Online Courses Without the Tech Hassle: A Business Owner’s Journey
This page may contain links to Amazon.com or other sites from which I may receive commission on purchases you make after clicking on such links. Read my full Disclosure Policy
eLearning has been around for as long as we’ve been using the internet, but the recent pandemic led many small business owners to develop online courses as an alternative source of income and way to continue supporting clients when in-person meetings weren’t possible.
As I said in Creating and selling online courses: what you need to know, developing an online course is a lot of work, involving choosing a topic, developing your course material, selecting an eLearning system, and putting it all together, not to mention marketing your course.
During the pandemic, I worked with Julie Stobbe to create an online course site using LearnDash. Integration with WooCommerce meant that students could visit the site, register and pay for a course, and access their materials directly on the site. Julie described how we planned and implemented the project in Can an E-learning or Membership Site help you grow your business?
Julie recently decided to take down her LearnDash site and sell her courses, in a less technology-driven format, directly through her Mind over Clutter website. Realizing that this information could be helpful to someone planning to create online courses, she agreed once again to share what led her to this decision.
Hi Julie, and welcome back! Can you please explain how your courses work, now that you’re not using ecommerce or e-learning plugins?
I’ve transformed my online course into four distinct packages, each designed to address a specific organizing challenge. This way, clients can invest in exactly what they need without committing to a full course that may not align with their immediate goals.
To streamline the purchasing process, I’ve set up a simple, user-friendly payment system that allows clients to buy discreetly and conveniently. Instead of implementing full automation right away, I’ve chosen to handle transactions personally. When a client decides on a package, they simply email me, and I send an invoice along with their selected materials. This approach keeps the process personal while ensuring that every customer feels supported.
For those just starting to sell their own organizing resources, don’t let the technical aspects, such as setting up an online cart or automating payments, hold you back. You can begin with a straightforward, manual process and introduce automation once your sales volume justifies it. What matters most is getting your expertise out into the world and helping people get organized!
I’m sure transitioning from LearnDash to your new format was not a decision you made lightly, after all the work you put into the e-learning site. What factors contributed to your decision?
Two key factors led me to rethink the way I offered my online course. First, the sales didn’t justify the ongoing cost of maintaining a separate course platform. Second, I had made a strategic decision to streamline my business, consolidating everything under one website. This shift also meant simplifying my blogging and social media efforts.
Initially, I was prepared to discontinue the course entirely. However, thanks to a suggestion from Janet, I found a more effective way to repurpose the content. Instead of offering a full course, I transformed the material into structured packages, complete with worksheets and targeted information. This allows clients to purchase only what they need while giving me the flexibility to provide video access when appropriate.
For professional organizers looking to refine their offerings, this approach highlights an important lesson: sometimes, simplifying your business can create new opportunities to serve clients in a more tailored and efficient way.
What changes have you noticed since making the switch?
I’m happy to have consolidated my online presence into a single website, as blogging has never been my favorite marketing activity. Now, with just one blog to manage, I can focus on creating valuable content without feeling overwhelmed.
Social media posting has also become much easier. Instead of directing followers to multiple sites, I only need to reference one, making my messaging clearer and more effective. Since launching my newly packaged learning materials, I’ve noticed an increase in engagement when I promote them – a reminder that marketing plays a crucial role in the success of any resource.
Creating valuable content is just the first step. We must also focus on sharing it with the right audience in a way that feels manageable and strategic.
Looking back, do you wish you’d gone in this direction right from the start?
For years, I dreamed of creating an online course, and the extra time at home during Covid finally gave me the opportunity to make it happen. I followed my dream, and I’m glad I did. However, in hindsight, the peak opportunity for small businesses to sell online courses was around 2016.
After that, the market became increasingly saturated. By the time Covid hit, the landscape had shifted again. Many businesses started offering free courses as marketing tools, while large companies dominated the paid course space with established platforms and extensive resources.
Despite these challenges, I see this as a valuable learning experience. Rather than viewing it as a setback, I’m excited to repackage my course materials into targeted learning resources that better serve my audience. I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with new ideas, even when they don’t go as planned, because every experience brings insight and new opportunities for growth.
For professional organizers considering online offerings, the key takeaway is this: The market will always evolve, but adaptability is what keeps your business moving forward.
Photo by AllaSerebrina / Depositphotos
Janet Barclay
I eliminate stress for my clients by hosting, monitoring, and maintaining their WordPress sites so they don’t have to worry about security, downtime or performance issues. When I’m away from my desk, I enjoy reading, photography, cooking, watching movies, drinking tea, and spending time with my family.
Great interview, Janet and Julie! I always wanted to create a course, but didn’t want to have to learn and spend lots of money on course material and time setting things up, without knowing if it would be at least partially successful. Thanks for giving me a different way to see the process of an ecourse.
It’s quite the decision, when starting a new initiative, whether to keep things simple and redo later if it makes sense to do so, or go for the shiny tools right away so you won’t have to redo it if things go well.
Love how the teamwork led to the best result here. It’s always helpful to have that fresh perspective of someone else who can make good suggestions. Wonderful to streamline into one sight. I can’t imagine having to manage two sights. One is plenty for me LOL!
Interesting to see how the market is evolving. I do think people expect a lot of content to be free these days. This makes it challenging to justify the investment. Glad to see you are reaping rewards. It’s tough with the constantly shifting landscape to plan.
Yes, there’s an abundance of free content available, but many people (myself included) will be more driven to complete a course if they’ve paid for it. It’s important to demonstrate why your course is more valuable than all the free stuff they can dig up!
I love how you went for your goal, experimented, and adjusted it along the way. Learning is learning, and you were open to that. I admire how you didn’t abandon your online courses, but morphed them into something else. And by doing so, now offer the material in a more personal way.
I’ve been experimenting with running one-off workshops. They’ve been going well, and I’m continuing to learn how to do them better. Soon I will try offering the same workshop on two separate days and times. This will help make the marketing more efficient. I’m unsure how it will work, but I’m willing to see what happens. Experimenting is half the fun!
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Julie. I enjoyed reading about your process and what you’re doing now. It’s a reminder that our experiences are opportunities to learn and build.
Linda, thanks for sharing a bit about your plans. Offering the same workshop at different times sounds like a great way to streamline your marketing and make the workshop accessible to a wider audience – brilliant!
Interesting information. I also have a secondary income stream that requires different technology to run. I have been waiting for increased income from this stream before investing in a more robust delivery platform. This make me think about which comes first – the chicken or the egg?
Tough call! At the beginning of a project, or a business, there usually isn’t money to invest in fancy tools, but by the time you need them and can afford them, you may be too busy to deal with a major transition. And systems change so often that the one you choose initially may end up being more expensive than you expected, or not quite the right fit for your needs… That’s a story for another day!
This was fascinating to read. I have a friend who set up her initial course using Learn Dash, and it seemed user-friendly for the buyer/scholar but required quite a learning curve for the course creator; plus the cost was daunting. It sounds like Julie made a great decision initially, and then another smart one by pivoting to something that is a little more hands-on (which is a benefit for the student, if more work for the creator).
Technology is expensive, and when the tech costs more than the revenue from what you create, the decision seems simple, but there’s always a fear of pivoting too soon. I love creating content and hate marketing it, so there are months when I pay more to be able to sell my ebooks than I make from selling them; sometimes it’s a wash. I think these are the same fears that keep me from taking my content and making courses, but Julie’s experience is providing me with some keen insight. I thank you both for sharing this!
Julie is not the only one of my clients to move away from LearnDash. I still think it’s a good program, but it takes a lot of time to set up, and you probably need to offer a lot of courses, including at least one high-ticket item, to make it worth the investment of time and money.