First of all, ask yourself – “Do you love teaching / coaching?”
The answer to this question will greatly impact your business potential. Now, assuming the answer is ‘Yes’, let’s move on to understand the intricacies of starting out an online teaching venture.
Is it a good idea to take teaching online?
About 59.6% of the world’s population have access to internet. There are only reasons supporting online education, none otherwise.
Although I would always prefer classroom learning over online learning, the perks that digital space provides cannot be addressed by traditional learning models, for both the teacher and the student – access to quality and consistent education to all irrespective of geography and demography; diversity in population bringing in more ideas and perspectives, contributing to evolution in learning and development space.
So, where should I start from?
The end to end strategy to start and host an online teaching business, will depend on your current online portfolio / presence. Assuming that you are starting from scratch, the first thing you need is content.
- List down the topics you would be interested in educating or teaching on
- Define your target audience
- Establish objectives of all learning modules, create lesson plans
- Start building your profile on social media w.r.t. teaching and training
Now, pick up 1 or 2 topics that you would want to start with. It’s important to experiment and evaluate your online teaching skills and interest, before you go all in.
The next step is preparing the learning videos on these topics. There are quite a few options for the type of module you would want to create. You can
- use e.learning tools like Articulate Storyline, Camtesia, Adobe Captivate, Lectors and many more. But these platforms need a little bit of practise to start creating programs.
- create an explanatory video. It will be like a classroom training, only digital. Use your laptop or desktop or a mobile phone to shoot a video, with you being the facilitator. Use simpler tools like PowerPoint to prepare a presentation that helps you demonstrate and explain concepts.
- use video making tools like GoAnimate or Animaker etc. to prepare an explanatory video supported by audio. Again, it will involve application cost.
- use platforms like Zoom, or Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams to impart training. Use social media platforms and engage with influencers to attract audience.
The choice of tool will also depend on your choice of e.learning platform, where you wish to upload your course.
- Collaborate with others. You can collaborate with existing trainers or tutors and get a taste of the market before you dive deep into it.
- If you wish to test the waters, reach out to your audience on social media network like LinkedIn or Instagram. Just prepare a simple video using a good camera and video editing tools and upload it. You can also conduct webinars, or go LIVE on these platforms to engage with your audience.
- If you wish to take it further, either reach out to online education platforms already in business, which have LMS platform and presence, or create your own website. To begin with, I believe it’s a better idea to collaborate with a third-party platform like Udemy, Olcademy, Teachable, WizIQ, Google.
- If you wish to start your own website, please note it will take considerable time and investment to gain followers and audience. Make sure to implement SEO strategies to make your website discoverable.
Also, list your brand on online directories like Justdial, IndiaMart or other global platforms, so that people can find you.
Whatever choice you make, note that social media will be the best complementary and advertising platform for your teaching business. Be sure to leverage it.
Teaching is the most giving business one could think of. If you have got something you think others should learn, nothing like it. Get going.
The Flawed One 
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