As a creative person, you’ve been on my mind a lot lately. I know how much the pandemic is likely turning things upside down. Which may have you feeling not so great about your work, your happiness and how you’re going to make it through to more normal times. It makes total sense that things might feel a little uncertain right now.
As you may have guessed, I’m an eternal optimist. I know that if I believe in something enough, I can make it happen. What you may not know is that I’m also a survivor.
I’ve always found a way to support myself no matter what. I’ve taken jobs that weren’t ideal (hello cleaning toilets), lived in spaces that weren’t ideal (ahh, the under-the-stairs years) and had to make decisions that weren’t ideal (no restaurant sushi for a year). I’ve learned a ton. Including the fact that I always have options.
I know you have options, too. And as you work to sell what you do, whether it’s art or services, I know firsthand that selling a workshop or course can be another great way for you to make money. It can allow you to have more tools to help you survive this unprecedented time.
Not sure about it? I thought you might be skeptical so I’m sharing some numbers to answer the question:
How much can I make teaching online?
There are a lot of variables to pricing an online workshop. This is something that I work on a lot with my clients. So here, I’m sharing the numbers for a very basic, approachable 1-2 hour workshop that someone who is new to doing them might put together.
If you sell your workshop training for $40 per person, here’s what that brings in:
25 people purchase at $40 each = $1,000
50 people purchase at $40 each = $2,000
100 people purchase at $40 each = $4,000
You can see that the income from this starts to add up very quickly. I bet you know 25 people right now who would buy a $40 workshop from you. Yes there are costs to creating a workshop like your supplies and time so those amounts have to be covered before you start to break even. But with these numbers you can see that can happen pretty quickly.
And this is just the start. This example is for a starter workshop but you can charge more for this same kind of workshop once you learn the value it brings to your students and as your skills build. You can sell the same basic workshop for $100, more than double my example, as your belief and confidence in your offer grows, which it naturally will.
This is what it looks like when you sell it it at that price:
25 people purchase at $100 each = $2,500
50 people purchase at $100 each = $5,000
100 people purchase at $100 each = $10,000
This is because each time you run the online workshop or training, you improve it. Maybe you add something that’s especially helpful for your students or that gets them to their finish line faster or maybe you learn how to teach a technique in a new way that’s so much easier than how people have learned it in the past. Perhaps with all of the experience you have in your topic, you know how to help your students avoid common mistakes and pitfalls and you incorporate that.
Little improvements like these add up to a stellar class that will make your students loyal fans who happily share how awesome your class is with others. You can evolve your price and raise it over time as you validate it’s worth. And as you improve it over time, you’ll have students who are getting amazing results which is so energizing to a creative person. It makes it worth the effort.
So, what do you think? Would you love to be able to earn more money like this? Would teaching what you already know online in a workshop, course or masterclass feel like it might help to get you through to times that feel more like business as usual?
If so, post a note in the comments letting me know if $40 sounds like the perfect starting point for your online workshop offering. And if not, what sounds like a better fit?
Cheers,
Kate