need to check on the leaves to make sure it’s healthy. An evergreen funnel is that self-watering plant. It’s a fantastic, automated system, but it still needs to be monitored and optimized. You have to check your stats, update your copy, and make sure it’s still getting the “sunlight” it needs to thrive.
I wish I knew that my first product would probably not be a home run, and that’s okay.
The First Pancake Rule.
Every cook knows that the first pancake you make is almost always a bit of a mess. It’s the one you use to test the heat of the pan and get your technique right. It’s not meant to be perfect. Your first digital product is your first pancake. It’s not likely to be a massive, six-figure home run. It’s your real-world test. It’s where you learn about marketing, sales, and your audience. The goal of the first pancake is not to be perfect, but to teach you how to make all the delicious ones that come after.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t spend enough time writing a compelling sales page copy.
The Unlabeled Can of Food.
You could create the most delicious soup in the world. But if you put it in a generic, unlabeled can and place it on the grocery store shelf, no one will ever buy it. Your sales page is the label on that can. It’s the copy, the stories, and the promises that transform your product from an unknown commodity into a must-have solution. A mediocre product with a world-class label will always outsell a world-class product with a boring, generic label.
This one small action of adding an order bump to your checkout page will instantly increase your average cart value.
The Candy Bars at the Checkout Counter.
Why are there always candy bars and magazines in the checkout lane at the grocery store? Because they know that when your wallet is already out, you are psychologically primed to add a small, extra item to your cart. An “order bump” is the digital version of that candy bar. It’s a small, checkbox offer on your checkout page that allows a customer to add a complementary product—like a template or an e-book—to their order with a single click. It’s one of the easiest ways to instantly increase your revenue.
Use a “content upgrade” on your most popular blog posts, not just a generic newsletter signup, to get targeted leads.
The Specific Tool for the Specific Job.
A generic “sign up for my newsletter” form is like a hardware store owner just shouting “We have tools!” A content upgrade is like walking up to a customer who is looking at a specific sink and saying, “Hey, would you like a free guide on how to install this exact model of sink?” A content upgrade offers a highly specific tool that is directly related to the content they are already consuming. This targeted approach will convert visitors into subscribers at a much higher rate than a generic, one-size-fits-all call to action.
Stop just selling information. Do sell implementation, access, and accountability.
The Library vs. The Personal Trainer.
All the information you could ever need about getting fit is available for free at the public library. But people still pay thousands of dollars for a personal trainer. Why? They’re not paying for information. They are paying for implementation (a custom plan), access (an expert to answer their questions), and accountability (someone who makes sure they show up). Information is a commodity. The real value, and the reason people will pay you a premium, is in the support and guidance you provide to help them actually use that information.
Stop just having a refund policy. Do offer a “results” guarantee to reverse the risk for your buyers.
The “It Works or Your Money Back” Promise.
A standard 30-day refund policy is a guarantee on the product. A “results” guarantee is a guarantee on the outcome. Instead of saying, “If you don’t like the videos, get your money back,” you say, “If you implement my system and don’t achieve X result, I’ll not only give you your money back, but I’ll also give you an extra $100 for your trouble.” This powerful shift completely reverses the risk for the buyer. It shows immense confidence in your process and makes the decision to buy feel completely safe.
The #1 hack for writing great sales copy is to use your customer’s own words from surveys and testimonials.
The Perfect Echo.
Imagine you’re trying to sell a solution to someone. You could try to guess what their problems are and what they want to achieve. Or, you could just listen to them describe their exact pains and desires in their own words, and then repeat those words back to them as part of your solution. That’s what great sales copy does. It’s a perfect echo. By pulling the exact phrases from your customer surveys, reviews, and testimonials, you can craft a message that resonates so deeply that your ideal customer feels like you are reading their mind.
I’m just going to say it: The best digital products create a clear, measurable result.
The “Before and After” Picture.
The most compelling products are the ones that can be demonstrated with a clear “before and after” picture. Before, the garden was full of weeds. After, it’s a beautiful, thriving oasis. Before, the student had zero email subscribers. After, they have 1,000. If you can’t articulate the tangible, measurable “after” state that your product creates, it’s going to be a very hard sell. Vague promises like “master your finances” are weak. A specific promise like “build a $1,000 emergency fund in 30 days” is powerful and easy to sell.
The reason you’re procrastinating on creating your course is because you’re trying to make it perfect.
The First Draft.
No great author sits down to write a perfect, finished novel in one go. They sit down to write a messy, imperfect, and often terrible “first draft.” The goal of the first draft is not to be good; the goal is simply to exist. Procrastination comes from the pressure of trying to create a masterpiece. Give yourself permission to create a terrible first draft of your course. You can’t edit a blank page. Just get the ideas down, and you can polish them into a masterpiece later.
If you’re still not using testimonials with pictures or videos, you’re losing social proof.
The Anonymous Online Review vs. The Friend’s Recommendation.
An anonymous, text-only review on a website is easy to ignore. You don’t know if it’s real. But when your friend looks you in the eye and says, “You have to try this restaurant, it’s amazing!”—that carries immense weight. A testimonial with a real name and a real face is the digital equivalent of that friend’s recommendation. A video testimonial is even more powerful. It transforms your social proof from a vague, anonymous claim into a believable, human story.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need a huge social media following to succeed.
The Famous Musician vs. The Wedding Singer.
A famous musician needs a stadium full of fans to make a living. But a talented local wedding singer can make a fantastic living with a “true fan” base of just 50 local event planners. They don’t need millions of followers; they just need a deep, trusted relationship with a small group of the right people. You are a wedding singer. You don’t need a massive social media following. You need a small, highly engaged email list of ideal customers who trust you enough to “hire” you for their important “event.”
I wish I knew that a simple spreadsheet or Notion template could be a valuable digital product.
The Pre-Built Lego Kit.
You could sell someone a giant box of random Lego bricks and the theory of how to build a castle. Or, you could sell them a pre-designed kit that has the exact pieces and the step-by-step instructions to build a specific, awesome-looking castle. A spreadsheet or a Notion template is that pre-built kit. It’s a tool that helps someone get a desired result faster and more efficiently than if they had to start from scratch. These simple, high-value tools are often the easiest and most profitable digital products to create.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t treat their product launch like a project with a clear timeline and milestones.
Building a House with No Blueprint.
You wouldn’t try to build a house by just having a bunch of workers show up and start nailing boards together. You would start with a detailed project plan: a blueprint, a timeline for the foundation, framing, and electrical, and a clear budget. A product launch is a construction project. It needs a project plan. You need to work backward from your “cart close” date and set clear milestones for writing the emails, creating the ads, and hosting the webinar. A plan turns a chaotic launch into a calm, orderly construction process.
This one small action of creating a “drip” schedule for your course content will prevent overwhelm and keep students on track.
The Weekly TV Show.
Imagine if on the first day of a new TV show, the network released all 24 episodes at once. Most people would feel overwhelmed and might not even start. Instead, they release one episode a week. This “drips” the content, builds anticipation, and keeps everyone on the same page. Dripping your course content—releasing one module per week instead of all at once—does the same thing. It prevents student overwhelm, creates a shared experience, and dramatically increases the chances that your students will actually keep up and finish the course.
Use a paid newsletter, not just a free one, to monetize your expertise with a recurring revenue model.
The Premium Cable Channel.
A free newsletter is like network television—it’s great for building a broad audience. A paid newsletter is like HBO. It’s a premium product for your most dedicated fans who are willing to pay a monthly fee for your best, most exclusive content. It’s a simple, powerful way to create a predictable, recurring revenue stream without having to build a complex course or a membership site. If you can consistently deliver high-value insights, there is a segment of your audience that will gladly pay for it.
Stop just thinking about your next product. Do think about the customer journey through your entire product ecosystem.
The Tourist Map of a Theme Park.
A theme park doesn’t just have one ride. It has a whole ecosystem of rides, shows, and restaurants. And they provide a map that shows a clear path through the park. Your products should form an ecosystem too. A new customer might start with your free lead magnet, then buy your e-book, then enroll in your signature course, and finally join your mastermind. You need to design a clear “map” that shows them the logical next step at every stage of their journey with you.
Stop just creating content. Do create a proprietary “method” or “system” that you can teach.
The KonMari Method.
Marie Kondo didn’t just teach people how to “clean their house.” She created the “KonMari Method™.” She gave her process a unique, memorable name and turned it into a proprietary system that she could own. You should do the same. Don’t just teach “email marketing.” Create the “5-Day Inbox to Income System™.” By packaging your knowledge into a branded framework, you elevate it from a generic commodity to a piece of valuable intellectual property that you can become known for.
The #1 secret to a successful online business is a deep understanding of your ideal customer’s pains and desires.
The Expert Locksmith.
A locksmith doesn’t just show up with a giant box of random keys and start trying them one by one. A true expert first spends time studying the lock. They understand its unique tumblers and mechanisms. Only then can they craft the perfect key to open it. Your ideal customer’s heart and mind is that lock. Their pains, fears, desires, and dreams are the tumblers. You must become an expert in understanding them. Only then can you craft the perfect marketing message (the key) that will effortlessly unlock their trust and their wallet.
I’m just going to say it: The technology platform you use for your course is the least important decision you will make.
The Brand of Oven You Use to Bake a Cake.
A master baker can create a delicious, prize-winning cake in a cheap, basic oven. A terrible baker will make a terrible cake, even if they are using a top-of-the-line, professional-grade oven. The technology you use to host your course is the oven. It is far less important than the quality of your recipe (your content) and your ability to sell the cake (your marketing). Don’t waste months agonizing over which platform to choose. Pick a “good enough” oven and focus on what really matters: baking a great cake.
The reason your ads aren’t working is because you’re sending cold traffic to a sales page instead of a lead magnet.
Asking for Marriage on the First Date.
Imagine you meet someone for the first time. You wouldn’t ask them to marry you after five minutes of conversation. That’s too big of a commitment. You would ask them for their phone number so you could go on a second date. Sending cold ad traffic to a high-priced sales page is asking for marriage. It’s a recipe for rejection. Instead, you should send that traffic to a free lead magnet. You are asking for their “phone number” (their email address). You can then use email to build a relationship and propose marriage later.
If you’re still not offering a trial or a sample of your course, you’re asking for a big commitment from a cold audience.
The Test Drive at the Car Dealership.
You would never buy a new car without test driving it first. That test drive is what gives you the confidence to make a big financial commitment. Yet, most course creators ask their audience to buy their “car” without ever letting them get behind the wheel. Offering a free trial, a sample lesson, or a mini-course is the test drive for your business. It removes all the risk for the potential student and gives them the tangible proof they need to feel confident in their decision to buy.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you can’t start because your niche is too saturated.
The New Coffee Shop in Town.
Every city has dozens, if not hundreds, of coffee shops. The market is completely “saturated.” Yet, new coffee shops open and thrive all the time. How? They don’t try to be “coffee.” They have a unique personality, a specific vibe, or a special blend that attracts their kind of people. Your niche is the same. It’s not about being the only one; it’s about being the only you. Your unique voice, story, and perspective are the secret ingredients that will allow your “coffee shop” to thrive in a crowded market.
I wish I knew that my most profitable product would be the one that solved the most painful problem.
The Aspirin vs. The Vitamin.
People buy vitamins because they think they are “nice to have” for their future health. They buy aspirin when they have a splitting headache and need immediate relief. It’s much easier to sell aspirin than vitamins. Many creators try to sell “vitamin” courses—nice-to-have skills that are good for you in the long run. The most profitable products are always “aspirin.” They solve a specific, urgent, and painful problem that your customer is experiencing right now. Find their biggest headache and sell them the pill.
99% of creators make this one mistake: they don’t have a plan for collecting and showcasing student case studies.
The Trophy Case in the Hallway.
A great sports team doesn’t just win a championship and then throw the trophy in a closet. They display it proudly in a trophy case for everyone to see. It’s proof of their success. Your student case studies are your trophies. You need a deliberate system for collecting them and a beautiful “trophy case” (a section of your sales page) to display them. A detailed case study, showing the “before” and “after” of a real student’s journey, is the ultimate testament to the power of your coaching.
This one small action of adding a one-click upsell to your order form will increase your revenue by 10-30%.
The “Super-Size” Option.
When you order a meal, the cashier often asks, “Would you like to super-size that for just a dollar more?” This is an upsell. They are taking advantage of the moment you’ve already committed to buying to offer you a bigger, better version. A one-click upsell does the same thing. Immediately after someone buys your course, you can present them with a special, one-time offer to add a complementary product or a “deluxe” version, and they can accept it with a single click, without having to enter their credit card details again. It’s a simple and powerful revenue maximizer.
Use your digital product business to create a scalable income stream that isn’t tied to your time.
The Author vs. The Consultant.
A consultant gets paid for their time. If they want to earn more, they have to work more hours. They are trading time for money. An author, on the other hand, writes a book once. That one-time effort can be sold a million times, for years to come, earning them money while they sleep. A digital product business allows you to become the author, not the consultant. You package your knowledge once into a course or an e-book, and you create a scalable asset that can serve thousands of people and generate income without your direct involvement.