Guide: Realistic Goals as a First-Time Course Creator

Creating a course and launching it publicly is a unique experience. It can help to set realistic goals, especially when you’re working on your first course. Those goals will look different than they might for other professional goals you’ve set in the past. To help you navigate these waters, we’re going to help you figure out how to set realistic goals as a first-time course creator.

The reality of goal setting

You’re more likely to achieve your goals when you set realistic ones. One of the best ways to set goals is using the “SMART” method. This means making your goals specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Making a goal realistic means taking stock of what you’re willing to do to meet the goal and whether you’ve got the means to do so. Consider the amount of time you’ve got, the resources available to you if applicable, and any other dependencies for completing the goal.

Be sure to also make your goal something actionable and know what actions need to be taken to reach the goal. That can mean making the goal highly specific and setting multiple smaller goals sometimes. Make sure that your goal is also measurable so you can see your progress and know when you’ve reached it. Write all of this down for your reference to keep you on track.

One study found that when participants wrote down their goals, and their actions, and then provided weekly progress updates to a friend, 76% of them reached their goals. This is significantly higher than the group in the study with unwritten goals, where only 43% reached their goals.

Realistic goals for first-time course creators

Now that you know how to set goals and keep them realistic, you can dive into how to set those goals specifically for first-time course creators. The goals below are great steps to creating and launching your first successful course.

1. Take the courses available in teachable:u

There is so much information and knowledge just waiting for you in teachable:u (if you’re on a paid plan.) There, you’ll find courses designed for people just like you who are starting their course creator journey. The courses cover everything from choosing your course topic to creating your course to building your audience.

The courses in teachable:u will help you start from scratch or help you fine-tune that existing course idea. Plus, in taking the courses you’ll see exactly what courses on Teachable look like and get an idea of the user experience of any students who take your course. One potential goal you could set for this would be completing a course a week or a course a day, depending on what your timeline looks like and how soon you’re trying to get your course up and running.

2. Write out your sales page, creator bio, and course description

Through taking the courses available on teachable:u, you should learn how to write your sales page, what to include in your creator bio, and how to write your course description. Plan in some time to set goals and complete any tasks from the courses. This is a great way to create your school’s pages while the best practices are fresh in your mind.

If you have the means to, consider setting a goal of writing your bio first, then later updating to a video intro. Having a video introduction can help increase the conversion rate of the students who purchase your course.

3. Share your school with a select group to test it

Before you launch your school to the general public, it can help to share it with a smaller group of people for testing. Set the goal of doing a “soft launch” of your school and course by a certain date. Then ask for feedback from the group by another set date. Having these two goals in place can help keep you on track for your regular public course launch.

4. Revise it

Once you’ve got feedback, revise your course! Incorporating the feedback you get from your soft launch can improve your course and clear up anything that might be confusing for potential students. While feedback can be difficult to accept sometimes, remember that suggestions are meant to help you improve. The end goal is for your school to be in the best shape possible for students. Feedback from others can help get it there.

Remember: Revising your school is an ongoing goal. Set timelines for yourself to review it on a regular basis and update and revise anything necessary.

5. Get active in teachable:hq

Teachable customers can take advantage of teachable:hq. It’s there for you to connect with other creators in meaningful ways. If you have a hard time remembering to do so or you’re nervous to post publicly, set a goal for yourself. Maybe that goal is to take part in one discussion a month. Maybe it’s to check the community at least once a week and sign up for any relevant upcoming events. Whatever you feel is comfortable and attainable for you is a start should be your goal. Later you can increase these goals to better fit your needs and experiences as a creator.

6. Learn about Teachable features

We already covered the benefits of teachable:u and teachable:hq but there are even more features for you to take advantage of. We’ve worked hard to create our own payment gateway, teachable:pay, for customers to simplify everything finance for you. Plus we offer an affiliate program for our creators as well.

Once you’re up and launched a great goal to set can be learning about the referral program. Make your first step to learn about referrals in a certain amount of time. Your second goal could be to reach out to potential referrals to work with. And your third could be to have one referral partner by a certain time, like one year after launching your course.

Everyone starts as a first-time course creator

Above all else, remember any successful creator started right where you are as a first-time course creator. The only way to become a seasoned and successful creator is to work at it. Setting goals is one of the clearest paths to get there. Now you know what goals to start with and how to set them for yourself!