What I Learned from Creating My First Online Course With Kajabi
Kajabi is not the cheapest option for creating courses. I’m going to put that out there first if you were wondering. I won’t have you wait through an entire article to learn that fact. I have looked, at and compared all the platforms for hosting online courses, and I can tell you, that I will stick with Kajabi even though it is the most expensive option.
If you’re interested in why that is, you can comment below, and I’ll share my opinions on another, post dedicated to that if you like.
But, if I were someone who is creating my first course, I would recommend not buying into any course program till you’re ready. I say this with a little over two months into my journey of creating my first course, which I have yet to fully publish.
For transparency, I do work full-time, and go to school full-time. So, unlike the few who are able, I do not have all day and every day available to spend working on building out the course. But, I do spend roughly 20 hours every week working on the course.
In total, I invested about 180 hours working on this course over the past 3 months.
Honestly, I thought I was going to finish this over a weekend, and boy was I wrong.
When creating a course, there’s one very important factor to making a good course, and that’s making sure your students get a transformation that will benefit them in some way.
This can be
- Making them money
- Saving them money
- Saving them time
- Increasing their knowledge
- Reducing the time to learn
The first three might seem obvious, but the following two are a little less obvious.
Let’s say, a fitness trainer is teaching students how to build a stronger core to reduce back pain. Then the course would increase their knowledge in that area, and help them achieve the goal of less back pain and a stronger core.
Let’s say, a chef is teaching students how to implement more greens into their diet, then the chef would be increasing their knowledge in implementing greens into their normal diets.
These two would increase their student’s knowledge, and reduce the amount of time it takes to learn on their own.
So, creating a course that can give a beneficial transformation to your students is fundamental to a good course. This is where I have been spending tons of time trying to figure out, how can I create a course, where others can read text, watch videos, or listen to an audio, and receive the necessary information to help them go from A to B. How can I solve their problems, through static information.
I mean, it's much easier in person, or on a video call, to speak to each person about their specific problems and help them solve them. They might need different words or a different way of explanation for it to click for them. This is part of why doing research on your target audience is important. The better you understand them, the easier it is to help them.
Figuring this part out takes a lot of time, and then researching the material takes the biggest portion of time. Then you have to do the copywriting, the videos, and provide any necessary materials like
- article links
- downloads
- videos
- audios
- etc.
This has taken me easily over 120 hours to put together. Now I am in the filming and editing phase, which feels like the easiest part, but still a challenge if you’re not used to doing this.
So, this is why I would not recommend first-time course creators to jump into a course plan until you have at least done all the research first.
What Would I Do Differently
If I were to start all over, I would focus on research and content creation first. When I say content creation, I mean the content for the course. Not social media content. That means I would learn who my target audience is, and what are their exact pain points. Learn the language they use, the verbs and nouns they use, and how they describe them. This is gold for your sales copy.
Next, I would then focus on outlining the course modules and lessons. I would jot down everything that my students would need to learn in order to become the hero they are looking to be. I mean, if they want to become a YouTuber, than I would note everything it takes to become a YouTuber.
If I were to start all over, I would focus on research and content creation first. By content creation, I mean the content for the course, not social media content. This includes understanding my target audience and their exact pain points. I would learn the language they use, the verbs and nouns they use, and how they describe them. This is gold for your sales copy.
Next, I would focus on outlining the course modules and lessons. I would note everything that my students would need to learn in order to become the hero they want to be. For instance, if they want to become a YouTuber, then I would list everything it takes to become a YouTuber.
An outline example for people who want to become a podcaster would look something like this;
Equipment
- A good quality microphone
- Pop filter
- Headphones
- Soundproof room or area
Software
- Audio editing software
- Podcast hosting platform
Skills
- Audio editing skills
- Interviewing skills
Content
- Podcast show concept
- Script for each episode
- List of potential guests (if it's an interview-style podcast)
Promotion
- Website or platform to share podcast episodes
- Social media for promotion
After creating the outline (which can always be altered along the way), focus heavily on researching each section of that outline to create the necessary content. Most of it should come from your own experience and understanding, but it's also important to include citations and sources, and confirm the accuracy of what you're saying. Don't expect people to believe everything you say; you must provide examples in some form to support your claims.
After researching, outlining, and creating the content, you should be ready to turn your content into course lessons. You can use video, audio, or text.
For all these steps, you don't need to have a course platform just yet. You can put this all together inside a Notion or ClickUp workspace, or even inside your Google Workspace. As long as you keep things organized, you should be fine.
What Would I Advise Other First Time Course Creators
My advice would be to assemble your content first, then create the lessons for the course. You could have it all completed and ready to upload to any platform you prefer. Honestly, I stressed too much about completing my course before the free trial ended. I signed up for the $200/mo Kajabi plan, which is not cheap. It's hard to mentally handle that cost when you're tight on money and banking on the course to generate some sales to cover the costs.
It's an unnecessary stress you can avoid if you're ready to upload the course. I got lucky with a three-month trial, for only $99, but I didn't know I would spend that whole time creating the content. Now, my trial is almost up, and I still have to finish those video lessons. Unnecessary stress.
But, once you are ready, spend a little time thinking about what you want from your course platform. Each of them is slightly different and can specialize in a certain area that might or might not be for you. I chose Kajabi* because I could build a website, create unlimited landing pages, host courses and podcasts, and still have communities and email marketing. Kajabi is pricey for a good reason. They offer so much, but I wouldn't say they are the best at any one of those things. A few comparable examples are;
Thinkific: Focuses on educational tools and enhancing student experience.
Udemy: A marketplace for uploading courses and reaching potential students.
Payhip*: Most affordable platform for selling digital products including courses.
Circle: A community based platform for building engagement around a course or brand.
Podia: An all-in-one platform for selling courses, memberships, and digital downloads.
Skool: Designed for online schools, blending course creation with student management.
Conclusion
Build your course content before you commit to a course platform. You don't want to stress yourself out about publishing your course before it's ready. It's unnecessary to deal with that stress, and it will be much easier to have at least the pre-sell version complete before putting it live. This way, you can get a feel for what you need to create a course, and have a better understanding of which course platform will be best for you.
I would recommend occasionally watching videos of course creators and how they build their courses. This will help you learn what to include in your own course, and how to design it.
