What a Founder at The F Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Online Course Industry
Paul wishes someone had emphasized the difficulty of selling digital courses, stating that the process requires a great deal of marketing, sophistication, and testing, even with an existing following. The ease of course creation, where "anyone with a computer, camera, mic can create their own course," ironically makes standing out and driving sales a significant challenge.
Sales, Marketing, Digital Courses, Entrepreneurship, Online Education
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Paul Barnhurst
Founder
The F
Brigham Young University
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey earned MBA and Master of Science in Information Management
Business Management & Admin
Education
Finance
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Selling digital courses is harder than expected and requires significant marketing effort.
2. Building a following on platforms like LinkedIn doesn't automatically translate to course sales.
3. The ease of creating online courses increases competition and necessitates sophisticated marketing and testing strategies.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone had told you before you entered the industry?
I wish I had appreciated how difficult it was to sell courses, especially digital ones. I honestly thought it would be much easier.
I have a good following on LinkedIn, so I assumed many of them would take my course. However, I've learned how much marketing, sophistication, and testing it truly requires.
It's harder than you might think because creating a course is so easy nowadays. Anyone with a computer, camera, and microphone can create their own course. That's something I wish I had understood better.