2 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Launching Your First Online Course

Increase your chances of success by getting your emotions in check

I launched my first online course in December 2019. When I sent the newsletter making this announcement, I was terrified of how my audience would react.

There were so many questions bothering me. What if this isn’t the right time to start? What if courses by other, more successful people crush my idea? What if no one joins and I end up with a failed product launch? I even shied away from promoting the course much on my social media channels.

But now, almost four months down the line, 19 people across 7 time zones have enrolled in my course. I’ve worked on several articles with them and watched their growth with pride. The testimonials and the enthusiasm after each coaching call is infectious and always fill me with gratitude.

In a nutshell, launching the course was one of the best decisions I made. But why did I feel so conscious about starting it in the first place? When I talked with fellow creators and online entrepreneurs, I learned I wasn’t alone in my self-doubt. Every coach I talked to said the same thing. They were apprehensive about launching, and, at times, they still are.

If you’re considering launching your digital product or are curious about what goes on in the mind of a coach, this article is for you. Here are two important questions every entrepreneur should ask themselves before launching their first course (or first course in a field not related to what they’re usually known for).

How can I solve a problem many people have?

Most creators struggle while planning for a course with the same question: “Do I know enough to launch this?” or the more damaging, “What if people think it’s too much for me to launch a course at this point in my career?”

If such questions plague you, remind yourself that you’re not launching the course for yourself. You’re doing it to share your knowledge with the people who are struggling.

Yes, you might not know everything in your field. Yes, there might be others more successful and well-established than you.

But you know exactly what your target audience wants to learn. Your knowledge can ease their pain and help them move forward in their journey. Don’t let self-doubt hold you back from making an impact on people’s lives.

Key mindset shift

The focus isn’t on you and how much you’re yet to know. The focus is on how you can help so many people lead better lives. With a mindset to ease their troubles, you’ll find your insecurities are insignificant and your will to serve is much stronger.

How can I offer value?

Once you’ve decided to let go of your insecurities and start a course, it’s time to figure out a way to deliver value the best way you can. For this, the next step is to find a way to organize your knowledge in such a way so your audience can get the most value from it.

Here are some steps I did that worked:

• Streamline the process and figure the steps you took to solve the particular problem you’re proposing to solve.
• Add quizzes and checklists so your audience can gauge how much they learned.
• Decide the duration of the course so your students can walk away with life-changing lessons.

Key mindset shift

An idea that helped me in this regard is to make sure I give my hundred percent in delivering value to my audience.

When I first launched the course, several people advised me to hold back a part of my knowledge so my students don’t reach my level of expertise. I didn’t like the idea of deliberately holding back knowledge, and so, I decided to ignore their advice.

The mindset shift here is that your students aren’t your competitors. Treat them like your customers and make sure you help them so much, they have no option but to leave you a grand review. Testimonials go a long way in attracting new customers and making a good name for your business.

Summarizing

Launching a new course is a big step for a creator. But it’s also a great way to build your brand, establish credibility, and find your own community of creators who you can cheer along on their journey to the top.

Remember that it’s natural to be assailed by doubts. But don’t let them hold you back from doing what you’re meant to do. If you always keep your target audience and their problems in mind, you’ll find your questions are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Starting something new and building an empire from scratch always takes time. But don’t let your overthinking get in the way of who you can be a few years down the line.

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