A case study on my first $1350 online course launch

The very first paid, online course I ever sold (in 2014) was to an email list of only 71 people. I made $1,350 USD. And recurring revenue of about $1,000 per month after that from the course, until I stopped selling it.

I ran exactly zero high-pressure webinars (or webinars at all) for my launch, and I sent zero annoying emails. The only emails I sent were filled with ideas and information on my course topic.

But . . . that’s just a little overview of the course launch and sales.

I actually created a whole freaking case study for you (in multiple formats) that we can get into below.

P.S. I made all of this because my best friend, a friend I was definitely around all the time when I was launching this first course, told me they had absolutely 0% idea that my email list only had 71 people on it when I first sold this course.

They also told me it actually inspired them a ton as well. Those words meant so much to me . . . and made me realize that I could do a better job of sharing a realistic course launch (and evergreen sales figures) with others who were interested.

If that is you, then you can catch the case study as a podcast episode here (it's even downloadable), or a secret workshop recording that I just re-found here, or you can read below for some of what I cover in the podcast episode and workshop versions.

It's not the whole episode/event and all the tips, but if you're short on time or it’s possible/better for you to read than listen or watch, the summary below is for you.

This case study covers:

• What it means to “scale” a product. (Hint: Scalability does not mean passive income.)

• How I built my (super small) audience before my launch.

• How I decided on the topic of my first course.

• What exactly my first course consisted of.

• How much (if any) money I had to spend to make the course.

• How I picked the price for my first course.

• How long the course took to make and if it was finished when I launched. (Hint: No. It wasn’t.)

• How I promoted the course and which promotion efforts gave the best results.

• How much (net) money the course brought in.

• What % of my total list purchased.

• What I did after my launch.

• And more.

Since this was my first paid and online course (I had done free online courses and paid in-person courses), I had no idea what I was doing.

But, I desperately wanted to get my valuable, organized information out to more people at once—more people than I was able to reach through 1-on-1 coaching and small in-person workshops.

I did it . . . and below is the true tale of how it went.

How long ago was this course launch?

It was in early 2014.

What does it mean to scale something?

For something to be “scalable,” it has to be able to be sold to more people. Scalability does not necessarily speak to how passive or active the income is.

How did you build your audience and brand before the launch of your first paid online course?

• I had around 17 blog posts live on my site when I launched the site, and the course, to offer a solid foundation for all of my promotion efforts to lead back to.

• I created a free, online 90-day course (say what? that was way too long, btw) that people signed up for (on a separate page/URL before I launched) to kind of test out this new brand and inadvertently kick off my list of contacts beyond my mom, dad, brother, and best friends.

• I promoted said free course from my personal Facebook page (~250 friends at the time). I promoted the blog posts from my page as well.

• I messaged acquaintances and friends I was comfortable with and sent a personal note letting them know what I was doing and asking them to please share the brand with any friends they felt needed help with starting a business or a blog. I was a web designer before this so I had created probably hundreds of sites.

Did you decide your course topic based on something you struggled with or did you solve a problem?

I created my first paid, online course by looking back at what I had done, unintentionally, and thinking, “It would be cool to teach this.”

At the time, I was still happily meeting with some clients (in person and online), doing in-person classes, and selling a physical and digital book.

The thing that I saw as most repeatable (at the time) should someone wish to start their own business that provided them more freedom, was the client work I was doing. So my course, Creative Coaching from Scratch was born.

What was the product, exactly?

The first version of the product was an online 7-week course, where 3 lessons (or mini-modules) would be released each week. It was a total of 21 lessons on starting and growing your own creative coaching business.

Did the course cost money to make?

I did not want any recurring fees when I didn’t know how much income I would make, so I didn’t sign up for anything that had unending monthly fees.

• I had previously purchased a $99 course plugin on WordPress, for when I had my free course. So I used that.

• I was on the free Mailchimp plan—I was too scared of the commitment to $10/month. Even though I was making money in my business, endless monthly money commitments scared me. I didn’t think it was necessary or wise at the time.

• I created all the worksheets myself in Apple Pages, and at the time, I was still using iMovie and QuickTime to make videos (screen recordings and otherwise) for free.

How did you pick the price for your course?

Out of complete fear. I believe I started it off at $75 USD and landed on $150 after some time. But check out the full case study podcast episode for the two things I feel I did do well with the pricing of my first paid course.

Was your product finished when you launched?

Absolutely not. At all.

How long did the course take to make?

Since I didn’t have to do research, read books, etc. for the information—it was all coming from my experience of doing it myself and helping other people do it, each lesson took between 2–5 hours to outline and create.

How did you promote your online course?

Through blog posts on the topic of the course, my newly formed Pinterest account, and my 71-person email list.

Which course promotion efforts gave the best results?

• The blog posts were clutch because my blog had the widest reach (of any of my channels) at the time.

• Pinterest was key because a $75 product from a source that had some decent design and great information wasn’t too wild. My first one or two sales cane from a Pinterest pin.

• And my email list was super important because everyone on that list REALLY wanted to be there at that point. I hadn’t graduated to using opt-ins or attention-grabbing promises to get people to sign up for my list.

What really helped the course sell?

I will address more of this in a future workshop or eBook, but for now, I can say what people told me at the time:

• The solid outline of what the product was made a huge difference.

• The supporting content (in the form of blog posts and worksheets) made it seem valuable and actionable.

• The visuals and great graphics on my blog really helped.

How much did you net from your first paid online course?

$1,350

What percent of your email list purchased your course?

I didn’t have great sales origin point tracking in place at the time, but from what I remember, about 11 of the people who purchased were people whose names I recognized from my list. So 11/71 = 15.5%.

What did you do next?

Well, the $1,350 helped me to not take on as many clients the next month and free up my time.

So, I revamped the course a little. Bought a domain. Got better design popping. Made more materials for a second soft launch, which helped me make about $1000 per month with the course for the next few months until I stopped selling it to do a FULL revamp.

How did you use it to continue to grow your audience?

I was able to take some of the content from the course and form it into different materials. I used some for blog posts that became some of my most popular pieces. One particular blog post got around 47,000 repins in the first few years on Pinterest and great search engine results on Google as well.

What are some absolute “must knows” for first-time course creators?

• Help people visualize themselves with your product. With information products, you don’t have the “luxury” (if you will) of being able to take epic photos of people wearing or using your products the way traditional product makers do.
  “Here’s happy Sally on her beautiful yoga mat.”
  “Here’s a photo of Edward using his new journal.”
  So you have to get creative about HOW you help people visualize themselves using and benefiting from your product.

• Have a before and after product—whether paid or free—for people to use or move into/from.

I hope this quick overview helps. I discuss much more in the podcast episode, and EVEN MORE in the workshop that is coming up soon.

[2025 update: The recording is here. But note, this workshop was from 2016 and uploaded some time after that, and the course in the case study was from 2014, so some of the links/things might be outdated.]

Questions? Anything else you'd want to know about someone's launch? Please feel free to use my contact form, or reply to one of my emails if you join my email list, so I can try to add it to future versions of the full case study!

Thank you.