How To Make Money By Sharing Your Knowledge With Othersfeatured
Today I’m joined by fellow charity shop blogger, Louise Croft. I’ve been reading Louise’s blog, PauperToPrincess for a while now, but it was only recently that I started to question what exactly it is that this woman does for a living when she’s not blogging about thrifted fashion.
After months’ of feeling a pang of jealousy every time Louise posted another travel photo on her Instagram account, I decided to do some investigating to find out what exactly it is she does that allows her to make money while travelling. I soon discovered that much of this travelling is made possible through Louise’s love for Udemy, a website that provides people with online courses in a variety of subjects. Read on to find out how Louse makes money:
J: Hi Louise. First thing’s first, what is your job?
L: I create online video courses that people buy and watch at home/work. They’re on a site called Udemy and anyone can create a course on any topic they like, set their own price, and let the market decide whether they earn a living! I’ve got courses on everything from Fashion Styling, to Make Up, to Blogging, to Business Skills, to Tinder! You really can create a course on anything if you think people will buy it.
J: I’m sure there will be people out there who feel as though they don’t have anything to share. Do you have any suggestions?
L: You’d be amazed how much you already know when you start to look for opportunities. Once you open your eyes to your daily life and conversations you have with people you’ll soon discover you have untapped skills. Could you teach your hobby, your job, your ex-job, your passion, your sport – anything?!
On top of that, if you think there is a demand for a course in something you don’t know about it’s often something you can learn. By reading online tutorials, guides or blogs, and repackaging the information in a handy downloadable course you’re offering your viewers great value without being a traditional ‘expert’. For example, I was shy about teaching my Make Up course as I’m not a trained makeup artist, I just love watching YouTube tutorial – so I created ‘Effortless Makeup for Everyday Women’ and it’s now my best selling course! Surprise yourself and give it a go…
J: There’s got to be a catch?
L: You need recording equipment of some sort. You don’t necessarily need a DSLR camera and huge lights, but you’ll need a decent microphone which might set you back £100. Udemy are pretty fussy on sound quality, but not much else, so that should be your main priority.
Today’s office ☀️🌊 #greece A photo posted by Louise Croft (@louisecroft) on
J: What about those of us who are a little camera shy? Can we get by without being on camera?
L: Don’t worry – the majority of courses on the site are just Power Point slides with a voice over. I personally like to just film myself talking to the camera and have notes popup, but this is pretty unusual so certainly not necessary. A good halfway option is to have a ‘talking head’ in the corner of the screen (i.e. a small picture of you talking to camera in addition to the Power Point slide).
J: How much time does all this tend to take? And how much money can people really make with Udemy?
L: I’d say a course takes me a week full time, from idea to finished product. However, I often string this out over a few weeks by going thrifting or on holiday! But if time was of the essence I think you could knuckle down and create one in a week. Just don’t forget that editing and uploading can take a surprisingly long time.
Last month was my best month ever and I made $1000 (approx £650) – most of that comes from my top two selling courses, with the others making around $30 per month (approx £19) so it’s pretty variable! It really depends on how popular your topic is, your promotional video, and your title.
Experiment a lot and you’ll soon hit the sweet spot. For me it’s about creating a lot of varied content to spread the risk – I’ve got 8 courses right now but I want to at least double that over the next few months. The best thing of all is that it’s a passive income for me – I do literally nothing once I’ve created the course. You can promote it by buying Facebook ads etc (and if you do this you get 97% of the sale instead of 50% from Udemy) but right now I’m just creating content and not doing any promotion.
As you can probably imagine, after chatting to Louise, I’m keen to give this Udemy lark a go. So over the next few months she’s going to be helping me to get set up. I’ll be blogging the process to let you know how I get on and to document how things go from a money making point of view.
If you fancy gaining some of Louise’s expertise yourself, drop her an email to [email protected]. She’s in the process of setting up a consulting service where she offers Udemy newbies regular advice and check-ins along with Skype and email sessions, so if you’re looking to make some extra cash but need some guidance, this is your chance!
Here’s one final word from Louise: “You can see all my courses here and I’m offering all the Can’t Swing a Cat readers free access to my Fashion Blogging course using the code CANTSWINGACAT at the checkout! Also feel free to email me on [email protected] for more info.”
