Three Powerful Steps to Successfully Creating Your First Online Art Course
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Have you been thinking about teaching art online, but you haven’t yet made significant progress on seeing that dream become reality? You are not alone! In this post I want to share three very actionable (and FREE) tools that I used to make my first thousand dollars in course enrollments and start my online art instruction career.
Before we start, I want you to know that if you take action, even a little bit, you are already choosing success. I receive emails almost every day from artists looking for advice on selling online. Most of them will never take action beyond asking for advice.
If you take the tools below and start working through your list, a little every day, you are creating your own advantage. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Your Busy Life is a Strength, not a Limitation.
Are you struggling to find time to create your first online art class? When I created my first online watercolor course, I was also homeschooling three children, bookkeeping for my husband’s business and volunteering as church secretary. I knew how to be busy, and while that might sound like a limitation, what I have noticed is that busy people know how to get things done. If you are busy, you already have time management strategies in place, you know how to hustle, and you can get a lot done in just a little bit of time.
With so much going on in my life, the tool that made all the difference in completing my first online art course and marketing it to my first one hundred students was my list.
Lists are my superpower!
There’s something so satisfying about crossing items off a list; I will even write down the things I forgot to put on the list after they are completed, so I have the fulfillment of seeing them checked off in black & white. Lists prove I am making progress, even when I can’t see how much.
I have three important lists that I rely on during the course creation process. Most of the time, these lists are old-school; hand-written on paper. After trying a half dozen different organizational apps, I find that I feel most comfortable with a written list, or, if I’m brainstorming while on the go, a memo in my phone.
#1 The Outline
When it comes to course creation, your first priority should be your course outline. This list is the framework for how your course should be structured and it’s important. I’ve found that during filming, I have lots of ideas for things to add to make the course better, but a course usually functions best when it is concise and focused rather than jam-packed with extra content that might overwhelm your students.
Until I have an outline that I feel great about, I don’t move forward. (You might also want to create a script for each lesson, as I did when I filmed a course for Bluprint. I have never been as prepared as I was when I had an editor prompting me to write that script!)
Overwhelm Paralysis
When I made my second course, I had to deal with a bad case of overwhelm. Somehow, in creating that course, which was a little larger and more ambitious than my first course, I got a little lost in the process. At one point I just felt like I didn’t know what to do next. I had a huge list of what needed to be done, but the order of the steps was a huge muddle. It didn’t help that every lesson I filmed gave me an idea for extra content that just needed to be added, bulking up the course and distracting me from my original main idea.
Whenever my business starts feeling complicated, I step back, take time to breathe, and ask myself, “What would this look like if it was simple?” I try to simplify down to the one most important thing I want my students to learn. It takes time to strip away the excess and get back to the main focus of the project, and when I paused, I was able to see more clearly what needed to be done.
#2 The Steps
I’ve evolved a second list that contains the steps needed to create and launch my course. It looks something like this:
Create course outline (and scripts for each lesson, if desired)
Film lessons (also “bonus content” to use for promotion)
Write supply lists and gather reference material
Take photos of finished projects
Edit video, add captions, intros & outros
Re-shoot any missing content, edit.
Process & compress video
Upload videos to Teachable
Write supporting text for each lesson.
Create course graphics
Design sales page in Teachable.
Plan course launch and write launch emails, blog posts, marketing copy
Proof lessons and edit if needed
Set pricing and coupons for opening offer, publish course and launch!
It looks like a long list, and it is. This is my master plan and will be completed over several months. I usually dedicate an hour or two a day for at least two months to create a course, sometimes longer depending on the content.
The important thing is the goals are there in black & white. I know what needs to be done. Additionally, I have an order in which to tackle each task, and this helps me not feel overwhelmed. Some of these steps can be done in a day, while others take weeks or even months. Which is why I also work with a third list:
#3 The Day to Day
This is the shortest list, but it’s the one that pulls everything together. By committing to my day to day list, I might not feel like I’m making progress, but over time, I will see success.
Set aside a daily block of time dedicated to course creation.
Work on the next thing on the list.
I like making daily progress, small chunks of time that vary depending on my schedule. Right now I’m working on writing a book, and daily writing practice is my weekday habit. I can’t set aside my usual business schedule and devote myself full time to my manuscript, but with a goal to write each day, I can be confident that I am making intentional steps toward success. Often for this day to day list, I use an app like Asana to remind me to check in and record daily progress to keep me accountable.
There’s never a bad time to set goals and make plans to see your goals achieved. Success comes from the things we do consistently, and it doesn’t take a massive shift. As an artist, you have seen this as you grow skill in your art practice, so you have an advantage!
Where are you at in achieving your goals to teach online? Let me know if there's an item you're stuck on as you work to create and market your course. Leave a comment below or book a coaching call with me!