Online membership – money while you sleep?

If knowledge and experience is a main part of the service you deliver, it can make sense to turn that into a product. After all, plenty of coaches, trainers and speakers have done exactly that.

And, if you currently work in a one-to-one setting (a coach or therapist), it can seem very appealing to move at least part of what you do to a one-to-many approach. There are probably some parts of your work with clients that’s the same every time.

Add to that, all the tempting adverts going out on social media every day that talk about passive income and ‘money while you sleep’ and how they turned their £20k coaching business into a £27bn online course and it sounds very appealing!

And how hard could it be? The idea is to put the materials you already deliver in one-to-one or small group workshops online and sell it, so everything is already there. Simple.

Simple – yes. But simple doesn’t mean effortless.

This is not just taking your offline service online!!

To go online, to create your own online membership or online training course means a complete change in focus. Instead of working with people, you work with:

• Technology
• Marketing tactics
• Customer service

You’re making content your service, instead of human interaction. You need to create training videos, worksheets, exercises, and much more. If you decide to go for a hybrid model, with some direct interaction, you’ll also need to run Q&A calls and other in-person activities.

Online membership and training is a crowded market – so reaching your audience and getting signups is a real challenge.

Am I putting you off?

Am I opposed to online methods for coaching and training?

No!

Eyes wide open

I help coaches, trainers, and consultants to publish in online membership services, e-Learning and write books to transform their material into content gold.

I just want you to go into the online world with your eyes wide open. It is a brilliant opportunity to grow a business. And yes, money while you sleep is a lovely idea, but the first priority must be that it doesn’t give you sleepless nights!

My top tip if you’re considering an online business is to treat it as a new business rather than an add on to your existing one. Create a new business plan and a new marketing plan and make sure you know exactly what you’re taking on.

And, of course, make sure you’ve got the right people around you to support you as you select and build your online platform.

This is what Content Alchemy is all about! We work with inspiring business owners who want to make more of their content. If you’d like to have a chat to see how we might help, book a call.