I will start by debunking five myths that kill your ability to create six or seven- figure online courses.

Number 1: Have to be an expert.

This is absolutely false. It’s by far the biggest myth that exists, and it is tragic how many people it holds back from creating a course. The truth is all you need to create six to seven-figure courses is the ability to identify a group of people with whom you can help solve their problems through teaching what you know.

Suppose we use a scale from zero to 10 to measure the level of expertise in a particular subject. For example, let’s imagine you’re a five on a Photoshop expertise scale right now. There are plenty of level 10 experts out there using Photoshop. In addition, hundreds of courses exist, teaching people how to get from level one to level five. And when you find yourself in that position, remember that Theodore Roosevelt’s quote is the thief of joy.

In business, I would say that comparison is also the thief of opportunity. Unfortunately, I see a lot of young entrepreneurs making the mistake of spending all of their time comparing themselves to others and coming up with all of these reasons why their online course will not work.

Instead, these young entrepreneurs should create a course teaching how to develop that specific skill in Photoshop. Teach the techniques in Photoshop in a different, unique, more valuable way than anyone else has ever done.

The truth is there will always be people out there who know more than you do on a specific subject. And that’s actually a good thing.

It means that you still have room for growth and can continue learning from them while you learn skills for yourself, turn around, teach them to the people who are your students and level up along the way.

Number 2: Must acheive big goals

The second myth is for a course to make six or seven figures, you need to teach people how to achieve big goals or develop challenging skills that require you to be an expert in level nine or ten.

This is false. I have done a first-hand investigation to understand factors that cause online courses to make six-seven figures two weeks after they are launched.

Teaching challenging skills or achieving a big goal isn’t one of the real McCoy. Instead, the factors are depth, clarity, a well-crafted offer and the promise made.

Number 3: Must be a coach yourself.

The only way to make money with courses is to be the coach yourself. Absolutely false. Instead, you can get started by creating strategic partnerships with experts in practically any field out there, building a course for them and taking a percentage of equity and a profit share in that new course.

The thing to know about experts in practice, any field or profession from mountain biking to coders, personal trainers, business advisors, or any other experts out there is that the more successful, the more world-class someone is at a skill.

Malcolm Gladwell said it best in his book, Outliers. To become world-class in any field, you need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.

So to put that simply, almost all world-class level 10 experts out there do not have time to learn how to create, market and scale online courses profitably because they’re busy being world-class experts.

Number 4: Build before selling a course.

You have to build your course before you sell it. Once again, absolutely false. Not only is this false, but it’s also just a poor business strategy. As a course creator, if you want to maximize the amount of time, energy, and money you waste. Then the build before you sell strategy is right for you.

Think about it this way. Do you want to risk working for months building your course and launching it only to realize no one is willing to buy it? The most crucial thing in an early-stage company is feedback from your market. And the most valuable feedback is from sales and your clients.

The best strategy is to teach live online and then build the course.