140: The hidden ingredient behind every profitable course

In this episode, I’m diving into the hidden ingredient behind every profitable online course and trust me… it’s not just about the content. I’ll be sharing why focusing on outcomes (not just what you’re teaching) is the real secret to creating a course that actually sells.

You’ll learn practical ways to craft clear, measurable outcomes that your students genuinely care about so your course doesn’t just inform, it transforms. Whether you’re building your first course or revamping one that isn’t performing the way you’d hoped, this episode will help you design results your students want and will pay for.

Plus, I’ll share a few free resources and upcoming masterclasses to help you grow your online business with confidence. 

Tune in and discover how to make your next course truly stand out!

Easy Course Kickstarter Kit - click here

Transcript

Karen [00:00:01]:
Hello and welcome to Online Business Uncovered. This is episode 140 and in today's episode I'm going to be talking about the hidden ingredient behind every profitable course. So let's jump right in and let's get started. Hello and welcome to Online Business Uncovered. 

Thank you for tuning into today. I'm your host, Karen and I really do appreciate you hitting that play button to listen to today's episode. Now, before I dive into today's episode, this episode is sponsored by my free Digital Creators Community hub. Now in this hub you will gain access to free tools and resources that are going to help you to start your online journey.

Karen [00:00:51]:
And you're also going to be invited to my free monthly master classes. I've got a great one coming up in November because In November, on the 26th of November, I'm going to be talking about how you can create your 2026 passive income strategy. So if you are interested in coming along to that, then head on over to my website, www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/community and get yourself in there. 

As I said, it's completely free. And now is the perfect time to start putting in the plans to create a business for next year that is actually going to and not the other way around. So I look forward to seeing you in there. Okay, so back to today's episode. And today I am diving into step five of the course creation series and this one's a big one because I'm going to be talking about the hidden ingredient behind every profitable course.

Karen [00:02:00]:
So this episode is going to be diving into the thing that's actually going to set your course apart from other people's and will make you money. Okay, but if you are new to this series, maybe you've been busy and you've not been able to catch up. Then I've got four other episodes that I encourage you to go and listen to because over a 10 week period I'm literally breaking down the tens steps to online course success. 

So I've done four episodes already where I've broken it down and I've gone into things in, in quite detail. So I encourage you to go and listen to previous episodes if you are starting your course. Maybe you're curious about creating a course or maybe you just you've got your course but it's not selling and you want to make sure that actually what you've got is going to work and it's going to make you money. So head on over into my archive library and go and check out those previous episodes. And then today, as I said, I'm talking about this hidden ingredient that I think a lot of course creators miss.

Karen [00:03:19]:
So we're going to be breaking that down. So the first thing that I want to just talk about is why outcomes are different from content. Because when we are talking about online courses, courses need content. And I think what can happen is that people will focus in on the content that they need to create and forget that the reason why somebody is purchasing that course to begin with is because of the outcome. So let's look at that and let, let's really break this down so that if you are creating content for your course at the moment, or maybe you're at that point where you're starting to think about it, you can actually focus on the thing matters because this is the thing that's going to, going to make a huge difference to selling your online course. So the difference between outcome and content. So content is the thing that you teach. That's the thing that you are walking your students through.

Karen [00:04:27]:
They're going through a pathway. They are learning what you are teaching them. The outcomes are what your students are going to be achieving. Okay, so if you are teaching a course, for example, on email marketing, then your content may include things like how to write a really compelling subject line, how to segment your list, how to automate your emails. That's your content. That is, they're the things that you're going to walk your students through that they're going to learn to do so that they, so that they can use email marketing as part of their marketing strategy. Your outcomes are different. Your outcome may be that by the end of a module they'll have written a welcome sequence that nurtures their subscribers and builds connection.

Karen [00:05:34]:
Do you see the difference? The difference is the content is essentially what you're delivering and the outcomes are what your students walk away with. Now, the reason why I'm saying this is because, and I've seen this happen, I've actually been in meetings where somebody stood up and said, I have a course, it's going to teach you how to do X, Y and Z. It's only whatever price, go and buy it. Now the problem with that is that what they're saying is that they're focusing in on the thing that they're delivering. They're focusing in on the vehicle, not the outcome. Now the difference is a lot of people are time poor and they don't want to buy an online course. So the moment somebody stands up and says, buy my course, you probably hear the groans in the Room because it's a bit like, well, I'm time poor, I've got lot on my plate, I'm running my business. I don't have time to sit through an online course.

Karen [00:06:45]:
It's not a valuable use of my time. Now, if that person stood up and said, are you struggling with eggs? I have a system, a proven system, that teaches you to overcome this issue so that you walk away with whatever outcome. They will get a very different response because they're focusing in on the outcome that somebody is going to be walking away with. And that's what people are looking for. People are looking for solutions to problems that they have. Yes. Okay, There may be steps that they're going to have to learn in order to overcome that problem, but essentially they want the outcome. Okay, if I'm going to spend two hours sitting through an online course, what's it going to give me? What is the difference is that going to make to my business or my life? I want to know that before I hand over any money.

Karen [00:07:46]:
And if you're somebody that is focusing in on the content, but you're not focusing in on the outcome, then you're not necessarily going to get that sale because it doesn't communicate the effectiveness of what that person is buying. So that's why I'm sort of breaking this down so that you understand that when it comes to selling an online course, you're not selling the content. The content is what they're going to have to work through to get to the outcome. But what people want to know about is the outcome. They want to know, okay, what are you going to give me? What's this solution I'm going to be walking away with? So if you can master that, then the magic will happen and you will most likely sell your online course, because when you get it right, your course suddenly has a direction that people want to go in because you know exactly what to include. So as the course creator, you know exactly what your course needs. But also, and most importantly, because if you're focusing in on the outcome that somebody's going to walk away with, you're also going to know what to leave out as well. Because you don't want to be teaching everything in the kitchen sink.

Karen [00:09:03]:
You just want to be focusing in on exactly what somebody needs to get to the result that they're looking to achieve. Because everything in your course will have a purpose because it's moving your students towards a very specific result. And that is what is going to make your course feel transformational rather than informational. So there's a clear difference there. Now I just want to break it down on how to write really clear, concise and measurable outcomes. Because as I said, the outcomes are going to be what is going and compel somebody to buy your course. So you want to make them specific, you want to make them measurable, and you want to make them student focused as well. So it's about really breaking it down and using a really simple formula that's going to help you to get clear on what that's going to look like.

Karen [00:10:09]:
So I'm going to provide you with a very simple formula for doing this. And that formula is by the end of this modular course and in moduling course you would specify exactly what it is you'll be able to and then you'll have an action verb. So something that they're going to achieve plus a specific result. Okay, so for example, a weak example would be how to, how to understand how to create a sales page. Now if you wanted to strengthen that, you would say by the end of this module you'll have written and designed your sales page using the proven 5 part structure. Do you see the difference? One is really kind of vague and weak. The other one is so specific that the student's going to understand what it is they're going to get by the end of that module. Another one, a weak example would be learn about pricing your offer.

Karen [00:11:25]:
Okay, it's quite weak, a strong one. So something that would be more compelling would be by the end of this lesson, you'll have chosen a price for your offer that aligns with your goals and feels confident selling it. Those small tweaks will make a huge difference. The second version provides clarity, accountability and a tangible result. And that is what your students are going to be looking for. You want your outcomes to be focusing on action and application, not just awareness to learn something. So words like learn, understand or know, they are okay, but they're not measuring. So instead you want to be using words like create, design, build, write, plan, implement, launch, present because they're so much more specific and they turn your outcome into something that your students can actually do, which is going to help build momentum and most importantly confidence as well.

Karen [00:12:44]:
So I just want to put this into practice so that you can sort of see how this can be applied. So imagine you're creating a course called the Confident Course Creator. I use my example because this what I of course, this what I know. Okay, so this is how you would write that particular statement for your module. So a weak statement would be Understand what makes a good course topic. Okay, but a strong module sort of description would be by the end of this module, you'll have chosen and validated your profitable course topic. It's, there's so much more action in that example. So your student's going to look at that and be like, okay, by the end of this, this is the outcome I would have achieved another one.

Karen [00:13:36]:
So say for module two, I'm writing something about the course promise. A weak example would be learn how to write course promise. Okay. Very, very simple, very basic, very weak. A stronger alternative that would be more compelling would be by the end of this module, you'll have written your course promise that communicates the transformation your students can expect. Each outcome in the examples that I've provided is going to move your student closer to the success that they're after. And the way you're going to be writing it is in a way that feels very step by step with no fluff. There's no ambiguity.

Karen [00:14:30]:
When you write strong outcomes, it's going to help you to market your course because each outcome will simply become a really strong selling point so your potential students can clearly see what they're going to walk away with. And that is what is going to sell your online course. So now if you need help mapping this out and getting really clear on your outcomes, then head on over to my website, www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/shop and in there I have the Easy course Kickstarter kit that has been designed to help you plan and outline your online course in three steps. 

So I break it down, we get really clear on exactly what the outcomes look like so that you can create an online course that you can sell and make money from, because that ultimately is something that you're going to want to achie. So making sure that you've nailed the results, you've nailed the transformation, you know exactly what each of your modules is going to do for your students and what they're going to walk away with so that you can actually market this in a way that's going to get you those sales. So head on over to my website, it's only £27, and go and grab that Easy course Kickstarter kit. 

And if you are thinking about creating an online course, or maybe for 20, 26, you are thinking about putting in some passive income streams in your business where you make money whilst you're not at your desk, but maybe you don't know how to get started, then come along to my free Masterclass on the 26th of November at 5pm UK because I'm going to be delivering a free masterclass on how to get started with this. This is going to set you up for 2026 so that you can actually start creating a business that works for you and not the other way around.

Karen [00:16:47]:
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. Now I hope this episode has given you some clarity or sparked some new ideas for your business and hopefully giving you a way forward when it comes to your online course. Now if you found this episode helpful, then I would love you to share with a friend or a fellow entrepreneur who is interested in starting their online business because it might be exactly what they need to listen to today. 

And if this episode does have you thinking, you know what? It's time I'm going to get started with my online course. Then I want to invite you into my free community, the Digital Creators Community Hub. Inside. You'll gain access to free tools, resources, monthly masterclass replays, and you'll be the very first to hear about my upcoming workshops. All you need to do is head on over to www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/community.

Karen [00:17:54]:
I will be back next week with another episode, but until then have a wonderful week.