What I Would Do If I Were Starting an Online Course Based Business from Scratch in 2025

In this week’s episode of Ready, Set, Launch, I’m taking you behind the scenes of exactly how I’d build a successful online course business, if I was starting from scratch in 2025!  Starting an online course based business from ground 0 can feel overwhelming and daunting, especially when you see others who already have an established audience and brand. But trust me—there’s always room for more creators, more courses, and more unique perspectives. Today, I’m walking you through the 7 steps I’d take to build a 6 figure course business over 12 months. Here’s what you’ll learn: How to plan an offer stack to meet revenue goals (even with a small audience) Mindset shifts to stay focused, overcome imposter syndrome, and protect your energy Community-building tips to create meaningful connections with your future students Setting up a waitlist, nurturing your audience, and creating pre-launch excitement Why a validation launch can simplify your process and give you critical feedback Steps to deliver your course live, gather testimonials, and plan your next launch Tune in for all the tips and strategies I’d use if I were starting from scratch to build a sustainable, high-impact online course business that scales! Don’t miss this episode if you’re ready to build something incredible—one step at a time. Let’s get ready, set, and launch!  

In order to make more sales in a live launch or in an evergreen funnel you either need: More leads coming into your funnel OR You need to increase the conversion rates in your funnel. It’s as simple as that.  Today I'm going to share with you the 3 ways you can reduce your cost per lead from your FB & IG Ads, so that you can get more leads coming through your funnel, without having to increase your budget. Here's what you'll learn: What an average "CPL" is, and how to set your own benchmark. Why you need to be looking at your funnel (and not just your Ads) when trying to reduce your CPL How your campaign structure impacts your CPL, and the best way to set up your Ads to get more people signing up to your email list Why your media is now the most important past of your Ad; and what you should be split testing.  

You guys know I love Facebook Ads and Funnels. But having Ads running doesn’t mean you don’t need to do any other marketing in your business. Facebook Ads need to form part of your overall marketing strategy, they’re not a standalone thing. This is particularly important if you’re using Facebook Ads for Evergreen Funnels. When you're selling your courses evergreen style, there are less live touch points, which makes your day-to-day organic presence a little more important. In today's episode, I'll be sharing: How I show up in my business daily to improve my Facebook Ads performance The social media content that you should be posting to help convert lurkers into leads and sales Why you should be paying attention to your customer journey, and how this can impact how and where you show up How I use Instagram DMs (as an introvert) to network, build connections and convert clients.

When I talk to course creators who want to run Ads, usually there’s a bit of hesitation and fear around spending money to make money and there’s often a debate around organic v paid marketing. The way I see it is when you pay to run Ads, you’re choosing to be seen. You’re paying for the guarantee of your content reaching the right people every single day. But here’s the thing; Paid advertising only ever pays off, when you’re strategic around what you’re advertising and why. Boosting an Instagram post and hoping for a course sale, is not the vibe. Instead, I encourage you to use Ads to fill your funnel, so you can continue to market to your dream leads days, weeks, months & years after they stumble across your sponsored post on the gram. Today on the Ready, Set, Launch Podcast, I’m sharing with you How To Use Facebook Ads To Sell An Evergreen Course. In this episode, you’ll learn: The 3 different types of campaigns you can create to sell an evergreen course, and which one I recommend you start with. How you can get started with making evergreen sales for as little as $3 a day. What creative is working best for us for our lead generation & sales campaigns.

Whether you’re wanting to sell your course on autopilot or generate high quality leads for your 1:1 services, your business can benefit from having an evergreen webinar funnel.  It’s an upgrade from the traditional lead magnet PDF that you can use to grow our list, and the reason why it’s an upgrade is because it includes video content. Video is the easiest and fastest way to build up the know, like and trust factor in a funnel. When you get the topic, presentation & pitch right in the webinar, it’s a really easy way to attract clients & sell courses fast. In this day and age, where people have very short attention spans, and show up live rates are at an all time low, why wouldn’t you want to turn your best performing live webinar into something people can watch on demand at 2x speed. In today’s podcast episode, I’m going to give you a breakdown of my evergreen webinar funnel, and how you can create this in your business. Here’s what you’ll learn: The 2 different types of evergreen webinar funnels, and which one I prefer What you need to get crystal clear on before building out your funnel (and why this is often overlooked) My evergreen webinar structure  The tech requirements of an evergreen funnel 

I've noticed something lately... Everyone's talking about evergreen. Everyone wants an evergreen funnel. This is great, and I'm here for it. Being able to generate sales every day is an important part of having a profitable online business. But here's the truth; creating a high converting evergreen funnel is just as hard as pulling off a high converting live launch. So over the next few week's I'm going to be sharing with you my best tips to help you sell your online course evergreen style & get paid every day. Starting with today's episode: The Top 5 Mistakes Course Creators Make When Going Evergreen. Here's what you'll learn: Why some course creators struggle to convert leads to sales in an evergreen funnel. What not to do when deciding to turn your course evergreen. How to tailor your evergreen funnel to suit your business, offers & audience. The one thing you need to learn to really scale your evergreen funnel.  

"Jess, why aren't my Ads working??" is the #1 question I get on the daily. The good news is; you can find the answer by looking at your data. 🥸 So stop making assumptions about why your cost per lead is high or your sales are low - and instead, learn how to make data based decisions to improve your launch results.  Because if you really want to build a profitable online course based business; you're going to have to read and interpret your numbers. In this episode, you'll learn: The top 5 reasons why your Ads might not be working. How you can easily see what needs to be tweaked in an Ad to improve results (hint; it might actually have nothing to do with your Ads). The best way to improve your link clicks & lead costs.

Meet Susie Prout - Lactation Consultant, breastfeeding & bottle refusal expert. In this week's episode, Susie is sharing with us how she replaced selling on Instagram with Facebook Ads. Here's what you'll learn: A BTS look at how Susie launches her online Breastfeeding Membership. Why Susie wanted to move away from selling on Instagram. How Susie had her best ever launch without showing up on Instagram (and with life feeling hectic behind the scenes).

Do you know why your launches feel insanely stressful even if you’re one of those organised people who have every single email scheduled? Do you know why that “do or die” energy has you questioning your entire business model every day of the launch even though you know your course is highly valuable?  Do you know why so many course creators want to turn their back on launch even though you see the potential? It’s because if you’re only relying on live launching for your payday, you’re not making any money leading up to your launch.  Instead, you’re working hard and actively watching your bank account dwindle. This is why I talk constantly about creating your sales ecosystem. It’s about live launching, yes. Because who doesn’t love a huge wad of cash? But it’s about creating an evergreen sales system that brings you consistent $10k months every single month, no matter where you’re at in the launch cycle. In this episode, I'll be sharing with you. How to build one simple system that converts leads into paying customers fast. The one thing you need in your funnel to get your dream clients to make a purchasing decision. How to fill your funnel with dream leads and scale your sales every single month.

In this episode, I want to share with you what I would do if I wanted to make 100k from an online course over a 12 month period. The secret to building momentum with your course launches How to create cash-generating launch events A simple way to plan your next 12 months How to learn the launch maths When you start to shift your expectations from launching as a once-off event and start looking at what your course can bring you over the next 12 months, 24 months and even five years, that’s when your results start to snowball.