I had a friend say she wanted to enroll in medical school the other day. Now, I’m all for following your dream, but she had never mentioned an interest in medicine before, so I asked her why she wanted to pursue this career when she was in her 40s and her answer didn’t quite surprise me. She wanted more money and ultimately more freedom.
If you want job security and you want money, going back to school and getting into more student loan debt isn’t the only option–or even the best option.
And I’m not saying that creating a course is the easiest thing to do either. There is a lot that goes into it–a lot of time, energy, and knowledge. But it’s probably one of the more efficient ways to make extra money. This is because you are using the knowledge that you already have, and putting it on a platform where others can benefit from it and you can make some extra money!
It does take work, and before you start doing it, you really need to know WHY you are doing it. If there’s one thing that frustrates me more than anything else, it’s a half-done project. Knowing why you are doing this course will help you keep motivated when you get into writer’s block or wonder if it will ever gain traction.
So here are some of the main reasons why people write courses–see what group you fall into!
Money
I think most people have a side hustle, or a main hustle because they want more money, but what you want to spend your money on or why you need more money is your WHY.
Debt
As I mentioned earlier, one of the great things about creating courses is that you can do them without generating any debt! You don’t need to go back to school. You don’t need any fancy degrees or even have a lot of money upfront. Creating a course is mostly about time and if you can put the time and effort in, then you can start making money.
And while you won’t be getting into even more debt, you can also pay off other debts and loans that you currently have! It can be so difficult to get ahead of your monthly payments and work on your debt snowball, but having a side income can make this possible!
Start-Up Costs
So what are the start-up costs for a course? There aren’t many if you just want to get off the ground. Here are the basics:
- Website
- Domain Name
- Course Platform
You can get a website and a domain name for under $200 dollars if you design it yourself and some course platforms are free until you get a certain amount of students taking your course. So getting a course up and running doesn’t take much at all.
Eventually, depending on your course subject, you may want to spend a little more money on things like cameras, graphic design, web design, writers, etc. But if you’re planning on doing it mostly yourself, then the costs are initially about $200 to see how it goes.
This is why online businesses are some of the lowest-risk businesses.
What If You Don’t Have $200?
I know that if some of you are in a really tight spot, $200 might seem like a lot. If you have debt hanging over you and you are living paycheck to paycheck, it can be hard to take a risk on yourself to change your life and earn some extra income.
So if you are that person that $200 is just not doable right now, here are some ways to earn that money.
- Get free furniture or other finds on Facebook Marketplace and flip it
- Sell something of value that you have
- Sell plasma
- Work for Uber or Lift
- Babysit
- Clean someone’s house or call small businesses in the area to offer cleaning services
- Offer to tutor someone in a subject that you’re good at
Vacations
Even if you don’t have a lot of debt hanging over your head, you might not be living the kind of life you want to be living. Many people work really hard to get into their career and then start wondering if there’s more to life than spending hours at a job and coming home, eating, sleeping, and going back to work. It can definitely get mundane and without extra cash, you won’t be able to spend time doing the things you want to do.
If travel is on your list of things you want to do, then getting money from a side course is a great way to give you the excitement in your life that you’ve been looking for.
Lifestyle
And speaking of mundane careers, some people just want a complete change. They don’t want to do the 9 to 5 job at all anymore, but they are afraid to take the plunge of quitting their job until they have an extra income coming in.
Does this sound familiar?
Do you want to have a digital nomad lifestyle where you can experience different cultures, travel, and still keep a steady income coming in? This does sound like a dream, and if you have the knowledge and motivation to create courses, this could be your reality.
Time
Or maybe you are just someone who wants control of their own schedule. Maybe you have kids and you want to be present with them and then do your work when they sleep.
Maybe you want to be able to say yes to all the fun things during the day. Go to the beach when other people are at work, go see a matinee movie and have the theatre to yourself, volunteer, be involved in all your kids’ sports. Having funds for activities gives you freedom, but if you don’t have the time for it, you’re still as much a slave to the time clock.
Working on your own schedule and by your own rules gives you the freedom to say yes and no to whatever you want.
The Take-Away
Ultimately, I know that you are motivated to better your life in some way. That is why you are here. You are looking for something more and you are willing to put the work in. It is easy to be motivated at the beginning of a project, but what about the middle when the end still is far off and you’ve put a lot of work in that hasn’t been realized?
You HAVE to know your WHY. Or else you will quit. You know today that you have what it takes. You know today that you won’t quit, but a month down the road you might not be so sure.
Homework
So your homework for today, before you write down your plan or start with the dirty details, write down your WHY. Take out a piece of paper and write “This Is My WHY.” Then write what you want to overcome, how you want to change your life, or just put in a picture of your kids. Whatever your motivation is, write it and then post it next to wherever your workstation is. You need to see it every day and remember it when you just don’t feel like creating.
You can do this! If you have a WHY then you have what it takes to make your life better.