Events are being cancelled. Workshops can no longer take place. So what work can you do from home, online, while the COVID-19 virus is preventing us from mixing socially? Here’s one idea…
My entire career is online.
I write articles and books, run online courses – helping women to start or grow a business – and I’m founder of The Robora: an online membership platform for women in business. Plus I’m editor of The Early Hour.
So online is my thing.
Therefore, I’m able to continue working much as I was before coronavirus took over our media and, more recently, our lives.
The main difference is that I now have three children with me at all times, making ridiculous demands and having tantrums.
But it’s pretty much business as usual. So I thought others might find it useful to work out whether they might have a skill or experience that could be used online.
What I explain in my online course on how to create your own online course (it’s the most popular course I run) is that you don’t have to be the absolute best in the world to create an online workshop or course; you just have to be able to do what it is you’re teaching – and to explain it simply.
So, you’d like to launch a course on how to bake your own wedding cake, for instance. It doesn’t require you to be running a fancy patisserie, but you do need to know…
1. How to make a banging wedding cake.
2. How to teach others, step-by-step.
3. How to get people to buy this particular course from you.
It starts with finding the right subject for an online course, workshop or lecture.
Then it’s about designing it, getting the name right (think about SEO here).
Once you’ve written and filmed the course, you’ll need it hosted – on your own website, a third party host (like Thinkific) or a new website you’ve had build for this purpose.
You need to decide what to charge, how to collect payment and when you’ll launch the course.
And then you have to sell spaces. You can start by selling via your personal Facebook profile. Maybe you have friends or family who’d be interested?
If you have a social media following, your followers should be interested in this part of your home/work/hobbie-life. Because then they’re more likely to buy this course from you.
Once you’re selling, it’s about customer service. Being amenable, fixing issues. Remembering that these people have bought something from you, and deserve a good service. Also, if you treat them well, they may buy another course from you.
And that’s the process.
Got an idea for an online course, workshop or lecture but not sure it will fly? Tell me about it in the comments (and a bit about you) and I’ll see if I can help…
Sign up to ‘How to launch a successful online course‘ – a self-paced online course – if you’re ready to plan, design, launch, market and sell your course. And you’ll get access to my private Facebook group for extra support from me and 450+ freelancers and entrepreneurs.