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Maybe you’re thinking about creating an online course.

A lot of people want to start creating their own online courses and I’m even making one to teach people how to create an online course that’s coming later this year.

It makes sense: you record your curriculum, lessons, or videos once and then it’s an asset for you.

It continues to serve you, teach other people, and bring in revenue automated on a consistent basis.

Who wouldn’t want this?

I’m actually going to recommend that you host an in-person workshop before you create an online course.

That seems really strange because a workshop requires you being there in person, you have to teach people, you have to be present at the workshop, and you only make money at that one event.

Once it’s over, you don’t make any more money. If you want to make more money, you have to do another event.

Why would I recommend doing a workshop instead of creating an online course? Well, it’s not so much “instead of” as it is “beforehand”.

Host a workshop before you create an online course because it’s a way to validate your idea.

It’s a way to make sure you’re creating something that people want and that helps people.

What’s worse is spending a bunch of your time creating a course that doesn’t actually help people or maybe doesn’t address real struggles that they have.

There are many different ways you can figure out what people are struggling with or find out what hurdles they’re facing. You can use things like email lists, autoresponders, welcome emails, or surveys, but none of those are nearly as effective as an in-person event like a workshop.

The kind of feedback you get from people in person while doing a workshop is going to be invaluable.

You can’t quite get the same kind of feedback online.

You can be there teaching a workshop, giving your lecture, and someone can raise their hand and ask a question in the middle of what you’re saying.

This way you know, right there, someone was struggling with what you were saying. That kind of detailed feedback is really hard to get when you’re trying to do everything online.

Your workshop attendees are essentially a beta group for your online course.

Now, does this mean you shouldn’t charge for the workshop? Of course not!

You’re providing value and working with them one-on-one. If anything, it’s more valuable than an online course because you’re there and you can help them with their specific questions.

It’s basically a way to get paid to research and validate your course idea.

If nobody shows up, you may not actually have a great idea for a course and you may need to do some more research.

If a few people show up and all they do is ask questions the whole time, they’re obviously having trouble and they’re struggling, so maybe there’s a problem with your curriculum.

Hosting a workshop before you do an online course can be a very valuable investment of your time.

Are you thinking about doing a course or a workshop? Also, would you be interested in me doing a video exclusively on how to host a workshop?

I’d love to hear from you in the YouTube video comments.