When people say “start small” or “do it scared,” it often feels easier said than done. But when it comes to creating a digital course, starting small is the best way forward. You’re taking what you already know and turning it into something that multiplies your impact, income, and FREES up your time. It’s a powerful tool worth building.
I launched my first course, “The Jenna Kutcher Course,” with a mix of excitement and anxiety. The name wasn’t creative, but the course had a 5-figure launch. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked for me—growing my business, opening new opportunities, and creating ways for my audience to learn from me beyond mentorship, masterminds, and social media.
Whether you’re in your 9-5 career looking for ways to build that side hustle you’ve been dreaming about, or you’re running your business and want to expand your reach and income, a digital course of your own is a brilliant move to make. If that move seems like an overwhelmingly large one, let’s break down how you really can “start small” with success.
Break into the Digital Course Creator Mindset
Believing in your own expertise enough to develop a course idea confidently from it can often be the toughest part of the course creation process. Imposter syndrome might have you thinking that you don’t know anything well enough to teach it, but that simply isn’t true.
Don’t doubt your expertise, your skills, and your ideas. Don’t waste time wondering if you’re the right person for the job. I know far too many people with massively successful businesses, digital courses included, who also started scared. I was, too. I was making a pivot from photography to online education, and it was not easy to believe I could do it!
But I decided to set my fear aside, launch my first digital course, and let the numbers do the talking (and they did.) Let yourself TRY a new thing and see what’s possible without being your own biggest barrier. This isn’t a test; it’s an adventure and a fun one at that!
Nail Down Your Digital Course Topic
When it comes to developing your digital course topic, it’s really about paying attention to what you already know and what people are constantly asking you about. What systems have you created that you wish you had when you were just starting out? What routines or processes make your work or life easier? These things might seem ordinary to you, but they can be revolutionary for others.
Next, start with just ONE thing that feels natural to teach. You don’t need to cover everything, just focus on a simple, actionable solution that those around you have ALREADY asked you for. Talk to your peers, friends, virtual community—ask them what they’re struggling with and see if your idea could help solve that.
And here’s the magic: bring your unique spin to it. YOUR personal process or way of doing things is what will set your course apart and really resonate with your people. Start small, stay focused, and trust that your knowledge is exactly what someone out there needs.
Determine How to Structure Your Course Content
Not all courses look or function the same way! Some are driven by visuals, videos, audio, and downloads. Some are writing-focused. Some hold your hand through the process, and some don’t. Some have 1 module, and some have 20! There isn’t a right or wrong way to map out your course. The goal is to make sure your methods are delivered clearly and without a bunch of fluff (i.e. wasting your students’ time.)
I know this part might be a little intimidating because of the ‘technical’ skills you might think you need to have in order to create your course. But I will remind you that you are starting small. Plus, this is where other people have done the work to make tools that lighten your course-creating load! For example, here are a few tools and resources I’ve tested and approved for supporting your course build.
And while you can do this process yourself, you definitely can get a little extra hands-on-help, structure, and support as you go! My FIRST course creation mentor turned friend, Amy Porterfield’s LIVE Digital Course Creation Bootcamp is designed to walk you through HOW to map out your course, pick your topic, price, implement what you learn and START your course creation journey!
Grow an Eager List of Potential Course Students NOW
The people you’re creating the course for need to know about it, plain and simple. This isn’t the time to hide the work you’re doing or wait until everything is ‘perfect’ before you begin talking about it. In fact, an audience, no matter the size, loves to be a part of the process.
Take time to get them excited about what you’re creating for them and they’ll easily see why it’s the solution they need. When you launch, you’ll have already done the work to prime their interest and help convert them to paying customers and long-term students!
Using your prep time to engage with the people who already follow you can help you create your course, too. You can test course titles with them, drop polls, and ask for feedback and ideas as you develop. Your community of friends, peers, followers are not merely bystanders, but can and should be participants in your course launch!
Figure Out How to Set the Right Price for Your Course
When you know WHO your course is for, you can determine even better what they would be willing to pay for the course you’re creating. Weigh out the kind of value your course carries. Is it a quick and easy solution or is it a full-scope guide that might allow them to skip a lot of steps, save a lot of time and money, or skip out on needing to front the cost of a mentor, coach, or specialist?
The MORE value you add, the more you can justify a higher price point! But you don’t have to start with a high price tag, and can start low and slowly raise it as you add value to the course itself or create your next one. This is a learning process, not something you have to know right out of the gate.
This is how you start to craft the language you need to be able to market, or share, your course with your potential students. When you know the value of your course, you’re able to show them you understand exactly where they’re at and why YOU are the best person to provide the solution they’re looking for.
Get on the Digital Course Creation “Fast Track”
I had one BIG resource when I first built and launched my course: a mentor. Amy showed me the ropes, taught me what she knew step by step, and exactly what actions to take so I didn’t once have to guess. And now, she’s here to help you do the same inside her Course Confident Bootcamp, a LIVE training experience and private community where she’ll guide you through the first 4 crucial steps to creating and selling a profitable digital course of your own.
She’ll walk you through EVERYTHING I talk about in this blog post: pinning down your perfect course topic, your course type, your price, your lead magnet (for getting people in the door to your course even easier), and what a course launch looks like behind the scenes!
Let me fast-track your success when you join
And when you sign up, I’m throwing in my Instagram mini-course, Insta Essentials that’s packed with done-for-you templates, expert insights, and all you need to plan your next 60 days of IG posts—absolutely FREE so you can show up on Instagram confidently as you tease, prep, and launch your new digital course to a growing, excited audience!
Save time by leveraging Amy’s Bootcamp to get you course-ready in no time, which means you’re closer than ever to more freedom, more time to live, more income, more opportunities, more chances to show up and make an impact!
(Pssst, tiny disclaimer: When you sign up for Amy’s Bootcamp through me, I get an affiliate commission. The best news? You’ll also get my bonus, absolutely FREE… So cool, right?)
