It’s one thing to dream about starting an online business and quite another thing to actually do it. This two-part blog series tells the Real life story of five courageous business owners who have decided to take the plunge and launch an online course. You’ll discover their story and how they’ve found taking this leap…
Meet Alison Thompson, as an established sole-trader she is no newbie to running a business, having run a proof reading business for many years. Alison decided to launch her online course (www.adhdkidsonline.com) because she wanted to use her own experience and knowledge of having a child with ADHD to help other parents of children with ADHD.
She knew from her own experience that having a child with a disability can make finding the money for one to one training or coaching very difficult. The online course would allow her to help hundreds of people at once, and keep costs down.
Alison described her motivation for launching her course, “I wanted to gain personal satisfaction through helping other people, but also to raise my profile within the ADHD community and position me as an expert. I already do a lot of speaking at conferences and would like to take this a lot further. I would also like to make an income from launching both the initial 8-week programme and the club, that parents can stay in for as long as they want.”
So you might be wondering if Alison has managed to make an income from launching her course? The future for Alison’s online course is looking promising with twenty-five parents signed up and as Alison says, “There are 500,000 children with ADHD in the UK alone – it’s something that affects many, many people.”
Read also: How to create an online course that students rave – part 1
Katie Murphy and Lucy Townsley are two acupuncturists with many years’ experience working with women and men with fertility issues. They took the brave step to launch their fertility online course, (www.myfertilebody.com) because they wanted to be able to provide people, unable to make it to their clinics, with up to date information that would support them with boosting their fertility and hopefully having a baby.
Their online course is ideal for women and men who are interested in boosting their fertility to help them get pregnant, as well as those who are going through fertility treatment.
When asked for some feedback on the experience Lucy said, “Launching this online course has given me lots more confidence on the Internet and taught me a lot about marketing. It is important to be aware that there are costs involved in launching an online course”
That said, Katie and Lucy are very proud that they have got to this stage and launched their “baby” with twelve participants already signed up.
Cork-based Nutritional Therapist, Alison Kingston, chose to launch her own online course because she felt she had saturated the local area with her classes, and she knew that if she wanted to develop her nutritional therapy business further she needed to reach a wider audience with her work.
She chose to combine her expertise as a qualified Eating Psychology Coach with her Nutritional Therapy and create her first course called Embodied Weight Loss, (www.alisonhealth.com).
This course approaches weight loss from a whole new perspective. Alison explains this by saying, “My aim is to help women have a very positive relationship with their body and food. There is a lot of pressure for women to be slim and fit into clothes seen on very thin models. Our self-worth can be tightly linked to how we look from the outside. I want to focus on the inside out. My course supports positive emotional health by promoting self-care, compassion and relaxation when it comes to one’s body and food choices and gives practical advice on shopping and cooking.”
A keen explorer Alison hopes this online venture will allow her to live the life she has dreamed of, giving her the flexibility to travel and work, along with financial stability, “I am bursting with excitement with so many possibilities for the future.”
Look out for our next blog post coming soon giving you more insight into Real People who’ve launched their online courses..
Read part 2: Real people launching their online courses – Part 2
