YOUR FIRST 100K

Your first 100k

A proven path to reaching $100,000 in
online course sales

We support over 25,000 online course We reached out to our network of

creators, including the likes of Elizabeth entrepreneurs who have generated over
Rider and Hootsuite to create, market, $100,000 in annual revenue from their
and sell online courses. We want to make online courses.
the process of creating your course
easy by hosting the world’s greatest In doing so, we identified a proven
online course platform, and providing framework for growing an online course
everything you need to build the business business to 6-figures or more in annual
of your dreams. revenue. The best part? This framework
can be applied by course creators at
This workbook is one of our many any stage, including those who are just
resources designed to help you create getting started with teaching online.
your online course.

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Contents

Introduction

The math behind a 6-figure online course business

A proven path to earning your first $100,000 in online course sales

01. Find your blue ocean

02. Build your brand

03. Validate demand for your course

04. Build a sales and marketing engine to scale your business

Conclusion

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The math behind a 6-figure online To kick things off, let’s take a look at the
math behind an online course business
course business that generates $100,000 in annual
revenue.

This is what $100,000 in annual revenue looks like in terms of

average monthly revenue: For the sake of simplicity, let’s round
up to $8,500 and use this number from now on.

Launch Sales
$100K / 12 months = $8333.33/month
Consistent Sales
Therefore, to achieve $100,000 in annual revenue, you need to
generate an average of $8,500 per month in online course sales.
Sales ($)

The reason we like to focus on monthly revenue is because it

removes the need to focus on short term course launches.

The problem with relying on launches to achieve your annual

revenue goal is that it can take months of work of prepare for
a launch, and not all launches achieve their intended revenue
goal. If you fall short of your goal, you are forced to plan another
launch for the same course, or create and launch an entirely new
Months course. Dependence on this launch model can make it tricky to
predict, with accuracy, future earnings and profitability of your
business.

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The price you charge for Course price vs # of sales

your online course has a

Here are the number of sales you would need each month, at various price points, to
reach $8,500 in monthly revenue:

significant effect on your Course Price # of sales per month Monthly revenue

ability to achieve your $50 170 $8,500

revenue goal
$100 85 $8,500

$250 35 $8,500

$500 17 $8,500

$1000 8.5 $8,500

For more guidance on pricing your online course,
check out our Course Pricing Guide.

If you run a membership site with a recurring subscription fee, here are the number
of active members you will need, at various monthly subscription fees, to achieve the
same revenue goal.

Monthly subscription price # of active members Monthly revenue

$10 850 $8,500

$25 340 $8,500

$50 170 $8,500

$75 113 $8,500

$100 85 $8,500

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YOUR FIRST 100K

A proven path
to earning your
first $100,000
in online course
sales

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01. Find your blue ocean Books Business & Money Accounting

Arts & Photography Accounting Auditing

Biographics & Memoirs Biography & History Bookkeeping

The demand for online courses has
Business & Money Business CUlture CPA Test
exploded over the past few years. There
Calendars Economics Financial
are literally thousands of online courses
Children’s Books Education & reference Govermental
spanning across virtually every topic
Christian Books & Bibles Finance International
you can think of. So yes, you have some
Comics & Graphic Novels Human Resources Managerial
competition.
Computers & Technology Industries Standards

Cookbooks, Food & Wine Insurance

The best way to stand out among the competition is to operate
where there is little or no competition. The riches are in the Crafts, Hobbies & Home International

niches. Education & Teaching Investing

Amazon, for example, organizes their bookstore into different Engineering & Transportation Job Hunting & Careers

categories. Within each of these categories, there are Gay & Lesbian Management & Leadership
subcategories. And within these subcategories, there are often
Health, Fitness & Dieting Marketing & Sales
more subcategories.
History Personal Finance
Organizing books into specific categories makes it easier for
Humor & Entertainment Processes & Infrastructure
you, a potential book buyer, to find a book about the topic you’re
interested in.

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01. Find your blue ocean

It’s easier for your book to stand out from To find your Blue Ocean, combine a
its competition in a specific category. specific course topic with a specific
This same logic applies to selling online target audience that is not yet being
courses. Ideally, you are the only person served.
with a course on your topic for a specific
Google’s search engine is a great starting point for marketing
target audience.
research. Type your course topic, your target audience, and the
term online course into Google and see what comes up.
Specific topic + Specific target audience = Unique Course
For example: Leadership (course topic) + Software Developers
When your target audience is looking for a online course about (target audience) + Online Course
your topic, you are their best (or perhaps only!) option.

This strategy was made popular by the book Blue Ocean

Strategy. The premise of this book is that a business is
most likely to succeed when it operates in what is known as
uncontested market space (a blue ocean) as opposed to a market
where existing competitors fight for dominance (a red ocean).
The analogy is that an ocean full of vicious competition turns red
with blood.

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Pro Tip:

Competition is not always a bad

thing. Competition is proof of
market demand. If you can’t find
a combination of a course topic
and target audience that has no
competition, consider shifting
your focus to creating a course
that is better or different from
existing courses.

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“The key to creating your highly profitable

online course lies in figuring out what you
need to include in your course to attract
your ideal clients AND what you need to
leave out.
There is a 99% chance you can get more specific in your focus
and have greater success. It’s really easy to go too broad with
your topic and put way too much content into your course. When
you go too broad with your course focus, your course appeals to
less people because it isn’t addressing the problems your ideal
customers are dealing with right now.

When you get specific and focus on delivering a specific result

your potential clients are looking to achieve (instead of teaching
a whole bunch of content), your course instantly stands out as
the choice to help your people.

The fastest way for you to create a highly profitable online

course is to stay laser-focused on the results your clients will Instead of teaching Knitting, teach How to
invest in achieving. Get focused by narrowing your audience,
master Cable Knitting in 3 weeks.
narrowing your result and narrowing your content and your
course will instantly stand out.”
Instead of teaching Wellness, teach How to
Jeanine Blackwell eliminate stomach pain for women over 50.
www. jeanineblackwell.com
Instead of teaching Ergonomics, teach How
to eliminate hand and wrist pain for artists.

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02. Build your brand

Answer the questions below to create your UVP. Your answers will help you differentiate
Once you’ve found your Blue Ocean,
yourself from your competition.
it’s time to position yourself as the go-
to expert in your market. This means
Who do you help?
building a brand that clearly articulates
who you help, and how you help them.
The biggest mistake that people (and companies) make with
their branding is trying to appeal to everyone. Don’t do that. Be
strategic with your positioning. Don’t try to appeal to everyone,
What do you help them do?
because everyone is not your ideal customer. Build a brand that
appeals to your target audience.

When your target audience is searching for information about

your topic, you want them to find you and immediately feel like
they’ve come to the right place. They should feel like they’ve
found the exact person (or company) that can help them, and Why is that beneficial for them?
that shares the same beliefs and values as they do.

An exercise that we recommend all course creators complete is

creating a Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is what will
help you differentiate yourself from your competition.

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Anyone can position themselves as the

go-to expert in their industry. Here’s how:

Publish free content about your course Get interviewed on podcasts and in traditional
topic (blog posts, podcasts, videos, etc.) media (radio, television, magazines, etc.)

Write articles for popular online Showcase customer testimonials and media
publications in your industry you’ve been featured in on your website

Update your website and social media Speak at live events (conferences, seminars,
profiles to clearly articulate your expertise networking groups, etc.)

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Pro Tip:

Make sure that your brand is

authentic. We do not advocate
positioning yourself as an expert
on a topic which you have little
knowledge and/or experience with.
That’s not cool. When word gets
around that you’re not really an
expert (and it will), no one is going
“The intersection of to buy from you.
credibility, uniqueness, and
relevance is where you want
to best position your brand.”

Re Perez

www.brandingforthepeople.com

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03. Validate demand for Validating the demand for your course
before you create it helps to mitigate the
your course risk of spending valuable time, effort and
resources creating a course that no one
buys. Here are the most common ways
that top course creators validate demand
for their courses:

Survey your audience

Surveying your audience helps you to formulate your course

curriculum, while simultaneously building a list of potential
customers for your course.

Tell your audience that you are planning to create an online

course and ask them what they want to learn from you. If enough
people request the same topic, then you know you have a winner.

If you can’t find anyone willing to pay for your course, or worse,
you can’t even find anyone willing to take it for free, it’s time to
choose a different topic, a different target audience, or both.

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Don’t have an audience?

follow these steps instead:

Contact people in your target audience directly (via

01
email, phone, or social media).

02 Tell them you are doing some market research for an

online course you intend to create.

Ask them if they would be interested in taking an

03
online course about your topic, and if so, what sort of
content they would like to see in the course. “The first step for me is actually always looking
for user feedback and signs of interest in a
topic. I try to avoid the mistake of I’m going to
Ask for permission to contact them when your
04 build something that I think people want and
course is ready, to see if they would be interested
in purchasing it at a discounted price (or perhaps then find out no one wants it. So instead, I will
for free, depending on your goals) in exchange for look at what my audience is asking me.”
feedback on the course.

Yaro Starak

www.entrepreneurs-journey.com

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Pre-sell your course

Selling your course before you create it,
aka pre-selling, is the ultimate form of
market validation. When someone tells
you they will buy your course, you have
proof of interest. When someone pays
you for your course, you have proof of
demand.
To pre-sell your course, simply create a sales page with your
course title, an outline of your proposed training, and a link to a
purchase form.

If you don’t reach your minimum sales target to justify creating

the course, talk to your audience to find out why they didn’t
purchase. Was it the topic? The price? The format? Before you
abandon your course entirely, try to find out what went wrong,
and how you can fix it.

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Pro Tip:

If you decide to pre-sell your

course, make sure you are
completely transparent with your
customers and have a clearly
defined refund policy in place. In
the event that you don’t generate
enough sales to justify creating
the course, or you aren’t able to
“People will vote with their create it within a predetermined
credit card. If they don’t
actually put money down, the
period of time, refunds help avoid
idea isn’t validated yet.” complaints.
Michael O’Neal
www.solohour.com

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Launch a Minimum Viable

Course (MVC)

The goal with a minimum viable course

(MVC), also called a beta launch or pilot
launch, is to create the first version of
your course and get feedback from real
students as quickly as possible. Based
on their feedback, and other important
data such as engagement and completion
rates, you can remove certain training,
add more training, and make revisions to
your course to make it better.

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Pro Tip:

Since an MVC is just the first

version of your course, you should
charge a lower price than what
you eventually intend to charge for
your course once you’ve expanded
“I was embarrassed by the and improved the training.
first version of my course.
It was recording with a
webcam and a blanket
taped on the background.
The microphone was my
MacBook with a towel over it
to try to reduce the echo.”
Jonathan Levi
www.becomeasuperlearner.com

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I created my first online course in 2005.

I taught students how to prepare for the
LSAT (Law School Admission Test).
At the time, I wanted to launch a massive 80-hour long course
covering everything I could think of for the topic and charge
a high price point. Instead, I started small to test the market,
confirm that people wanted to buy the course and get feedback
from students. I started with a short course (about 3-4 hours in
length) and covered only a small part of the whole topic. I set the
initial price at $29.

Looking back, I definitely could have charged more but at the

time, I wasn’t sure if lots of people would pay for it. I wanted
to test the water first, so to speak. In the first month, I sold
10 copies for a total of $290 in revenue. Based on those initial
sales my confidence in online courses was up and validated me
investing further effort into the course.

Over the next year, I slowly increased the price while

simultaneously increasing the value offered by the course and
the sales processes and language around it. As I raised the price
I found that more people bought the course. So I wasn’t just
earning more revenue, I was actually getting more customers! I
continued to raise and test my price at different levels over the
years, eventually settling on $389 as the optimal price.

Greg Smith
www.thinkific.com

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04. Build a sales & marketing

engine to scale your business

The most effective online course sales and marketing

engines contain 4 distinct phases:

Stage 01 Stage 02 Stage 03 Stage 04

Attraction Conversion Automation Retention

Before we show you how to build your engine, let’s take a look at the typical journey of
someone that buys an online course (or any type of product or service). That journey is
known as the Customer Buying Cycle:

Awareness Research Comparison Purchase Retention

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Only 2% of your target audience For your sales and marketing engine to
be truly effective, it needs to contain
is ready to buy immediately. The Attraction and Conversion mechanism for
other 98% need to be attracted, every stage in the Customer Buying Cycle,
not just the Purchase stage.
nurtured, and guided to a purchase
decision over a period of time.

98% Awareness, research, comparison 2% Purchase

Awareness: Research: Comparison: Purchase: Retention:

Buyer becomes aware of a Buyer searches for a solution Buyer compares different Buyer makes a purchase Buyer evaluates their purchase
problem solutions decision decision

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Stage 01: Attraction 01 In order to bring a buyer into the Awareness stage, you attract
them by illuminating the problem they are facing.

In the Attraction stage of your sales and When a buyer is in the Awareness stage, you attract them by
02
marketing engine, your job is to have showing them the mechanism that can solve their problem.

content and systems in place for attracting

your entire target audience of potential 03 When a buyer is in the Research stage, you attract them by
showing them that your course can teach them to solve their
buyers, regardless of which stage of the
problem.
Customer Buying Cycle they’re in.
When a buyer is in the Comparison stage, you attract them by
04
showing them that your course is better than any alternative
options. They’re almost ready to buy a solution, they’re just
looking for the right one.

Note: When a buyer is in the Purchase stage, you attract them with the
05
sales process for purchasing your course. They are ready to buy
we’re using the term “problem”
a solution immediately. Show it to them.
loosely here. Your target audience
may not think they have a specific
problem, per se, but they definitely
have a result they want to achieve.
Their problem, therefore, is not
knowing how to achieve that result.

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Pro Tip:

Your target audience will enter

your sales and marketing engine at
different stages in the Customer
Buying Cycle, and that is perfectly
“Your lead generation costs fine. Have a sales and marketing
are directly related to the engine that attracts buyers at
quality of your funnels. The
less relevant your funnels, every possible stage of the cycle.
the more expensive your lead
generation will be. You need
This way, you’re set up to acquire
to be relevant, which means 100% of your potential customers,
providing the right message,
at the right place, at the right
rather than just the 2% who are
time for your leads.” ready to buy immediately.
Scott Oldford
www.scottoldford.com

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Stage 02: Conversion A lead is someone who expresses interest in your course topic
and gives you permission to communicate with them directly.
Email is the most common method, so someone who gives you
an email address becomes a lead.
A every stage in the Customer Buying
Cycle, have a process in place to move The method you use to obtain the email address of your buyer
will vary depending on which stage of the Customer Buying Cycle
your buyer into the next stage, eventually
they’re in. The further along they are in the cycle, the more time
guiding them to the Purchase stage. This they are willing to invest in learning about the solution.
process is a conversion mechanism.

Time commitment vs. Buying cycle

Time commitment

Awareness Research / Comparison Purchase

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Stage 02: Conversion

1. Awareness stage 2. Research & comparison 3. Purchase stage:

Quizzes Short guides Free challenges Mini courses Webinars Sales page

Worksheets Checklists Email courses Longer guides Video sales letters Free trials

Ebooks Case studies Phone calls

Video training series

“If someone doesn’t know who you are, keep the commitment

level low. Take complete strangers and start a relationship with

them. Eventually they’ll move into a buyer mindset that knows

their pain and knows that you’re the person who can help them.”

Scott Oldford
www.scottoldford.com

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Stage 02: Conversion Here is an example of a commonly used

sales funnel for selling online courses:
When you have a conversion mechanism
in place at each stage of the Customer
Buying Cycle, with automated email
communication that moves buyers along
the cycle, you have a sales funnel. Blog post

Checklist

Free challenge

Webinar

Sales / purchase page

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Stage 03: Automation Customer buying cycle Sales Funnel # of people

Let’s calculate how many buyers you need

Awareness Blog post 1,700
to attract into your engine, at specific
25%
conversion rates, to generate $8,500 in
Research / Comparison Checklist 425
monthly revenue. We’ll use the example
40%
from the previous step.
Research / Comparison Free challenge 170
50%

Assume you charge $500 for your course. You need to acquire 17 83
Purchase Webinar
new customers per month ($500 x 17 sales = $8,500).
20%

These are hypothetical conversion rates, but they’re not Sales page 17
unreasonable when each conversion mechanism is targeting
the right person at the right time. Your engine will likely contain
different steps and conversion rates. The important thing is that
you have these defined, and that you continually test ways to
improve them over time.
“It’s all about going from doing everything
Once you have done your best to optimize the conversion rates in
your sales and marketing engine, it’s time to focus on driving as manually and spending lots of time on
much traffic (your target audience) to your engine as possible. marketing to building the evergreen systems
that do all the heavy lifting for you so you can
focus on creating courses and teaching.”
Sergio Estevez
www.firesetup.co

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Stage 03: Automation How to drive traffic to your sales and marketing engine:

A B C D

Content Marketing Paid Advertising Partnerships PR

Publish free content (blog posts, videos, Run ads to your target audience using Create partnerships with other people Write articles for popular publications in
podcast episodes, etc.) about your platforms like Facebook Advertising and or companies who have access to your industry, get interviewed as a guest
course topic on your website, social Google Adsense. As long as you have your target audience. In exchange for expert on podcasts, and get featured in
media accounts, and other platforms. conversion mechanisms for every stage promoting your course to their audience, traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers,
Include specific keywords in your of the Customer Buying Cycle, you’re in a offer them a referral fee or commission print magazines, etc.). Always mention
content, as well as headlines that you great position to create different ads for on any sales that occur as a result of (or link to) your main website when
know your target audience will be different conversion mechanisms. their direct referral. You can also create featured in media. Even better, offer a
searching for, so that your content ranks an affiliate program for your course, so free resource to help grow your email list.
in search engines for those keywords. that you can easily track referrals and
This will bring you a steady stream of payments.
organic traffic over time.

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“I grew my list during my launch by

running Facebook ads directly to a
webinar landing page. I ran the webinars
almost daily. I reinvested the sales from
the webinar I ran on Day 1 right back back
into more ad spend on Day 2. I was able
to quickly amp up my marketing and
grow my list during my first launch. That
small list I started with of 150 has grown
to a community of over 50,000 coaches,
consultants, authors and experts in an
incredibly short period of time.”
Jeanine Blackwell
www. jeanineblackwell.com

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Stage 04: Retention

If you are constantly having to invest time New Customer
and money to attract new customers,
but you’re doing nothing to ensure the
success of those customers, it will be
very difficult (and expensive!) for you Happy Customer
to build a profitable and sustainable
business.
When someone buys your course, this should not be the end
Sustainable Business
of your relationship with them. This should be the beginning.
Your customers should be so thrilled with the training and
overall experience that you provide to them that they purchase
additional courses from you in the future, and they tell others
about your courses too.
Repeat Purchases & Referrals
Therefore, the final step in your sales and marketing engine
is to have processes in place to ensure the success of your
customers, and to determine what other courses you can create
for them

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Stage 04: Retention 01 Create a private discussion group or community for your

Here are some ways to increase your customers. Let them interact with you and each other. Send
02
customer engagement and retention: reminder emails to your customers to encourage their progress.

03 Reward your customers for achieving specific milestones.

Survey your customers after they’ve completed a course.

04
Ask them for feedback, ways to improve, or suggestions for
additional courses/training.

05 Create an affiliate program to compensate your customers for

referring other customers to you.

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Tips from the pros

“Look at the audience you’ve attracted. “You will be surprised how quickly you “We’re not in this business to just get “It takes time and work, start small,
Even better, look closely at those who can find your ideal clients when you people to buy our stuff. We want them focus on one thing at a time, and realize
have already purchased from you. are offering an online course that is to see the change and the impact and that even if it takes a year or two getting
specifically designed for them. And, the create the success stories.” to significant passive income can be
If you already have a list of 5,000 or more,
best part is that those amazing, ideal amazing. But also don’t think that doing
instead of focusing on adding to your
clients will tell you what they want to Nick Unsworth the same thing over and over will have
email list or growing your social media
learn next from you. www.scottoldford.com different results - if it’s not working at all
audience, focus on creating new content
do other things, if it’s working a little, do
for the people you’ve already attracted. The development of every new course, more and improve.”
What new product or program do they program and event I have created since
need next? Create for them and you will that first online course has been guided Greg Smith
be building a product suite by the clients in my community. Your www.thinkific.com
people will tell you exactly what they
I have a product suite of 3 core programs
need and want next from you.”
and each program builds into the next.
It allows me to continue to support the
Jeanine Blackwell
audience I’ve already attracted while also
www.jeanineblackwell.com
growing my revenue.”

Amy Porterfield
www.amyporterfield.com

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to the next level?

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Thinkific today to start growing
your online course business in
2019. Get access to our helpful
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materials to put what you’ve
learned into action.

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