How To Diversify Income By Creating Online Courses During The Covid-19 Era

We have been stuck indoors for what feels like forever. At first it was all fun, memes and funny internet threads about quarantine lockdowns but things are now getting serious. As the global situation threatens economies from all over the world, it is time we get smarter about how we can make money and survive moving forward.

Whether you still have your old job or not, there is no denying the benefit of diversifying your income by taking advantage of online resources. In this case, we will show you how you can create and profit off online courses for a continuous and passive stream of income that will survive even after the Covid-19 era.

So get off the social media, put down the snacks and put your thinking cap on. It is time for you to change your life by creating online courses.

Why should you even bother?

Is there money to be made out of it? Why should you even bother putting in efforts to go into creating online courses that you’re not even sure will work out? Well, the global e-learning market was already projected to hit $325 billion by 2025, and Covid-19 has only accelerated the growth. You can ride the upward trend to rake in some extra profit.

Being your own boss through online income streams and teaching others how to do it is something that will change your life. Fortunately, now more than ever, you have the perfect combination of time and online resources to make things work. If you still need a little more convincing, here are a few perks of starting an online course during this season.

1. The demand is higher than ever

With so many people stuck at home twiddling their thumbs, the demand for online courses has never been higher. Like you, everyone wants to learn how to make money online as the end to this global crisis keeps getting delayed another two weeks. More internet users are warming up to the courses as they look for ways to grow. Nobody will thumb their noses at an extra source of income that also happens to be resilient to and actually fostered by lockdowns.

The best part is that it takes 40-60% less time to learn online compared to learning in a traditional brick-and-mortar venue. Pupils get to learn at a pace they are comfortable with, going back to cover sections that they haven’t grasped, skipping forward to those that they want to pay particular attention on, accelerating as they see fit. They already see the opportunity online learning holds to add to their skills and start new ventures—they only need to find the suitable instructor to guide them along the way.

By starting and selling your own courses, you get to be ahead of the curve by fulfilling this market demand. So, if you are worried no one will want to pay you, take a deep breath and have some faith. The market is unimaginably huge and a tiny slice of it is yours for the taking. That’s all you need.

2.  You get to monetize your skills and talents

Maybe you already understand the online money-making world from affiliate marketing to ad sales. Maybe you give fantastic financial advice. Or it could just be that you are charismatic and great at communication. Whatever the case, starting your own online course will allow you to use your skills and natural talents to help other people on their journey to financial independence. The best part is that you get paid for it.

3. Little to lose; everything to gain

The best part about investing your time, energy and resources to start an online course is that you invest very little and have a whole lot to gain from it. On average, it takes less than a week of work to create several hours’ worth of content for an online course. The amount you have to pay to create the content, market and upload it depends on several factors but could cost you anywhere from $100 or less to a few thousand dollars.

The returns on the other hand are potentially astronomical. The best part is that with a good learning course, this one-time investment will continue making you passive income for a very long time.

4. It is a walk in the park

Finally, creating online courses is super easy these days. This is because of the numerous resources available online from freelance researchers and content creators to platforms that allow you to organize, upload and monetize your courses.

Creating online courses – How to get started

Find or create your niche

When it comes to online courses, the world is your oyster. Of course, you could follow the herd and produce stuffy, high-brow academic courses. But that is not where the gravy train is headed. And at the moment, it is not what bored people at home with shaky finances want.

People want practical content, geared towards teaching them how to make money. So, find a niche in this sense and fulfil it. Some of the options here include:

• Affiliate marketing
• Drop shipping
• Paid surveys
• Ad sales
• Freelance services
• Creating online business platforms.

With your niche in mind, just find out as much as you can about it and compile the information in a way that will be informative and actionable to your consumers.

Do your research on available resources

Once you have found your niche, done your research and created your content, the next step is to find a platform on which your courses can be accessed. Here are 3 of the most popular.

• Teachable – this is one of the largest online learning platforms and is ideal if you want to reach out to a wider and more diverse audience for your courses.
• Learndash – this is fantastic if you are creating a multi-tier level course with reward systems and course completion monitoring.
• Gumroad – specifically designed to benefit small creators with easy-to-use resources and friendly commission rates.

Pick the best platform

The choice of platform depends on a lot of factors. The first is the price you have to pay. Some pay to host the course, others charge a commission on purchases while some charge both. Another important factor is how many people you will be reaching out to. Make sure to get a platform with a decent-sized audience so you actually reach the market you are targeting. Finally, consider how easy it is for both you and the consumers to access the course on the platform. The user experience based on the interface could make or break your course.

Keep them coming back for more

Creating online courses is simple yet incredibly rewarding. All you need is the internet, a good computer and an idea how to get you started in a niche you can exploit to turn all that free time on your hands into a lucrative endeavour that will keep making you money. Whether it is how-to documents on affiliate marketing or video demos on how to optimize websites, you will be able to turn what’s essentially a grounding for grown-ups into a palpable wad of cash in your wallet.