A Step-by-Step Guide for Consultants, Coaches & Trainers
Most people who want to sell an online course already have the hard part done: the expertise. What stalls them is everything around it - which platform to use, how to price it, and how to make sure buyers actually finish (and refer their colleagues) instead of abandoning module two. Here's a practical path through all four, in order.
Don't start from a blank page. Look at the webinar you've already recorded, the workshop deck you present to clients, or the PDF workbook you email after a consulting call. Most consultants and coaches already have 60-80% of a course sitting in their existing materials - the job is organizing it into a logical sequence of modules and lessons, not creating new content from scratch.
This is the decision most people overthink. Selling from your own website means no marketplace revenue share and full control of pricing, branding, and the buyer's data. All-in-one suites like Kajabi bundle email and marketing funnels but start at a meaningfully higher monthly price; dedicated course platforms like Teachable and Thinkific cost less up front but can add per-sale transaction fees on their entry plans. If you're selling one to a few courses rather than running a course business, a flat-rate builder without a marketing suite - like SkillCarrot - often comes out cheapest. See the full pricing comparison before you commit to a plan.
You don't need to master a dedicated course-authoring tool just to publish a handful of modules. Paste your existing video links, slide links, and quiz questions into a structured format - a Google Sheet works well precisely because it's a tool you already know - and publish. Most people go from raw content to a live, sellable course in a weekend, not a month.
Buyers aren't paying for hours of footage - they're paying for the outcome the course gets them to. A narrow, specific how-to might sell well at $50-150; a comprehensive program that replaces something you'd otherwise charge for 1:1, especially one that includes a certificate or direct feedback, can justify $500-2,000 or more. Test a price against people who already trust you (past clients, an email list, a LinkedIn following) before assuming a "market rate."
Completion, not just sales, is what drives referrals and testimonials. Two levers move the needle most: structure and reminders. Locking modules until prior ones are complete, or releasing content on a schedule, recreates the accountability of a live cohort. Pairing that with reminders sent somewhere people actually check - WhatsApp or push notifications rather than an inbox they've learned to ignore - brings back students who've gone quiet partway through.
A branded certificate of completion does double duty: it's a small extra reason to finish the course, and for professional audiences it can double as documentation for continuing education (CE) or continuing professional development (CPD) credit - provided your buyers' licensing body accepts self-reported completion records, which you should confirm on their end, not assume.
There's no single "best" platform - there's a best platform for how many courses you're selling and whether you want marketing tools bundled in. If you want everything under one roof and the price doesn't bother you, an all-in-one suite makes sense. If you're a solo consultant selling one or a few courses and want the lowest total cost with no revenue share, a flat-rate, no-frills builder usually wins. Compare the actual numbers - not just headline pricing - before you decide.
Pricing depends far more on the transformation you deliver and your existing audience than on video runtime. Consultants and trainers packaging expertise they already sell 1:1 often price courses anywhere from $50 for a narrow how-to to $500-2,000+ for a comprehensive program with certification or cohort support.
No, but it usually pays off. Selling from your own site means no marketplace revenue share and full control of the buyer relationship and their data. Marketplaces bring discovery traffic at the cost of a cut of every sale.
It depends on how many products you're selling and whether you want built-in marketing tools. All-in-one suites bundle email and funnels but cost more; dedicated course tools may charge per-sale fees on entry plans; flat-rate builders skip both, favoring solo consultants. See a full comparison at skillcarrot.com/kajabi-alternative/.
Structure and reminders matter most: gate modules or release content on a schedule for accountability, and send reminders somewhere students actually check, like WhatsApp or push notifications.
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