The 4 Elements of a Successful Online Education Business

It’s not about “selling courses” but about changing lives.

The global e-learning market is estimated to hit a market size of over 350 billion USD in 2025. That’s an increase of almost 25% over the past eleven years.

I was lucky to tap into the power of this industry in 2018 by creating short-form video courses to teach skills like communication, confidence, and productivity.

My target audience was young students because I wanted to equip them with essential skills we usually don’t learn at school.

That idea flopped, yet, the project itself was a priceless starting shot because it introduced me to the power and beauty of online education.

I learned how powerful e-learning is and how it could help me share my message and knowledge with more people than I ever thought possible.

Today, I’m generating over $100,000 in profits per year by selling video courses, group coaching programs, e-books, audiobooks, and journals.

If you, too, want to build a business (or create a side income) by sharing your knowledge with the world, start by gaining clarity on the following four elements of a thriving online education business:

Start with a bulletproof niche/value proposition

Building a *profitable* online business starts with your niche.

Most people who start online businesses fail because they’re too afraid of niching down.

They have a broad message and want to share it with anyone.

Yet, the truth is that being specific is the most profitable approach. It’s also the easiest one.

If you’ve ever doubted yourself, don’t know why anyone should ever pay you or thought that you’re not qualified to make money by sharing your knowledge with others, use this framework:

➔ Most profitable niches fall into one of the three big online business “categories,” which are:

• Health: People want to improve their health, lose weight, feel better, gain muscle
• Wealth: People want to make or keep more money.
• Relationships: People want to be loved and appreciated.

➔ If you’re not clear about what exactly to offer, reflect on the last 2–5 years of your life and think about the struggles and problems you’ve overcome (e.g., regarding your health, wealth, or relationships).

What kind of skills and knowledge did you collect from overcoming those struggles?

Complete the following sentences:

• I know how to do ______.
• I know how to achieve ______.
• I can help people overcome ______.

➔ Don’t expect yourself to be an ultimate expert. This one might sound odd, but it’s 100% true: You don’t need to be an “expert” to help others.

You just need to be a few steps ahead of your ideal client, so you can guide them through their next steps.

There are dozens of experts on any topic anyway.

If someone wants to learn from an expert, she can find one.

Yet, most people don’t look for an expert. They look for someone who’s relatable and approachable.

If you’ve solved a problem for yourself and genuinely want to help others solve the same problem too, you’re halfway there!

Of course, the more experience you have, the better it is, but nobody starts out perfect.

Just allow yourself to take baby steps so you can learn on the go.

➔ Are people willing to *pay* for your solution? Most people ignore this crucial fact: You can make some money by selling *anything*.

But if you want to build a thriving business, you need to focus on solving a problem people actually care about and are willing to pay for.

Plus, you also need to pay attention to whether your target audience is able to spend money.

This is a mistake I made with my first courses: As mentioned above, they were made for students.

As you can imagine, most young students aren’t interested in spending their pocket money on an online course. I didn’t think this through when I first started.

Next, think about how you’ll *attract* your audience

Once you’ve figured out which niche you want to serve and what problem you want to solve, you need to think about the centerpiece of your online business… your audience!

There are dozens of free opportunities to reach people online, but this abundance of options can sometimes cause confusion and overwhelm.

No matter how exactly you’ll attract your audience, there’s always going to be a value-to-value exchange: You’ll show up, serve your (potential) audience by giving free advice, gain their trust, and eventually turn them into paying customers.

First, get clear about what type of content you would like to create:

Do you enjoy writing?

Would you like to shoot videos?

Do you want to avoid video at all costs?

What about podcasting?

Anything is possible, and any channel works if you know how to make it work.

There are creators running multi-million companies thanks to Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Pinterest, Linkedin, Twitter, and Medium.

They all started by mastering one core platform and eventually moved on to other places.

If you’re starting as a one-person business, I highly recommend you stick to one platform and one type of content. Otherwise, you’ll likely overwhelm yourself.

Once you’ve made progress and feel confident, you can repurpose your existing content and move to new places, but in the beginning, stick to one.

Now, get the conversation going

Let’s say you picked long-form writing as your content form. That’s what I do by writing this post on Medium.

By doing so, you’ll attract your audience by educating them through your writing (just like I do right now).

The next question is, how will you keep the conversation going?

Meaning, how will you keep them engaged and make sure you build a deeper connection with your audience?

Having people consume your content is crucial, but it’s only the first step.

If you want to turn your readers into paying customers, you need to find a way to further connect with them.

My personal experience and opinion is that email is the most powerful way to do that.

Nothing can beat a well-written and consistent newsletter.

Another powerful tool is running a community and encouraging a conversation between your audience members.

I do that by running a Facebook group for online writers.

The core idea of this element of your online business is to build a deeper connection with your audience.

Content is nice, but it’s just the first step. If you want to monetize, you’ll need people to feel connected to yourself and your brand.

How will you actually… make money?!

Last but not least, the final element is monetization.

How will you actually make money? What will you sell? And how?

I know so many aspiring content creators and entrepreneurs who dream of making money online but are afraid of selling.

I’m sorry to burst your dreams, but there’s no way you’ll make money if you’re scared of… making money.

As an online educator, you need to know your worth and claim it.

Sure, we want to help people. But we also want to help ourselves and build healthy businesses.

And that’s why we need a solid monetization strategy.

Luckily, you have endless opportunities:

• You can sell high-ticket offers or low-priced products like e-books, templates, or audio courses.
• You can set up automated funnels or do live launches.
• You can sell via email or run webinars.
• You can create your own resources or enter affiliate partnerships.
• And so much more.

Monetizing your knowledge and helping people through your skills has never been easier.

You now have access to endless (free) tools to get started and make money by sharing your message with the world.

Yet, it’s up to you to finally get started.

Final thoughts

Let’s wrap this up — to start and run a profitable online education business, you need:

• A bulletproof niche/value proposition, so you’re targeting an audience that’s willing and able to pay for your services/products.
• A platform/method to attract your ideal audience members, so you reach people with your message.
• A system to keep your audience engaged, so you stay on top of their minds and build a deeper relationship over time.
• A process to actually make money.

If this is all brand new to you, it might sound a little overwhelming, but here’s the good news: You can take one small step at a time.

You don’t need to think about selling or building a community if you haven’t even figured out what you want to do.

Just start at the top and try to find out what you’d like to teach and share in the first place.

Once you have an answer, do some market research and determine whether there’s a demand for your offer or skillset. You can use Facebook groups, Quora, or other forums to learn more about what people say when they talk about your topic.

Take it one step at a time.

Everyone promising to teach you how to make “passive income” by selling online courses so you can spend the rest of your life sipping cocktails on the beach is just lying.

The possibility to make money online is a blessing, but a profitable online business is anything but passive.

Sure, it might have some passive elements, and you might be able to significantly reduce the workload over time, but you first need to create a solid foundation, which *does* take time and effort.

💻 Wanna build an online business but don’t know where to start? Download my *free* Framework to help you take the first steps.