A quick guide to starting online.

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The question I most often get, still, is, “How did you start teaching online?”

I am still trying to nail down the most simple way to start teaching online.  

My story is complicated.  All the gurus out there sell very expensive, and as far as I can tell, complicated answers to the question.

I am looking for simple answers.  Not easy answers.  Simple answers.  The two are not the same. 

If I had to narrow it down to a quick list, this is what I would recommend.

#1: Tap into your “secret wealth”.   What do you already know that you could teach to others.  Chances are high you are already an expert at something.  That’s your “secret wealth”.

#2: Determine to master your field.  (Maybe you already have.  Your “secret wealth”)

#3: Consider becoming a “hired gun” for a while.  Work for someone else as you master your field.  Until the modern bureaucratic education system took over, this was common.  It was called apprenticeship.  Still a good model.  This is how I started online. 

#4: Commit to one thing.  Choose something.  You can’t be good at everything.  

#5: Find a way to practice locally.  This keeps you in contact with people.  Teaching online can be pretty isolating. 

#6: Stay local.  Keep teaching locally, even after finding success online.  Keeps you in contact with people.  Honestly, this one is optional.  But, I recommend it.

#7: Set up a free blog on WordPress.com.  You need a place to begin tracking your journey.  A free blog is fine.  You can upgrade later, when you are ready and as you pick up skills.

WordPress is offering free training these days. 

#8: Start reviewing books in your field.  Post the reviews on your site.  Most Americans read one book a year.  If you read and reviewed just one book a month and posted it on your site, you’d separate yourself from your competition.  

#9:  As you read, you will learn.  Blog about one thing for 11 months.  In the 12 month, you will likely be ready to launch your first product.   It could be a special report, an ebook, or a course. 

#10:  Sign up for a free account on Mail Chimp, or Aweber or another email management system.  You are going to want to start capturing people’s emails.  

#11: Start sending out a weekly, or monthly newsletter.  Send it to your subscribers.  Could be about your topic of study.  I’d recommend that.  But, it doesn’t have to be.  I’ve been sending out a “tip of the week” for years.  I simply share tips and tricks I’ve discovered along the way that have made my life easier.  I share those with my readers.  But, at the end of every one of those emails are advertisements for the classes I teach online.  

#12: Stick to your knitting.   Slow and steady wins the race.  Keep plodding.  Making a living online is not an overnight venture.  At least, it hasn’t been for me.  But, it’s worth it.  

It adds up.  I upload five videos a day, five days a week.  There are now over 3,000 videos on my site.  I write a test a week for each of my courses.   Two Spanish tests.  Two French tests.  A German test and a Latin test.  Day after day.   Week after week.  Month after month.  

Learn to plod along.  It adds up. 

But, you’ve got to begin.