The Course Creator’s Journey
Turn what you already know into a course you’ll enjoy teaching, one light step at a time.
- ✓Find course topics you can teach, from your client work or your passions
- ✓Ask your audience what they’d like to learn, starting with the people who already support you
- ✓Outline your course, and choose a title and a price you feel good about
- ✓Open with a free webinar that becomes your first module, and invite people without pressure
Recorded course · go at your own pace · lifetime access
You already know enough
Do you want to share your expertise with the world… but feel a bit overwhelmed by the course creation & launch process?
Or perhaps you’ve launched courses before, and you’re looking for a lighter, more authentic approach?
A common worry is that you don’t know enough to teach, or that your audience is too small to bother. You likely know enough already, and an audience begins with one other person who supports you.
This course breaks a few common rules about making courses:
- ✓Your course doesn’t need to be comprehensive. Courses fall short far more often for not being easy or enjoyable than for lacking detail.
- ✓A big audience isn’t required. You start with whoever already knows and likes your work, even a handful of people.
- ✓You announce your course from an outline, then prepare one module at a time, as you teach.
- ✓A launch can be two or three messages: one main announcement, then a reminder or two to the people who signed up for your free webinar.
- ✓You choose your price yourself (polls are for topics and titles), and you start with one that feels accessible.
Your first course doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. It just needs to be helpful.
What you’ll be able to do, step by step
I recorded this course while teaching it to a group of students, so you’ll hear many of their questions, with my answers. Each module has short videos and a lesson document you can read or hand to your AI.
- Module 1 · Brainstorm course topics + the FTA strategy
Find the courses you could teach, and see how a free webinar can open each one
Discover many useful topics you can teach related to your work, with two sets of questions: one drawn from your clients, one from what you love to study. Then see why several small courses can serve you better than one big one (each is a different doorway into your business).
You’ll also learn the FTA (Free To Attend) strategy, where a free webinar becomes the first module of your paid course. And you’ll make a list of the friends, colleagues and clients who could be your first audience.
This module is free to watch for 72 hours: start the free Module 1 replay.
- Module 2 · Course mindset, formats and market discovery
Work lightly, choose your format, and ask your audience what to teach
Start with the Paper Airplane Mindset: launch, see how it flies, adjust, and launch again. Then choose a length and format, and see where courses fit in your business with the Pyramid Model.
You’ll ask your audience what they’d like you to teach, then poll them to choose a topic and session times. A time-tracking spreadsheet helps you keep a steady weekly rhythm for your course work.
- Module 3 · Outlining your course + announcing the FTA
Outline your course, then choose its title and price
Brainstorm your core content, starting with only three ideas so you don’t get overwhelmed, then draft your module outline and the next step you’ll offer students afterward.
Poll your audience on your favorite titles, and set your price with what I call the minimum resentment price: the lowest price you could charge without resenting the people who sign up.
Then write your webinar’s description, design its banner, and set up registration, with sample confirmation and reminder emails to adapt.
- Module 4 · FTA content, teaching tips and follow-up
Prepare and teach your free webinar, then follow up with everyone who signed up
Turn your outline into lesson text (with optional help from AI), plan your first few minutes, and try my five-minute pre-teaching ritual. You’ll also get tips for speaking to the camera and recording in Zoom.
Afterward, you’ll send a three-part email flow that shares the recording (I keep mine up for 72 hours) and invites people into the full course. A tracking spreadsheet keeps your numbers in one place, and one lesson covers what to do if only a few people show up.
- Module 5 · Promoting your main course
Write your sales page, and let people know about your course
Write your sales page, make a cover image, and set up registration (then test the whole flow yourself before you announce). Your Gentle Launch Checklist keeps the promotion light: one main announcement, and a reminder or two to your webinar sign-ups.
You’ll also learn how to work with affiliate partners, why I leave the money-back guarantee off my pages (I split-tested one over four launches), and how to handle low enrollment gracefully.
- Module 6 · Preparing your main course
Develop engaging course material… while working lightly
Welcome your students, learn where each one is starting with a short intake survey, and prepare only the next module, so student questions can shape each one.
You’ll learn to make lessons engaging (beyond just talking), gather quick feedback after each session, and build your own post-session checklist.
- Module 7 · Post-course actions + your annual plan
See what changed for your students, and plan your year of courses
Measure what changed with an end-of-course assessment that mirrors your intake survey, gather testimonials, and turn feedback into your next version.
Then sketch your own 12-month rhythm of courses, and keep growing your audience between launches. (The calendar template I use lives in my Authentic Business Planning course.)
Two maps from the course
The Pyramid Model
- 1A free webinar (your FTA)
- 2Paid courses (plural, over time)
- 3One-on-one or mastermind work
Your free webinar is where people first experience your teaching, and your courses go deeper. Your one-on-one clients often take a course first, so you start your work together on the same page.
Three rounds of market discovery
- 1Your topic
- 2Your sub-topics
- 3Your title
You ask your audience three times, a little more specifically each time. By the time you announce, your people have helped shape the course.
What students loved most
When students wrote about this course, they mentioned these moments most:
- ✓Letting go of perfectionism, and the relief of working lightly, one small experiment at a time.
- ✓Realizing they already knew enough to teach, often in the brainstorm that starts with only three ideas.
- ✓Seeing a small audience as a fine place to start, and celebrating small wins.
- ✓Clear explanations of the technical parts, like registration and sharing recordings, and templates they could use right away.
- ✓Hearing how I do things, including a launch where I skipped market discovery and got lucky.
These reflections come from students of earlier versions of the course.
“I learned exactly what I needed to learn about creating and marketing online courses. This was very engaging, and I'm looking forward to digging in to teaching online and feel confident that I can now do it well!”
Creative Expression
“For anyone overwhelmed about considering launching their course and thinking they need 'all the things' I would highly recommend this course. George makes it simple and attainable!”
“If you've been stressed about creating and delivering a course, this course by George Kao is the cure. His insights provide a different, more honest approach you should consider and adopt.”
“I have a topic based on 1:1 client experience and it’s also very important to me, but I was concerned about having enough material or depth of the material to create a course people would actually find value in. After going through this exercise, all of my concerns have been set aside and I am again excited to create this course and offer it to others, thank you so much George :)”
“I loved George's technique of limiting yourself to 3, it brings more clarity and he was right, I came up with 4!!”
“This is a good, solid training on making a course with minimal fuss and selling it. The training isn't salesy, and George shows you how to use tools that are easily accessible (and many are free). It's a good way to get started without going into debt or being afraid of being too much a marketer.”
Courses have been my livelihood
I sold my very first courses to friends, colleagues and classmates. At least one of them told me I should be charging for it, and handed me money.
Since then, most of my income has come from courses. Some of my launches had zero enrollments, and this course includes what I learned from those, too.
Several times I’ve paid two thousand dollars to study someone else’s launch strategy, and every one left me exhausted. My own way is to work lightly and launch lightly.
A good fit if…
- ✓You’re a coach, healer, teacher or other soulpreneur, and you’d love to turn what you teach into a course
- ✓You worry you don’t know enough yet, or that your audience is too small
- ✓You’ve launched courses before, and you’d like a more sustainable way to launch
- ✓You’d enjoy teaching a group in real time, and improving your course each time you teach
- ✓You like learning at your own pace, and coming back to the course each time you plan a new one
Probably not if…
- ×You want personal coaching or feedback. This course is recorded, and you work through it at your own pace
- ×You want to build a self-paced course without ever teaching a group. This course has you teach in real time first, with one short lesson on going evergreen afterward
- ×You mainly sell to organizations. My experience is in selling courses to individuals
- ×You want a high-pressure launch formula. The launches in this course are gentle on purpose
By the end, you’ll…
- 1Have course ideas from your own client work and passions, and know which one your audience wants first.
- 2Have a course outline, a title your audience helped choose, and a price you feel good about.
- 3Know how to teach a free webinar that opens your course, and follow up with everyone who signed up.
- 4Have a gentle launch plan, and know how to reach out to colleagues and friends to help you promote your course.
- 5Know how to welcome your students, hear how the course went for them, and plan your next one.
$75
One payment for the videos and a lesson document for each module, with sample emails and links to my tracking spreadsheets, all in a Google Drive folder that’s yours to keep, with lifetime access.
Checkout is on Kit. Then you’ll get a button that opens the course’s Start Here page.
If questions come up as you go, bring them to my free monthly Q&A call.
It’s open to everyone: www.georgekao.com/qa
Before you enroll
“Do I need an audience first?”
No. You start with the people who already know you, and the course shows you how to invite them.
Several lessons take this worry on directly, including “What if I don’t have an audience at all?”
“What if I don’t know enough to teach?”
That worry comes up often, so the course meets it early, in lessons like “Coaches: do you have enough to teach?” and “You Already Know Enough.”
You start from what you’ve helped clients with or studied deeply, and add more each time you teach the course again.
“What is an FTA?”
FTA stands for Free To Attend. It’s a free webinar on your course topic, which also serves as the first module of your paid course.
It lets you test a course idea, get some sign-ups and feedback, and build goodwill with your audience. It’s a low-pressure way to get started.
“What kind of course will I learn to create?”
A course you teach to a group in real time, with one recorded session a week for four to six weeks.
Other lessons cover memberships, co-teaching, and turning your recordings into a self-paced course afterward.
“How much time does it take?”
The lesson videos add up to about eleven hours, in short lessons across seven modules (plus a few extra clips).
Making your own course takes more time, and I suggest protecting about six hours a week while you launch and teach.
You can go through this course itself at whatever pace fits your life.
“Can’t AI just create my course?”
It can draft an outline or a sales page in seconds, and I use it myself to brainstorm titles, outlines and lesson text. The course shows you how, with optional prompt templates.
What it can’t do is ask your people what they want to learn, or teach them in your own voice.
“What tech do I need?”
Free tools are enough to start. I show you my own setup, and a free way to deliver a course with YouTube and Google Docs.
If the technical parts feel intimidating, one lesson is just for you, including when to hire help.
“Can I try it before I buy?”
Yes. Module 1 is free to watch for 72 hours after you sign up with your email: start the free replay.
If you buy the course, Module 1 comes with it, along with all the others, and you keep them for life.
“Will I get personal feedback?”
The course is recorded, and it doesn’t include personal feedback.
Many lessons include past students’ questions with my answers, and you can bring your own questions to my free monthly Q&A call.
“Can I use it with my AI?”
Yes. Give a module’s lesson document to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, and work through the course together.
Any other questions?
Chat with my AI at ai.georgekao.com. It can help you understand how my courses work, and whether this one is right for you.
If you’d rather wait and talk with me, bring your questions to my free monthly Q&A call: www.georgekao.com/qa
Ready to turn what you know into a course?
$75 · lifetime access · go at your own pace