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The TOP 3
MISTAKES
New Course Creators Make
(and what to do instead to successfully
sell your first online course)
Having an online course to sell can
seem like the ultimate dream -- you
get to leverage your time, help more
people, and increase your income.
But making that dream a reality can
feel like an impossible task…
… Maybe you don’t know where to even start (and it
feels overwhelming just thinking about it!)

… Or you don’t feel confident that you have


experience or knowledge worth selling

… Or, maybe you don’t know how to go about


creating a good course

And finally, after all of that… how do you go about


actually selling it?

If any of this sounds familiar, then you’re in the right


place…

This guide contains 3 of the most powerful strategies


that we’ve perfected after helping over 200 students
create and launch their own online courses -- on a
wide range of topics from hair care to music to
clubbing -- and make anywhere from $5K on their
first ever course launch to scaling their launches to
multiple 6- or even 7-figures.

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Repeatedly, here are the top 3 mistakes that we see
most new course creators making:

Mistake #1: They create a massive first course

Mistake #2: They spend months creating the entire


course before selling it

Mistake #3: They don’t have a strategy for selling the


course

Let’s dive into each of these mistakes and talk about


not only why they’re mistakes, but more importantly,
what you should do instead to successfully sell your
first online course…

MISTAKE #1:

Creating a massive
first course
All online courses fall into one of 3 categories:

1) FIRST STEP COURSE


The first type of course is the First Step Course, where
you solve part of the problem. And not just any part, that
first big step that gets your customers tangible results in
a relatively short amount of time.

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For example, instead of a course to drop 3 dress sizes,
the first step version of that might be to lose your first 10
pounds.

The price range for this type of course is usually $47 to


$497.

2) KEY COMPONENT COURSE


The second course type is the Key Component course,
which is a good fit if your topic has some obvious
separate areas that need to be mastered.

For example, with getting a new job, you need to work


on your resume, your networking, and your interview
skills. So those areas could become 3 separate courses.
Because you need to master all 3 equally, there’s not
necessarily an obvious first step.

The price range for this type of course is usually $47 to


$997.

3) A-Z “SIGNATURE” COURSE


The final course type is the A to Z “signature” solution,
which is the comprehensive, step-by-step solution from 0
to whatever the ultimate desired end result is.

It might be that “drop 3 sizes” course or that ultimate


“get your dream job” course.

Because this type of course is so comprehensive, its price


point is significantly higher, ranging from $1,000 to

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$5,000, or sometimes, even more.

Many new course creators try to start with a massive


“signature” course that includes everything they can
teach on their subject. Instead, creating a smaller “first
step” course that only teaches a portion of what your
“signature” course would contain creates a triple-win
situation because:

It’s easier to sell

It’s easier to create

It’s easier for students to implement (which means


more testimonials for you)

MISTAKE #2:

Spending months
(or years) on your
course without
knowing if it will sell
Many new course creators first spend months (or even
years!) working on creating their course without even
knowing if anyone will want to buy it or not.

And because they try to do it that way, they often end up

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never making a sale...because they either feel too
overwhelmed and give up or else they spend all that time
creating something that no one wants to buy.

The key to overcoming these obstacles


is to NOT finish creating your course
until AFTER you’ve sold it.
Instead, here are the only things you should have done before
you start selling your course:

1. Your course outline (you can’t promote your course if you


don’t know what’s going to be in it!)

2. Module 1 of your course (so that it’s ready for release as soon
as someone buys it)

That’s it. No overwhelm, and no spending a significant


chunk of your life creating something when you don’t
even know if it’s going to work or not.

When you do it this way, not only do you make it easier


on yourself, but you also end up creating a better course.
Here’s why:

Once you’ve sold your course, you’ll deliver the first


module. Then, you can use your students’ feedback to

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make the best course possible as you create it in real
time.

This way, you have a much more manageable schedule of


creating your course content as you go instead of all at
once, AND you create the best course possible the first
time around by incorporating live customer feedback!

MISTAKE #3:

Trying to sell your


course without a
strategy
This last mistake is the most common -- and the most
deadly. May new course creators simply announce that
their course is ready and expect the sales to roll in. More
often than not, they end up with nothing but...crickets.
(And a lot of heartbreak and wasted time.)

What they don’t realize is that to successfully sell a


course requires a 4-step system:

1) PRE-LAUNCH
Just like movie studios start dropping movie trailers
months before an actual movie hits theaters, you need to
get your audience’s attention and prime them to want

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your course before it’s even available. That’s what Pre-
Launch is all about.

2) LAUNCH TRIGGER
To continue the movie analogy, just as a movie’s premiere
is a big, flashy event that makes a big splash and draws
as much attention as possible to a movie’s opening, you
need a Launch Trigger that does the same thing for your
course.

3) LAUNCH
If you were to make your course available for purchase all
the time, you’d notice that sales wouldn’t be great since
as consumers we can be procrastinators, to say the least.
(Why buy that course today when you can buy it
tomorrow?)

There’s where the open-close launch model comes in --


where you make your course available for purchase for
only a short amount of time.

During this step, you’re selling your course and letting


everyone know that it’s only available for a limited time.

4) POST-LAUNCH
After you’ve made your course sales, it’s not over yet!
Now, you have to be able to keep those sales and help
your students get the results that you promised for your
course.

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(Because if you can’t keep sales and if you can’t help your
clients get results...you won’t be in business for long!)

During Post-Launch, you’re engaging your students,


supporting them, and making sure that they get actual
results (unlike with most courses where less than 10% of
the students actually finish the course).

This paves the way for happy customers, phenomenal


testimonials (that you can bet your competitors won’t
have), and bigger and bigger course launches each time
you launch.

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