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The creator economy has paved a new path in today’s technologically advancing world. This industry consists of handfuls of creators who have found a way to stream income off their various platforms and social pages. Among the varied contributors in the Creator Economy are those who like to stay behind the camera to share knowledge: course creators. The creator economy is no joke; around 43% of surveyed creators reported Creator earnings above $50k or more each year purely from online content.
What makes course creators different?
Many creators now have unique niches that differentiate them from others. By formal definition, a content creator is one who produces a piece of substance, entertainment, and information or knowledge. From TikTok stars to online course creators, the list of creator categories is endless. Some creators are not your “typical” creators that come to mind, but rather behind-the-scenes creators who don’t care for the spotlight.
For more information on the breakdown of creator earnings from the creators themselves, check out this blog post.
Course creators tend to be those creators who are passively influencing through their knowledge. Course creators enter the digital service world by providing an online course on a subject they specialize in. Whether this is drawing classes for beginners or cleaning your kitchen 101, there is now a wide range of online courses that can be taken with a click of a button. This has initiated the rise of the self-education industry that has brought these course creators new forms of income right from the comfort of their homes.
Let’s jump right into what platforms these course creators use when designing and implementing their courses. Below are the top 10 online course platforms for 2021 with additional information on their noted features and monthly price.
| Name | Noted Features | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Thinkific | Advanced reporting and tracking, drip content, marketing sales suite, a website builder | Basic plans: $39/mo |
| Academy of Mine | Surveys and discussions, website builder, webinar integration, custom payment gateways | One plan: $899/mo |
| LearnWords | A site builder with 400 templates, login forms, marketing tools, branded digital certificates | Starter: $30/mo Pro Trainer: $100/mo |
| Podia | A modern site builder, live previews, custom branding, flexible layout, instant payouts | Mover Plan: $39/mo Shaker Plan: $79/mo Earthquaker: $179/mo |
| Ruzuku | Live courses with automatic email notifications, daily backups, social profiles for students, professional video and audio hosting service | Up-and-Comer plan: $149/mo University plan: $199/mo |
| Teachable | Unlimited courses, integrated payment processing, lecture comments, integrated email marketing | Starter plan: $39/mo |
| WizIQ | A built-in course structure template, support for surveys, tests, and quizzes, automation of admin tasks | Basic plan: $20/mo |
| Kajabi | The ability to use a custom domain, unlimited landing pages, ready-to-use templates | Basic: $149/mo Growth: $199/mo Pro: $399/mo |
| Teachery | A course affiliate marketing system, ability to embed video, audio, and slide presentations, email integration with ConvertKit and Mailchimp | Plan: $49/mo or $470/year |
| iSpring | Detailed statistics, ability to customize the domain, gamified learning, certificates | Plan: $77/mo |
These platforms have allowed course creators to design with ease and share their courses with the public. Making it entirely more simple, these platforms have all the tools and technology to get courses up and running. Although these platforms make it way easier to make a course come into reality, it is still up to the creator to make sure their course is high quality and needed by a target market. Ultimately, the power is up to the course creator in which they are providing all of their course information and course structure.
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But how do these creators make money off of their course? They do this by offering self-educating training specific to a niche desire, people are able to sign up for these courses for a fee. This fee is chosen by the course creator and can range depending on the length of the course, the amount of information within the course, and the popularity of the course creators. Here is a closer look into 3 successful online course creators who changed their lives by turning their knowledge into a course.
1. Katie Kimball
Katie Kimball founded the course Kids Cook Real Food that teaches families how to implement easy and healthy cooking by their kids. Katie even has lessons on how to cut fruits and veggies with knives which showcases responsibility at an early age. Katie notes she went from making $24,000 a year being a school teacher to building a business that pulled in over $53,000 in a week.
2. Christine Quigless
Christine Quigless founded a course boot camp for students taking the ACT or SAT. This online prep school gives students the material, tools, and knowledge to earn high-ranking scores on their tests. Her course is unique to others because it is schedule-friendly and allows students to complete the tasks and lessons on their own time. From teaching kids one-on-one to now having her online course available, Christine has been able to have more free time for other pursuits.
3. Daniel Feiman
Daniel Fieman is the founder of Build It Backwards, a course developed to help businesses create greater success through enhanced strategy, finance, and leadership. Daniel’s life was positively altered after building this course because of his ability to help clients in other ways due to more free time.
By looking further into real course creators’ lives, it is clear that their course has given them more freedom, time, and financial means to create a more impactful business and life.
For more overview on content creators and the evolving market, click here.
The future for the creator economy is only looking brighter due to the endless opportunities on a multitude of social platforms. Around 50 million people are becoming content creators and a large portion of those are diving into course creation to help educate others and free up some work time.
With all sorts of ways to passively make money from your phone or computer, including designing courses, content creators are becoming ever so creative in their technological endeavors. With 40% of people preferring to work from home and 70% of parents, the future for self-education through course content is entirely promising.
