I Launched a Course as an Experiment… And It Got Overbooked by 80%!

Whereas I thought nobody would come.

Aren’t you already tired of unsubscribing from emails that tell you to sign up for a course? If you’re a creator, is there something you want to teach but don’t know how can you attract people for it? Let’s be honest, it can be quite embarrassing to make an announcement where nobody signs up.

I just randomly thought of a course with no plan or structure. I knew what I’d solve for, and will figure out how once I have people. I expected 10–15 people to join and if I’m lucky, then 20 students.

I got overbooked by 70 people, have a waitlist for 90 for a real and structured course this time, and did all this with one tweet.

This can help you plan a launch or come up with a business idea. Here’s exactly what I did.

How to Come Up With a Course Idea?

There was no moment of epiphany or a dream to ever have a course. It’s one event leading to another that helped me curate Summit 21. These can help aspiring course creators come up with an idea.

If you already have an idea, skip to the next section.

Observe

I have been active on Twitter for 3 months and engage with writers often. It’s helped me become a part of some awesome communities and make new friends.

One trend I noticed was consistency being an issue.

Of course, there are several other issues writers face, such as imposter syndrome, English being their second language, audience building, monetisation, cold emails, copywriting, pitching, etc. (did I just give you potential business ideas?). But consistency is something that appealed to me.

I have many hindrances, but consistency is my key strength, and it comes from outside of writing.

Capitalise on your strength

When I was 18, I dropped 55lbs to battle obesity. This happened by waking up early and going to the gym every day, and making healthier food choices. Both these things required a lot of motivation, self-control, and consistency.

If I didn’t show up to the gym, I’d be one day further from my goal. If I didn’t eat healthy, my hard work of waking up early to work out before my university classes would go to waste.

For seven years, consistency has been my key strength. To date, I work out every morning no matter what. And as for online writing — I publish nearly 200 content pieces a month out of which 20 are long-form articles.

I wanted to use my strength to help others.

And an idea was born

What if I could help writers be consistent?

Can I show them my process to make writing less overwhelming?

Can I help them create a process that works for them and makes writing easy?

I can, even though I thought nobody would come.

But hey, what about the competition?

This wasn’t my business idea with an intention of milking money. I truly wanted to experiment if I have it in me to help.

I just saw a few more courses that helped with writing consistently and spoke to people in that course.

Here are the issues they experienced, which could be opportunities for me:

• Too many people
• Too much writing
• Overwhelmed and burnt out

The last point was the primary area I wanted to help with. I have side hustled with writing for 9 months and I know without using smart strategies, it's easy to get overwhelmed.

Also, most courses stress on writing every day. It baffles me because the best ideas come from living.

Now comes the juicy bit

I now knew the pain points. And I also got a little clarity on what I wanted to solve for:

• Making writing less overwhelming
• Making it easier to be consistent
• No limiting platform/ word count

How I Got People to Apply

Again, there was no marketing strategy or plan. I just had some fun to see if this random idea makes sense to others.

One tweet, many reactions

Here’s a tweet I posted with an intention to grab 10 eyes.

I received 70+ applications in the google form I created that I DMed those who commented. Out of this, I cut down to 40 people across 20 countries.

I was amazed that people wanted to be a part of this. I got several DMs regarding how they’ve been waiting to solve this problem.

This was all good news!

It got real

This was no longer a ‘fun experiment with 5 people’. This was a thing. These weren’t even people with a small following, they had substantial writing experience too.

They weren’t all full-time writers, some were:

• side hustlers
• moms and dads with a full-time job
• aspiring entrepreneurs
• hobby writers

I had to deliver. And I did. The 3 weeks weren’t perfect, but I got nothing but exceptional feedback.

So I guess I fulfiled my job? And got insights on how to do it better next time.

How to get an audience

I was hearing a podcast this morning where Krissy Cela, the creator of Tone & Sculpt, said,

Don’t have a goal of ‘I want to do this to make $150 million.’ Money is important, and will help you run your business well. However, a business needs a vision and a mission.

I could relate to this because this is exactly why I launched an ebook earlier.

My free ebook got over 1400 downloads in under 6 weeks. I released it because people asked me about side hustles and the self-employment journey. I even took LinkedIn polls that validated this and then tried to solve this problem via an ebook.

So, solve an issue and those who will benefit from your solution will come.

Summarising

If you’re looking to launch a course, it can be daunting. It can be super scary, because I feel it even today. I am now launching the next cohort and what if nobody signs up is at the back of my head, even with a waitlist of 96 people.

Here’s what helped me make my first course a success, feel free to steal by strategy.

1. Why would anybody do this? Why will they spend their precious time? What are the results? Have answers to these questions.
2. Why would they listen to you? Build credibility that you can deliver. My credibility was I’ve been talking about my consistent writing for months, and have increased my output substantially. My audience on Medium and Twitter has seen me grow.
3. Be ok with being embarrassed: I still look back and think what if nobody commented on my tweet? Even if nobody comes for my next cohort, the only thing I know is I will be okay no matter what.
4. Reach out to people: don’t force it, but give them an option. Don't force your friends to talk about what you’re offering (I didn’t reach out to anybody), but give them an option. Reach out to potential students. I didn’t reach out to 2 of them because I thought they’re pros, but they reached out to me! So don't hesitate.
5. Deliver: you need feedback, you need to give results. My students have given me feedback on what could’ve been better or what didn’t meet their expectations, and that's helped me change a lot for the next cohort.

This can significantly help you get an idea, traction, and improve your product.

Want to build a side hustle and make money online? Click here for my free ebook.