3 Stupidly Simple Ways to Profit from E-Learning

By: Justin Ferriman • March 4, 2013
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Let’s face it, everybody knows something, right?  As an e-learning professional, there is no doubt that you have come across certain things in your career that would be of value to other e-learning professionals.  Be it new people just coming into the field, or seasoned pros who have been at it a long time – you have specific experiences that are of value.  Personally, I always encourage my fellow e-learning pros to share their knowledge, and more often than not, I am met with reluctance.

Listen, I get this, why would you know something that someone else doesn’t? Why would someone else take your word for it over someone else?  The funny thing here is that these are man made barriers – you would be surprised at the acceptance you receive for your hints, tips, and advice.  You see, most people decide to NOT take action.  They determine that everyone knows what they know and that it isn’t worth marketing their experiences or ideas.  How silly is that?!

Truth is, 99% of people decide not to do anything with the knowledge they have gained through their career, which is quite a travesty really.  However, it also makes it quite simple for the 1% to swoop in and cater to the market. Quite honestly, sometimes it just takes someone who is assertive to come in and take advantage of a market.  In fact, there are three easy ways to do so.  If you are interested in profiting from what you know in the e-learning industry, whether you are an instructional designer, programmer, consultant, or something else, you can absolutely earn additional income by doing one (hopefully more) of the following:

1. Write, write, write!

Okay, I get it, this kind of stinks right? It would be so great if you could create a website and just ask people to buy your knowledge, but that’s not the way the world works. People want free information – and you know, most information should be free. Heck, with resources like Wikipedia in place, it’s kind of hard to offer something for a price. That said, it’s not impossible, and writing for the industry is your best way to break into the internet profit! By creating your voice, you find that there are people who want to connect with you, who disagree with you, who agree with your views, and who generally want more. All of these people are of value you to you. When you write for the e-learning industry, you enter the realm of a select few who are willing to put their views out there for the rest of the world to see. You will be surprised by the number of deals that come your way. To get started this way, just start a website (I recommend a WordPress site) and start blogging. If you aren’t technically inclined, start a free blog at wordpress.com and purchase a viable domain name. The point is, just get out there! If you write (substance) for 30 days, you will absolutely see some results – I promise.

2. Templates are Gold

Most e-learning professionals don’t realize that the templates they create for their project engagements can be sold for a profit literally the day after. Create a website (and hey, you should write as well… see point #1), and advertise your templates. Don’t be afraid of showing screenshots of the templates as it will give people an idea of what they can get. Honestly, if you are worried about people re-creating your templates – then don’t be. Most people just want the easy way, and if you give them the opportunity to get started right away, then you are golden. Combining this idea with the first idea is a sure way to get visitors to your templates – because honestly you need to get an audience first. If you are stuck and are not sure on how to get an audience, consider writing for elearningindustry.com and then linking to your sales site in your profile. This is a great way to get an audience quickly.

3. Create a Learning Portal

People love to learn. If you have something to teach or share, then creating your own learning portal is an excellent way to earn some extra internet profit. Similar to idea #2, you need to create a site. Again, I strongly recommend WordPress, given how well it performs in search engines, but the choice is yours. Start writing about your industry, but make sure that you have a few pages in place that sell a “course” for your visitors. This way, anyone that visits your site sees the advertisement for the special course that will teach them XYZ and also give them free ABC. Let me explain, you could create a three lesson course on how to create killer Articulate Storyline templates in 10 minutes or less (nobody has time for template creation, but they do have 10 minutes). Create a couple of videos on how to do this in Microsoft PowerPoint (a program most have access to), and add some additional text/context. If you are struggling on finding a video player, I recommend “Screencast-o-Matic”. This program lets you easily record your screen and record audio, and you can get a professional account for something like $15… very reasonable. So, create these videos, create a few free downloads to share, and you’re all go to go. If you combine numbers 1 and 2, you are golden. You can set this entire system up quite easily, especially if you use a WordPress LMS plugin like LearnDash.

Okay, so of all the people who read this article, maybe only one or two will take action – and of those few people, only one (maybe) will follow-through with significant effort to make their online profit goals a reality in the e-learning industry – Good luck! 96WVBNP7ZMHC

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter