You’ve probably heard of digital influencers and online entrepreneurs, but what about online Teacherpreneurs?
Before you start designing educational digital products, designing websites or even think about buying any equipment, the number one thing you must do when starting your online Teacherpreneur business is create a business plan.
An educational business is like any other business in the sense that it requires comprehensive planning and forethought before the other, actions take place. If you haven’t yet done so start planning and to help you we have a business plan just for online Teacherpreneurs. You can access it here.
Define your Niche
A huge part of the success of your business is going to be in making sure that you have started a business that has an audience within a niche that you can serve. Trying to build an online business in the wrong niche could waste lots of your time and money. You can do some research into finding and evaluating your niche with this tool here.
Educational Digital products that serve first
Once you have defined your niche, you will need to create a digital product / digital service that will serve your audience. A digital product is a great choice because it is:
- Low cost
- Easy to start and grow
- Unique to you
- Easier to brand
- More informative and personalized for your students
What is a Digital Product?
A digital product is a product that is delivered digitally, such as an ebook, video or software. When you’re thinking about creating your first digital product, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many kinds of digital products you can create.
What’s even more important is that you do not have to create them all at once.
Create one small digital product and test it amongst your audience.
You can make improvements as required as you gain more feedback from your students.
There are stand-alone products (eBooks and videos) and there are memberships programs that deliver resources over time. You might even want to create something as simple as a PDF download or spreadsheet template—which means that you don’t need to be an expert at creating courses or video content!
Selling direct to your students will always be better
With the rise of course platforms like Udemy and Skillshare, it is tempting to sell your digital products there. But these platforms are not a good idea for Teacherpreneurs because they will take a large part of your profit and restrict what you sell and how you sell it.
It is always better to sell direct to your students because you will retain all the profit and the intellectual control. With a website, you can now reach students with your educational, digital product. You will be able to sell your digital course, enroll people in your training program and/or connect with potential partners or clients. With your own website, you will have greater flexibility and more power over your decisions.
There are many ways to use the internet to create an online presence:
- Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great places for connecting with other teachers who might be interested in what you have to offer. You can post about the latest information on the topics of interest for teachers on these social networks. It’s also a good idea to post interesting articles related specifically to educators or education news articles from reliable sources like Education Week Magazine that would appeal particularly well towards this audience.
- Email marketing is another way for Digital Teacherpreneurs who have established their brand online (either through social media or their own websites) to communicate directly with their target market via email newsletters sent out periodically throughout each month as part of an ongoing educational campaign strategy aimed at keeping followers up-to-date on new products/services offered by said entrepreneur(s), recent updates regarding upcoming events hosted by them such as workshops/conferences dedicated specifically towards helping educators learn how best utilize technology within their classroom setting so students receive better outcomes when using those tools; etcetera).
- This method works especially well if done correctly since most teachers tend not want spammy emails clogging up inboxes full of junk mail but instead opt instead receive messages only when relevant information pertaining directly towards what interests them most: teaching children today’s technologies while remaining fiscally responsible doing so without wasting valuable funds unnecessarily spent unnecessarily buying expensive equipment which doesn’t always work properly anyway!
A way to collect money for your product.
Before you can start an online Digital Teacherpreneur business, you have to have a way to collect money for your product. The most common ways are PayPal, Stripe or Payoneer.
Some people use webcash because it has a better payout rate than any other option. Webcash is a great option if you are just starting out because it’s free to get started and has no hidden fees or overpriced upgrades like some of the other options do.
One thing I would recommend is connecting your bank account with them so you don’t have to worry about paying all the fees when customers pay directly from their credit cards (like Stripe).
You can make money creating and selling different educational digital products online.
Once you have created one digital product, it will be a lot easier to create others. This is where you can start to expand more but remember to stay focussed on your niche. Instead of looking toward other niches, look deeper within your own to serve similar and related demographics or segments within that niche. For example,
- You can make money creating and selling educational products online.
- You can sell digital products online to educators.
- You can sell digital products online to parents.
- You can sell digital products online to students.
Now, you have everything you need to get started. You can use this information to start your own Digital Teacherpreneur business and make money selling educational products online. Our membership for Teacherpreneurs is a great way to start and grow because we provide, ‘done for you’ templates to save you time and money. Professional guidance because we have been creating online digital products for years and we also give you access to our Contentpreneur Academy which is everything you need to know to sell your digital products independently. Find out more here.