6 Steps & 6 tips - Starting an online teaching business

6 Steps & 6 tips - Starting an online teaching business

6 Steps & 6 Tips – Starting an online teaching businessStarting an online teaching business has never been so easy. Many people teach online for a little extra cash, some people teach online as a full time job. The worldwide market for self-paced e-learning reached $46.9m in 2015 with the top buying countries being the US, China, Canada, South Korea, and India. This is a market to be in, especially if you are looking for some additional income or want to work from home. Here are my 6 steps and 6 tips on starting an online teaching business.

1) Become a learner
It is important if you plan on teaching online that you have completed some online courses. By doing this you will see what works and what does not work and you will gain valuable tips and tricks on e-learning, educational technology and presentation styles.
My Tip: Take courses from different learning sites to give you a broader feel for what is possible. Popular sites include Coursera, Edx, and Udemy

2) Select a Topic
When you are selecting a topic for your first course, my advice to you is to pick a topic that you are already familiar with. Something that you are passionate about, because your passion will shine through in the delivery. When you have more experience teaching online and producing online courses you can then venture to other topics. But if it is your first course, teach something you know and enjoy.

My tip: When you pick your generative topic, let’s say its Bookkeeping, find a good discussion forum and see what questions people keep asking, for example in a forum on bookkeeping questions are always asked about Double Entry Bookkeeping. Looks like a course on Double Entry might help a lot of people. If your course can solve a problem, it has a good chance of doing well.

3) Prepare a course outline
When you have the topic, you then need to prepare a course outline. What is it that you want the student to learn about the topic? This is what’s known as the learning objectives. Once you have a list of learning objectives, you need to figure out how you will pass the knowledge to the learner and ensure that they have a level of understanding that you hope for. Will quizzes help? Will activates help? What about project work? Should you use a script?

My Tip: When you are preparing a course outline, you should aim to address only one learning objective in each lesson. For your first course, keep it short. One maybe two hours of content will be enough.

4) Get on camera
The quickest way to start an online teaching business is to make video tutorials where you are on camera. There are a number of other options for presenting material online as education technology has come a long way in the last few year. But if you are just starting out, video has the smallest learning curve. When you are more experienced teaching online, these videos can be combined with other tools for a better learning experience.
My Tips: If you are appearing on camera lighting is a must. Check out this video on how my talking head videos have improved

5) Select a LMS
A Learning Management Systems is where your course will be delivered from, and you need to select the LMS. There are a number of options available. You can use a WordPress LMS plugin, you can post your content behind a membership wall, or you can host your courses on shared LMS such as teachable. In addition to this, there are also a number of course market place platforms such as Udemy and Curious that bring with them a market full of people wanting to learn.

My Tip: Start with a platform such as Udemy. This way you can gain experience teaching online and producing courses without the hassle of also managing a system

6) Market Market Market
An online course is just like any other digital product. You will need to spend time marketing your courses and brining in students. Write blogs, join communities and partake in conversation. Host blabs and become the go to expert in your topic. Grow followers and a social presence

My Tip: Don’t start by selling, start by becoming the expert.

If you are starting your journey as an edupreneur by teaching online courses, why don’t you drop a comment below and let me know how you are getting on. And if you are a more experienced online teach, I would love to hear any tips you have