People with jobs for 9 to 5 years don't always want to spend their weekends working in the garden. There are literally hundreds of millions of people who have problems and they will be happy to pay money to have those issues resolved. All you need to know is 10% to 20% more than the people you serve and you don't need to be an expert or have a master's degree in that particular field. Did you know that 11 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills every year? This is Foundr's 4-step framework for validating course topics and ethically generating revenue before your course in line exists.
The first step is to find out what people really want to know. What problems and burning questions keep them awake at night? What is their biggest challenge right now? For example, if 30 people tell you that their biggest challenge right now is to stay focused and do their job during quarantine, perhaps the name of your course contains the word “productivity”? OR “FMH”. Or “Remote Work”. Once you identify 3 to 5 or even 10 possible “products”, write three bullet points for each one detailing the benefits of that course.
What can people expect to learn if they purchase this course? What are the main findings? What are the most interesting lessons? Gone are the days when a quality “master class” production with a film crew of 40 people was needed to provide educational value. As a video producer, it's hard for me to admit, but you can create an incredibly valuable online course with a slideshow and Quicktime. We also recommend that you watch this video below, in which Nathan Chan, CEO of Foundr, reveals inside information about what no one tells you about creation of online courses. Foundr's business model involves offering detailed, high-value online courses so you know what it takes to succeed.
You also divide your revenues with the platform, and between 50 and 80% of the revenue from your courses goes to the company. In return, the advantage of these platforms is that they have an integrated audience that already expects educational content, so you have an initial advantage in marketing instead of creating your audience from scratch. Don't make a list-style video series that barely covers 65 different topics. It's better to go deeper into a topic and break down the exaggerated process of how to actually do it, rather than trying to include too many topics in a single course and not offering anything of value.
For example, if your course is titled “How to do your taxes as a self-employed person”, you should share a screen with the step-by-step process and show each step to your audience. What You Shouldn't Do Is Just Offer “10 Tips” for Tax Season. This is a blog article, not a course. Perhaps the best part of creating online courses as a business model is that, if done correctly, you can produce the content once and sell it over and over again.
If you follow the Foundr model for creating comprehensive online courses that are timeless, you won't have to use the product again for 6 to 12 months, or even longer. By combining our pre-sale validation method (1-2 weeks) and an “agile” course production process, such as screen capture from home, you can launch your most advanced course in the world and launch it in two months. A misconception about creating an e-commerce store is that it's quick and easy. Sure, it can be simple if you follow a proven framework such as Gretta van Riel's SkinnyMe Tea, Drop Bottle, The 5th Watches and Skintox.
You can do many of these tasks remotely and find a 3PL (Third Party Logistics) partner to handle most of the process. The marketing aspect can also be done 100% remotely, to the point that you can manage your business from your phone if you want, and Foundr's e-commerce training teaches you all of this and more. We just wanted to be 100% honest with you about the right time for this type of business, in case you find yourself in a situation where you need money next week. Based on what we've seen in thousands of companies in the Foundr community, launching an e-commerce store usually takes about 12 weeks (about 3 months).
This ranges from making your idea concrete to getting your first sales. The best part? This closed beta method is the ultimate form of validation when you get 10, 20 or 100 people to participate in the closed beta; practically guaranteeing that your product idea will work and that it will be adapted to the specific needs of your customers. Zack Kinslow is head of educational production at Foundr and formerly director of content at Skillshare. He has a degree in Advertising from Rowan University and has taught more than 100 online courses throughout his career with more than 500,000 students worldwide.
Before e-learning Zack was dedicated to search engine optimization, copywriting and network marketing social. He is passionate about social good initiatives that harness creativity and technology on a global scale. If you want to earn extra money after leaving work or you're between two jobs working at a delivery service such as Uber, Lyft, Grubhub or DoorDash can help. While you don't need to create an LLC for your side job it might be worth it to protect your personal liability plus there are a lot of monthly costs (maintenance insurance fuel) that you could deduct on your taxes.
