5 Signs An Online Course Business Is For You

Welcome to episode 2 of The Lou Blakely Show.

In this episode, I'm sharing with you 5 signs that you will be successful with a business model that is based predominantly on revenue from online course sales.

You will learn:

• The 5 signs that you're a perfect match for an online course based business
• Some warning signs that this business model is not for you, or you may come up against some challenges.

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Thanks for listening, and keep an eye out for future episodes if you're serious about creating a freedom-fuelled business with online courses and other digital products.

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Full transcript:

Welcome to The Lou Blakely Show. This is episode 2. In this episode, I'm going to be talking all about the five signs that an online course or other digital product based businesses is right for you. Because we've all heard the success stories about people making it big with online courses. It seems that most people have a goal of creating an online course membership or group coaching program at some point in their business and adding it to the business is an additional revenue stream.

Which is awesome. I'm a huge fan of creating digital products. Obviously so much so that my whole business focus on helping people to do it. But how do you know if it is truly for you? Or you're better off focusing your efforts elsewhere. There are certain things that make some people really successful at digital products while others don't make it past the first launch or may actually never launch at all.

So let's jump right into the five signs that our digital product based business is for you. So first off, freedom is a non-negotiable for you. So freedom is probably going to be your biggest driver for creating this type of business in the first place. So if freedom is one of your highest values and you literally couldn't live without….being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it. And you hold freedom near and dear to your heart. And that goal of creating freedom is going to give you the extra drive. Like it motivates you. Then having a business that is based on a digital product and selling that digital product is right up your alley.

So freedom can mean a few different things to different people. What I know for sure is that an online-based business will give you freedom to be around your kids. If you've got kids that is, you want to be around them and see them grow up. We don't really want to live this life where we're sitting at our desk anymore, right, like 24 7, you know, 40 plus hours a week.

That's not not attractive to me at least and freedom is definitely my number one value. I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with my son. He's now 15, which has been priceless. And you know, back in corporate days, that definitely was not the case. I was dropping him off at childcare at 8:00 AM in the morning and picking them up 5:30pm at night. So having this style of online business has given me that freedom time, freedom to be available for him. It also means that you can travel and do all the fun stuff you want to do along the way while building your business.

So when you've got a business that is based on digital products, you are not really bound by time at all. You don't have as many calls as say, if you work as a coach. You don't have to be in a physical location, so you really can create a business on the road and work from wherever. And that is something that really attracted me to it right from the start.

Having a digital product based business also gives you a lot of time, freedom and financial freedom. When it comes to online business, I believe it is the best option. If you want both of these, there is no better solution in my opinion, because coaching does take a lot of time. And you can definitely get financial freedom from that, but it's time consuming.

Whereas a digital product based business really allows you to have all of your time available because you create the product once and then sell it again and again and again. So it takes you no more time.

And if you've got that rebellious streak, like I do, then additional product business means that you have that freedom where you don't have to deal with either a boss or multiple clients who think they're your boss. And I've been there. Maybe you've been there too, and we do not want that.

Now the second sign that you're made for a digital product based business is that you love to teach coach and serve others.

So to have this kind of business, you will most likely be wanting to help people. You will love teaching people and you have a drive to serve others. And my opinion, this is a central, because in this business model, you will need to create content. Whether that's writing blog posts, producing a podcast, showing up on social media, filming videos, going live, not to mention the actual courses that you're going to create, because that is content creation.

Now, I'm not saying you have to be a wizard at the actual content creation yet. Those are learned skills, but the idea of doing a lot of teaching should feel really good to you.

The third sign that you were made for a digital product based businesses that you're self-motivated.

A digital product business requires you to show up. Even when no one's going to be checking in on you. So if you know what you want and you're going to get it, no matter what, then this is perfect for you. You don't necessarily need outside accountability and someone giving you a deadline. You usually need to give yourself the deadlines and you need to be able to make them and be motivated to meet them yourself.

So if you're that way inclined, then you're more likely to have success and the digital product space.

The fourth sign that a digital product based businesses is right for you is that you are willing to put yourself out there and get visible online.

So along with all the content you're creating, there is a need in this type of business model to put your face out there. So that people get to know you. Now, this is way more than other types of businesses where you don't really need to put yourself out there as much as you do when you are creating online courses and that kind of thing. It's because often these types of businesses are personal brand businesses and people want to learn from you because of you as well as what you're teaching. So they care about your background, who you are, your story, and just generally want to be in your presence. And in order to do that, you need to be visible.

Now, this was originally, you're happy to put yourself out there, but I changed it to ‘willing' because I think there's a huge difference. Not many people are going to love having their face everywhere at least to begin with, but this is an important distinction. You can learn to love putting yourself out there.

But at the start, you just need to be willing to make it happen.

And the fifth and final sign that you were made to create a digital product based business is that you understand that true business comes with a longer game. Look, I feel like there's a lot of BS out there about having one launch and making a quick mill.

That doesn't happen. I know of a few cases where it has happened and it has not ended well afterwards. So to experience true success with digital products like online courses, memberships, group coaching programs, you need to be committed to the long game…just like any business model, but I feel that often there is a lot of hype around online courses and other digital products.

And people really expect to make big money on their first launch. And it's often quite unrealistic, so you need to be prepared to put the work in again and again. You need to be prepared to launch multiple times to show up constantly and consistently. And that is how you see true success with this business model. It's not a one launch game. So if you understand that and you're prepared to do the work, then there's no reason why you can't have success with this model.

So now that we've covered the five signs, let's flip it a little bit. Let's look at the other side. I personally know a lot of people who have dipped their toes in the waters of creating and selling online courses and other digital products. But a lot never seem to make it past the first launch. Like a lot.

So digital products may not be for you. And I say may, because I believe that you could change in this regard. You could actually want to change it and make it possible, to change these traits. Or, you know, you might be like, this is me and I don't really want a digital product business that much. And that's really why I created this episode, to allow you to just make that decision realistically.

A sign that digital products may not be for you is if you love working behind the scenes. And relate to the idea of being the engineer archetype. So this is going to require a little bit of self-awareness. There are a lot of people who are currently behind the scenes, who yearn to work on their own dreams. I was always this way. I have had many positions in my life where I have worked behind the scenes and. It never really felt aligned to me. I always knew that I had bigger dreams to achieve. So even though I have been an engineer archetype in the past, it definitely didn't feel right to me.

However, there are people who are working in behind the scenes type positions and they absolutely love it. They love being the support. And they are willing and happy to be working behind the scenes. So if you're one of those people then I would suggest that you stick to behind the scenes, if that's what you truly love.

Now another sign that digital products may not be for you is if you only complete projects if there's external accountability, such as a client deadline or a boss hanging over your shoulder, double-checking that something's been done at the right time. But if you're really keen on digital products, you could also hire a coach to keep you moving and hold you to what you say you do in this will most likely require that you change some habits. Which isn't always easy, but definitely can be done.

Another sign that digital product based business is not for you is that if you've got OTT expectations (OTT stands for over the top). So are you one of those people that want to sit on the beach, go on your laptop for five minutes a day and then roll in the cash and see all those Stripe notifications pinging in your emails while you're sunbathing.

While this definitely can exist with digital products, it doesn't happen overnight and it's not really realistic. I hate to say it but I am a truth teller if you haven't gathered that already. Despite what people will tell you about online courses being passive, they're not really, but they definitely are more passive than many other business models out there, which is why I love them so much. But not a hundred percent passive. Definitely not.

So there you have it.

Five signs that you're cut out for serious business success with digital products and a few ‘it's not for you' scenarios. So I hope you saw yourself in one of these.

I'd love to know, to hear what resonated with you. Send me a direct message on Instagram and let me know!

Thanks so much for listening and see you next time.