Why I sold my online course before I finished creating it

I just finished a new course launch and, believe it or not, I hadn’t yet recorded a single lesson when I launched it. Crazy, right? But, there’s a reason why I did this… Actually there are 4 reasons why and this blog I’m sharing them with you.

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How to pre-sell an online course

 

I recently launched a brand new 8-week course called InstaBAM – which is my signature Instagram course for small business owners. 

But, did you know that when I launched it, I hadn’t yet recorded a single lesson? 

Yep, that’s right. I sold the course, I enrolled students, before I’d even started recording it.

The content was mostly there – I’d outlined each lesson and drafted all the bonuses – but the lessons were yet to be recorded.

Sounds a little crazy right? Give you the cold sweats? But, there’s a reason why I did this… Actually there are 4 reasons why! Read on to find out why I pre-sold my course before it was even created!

 

 

Reason 1. Validation

 

One of THE biggest mistakes I see business owners making is that they launch something without validating it – and then they wind up trying to sell a product or a service that nobody wants, nobody ends up buying it and then they run out of money. 

I’ve made that mistake in the past, and I know a lot of you have too.

Pre-selling a course before you’ve launched it is the number one way to validate your course idea. 

Yes, you could ask people if it’s something they want, but it’s so much easier for them to tell you “yes” rather than explain why they wouldn’t buy it. PLUS – it’s easy for people to say yes, but when it comes to actually putting money down, they’re much more hesitant. 

So, by pre-selling before I had launched your course, you’re saving yourself the time, energy and possibly money, involved in creating something that nobody wants – because you know for sure that you have customers. 

 

Reason 2. Cash flow

 

Cash flow is a HUGE issue for small business owners. You can be running a super profitable business, but still not have enough cash to cover your outgoings. 

And this is where businesses often run into trouble. 

One of the cash flow management principles that I’ve learnt is that you should try to bring your cash inflows forward and push your cash outflows back. 

So, what I mean by that is you want to bring cash into your business as early as possible, and delay your cash outflows until the date that they’re due. 

Pre-selling your course brings that cash inflow forward – you’re getting that cash into your bank account sooner than you would if you waited until you launched.

Okay, accounting lesson over. 

 

Reason 3. Because otherwise I never would have finished it

 

I’m a perfectionist when it comes to creating courses – I want to include everything and the kitchen sink, and I want the course to be PERFECT. (Hands up if this is you, too).

If I hadn’t pre-sold my course, I literally would never have launched it, because I would have kept pushing the deadline back so that I could make it even more perfect.

Does that mean that my course isn’t perfect? Nope. It’s 80% perfect to me, which is like 120% for other people.

And, now that it’s out there, I can tweak and add more bonuses and things as I go – but the main thing is that it’s out in the world. 

You can’t help anyone with a course that’s sitting in your Google Drive folder, waiting for you to decide that it’s done. Pre-selling my course before I was ready was the push I needed, and it's probably the push you need, too.

 

Reason 4. Because it gave me an insight into what people were struggling with

 

The way that I ran my launch for this course meant that I had a lot of direct contact with potential students, via my webinars, via social media etc.

And it was SO helpful for me to see what questions they were asking so that I could ensure these areas were addressed inside the course content.

It was also super interesting to see what things people didn’t care about so that I could cull these from my course content before I recorded it too.

 

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