Introduction
Hey Creative Teachers!
When you’re trying to grow your course or creative education business it’s easy to assume that more revenue requires more work. Instead, take a closer look at who you’re serving. There may be people who have bigger needs, longer-term goals, or a greater need for your expertise – and you can unlock more revenue potential from those people who are already there!
When you understand this, you can start growing your business by finding new ways to better serve the customers who naturally have a greater need for what you offer.
Let’s look at three ways you can do that:
1. Help Your Students Solve Bigger Problems
One of the simplest ways to increase the value of what you offer is to consider the size and importance of the problem you’re helping someone solve.
Think about the difference between these two photographers:
The first photographer wants to learn about photography because it’s a fun hobby. The second photographer wants to sell higher-end wedding packages. Both of them may enjoy learning from you, but their goals are very different – and one may have a greater need for advanced training, personalized feedback, and additional support.
This doesn’t mean you need to abandon your beginner students or suddenly charge everyone premium prices. Instead, think about who needs the next level of support with services like:
- Advanced courses
- Small group coaching
- Personalized 1:1 mentorship
2. Some Students May Need Multiple Services
Another way to grow your revenue is by thinking beyond the first purchase. After all, learning is like a journey! Many businesses focus heavily on getting new customers, but your existing customers already know who you are and you may have the expertise to help them with their next step in their learning journey. Remember it’s easier to sell more stuff to an existing student than finding a new prospect.
Let’s look at an example: imagine you’re an art teacher who sells a beginner charcoal drawing course. A student completes the course and improves their foundational skills, but now they may be interested in learning about portraiture, perspectives, or color theory. That one successful learning experience naturally led to another need, which is why building a customer journey is so valuable. When your business solves logical next steps, students who want to continue learning don’t have to search for another business and leave your business, you can be their preferred guide.
3. Create Recurring Revenue
You can also boost your revenue by creating opportunities for ongoing support. Recurring offers such as private community memberships, coaching, or access to a resource library allow students to continue receiving value over time.
Creative skills take time to develop, and you can nurture that development by offering ongoing feedback, accountability, guidance, and new ideas.
For example, imagine you’re a creative writing teacher who helps aspiring fiction writers create their first novels. After completing a course about outlining a story, students still have the longer process of writing their book, creating cover art, and even finding a publisher. Offering a monthly writing community for questions, feedback, accountability check-ins, and continued guidance would create recurring revenue while providing ongoing support for the additional needs of these writers.
Summary
Growing your course or coaching business doesn’t always mean creating more and working harder. Sometimes, opportunity comes from taking a closer look at your customers and modifying your product and service mix for them.
Here are the top things to remember:
- Solve Bigger Problems – Look for opportunities to help students solve more advanced, important, or complex challenges. Bigger goals may create opportunities for deeper training, specialized expertise, and high-value offers.
- Offer Multiple Services – Think beyond the first purchase. Consider the natural learning journey your students experience and create helpful next steps for those who want to continue learning.
- Earn Recurring Revenue – See if your students would benefit from continued access to feedback, accountability, resources, guidance, or a community. An ongoing offer can help you continue support while creating a predictable source of revenue.
Next Steps:
- Ensure you have a high-end training service
- Offer a few training options for different types of problems
- Create a subscription product or service like a community or coaching
Bonus: Don’t forget that you may be able to raise your prices a bit without impacting the number of sales… Just saying…
You’ve got this! Good luck!
Artsy Course Experts Team
