I wish I knew this before making a course

3 biggest mistakes I made

It’s not my first time making a course…but I still made many mistakes.

Here’s what I’m sharing with you today:

  • 3 biggest mistakes I made when creating my course

  • High vs low leverage course creation tasks (premium subs only)

Mistake 1: scope creep

Throughout the week, I caught myself wanting to teach everything in my course.

But (after a few hours of wasted work) I realized it would be overwhelming to students.

Example:

When planning my time management modules, I wanted to talk about learning/study tips, structuring documentation, work productivity, etc.

But I realized those addressed a different audience (students, working professionals), so I had to save them for another course or for bonus content.

So be very specific about what your course covers and prevent trying to put everything you know in the course.

Mistake 2: not doing a presale

I did a waitlist (free to join) instead of a presale.

But I wish I did a presale…I’m not confident enough people on my waitlist will actually purchase the course.

A presale means stake in the game - so people who purchased will be more excited and value your course creation updates more.

So try to get early validation by running a presale, instead of “vanity” metrics like waitlist numbers.

P.S. one thing I’m glad I did was run polls and conduct user interviews. It helped me understand what prospective students want…but it would’ve been better if I chatted with people who paid for a presale.

Mistake 3: not emphasizing the problem

When I started planning my course, I focused too much on the solution.

“This is how to be more productive, how to time track, how to set goals, etc.” was how I outlined my modules.

I even tried connecting them to skills/learning outcomes.

But none of that mattered as much as solving a problem…

Which is why when I structured my modules to be problem-first, it made a lot more sense (for marketing purposes too).

P.S. I only realized this after cold pitching my course to a few strangers - they had a bunch of objections I realized I had to address.

I’m creating and launching a course in 2 weeks. Here’s how I spent week 1.

Not everything I did was worth spending time on.

If you’re looking to focus on high-leverage course creation tasks, keep reading…

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