Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
RIP online courses
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Hi Reader, I wanted to make a nice side income selling online courses back in 2015. So, I subscribed to email lists of the net’s biggest marketers to see how they promoted their wares. Before Netflix and X fame, Ramit Sethi was a big online course guru. I liked reading Ramit’s emails. I could tell he wrote them himself. And even though I’m from Ireland, I enjoyed his contrarian American-style take on personal finance. Ramit launched various online business courses over email every month. His long-form sales pages were fun to take apart. I replied to one of his story-driven emails with a question about the guarantee, and he sent me back a thumbs up. So, I bought one of his budget online courses for a few hundred $$$… and then another. Eventually, I ponied up for his premium courses, including his much-hyped Zero to Launch. I picked up a few things about online business, but Ramit doesn’t teach anything inside his budget or premium courses that you can’t find in a good marketing or copywriting book. And more than one of his courses contained odd bloopers. The Ramit effect was enough to attract thousands of students and testimonials, including from me. Remember, in 2015–6, selling online courses was much easier. Ramit sold the bulk of his courses without providing much access to himself. (That’s all but impossible for course creators to get away with today) Then, I paid a whopping $3k for a course from Ramit that boiled down to a simple idea: create content, get leads, and make an offer. That struck me as generic advice, but perhaps the Ramit effect was wearing off. Or maybe I’d found a business model that worked. So, I unsubscribed from his email list. Last time I checked, Ramit’s courses still sell. I enjoyed a few episodes of his TV show, too. The online model can work when you’re on Netflix and X famous. I don’t recommend relying solely on online courses for most creators, though. Instead, treat them like an entry point for clients into your world. Write on, PS If you want insights on offers that add $3-5k to your business, join my private Telegram group. Nearly 100 people are already inside. I intend to cap the number of spots soon. |
Letters From the Desk of Bryan Collins
Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
Hi Reader, I was sitting in a pub a few days ago with a copy of The Power Broker by Ron Chernow. A man sitting beside me said, “Can you write a book report on that for tomorrow?” He was joking about the size of the book. It’s over 1200 pages. In between scoffing mince and polishing off a cheeseboard, I’ll spend the next few days making inroads on it. Wish me luck, I could still be reading it next Christmas. Here are the 5 best books I read in 2025 (4 new, one old). Shattered by Hanif Kureishi...
Hi Reader, Designing a landing page trips many people up. I was on a call with a marketer who presented a landing page that looked like….a Gingerbread house! She explained to Zoom attendees, “Visitors can click on the windows on my house. We'll send them a PDF if they get the right one.” The team never signed off on her landing page. You see… A good landing page either sells or converts. It’s not a puzzle. And it’s not a work of art. Send traffic to your landing page from social media or paid...
Hi Reader, One of the big problems with AI? It spits out bland, boring content that sounds nothing like what a creator or business owner wants. Even Claude. It’s my fav AI tool for generating AI content. They’ve just rolled out a new update to help with this problem. You can create a custom style guide for Claude. After setting my style guide up, Claude dramatically improved. Watch AI tools are time-savers for creators and business owners if you use them correctly. My approach is like that...