How I got my first online student

So I've been working on a business for sometime now. In 2016 I quit my part time face to face teaching job and decided to transfer my energies from that into building an online learning business.

When I started out my intention was really to create online interactive courses for learning Physics. I dabbled with Adobe Captivate, Lectora and Articulate and ended up using SmartBuilder to create this module on Physics of the Atom. I could see that going in that direction was not the best path because I had no students, it was taking a lot of effort to create the modules and the syllabus had loads of topics.

I was also following online marketing gurus such as Nathalie Lussier. One of her suggestions when starting an online business was to start by doing what you've always done. This advice is what pushed me away from creating the interactive courses - even though it was what I wanted to do. It was more practical and would make for an easier transition to start teaching online if what I was always doing was teaching face to face.

I also follow Stu McLauren from The tribe and Jill & Josh Stanton from Screw the 9-5. They offered a lot of information on how to grow a successful online business. Lots of information that I do not use. One thing that stuck though is using lead magnets to get emails. I offer a 5 or 6 week answer series to past paper questions in return for students' emails.

In September 2017 I decided that I would go with whatever I felt was the best decision for my little business and not try to shape it to what the gurus said it should be. For the first three months I did nothing, maybe out of laziness. All I did was re-run an Answer Series that I had created and run the previous year (I re-use the same series because I get new students every year). It required very little effort. In January I decided that I needed to do something else to keep the students engaged and the easiest and most practical thing I came up with was just to have online classes using zoom.

To me this was the most unflattering solution/decision I had made for the business but I did it anyway. I offered 6 free one on one classes with students. From that, one student indicated that she wanted to receive paid classes. How she paid me is another unflattering story (no online payment gateways involved). And that's how I have my first online paying student for 6 sessions.

Key take away

I should do what is practical for the business despite appearances.
I should get cracking with the things that are practical to do.
No negotiations are allowed on these two things.