Why launching a course probably won’t make you rich

Launching a course. It seems so simple, right? You might think, if I just teach my service offering to tens of people, hundreds of people, millions of people, my income will be completely scalable with no extra work from me. And don’t get me wrong, I am not bagging online courses. I do think they can be an amazing way to scale your business. But the truth is that for most people, creating a course won’t be the secret to the life that you desire. In this episode, I explain why and I share how you can increase your chances of having financial success in a way that works for you.

Hello, and welcome to The Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers, and build the business of your dreams so you can live a life of financial freedom, giving, and global impact.

If you’re wanting to create the financial freedom you desire so that you can do what you want and when you want, I’d love to invite you along to my free masterclass, the Money Makeover Masterclass. In this 60 minute free training, you’ll discover how your limiting beliefs around money are limiting your growth. We will debunk the myths around building a million dollar business, and I will show you that the impossible pipe dream of a seven figure business isn’t as far away as you think. And you will also learn the value of shifting how you manage your money so that you can keep more of that hard earned cash in your back pocket. If you would like to register for this masterclass, I would love to see you there and you can register via the link in the show notes for today’s episode.

Balancing your expectations of online courses

Let’s talk about launching courses. And like I said in the intro, first of all, I would like to clarify that I am not here to bag courses. Definitely not. I love online courses myself. I’m a total course addict. And of course I have my very own course, which is called Million Dollar Money Management. And I’m actually opening the doors to it next week. However, I do think that business owners can glorify online courses as the fast track to success. And the truth is, most people who launch a course will actually lose money on the process. I’ve done some searching and I can’t actually find an online statistic about it, but based on what I know and have seen, my guess would be that over 90% of people who create courses do not make a profit.

So why is that? Well, a course isn’t the silver bullet to success. So many times we can place a particular thing or strategy on a pedestal. I know I am guilty of doing this myself, but I am getting so much better at recognising when I am idolising a solution, rather than focusing on the energy behind it.

Let me share some examples of some things that we can place on a pedestal. When I hire this person, my business will be hugely successful. When I run Facebook ads, my audience will massively grow. When I launch the course, I’ll suddenly be extremely wealthy. The thing is, it’s not to say that this one thing wouldn’t be the thing that would help you, but the energy you put behind the action is the important thing.

I know I use these analogies a lot in this podcast, but think of it like dating. I think I’ve shared on the podcast before that when you take action from a place of desperation, it puts a lot of pressure on a particular situation. So for example, when you’re hiring from a place of desperation, then that is the energy that you are putting into that action. This has to work out, or else my business will go under. But when you hire from a place of, the business is thriving regardless, and this will just make it better, the energy behind it is totally different, which in turn attracts a different outcome. So bringing it back to the dating analogy, I know that for me, I found love when I found true happiness from within. I was no longer looking for someone to complete me. I was just open to the icing on the cake. So whether you are wanting to hire someone or launching a course, if you are doing it from a space of overflow, there’s going to be such a different energy to that process than if you’re doing it from a place of desperation or neediness.

What it takes to launch an online course

Let’s talk about launching a course. I personally believe if you’ve invested your life savings into a launch, you have no other income streams, and this launch just has to succeed, it puts a lot of pressure on a particular launch. I know I’ve been there, and damn, it hurt so much, compared to now when I launch, and because my business is already creating an amazing revenue stream, a successful launch is just a lovely bonus. There is something energetically so magnetic about needing a certain outcome from any one strategy that you implement in your business. People can idolise the online course, but the truth is that many businesses make a lot of money without launching courses. In fact, when we look at the most successful businesses in the world, Walmart, Amazon, Apple, et cetera, none of them sell courses. And I have helped quite a few businesses to scale from like $10,000, $20,000 a month to $100,000 dollars a month. And to date, none of them working with me have done it through courses. I am certainly not saying that you shouldn’t create a course. I’m just pointing out that there are many other ways to scale your business without courses. And there is so much to be said about the energy behind any action that you take in business.

Learning from a failed launch to set you up for success

The second big thing to bear in mind when you are launching courses is that failure is part of success. Because a lot of the time, nailing your product offering, your audience, your marketing, your program, and getting clear about the transformation that you will offer in the program takes time. So what do I mean, that it takes time? It means that most likely you will have launches that will fail, or at least not meet your expectations, quite often again and again, as you figure out what works and what doesn’t work.

Chances are, especially in the early days, you’ll have invested a lot of time and potentially money into your launch and your course, and many times you won’t even make your money back. And this sucks. It really is such a head fuck. And until you’ve been through it, you won’t really understand how personal it can feel. I have shared on the podcast before about a launch of mine that failed and how horrible and personal it felt at the time. I’ll share a link to that episode in the show notes for today, if you want to go and check out that episode where I share really transparently what was going on for me.

And this isn’t something that’s unique to me. This happens to most course launches. And unfortunately, many people that launch a course will walk away, because trust me when I share it is so, so hard. Even if you are someone who does have successful launches, your launch results can go up and down, which again is really challenging and mentally exhausting, which leads me to my next point.

If you want to tackle the course creation process, it is super important that you have your mindset around the process in the right place. I know I bang on about mindset so much, but the thing is, this really is the backbone of results in any area of your business, or really of your life. Business is hard. And especially if you have big dreams, the journey will be a rollercoaster. When times get tough, this is where your belief system really comes into play. If you are living in fear and lack, that is what you’ll be attracting, and it’s also the energy that you’re putting out behind the actions that you are taking. Have you ever made decisions from a space of fear and lack? They are usually not expansive decisions. Whereas when you’re operating from a space of confidence that everything will work out okay, you don’t stress.

I used to do this all the time before I had my business, without even realising it. Let me share an example. When I was younger, I used to travel so much, and quite often I would decide to take trips when I didn’t have the money in the bank account and I didn’t even know where the money would come from. I would just put down the deposit and I’d just be like, yeah, cool, I’m going on this trip. And every single time, the money showed up for me. I had absolute faith that it was going to work out okay.

Building your ‘launching’ mindset

Your mindset, whether you are in lack or overflow, also affects how you perceive things that don’t happen according to plan. An example of this, because I’ve done so much mindset work, when my launches or things in my business these days don’t go to plan, I’m not like, “screw this, I’m quitting my business” my mindset is “hmm, that’s weird. I thought that was going to work out. Oh well, there must be something even better around the corner for me. I’ll have to try something different next time.”

This mindset work is never ending, but it really is the secret to success. Whenever people ask me, how did the person get those results, I always say, because they did their mindset work. I know that is so frustrating to people because they just want to know, did they run Facebook ads, was it their course launch, but truthfully, it really is about shifting your belief system. And the action falls out the back of that.

If you are wanting to dive in and do some of this money work, and you’d like to do it with me, I am opening the doors to my course Million Dollar Money Management next week, which is all about money mindset and how you can intentionally switch your mindset from lack to overflow. I also show you inside this course some really practical tools around how you can manage your money when it starts flowing in so that you make more profit, not just sales, and keep more of those dollars in your back pocket.

If you would like to find out more about this course and see if it’s a good fit for you, pop along to my masterclass 60 Minute Moneymaker, which is happening next week, and you can jump into this free training via the link in my shownotes. Over the coming episodes of the podcast, I’ll be showcasing some of the amazing transformations that happened to some of the clients of mine who came through the last round of Million Dollar Money Management. So make sure you tune in.

And just a reminder, if you’ve been through the course before, remember that you get lifetime access, so you can join this live round again for free, for a refresher and to get some updated content to continue to improve your relationship with money. So if you want to find out more, come along for my free workshop, Money Makeover Masterclass, which is happening next week, and you can jump in via the link in the show notes for today’s episode.

So to sum up today’s episode, courses can be a fantastic way to scale your business. But a course isn’t a silver bullet to success. Launching a course is a real rollercoaster of emotions, and failure truly is part of success. So if you want to maximise your chances of success when you are launching courses, I really encourage you to make sure that you are equipped from a mindset perspective. This is the best way to set you up for success in the long term.

Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. I hope you have an amazing week, and I look forward to chatting to you again next week. And just a reminder, if something in this episode resonates, please make sure that you share it with your biz friends. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at @clare_wood_coach so I can thank you. Have a beautiful week.

Have an abundant week, and I look forward to talking to you again next week.