The Retirement Newsletter: Setting up an online course — hobby or side-hustle?
Issue Number: -80 — could setting up an online course in retirement be a good move?
Welcome
Welcome to issue number -80. Yes, 80 weeks to go until I retire.
This week’s newsletter is part of my series on hobbies and side-hustles and how you could convert your hobby to a side-hustle to bring in some extra cash.
So far, I have looked at:
I have also touched on how we can use hobbies in our retirement to help with our mental health:
This week, I will look at setting up an online course as a hobby or a side-hustle.
Again, like with my newsletter on photography as a side-hustle, a disclaimer:
I have set up and run several online courses over the years, and while I have made more money through online courses than photography, I would not describe them as successful. I've put in significant effort for little reward, but I've learnt a lot along the way.
Online course
The idea behind an online course is you are selling your expertise built up over the last 40 or 50 years in your career or through your hobby. You are selling it as training or a course to other people.
The first thing we need to think about is the type of course. Not the content but the method of delivery. And there are three ways to deliver a course online:
eBooks — think old-style textbook
email courses — a series of emails released over several days
video-based courses — a course delivered using pre-recorded material
Of the above, I have produced all three.
eBooks
My first attempt at producing a course was an eBook. I ended up producing two.
I worked on the books for months using the Apple iBook Author software. And the final eBooks looked great on an iPad, but they only worked on an iPad. I was delighted with the final product.
I published the books in the Apple Book Store and set up a Twitter account and a website. I promoted the eBooks with links in answers to questions on other websites. I also set up a YouTube channel where I posted some of the videos from the books. And I sat back and waited for the money to roll in. Total sales — £0 ($0 US)
I then decided that the problem was the file format of the eBooks, so I produced ePub and PDF versions. They didn’t look as good as the version made for the iPad, but they were eBooks.
I put the ePub and PDF versions up on Gumroad. Again, I promoted the eBooks through tweets and using YouTube. I did the answering questions things again, and I put free stripped-down versions on a website. I waited for the money to roll in. Total sales — £60 ($80 US).
From my second attempt, I learned that people would hand over an email address for free content. So, I decided to offer a super-stripped-down version of the eBook as a free email course with material ‘dripped’ into customers’ email accounts over 5 to 10 days, depending on the course.
Email Courses
The email courses I have run were stripped-down versions of the eBooks I had produced. The good news was that I didn’t have to generate new content; I had to do a lot of editing. I hosted the courses on drip and Gumroad.
I had a lot of interest in the courses. I built some pretty big email lists, but few of my email course customers bought the eBooks.
I had a few sales through Gumroad, but nothing significant. I did get some customers leaving me ‘thank you tips’ for the free course, which, I thought, was lovely.
Video Courses
The final thing I tried was producing video courses.
As I had written the eBooks, I had the scripts for what I wanted to cover and say. I took a few online courses on producing and editing videos for online courses and gave it a go. But was I successful? Well, yes and no.
Video Courses — the failure
In my case, using Teachable, a paid course hosting system, was a mistake.
I tried the free offering on Teachable, but as I had more than one course and wanted to build a ‘brand’, I needed the paid option. So I was losing money from the start.
I liked the Teachable system, it was easy to use, but to make any money, you had to bring your audience or quickly find an audience. I never found my audience, and so I lost money. Teachable did not have a built-in audience. They do not have a way for visitors to Teachable to find the courses they host. There is no search facility. You have to drive your audience to your course. You have to do all the course promotion work.
Video Courses — the success
Although I never made much money, my successes were with Skillshare and Udemy.
Both Skillshare and Udemy are free to set up courses. Both have built-in audiences. That is, people go to their sites looking for content. And both are easy to use.
Skillshareis restrictive about course structure and content. You get paid on Skillsharebased on how long customers subscribed to Skillshare view your material. You do not put a fee on the course; it is free to members.
On Udemy, users pay to access the course. They do not have to be a member. The downside is that Udemy takes the bulk of what you earn on each course sold.
Both Skillshare and Udemy have built-in audiences and search systems. You do not need to find your audience. The disadvantage of both systems is they take the bulk of your earnings.
Interestingly, Skillshare and Udemy attract different user types. On Skillshare, it seems to be people wanting to build on their hobbies and skills — it has a feel of a place for creatives. Udemy appears aimed at people who need new skills; it seems to be a younger audience than Skillshare. To me, Skillshare and Udemy feel very different.
What I learned
I learned some valuable lessons from using three different course hosting systems.
Don’t go for a paid option unless you know you have an audience and can bring it with you.
Pick the hosting platform you think your target audience will use. Do not pick the one with the best ‘bells and whistles’ for the course you are trying to offer.
Take home message
What I haven’t revealed is my target customer. My target customers were 15—22-year-old students studying chemistry. And that was part of the problem. They don’t have much money, although my eBooks and courses were cheap. They also tend to be time-poor, want quick fixes and answers and not long textbooks or video courses, or wait five days for the emails to drip through. So, that is part of my problem. My audience.
I also learned that I should go to my target audience and not expect them to come to me.
I intend to produce several video courses when I retire because I enjoy making the content. My courses will be on maths, science and making videos. I will host the courses on the different sites, possibly with some crossover in content, but produced in different ways.
For example, I will host the maths and science courses on Udemy, which feels like the best fit for that material. The video production course will be on Skillshare. I will cross-post some of the maths and science from Udemy to Skillshare but remake it for the look at feel of Skillshare.
Useful links
Links in the above:
drip — email management and e-commerce site
Gumroad — an online site for selling stuff
Skillshare — an online course hosting
Teachable — an online course hosting
Udemy — an online course hosting
Next week
Next week, issue -79, I was going to revisit being a baby-boomer or a Jones. But as I have just tested positive for COVID-19 (I feel fine — I tested as I had been out with some friends, and one of them tested positive the next day), so I guess next week I will be writing about COVID-19.
Thanks
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If you would like to say 'thanks' for the newsletter, why not buy me a cup of tea?
Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.