My first online course was a disaster. Not because the content was bad, though in retrospect it could have been better. The problem was nobody wanted it. I built what I wanted to teach, not what people wanted to learn. I spent three months creating this course with great production value, professional videos, a beautiful website, the whole package. Three months of hard work for three sales. Three. That was an expensive lesson in what happens when you build in a vacuum. I had assumed that because I found the topic interesting, others would too. I was wrong.
What I learned is simple but crucial, and I wish someone had beaten it into my head before I started. Validate before you build. This means talking to your market, understanding what they actually need, and seeing if they will actually pay for it. Not what they might buy in theory, but what they have actually purchased before. Survey your potential audience. Interview them. Ask what problems keep them up at night. Ask what they have tried before. Ask what they would pay for. The answers will surprise you. Often, the thing you think they want is not the thing they actually want.
Then, before building the full course, create a minimum viable version. A simple PDF, a low-priced webinar, a workshop. Something you can create quickly to test demand. See if people actually buy. See if they actually complete it. See if they get results. Only then, with real data from real customers, should you invest in full production. My second course was different. I validated first. I pre-sold before building a single video. I created a simple landing page, described what the course would be, and asked people to commit. The result was completely different. Not because the course was better, but because I built something people actually wanted.
Stop building in a vacuum. Your expertise is only valuable if the market agrees. Validate first. Build second. That is the secret no one talks about. It is so simple, but almost everyone ignores it.
