The Truth About Launching Online Courses and Programs

Launching digital courses and programs is a pretty common path that content creators and personal brands go down at some point, and the ones who are successful at it, make it look easier than it really is… I mean, it’s really not their fault, it’s just our perception on the receiving end is “oh, launching an online course looks like so much fun!”

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Launching Digital Courses and Programs

The first course I created and launched was in the summer of 2015, so like 4 years ago, which is the same year I started my YouTube channel. 2 people bought it.

Generally, though, most people would have said: “oh, only 2 customers, this sucks, I’m not doing this.” but I stuck with it, created a myriad of courses from how to edit GoPro videos to video editing with Premiere Elements, and iMovie, and Premiere Pro, to YouTube for Bloggers which transitioned to YouTube Triggers which transitioned to my signature course, The Search & Rescue Method and the Video Pursuit Society which is my membership program.

But creating online courses and digital programs, and launching them – particularly this past year – took a lot of time and energy that I would normally be putting into my regular content, so I basically stopped creating new content on my YouTube channel, podcast, and blog this year, which is not ideal…

In this video, I’m sharing the 3 game changers that kept me afloat this year while I was focusing on launching a membership program and signature courses…

1. I hired a virtual assistant

2. I met religiously with my peer mastermind group

3. I learned the art and science of crafting an offer with James Wedmore through Business By Design (BBD)

It is a Common Path for Content Creators

Launching digital courses and programs is already like a pattern for most YouTube content creators, bloggers, and such. And for those who are very successful at those, they make it seem like it’s just an easy thing to do, but it’s not. Though, it is not their fault because we don’t really know what they encounter behind the scenes.

For me, the first online course that I launched was 4 years ago, the same year I started my YouTube channel, and there were only just 2 people who bought it. Of course, many would think that it sucks because I only have 2 customers, but I stuck with it and created a myriad of courses. Most of those courses include how to edit GoPro videos and editing videos in Premiere Pro, iMovie, Premiere Elements, and so on. Those contents transitioned to my 2 signature courses right now called “The Search & Rescue Method” and “Video Pursuit Society” membership programs.

However, launching digital courses and programs—specifically this past year—ate up my time and energy, which made me very inactive in creating content for my YouTube channel, podcast, and blog the past year. With that, it led to these following results:

My YouTube channel didn’t double this year, unlike the past years where it constantly doubles or even more than doubles in terms of analytics.
The website traffic in my blog went down.
People kept asking me when I would release a new podcast episode.

Despite that, I still managed to earn passively in those different platforms—which I will discuss in the next video, so if you want to know about that, make sure to hit the bell notification on my channel.

3 Absolute Game-changers for Launching Digital Courses and Programs

Facebook, Instagram, Blogs, YouTube, and TikTok are some of the platforms you can use as a content creator

You can hire a virtual assistant to do the things that you don’t have much interest in. In my case, I hired someone to manage my membership program, the Video Pursuit Society. I still show up when I’m needed, and my VA would be the one to schedule the Facebook posts, schedule the contents in the membership area, create PDF workbooks, and other stuff.

Now, I’m already familiar with outsourcing various tasks, and it didn’t work out the way that I hoped it would be and it is also partly because I didn’t have good systems and processes that are ready in order for someone to just step into it. This is why I realized how handy it is to have someone that could manage some tasks for me so I could have time to create YouTube videos again.
I regularly and constantly meet with my peer mastermind over a zoom call. A peer mastermind is basically just a group of friends that have a common goal. For my peer mastermind, our goal is building an online business. We have different niches, we share the ideas that are working for our business, get help on something that isn’t working, and overall, be accountable to each and every one of us.

You can join an existing peer mastermind with someone already facilitating the group, or you could also form a new peer mastermind with your friends. It is highly recommended that you find a peer mastermind that consists of people with the same way of thinking as you. Commit to it by setting a certain time and day of the week where you will meet each other, and you won’t regret it.
Learn the Art and Science of crafting an offer. Personally, I learned this through my business mentor, James Wedmore, and his program called “Business By Design”. I realized that I have wasted LOTS of time creating a digital product/course that didn’t sell very well because I don’t have the knowledge in terms of selling. If you are also new to this, my advice is that don’t waste time figuring that out by yourself. Before launching digital courses and programs, make sure that you already know how to craft an offer.

Now, I’ve already learned that part, and I am sure that the contents that I will create will surely be aligned with my programs and are also valuable to my customers as well. So, if you’re also a content creator and you’re looking to launch digital courses and programs, make sure to keep in mind those 3 game-changers that will absolutely guide you towards success.

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