How to Build More Capacity in Your Business with an Online Course

If you’ve been thinking about creating an online course as a way to help you grow your business and have more free time, then stick around because in this article, I’m dispelling all of the myths and madness around what you think creating an online course will do for your business. I’m also helping you see that when you have the right systems and foundations in place, it is possible to build capacity in your business. What you do with that capacity, aka time, is up to you. 

Let’s start out by throwing the stinky fish on the table: when you start a business, there will always be another opportunity out there for you to make money. You’re going to be under a constant barrage of information telling you to be more, do more, have more, create more, sell more and reach more people. But at some point, you’re going to have to pick one thing and get started on it. 

When you are just starting out, it doesn’t make sense to offer a bunch of courses. It makes sense to get really good at offering one course. When you have a clear idea of what your customers want, you can add more courses. If you’re a new business owner and you’re trying to create an online course with which to build your business, you’re going to be overwhelmed by the possibilities at your feet. Because you’re an entrepreneur, you’re full of ideas. Full of them. And it takes a lot of discipline to hear your own ideas out and then decide not to pursue them. 

I say this to you as someone who has been running her business on a full-time basis for nearly five years: shiny object syndrome is very real. And nowhere is it more real than in the course creation space. 

Creating an Online Course Once Opens Up A lot of Possibilities. Focus on Selling That One Course For Now.

Once you know how to create an online course, you’ll have the ability to create two, three, ten courses. And it sounds great, if you want to run an online training firm. But if you’re looking to double down on what you know and what you do best, and you want to carve out a name for yourself as the person who does this thing, offering one solid course is a great place to start. 

Can you try to offer more than one course if you’re just starting out? Yes. You can do anything you want to do. 

Should you do it? I don’t recommend it. 

At one point, I used to teach people how to be freelance writers. I offered an online course to do this. My clients would go through my program and learn the fundamentals of business set up. Then they’d learn how to find clients. Then they’d learn how to develop payment systems and processing and taxes. I taught them everything about being business owners. And you know how many of them actually went on to be a freelance writer? Less than I can count on one hand. You know why? Because they weren’t confident in their writing skills. And they weren’t confident in their business skills.

Craft and Courses are Two Different Things

It’s too much to try to learn your craft at the same time you’re learning to run your business. That was a hard pill to swallow for me – and my customers – but I realized that you’re either teaching business or you’re teaching a skill that will aid in the growth of business. But what I learned in doing that was to streamline my courses and make sure that each course taught one thing. Giving too much information overwhelms people. You think you’re being generous, but you’re just creating a new problem for your students and customers.

And the truth is the longer I do this, the more I believe you can’t teach entrepreneurship. I’m not saying it can’t be learned. That’s not the same thing. I’m saying you need to learn it for yourself. Figure it out, fall down, make mistakes, like I made. You won’t learn from my mistakes the way I did. You need to learn from your own. So when I see other course creators and coaches saying they can teach you how to run your business and build an online course at the same time, I question it. Because I’ve seen what happens when you try to do that. It’s overwhelming. And it leaves people wanting. 

Creating Online Courses Doesn’t Mean You Never Work Again

I’m assuming you’re an experienced entrepreneur for the remainder of this conversation. I’m assuming you’ve been at this for a while, at least a year, and you’ve got your legs under you to a point. But you might be tired of hustling and you might be tired of chasing money and you might be tired of trying to prepare proposals and want something different for your business. If that’s you, then you’re in the right place.

But let me be frank: just because you’re going to offer an online course in your business doesn’t mean you won’t ever work again. You’re still selling something here. And you’re still building on your previous success to make sure your business continues to grow. You’re still showing up and getting things done. You’re simply streamlining how you deliver your services, using an online course. 

So many course creators and coaches talk about how important it is to scale your business. And an online course is the perfect mode to scale your business. But that doesn’t mean you have to do this. I want to be clear: I’m not a fan of all the people talking about scaling your business to impossible heights because what they are talking about is building a giant company with lots of employees and automation and departments.

And that’s great for them.

But that’s not what I’m after. I’m not playing small by any means, but I think it’s important that when you sit down to think about capacity in your business, what does it look like for your company to grow?

Build Capacity in a Different Way

Do you even consider yourself to be a company?

Are you a business owner?

An entrepreneur?

While labels are not what’s important, how you see yourself is. And if you’re thinking about scaling up quickly and want to inject lots of money into Facebook ads and a marketing team, you need to understand what that means. And a lot of course creators don’t. I’ve experienced both sides of this and am consciously choosing to grow my business quickly without scaling. And yes, there is a difference.

There’s lots of talk about systems and automation that need to be in place to grow, but nobody is talking about the actual products or services you offer to help you do that. I focus on helping you create a course that doesn’t eat up all of your time so you don’t need to have all of that extra stuff, which if we’re being honest, is very expensive and turns you into a manager. People call this CEOing, but when you go from a one-person show to a 5-man band, you become a manager, even if it’s just for a little while. 

Know Your Work Product and Your Customer Goals

Capacity in your business can be increased through the use of an online course when you understand what your course does, how it helps, why it’s needed, and where you need to show up. So many course creators over deliver on presence when it’s just not needed. Your students don’t need to see your face every single day. And if they do, well, you’ve marketed yourself to the wrong people.

Customers buy online courses BECAUSE they are self-directed. They want to learn on their own, with some help. But not as much as you think. By understanding what your customers or students need, you build capacity for your business automatically.

More Capacity Means More Time

You can build capacity in your business so you have more time for yourself or for working on your business, or spending time with your family, or whatever, with an online course. That process is made much easier when you understand what you’re getting into and what you can really expect. Things don’t change overnight, but they can, pretty quickly, when you know what to do to make that happen. 

If you’re interested in creating an online course to give yourself more capacity and to help serve your customers in a different way that suits their needs, book a call with me today. I’d love to chat with you about what that looks like and I’d love to help you move forward quickly to get this done. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can get back some of your time.

You’ve got the drive. You’ve got the desire. I’ve got the system to create it for you quickly and easily. Let’s make magic happen.