Part 3: How to go from 0 to $100K in 2022 with an online course
Part 3: Launching your new online course
Alright, here we are on part 3 in our 4-part course creator mini-series on How to go from 0 → $100K with your online course business in the next 12 months.
Today’s topic? The money-making one you’ve been waiting for: Launching your new online course!
This is probably the scariest step of the whole online course process-- because this is when you’re finally-- FINALLY ready to put your course out into the world (or at least the idea for your course) and start earning money from it. “Launching” essentially means that you are opening the doors for enrollment in your course and accepting new students.
The good news is that you don’t have to be scared about this step because--hopefully-- you’ve validated your product idea first and you KNOW there’s a market for it. Now it’s just time to make sure that your marketing materials are communicating that your product solves that need that is out there!
The beta launch
There are two ways you can go about launching your online course-- the beta launch and the better launch.
The beta launch is actually what I recommend students start with if they’re feeling any sort of procrastination or resistance to getting their course out there. A traditional launch can be a pretty complicated affair with A LOT of moving parts, so anything we can do to remove that barrier to entry and get money in your bank account quickly will help give you the momentum you need to eventually do it the “right” way.
With a beta launch, one of the key ideas here is that you are going to be scrappy. This is the perfect option if:
You’re worried about investing money into an online course platform before you make sales
You’re overwhelmed by the idea of creating a fully designed sales page
The behind-the-scenes tech is causing you major anxiety
You’re looking to get something up + going ASAP
You’re willing to put in a bit more hustle + legwork to make it work
With a beta launch, you only need a few elements to sell (or pre-sell!) your course idea:
Course outline page (which can be as simple as a Google document) with details like the name, price point, description, breakdown of modules, FAQ’s, all that sort of thing.
Facebook group (to host the course content initially)
Checkout page (for new students to purchase their information)-- something like Stripe, Gumroad if you want to stay really scrappy-- or I’d recommend Kartra (which can also host your email contacts AND your serve as your course platform when you’re ready to move everything over)
And then with your Beta launch plan, your goal is 100% to get those first 10 customers. That’s it. Whether you do that through emails or dm’s or social media Stories or Reels on Instagram or whatever, it doesn’t matter HOW you get them-- just that you find 10 people to join your program so you can validate your course idea actually sells, and you can start getting new students into the program so you can tweak, adjust, and gain those uber-valuable testimonials. We’ve got a step-by-step blueprint for how to find these people (+ what to say to them!) inside Simplify to Scale if this stresses you out-- because I know this is a part of what stresses people out is just finding those beta students.
Once you’ve got your 10 initial students, you’ll host a “real-time” version of your course-- sort of a beta pilot group-- where you’ll drip access to the course content weekly or biweekly-- whatever works best for your schedule-- and then get feedback from your 10 students on if it’s good/what they’d like to see more of/what they had questions on. You’re basically “co-creating” the curriculum with them so you can get the best possible version of your course out there.
Official Launch
Once you’ve done your beta round, gotten your first 10 students through the program, then you can move onto your actual LAUNCH launch. And this is where things get a little bit of a fancy upgrade.
That’s where you’ll create the actual sales page (based on your Google doc!) and refine your checkout page to include your new testimonials.
You’ll create a series of pre-framing content-- like blog posts or podcast episodes or a livestream series-- that agitates the problem your product solves, educates them on what they need to solve it, and then positions your product as a solution leading up to your official launch.
You’ll create a webinar-- or video training-- that teaches your audience something super valuable-- and then introduces your product to them.
Next, you’ll create an actual launch email sequence.
You’ll send out an email with a link to the replay page, and then additional emails that educate + answer questions that your audience may have about your product. Emails with themes like “3 myths about [topic],” or “FAQ’s about [name of program” are pretty common and we actually have your email schedule + swipe copy scripts all written out for you inside [Simplify to Scale] to make this as easy as possible-- because trust me-- I’ve been in programs that just give you a few basic pointers on what to write, and it’s really tricky. So we give you everything you need so you can hit the ground running and whip these babies out fast.
Showing up
And the final part of the equation when it comes to successfully launching your product-- whether it’s a BETA or a BETTER launch? SHOW UP
Seriously-- this plays such a huge part in your success-- you HAVE to be willing to show up through the duration of your launch and commit to seeing it through.
So many people will lose energy through the actual LIVE launch phase-- usually about 7-10 days long-- by about halfway through. And then they just slowly start disappearing or not showing up.
But I am here to tell you that I have had as much as ⅔ of my sales come in the last half of my launch period-- over 83 sales of a $597 product on the final day alone-- because I do my best to maintain momentum during the launch and KEEP SHOWING UP. Even when it feels like people aren’t listening-- which it sometimes will-- there is always ALWAYS someone lurking behind-the-scenes that’s on the fence and wants to purchase but is just waiting for that final push. BE that final push that gets them to take action and go for their transformation.
Remember-- it’s not over until it’s over!
Alright, and there you have the step-by-step blueprint that you’ll be following to get your online course out into the world + making you money!
See you next week where we’ll talk about what to do AFTER the course launch-- and how you can create a system that takes the sales process on autopilot.