Estimated read time: 4 mins

Modern relationships involve a lot of simultaneous scrolling…

My hubs sighed heavily. 

Snuggled on the couch, sifting through the fodder of our individual algorithms, a call for help! 

What’s up?! I asked — expecting a recap of some atrocity. He responded with a strange predicament… 

It’s these uber specific ads for courses that I of course want to do… 

*SIGH* Like of course I want this course on geometric handmade molds. 

You’re probably wondering why this is a predicament. 

It’s a time thing, %FIRSTNAME%. As parents of 3 young kiddos, time for geometric design courses is sparse. We’ve got a lot going on (including taking other courses, lol). 

One day in the not too distant future we’ll have time again. I say, half-heartedly because I’m not sure I believe it. 

What a strange world, an endless stream of information and entertainment at our fingertips. 

In the online business bubble there’s a cynical refrain floating in the ethers — 

“it’s harder than ever to succeed as a course creator starting from scratch”

“everything’s changing faster than anyone can keep up with”

“digital courses are dead”

But outside of that bubble, our love for learning has not dissipated. 

The allure of conveniently diving into any subject matter we want from the coziness of home lives on. 

& the stats tell a strong story that online learning isn’t going anywhere fast. 

But things have changed. 

It isn’t as easy as throwing up a sales page and recording some lessons on your phone. 

But it isn’t impossible. 

Adding a course to your business is still a bold and often lucrative move if you fit a few criteria. 

Keep reading to discover what they are and what’s on trend when it comes to courses in 2024 👇

What you’ll learn in this article:

🍵💲The state of the online course industry (+ why I’m still all in on courses) 

🍵💲Surprising stats, trends, and examples of course creators who continue to crush it 

🍵💲The skill set required to have a successful digital course business in 2024

This week’s tea:

I got a Masterclass membership earlier this year (helloooo Short Stories with Joyce Carol Oates and Indian Cooking with Madhur Jaffrey 😍) 

What finally hooked me after YEARS of drooling over Masterclass ads: 

⇒ The move away from having to pay for courses individually to paying once to have access to all of them for a set amount of time. 

The price difference with this strategy is marginal. 

It costs around the same now to get an annual subscription with access to Masterclasses 100+ courses as it used to for one course. 

Masterclass made this change for a reason and is valued at over $2.75 billion, three times its value in 2020.

1️⃣ Which illustrates the first big trend in the digital course landscape… 

People generally want MORE for less. 

If you followed along with my recent Easy Yes launch, it was all about creating a no-brainer offer that costs less than $97 to get people in the door, wow them, and nurture them toward their next level and your higher ticket, higher touch offers. 

These types of offers are performing REALLY well right now, for the same reason Masterclass probably transformed their conversion rate when they made the move to a subscription model. 

Quick wins, specific outcomes, credibility and social proof, and a very clear answer to the question — “what’s in it for me?” 

^^These are the building blocks of successful courses in 2024. 

Information isn’t enough. You need to sell information that leads to transformation. 

2️⃣ The second trend you need to know about: live cohort style courses and where premium pricing still reigns (erm, makes it rain?) 

Time-based. Live. Clear and tangible outcomes. A community of peers doing it with you. Sounds a lot like regular school, doesn’t it? 

People have been burned by courses filled with empty promises where it’s impossible to find a human to help. 

The move toward cohort-based courses seems like a direct response to that and works especially well for complex nuanced topics where the guidance of a qualified teacher really makes all the difference. 

3️⃣ AI just keeps being its bipolar wrecking ball meets life changing time saver self…

The stats speak volumes (read this whole report if you live for the data): 

With 1.1 billion jobs set to be transformed by technology in the coming decade, estimates suggest that over 50% of the global labor force will require reskilling between 2024 and 2026.

In a study, 81% of people who changed career paths attributed it to an online course.

Quelle surprise! The online course industry will no doubt be the backbone behind many a transition as tech takes over and we’re forced to evolve our skill sets. 

Speaking of… 

Here’s something I didn’t really grok when I created my first course: YOU NEED MAD SKILLS. 

In so many areas. 

Teaching and instructional design. 

Writing, speaking, communication in general. 

Marketing, sales, list building, branding, social media. 

The list could go on. 

The bright side is that it’s all learnable. 

& most people will give up before becoming good enough at those skills to start to see results. 

The business owners I believe are MOST poised to do well with a course are the ones who are already selling services, coaching, consulting, time based stuff that doesn’t easily scale.

That was me and even with those skills, I could not have figured out how to create and launch and optimize a course without a ton of help and expert guidance. 

As someone who’s sold over $1M in just courses (while running a service based business simultaneously), my most important mentor is Amy Porterfield, hands down. 

This woman is the one to learn from when it comes to developing and launching your course. 

If you’re considering creating a course (or improving an existing one) in 2024, get your hands on her new AI tool and guide to coming up with a killer course idea >> 

It’s not too late, digital courses are far from dead, and there are so many gaps that the biggest players can’t fill. 

Remember, where there’s popularity, there’s proof of concept. So if that old refrain of “it’s all been done” is stopping you, stop it.

Sip on this…  

🧋 In case you need a reminder, props to @zachpogrob…

🧋 This and triple the time I spend with my cows 👇

🧋 I love perusing these examples of course creators crushing it in every niche you could image.