All businesses / Online courses

Fingerprint: capital · hours · speed to income · margin · ceiling. The dashed line is mid-scale.

Start a online courses: the real numbers

Recorded training sold as a package. Below is what it actually costs, how long before money arrives, and the part most guides leave out.

Startup capital

€400–€3,000

Hours / week

10–30

First income

~24 wks

Net margin

92%

Saturation

high

Realistic ceiling

€300–€4,000+

This ceiling is not a wall

The figure above is what this earns in the shape described — you, running it. Past that it keeps going, but by hiring people or adding units, not by you working more hours. That is a different job from the one you would be starting, and worth knowing before you start it.

What nobody usually tells you

It isn't a course business, it's an audience business: with nobody listening you sell nothing. Those who succeed built the audience first, never the other way round.

The route, in five steps

  1. Build the audience first, the course second
  2. Sell a live version to ten people before recording
  3. Record only what those ten actually asked for
  4. Price high: cheap courses sell worse
  5. Relaunch twice a year instead of always selling

What you'll need to buy

These are the categories every online courses pays for in the first month. We break down what each one actually costs at this size on the tools page.

course platformmicrophonesales page

Does it hold up for you?

These numbers are the average case. Whether this business clears your target depends on your capital, your hours and how long you can wait — put them in and see.

Run my numbers → See the tool stack