---
name: online-academy-builder
description: |
  Practical guide to building an online learning academy covering platform selection, curriculum design, student experience, certification, marketing, pricing, and growing a sustainable online education business.
  Use when the user asks about online academy builder, related techniques, best practices, or needs guidance in this domain.
  Do NOT use when the request is outside the scope of online academy builder or requires a different specialized skill.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  author: foundry-skills
  version: "1.0.0"
  tags: "education-industry teaching testing marketing video-production podcast email investing"
  category: "education"
  subcategory: "professional-development"
  depends: ""
  disclaimer: "none"
  difficulty: "advanced"
---
# Online Academy Builder

## When to Use

**Use this skill when:**
- A creator, educator, entrepreneur, or organization wants to launch an online course, membership academy, or certification program from scratch or significantly restructure an existing one
- A subject-matter expert (coach, consultant, trainer, professional) wants to productize their knowledge into a scalable digital learning business
- An existing course creator is struggling with low completion rates, poor conversion, flat revenue, or student churn and needs a systematic diagnosis and fix
- A company or nonprofit wants to build an internal or external learning academy -- for employee training, customer onboarding, or community education
- A user is evaluating platform options, pricing models, cohort vs. self-paced formats, or launch strategies and needs a structured decision framework
- A course creator wants to build curriculum, design assessments, or structure a certification program with real instructional design principles
- A creator wants to grow from $0 to first revenue or from $50K to $500K+ in online education revenue with a clear operational playbook

**Do NOT use when:**
- The user needs K-12 or university curriculum design -- use an academic instructional design skill instead, as regulatory and pedagogical frameworks differ substantially
- The request is about corporate Learning Management System (LMS) selection for enterprise HR at scale (5,000+ seats) -- that requires an enterprise procurement and compliance skill
- The user wants to build in-person workshops, bootcamps, or live seminars with no online component -- use an event and workshop production skill
- The user needs a general business plan or funding pitch -- use a business plan writing skill and refer to this skill only for the education-specific revenue and cost modeling sections
- The request is about podcast or YouTube channel growth alone without a course or paid learning product attached -- use a content creator growth skill
- The user is asking about accredited degree programs at a college or university level -- regulatory and accreditation frameworks are outside this skill's scope

---

## Questions to Ask First

Before providing recommendations, gather the following. Ask no more than five questions at once. Prioritize the highest-uncertainty gaps first.

1. **What is the core transformation you are selling?** Not the topic -- the before and after. "Students go from [specific current state] to [specific outcome they can demonstrate]."
2. **Who is the ideal student, specifically?** Age, profession, current skill level, primary motivation (career change, promotion, business growth, personal interest), and where they spend time online.
3. **What is your existing audience?** Email list size, social following by platform, existing customers or clients, podcast listeners -- the realistic reach you can tap on day one.
4. **What is your revenue target and timeline?** Side project ($10K-50K/year), full-time solo ($100K-300K/year), or team-based academy ($500K-$2M+)? How many months until you need meaningful revenue?
5. **What is your time availability?** Hours per week you can commit to content creation, marketing, and student support -- this directly dictates which format and business model are feasible.
6. **Have you validated demand?** Have paying customers told you they want this, or are you still at the hypothesis stage?
7. **What is your preferred delivery format?** Self-paced video, cohort-based live instruction, asynchronous text-based, or hybrid?
8. **What certifications, credentials, or proof of expertise do you bring?** This affects pricing power and marketing angle.

---

## Process

### Step 1: Diagnose the Situation and Select the Right Model

- Identify which of the four creator stages applies: (1) Pre-validation -- no audience, no product; (2) Early traction -- audience exists but no proven course; (3) Growth -- first course is selling, needs scaling; (4) Academy -- multiple courses, team, systems needed.
- Match the business model to the stage. Do not build a subscription academy at Stage 1 -- the content volume and churn management will kill you before you get traction.
- Establish the primary constraint: Is the bottleneck audience size, conversion rate, product quality, student outcomes, or operational capacity? Every recommendation must address the primary constraint first.
- Define the core value proposition in one sentence using this formula: "I help [specific student type] achieve [specific outcome] in [timeframe] even if [specific objection or obstacle]." Example: "I help early-career data analysts land their first $80K+ analytics role in 90 days even if they have no formal CS degree."
- Map the competitive landscape by identifying the three to five most successful courses on the same topic. Note their price, format, length, reviews, and any clear gaps in student complaints (read 1-star reviews -- they are a curriculum brief).

### Step 2: Validate Demand Before Building

- If the creator is pre-validation, require demand validation before platform setup or content creation. Skip this step only if they have sold a similar course before to a similar audience.
- Run a beta cohort: recruit 5-20 students at 50-70% discount in exchange for weekly feedback sessions. Deliver the course live via Zoom + shared Google Slides + a simple Notion workspace. Record every session.
- Alternatively, run a paid workshop: a single 90-minute live session priced at $49-$199 that delivers the course's core transformation in compressed form. If 10+ people pay, demand is real.
- Use a waitlist landing page with a clear headline stating the outcome, a short email capture form, and a "notify me" CTA. Aim for a 30%+ email-to-waitlist conversion rate. Below 20% means the positioning needs rework.
- Survey waitlist subscribers with three questions: (1) What is the biggest challenge you face with [topic]? (2) What have you already tried? (3) What would change in your life if you solved this? These answers become your sales copy word-for-word.
- Threshold for proceeding: 10+ paying beta students OR a waitlist of 200+ subscribers with confirmed purchase intent from a survey.

### Step 3: Design the Curriculum Using Backward Design

- Start with the final assessment, not the first lesson. Define exactly what a student who successfully completes the course will be able to do, produce, or demonstrate. This is the capstone project or final exam.
- Work backward from the capstone to identify four to eight prerequisite milestones -- the skills or knowledge blocks that must be mastered in sequence. Each milestone becomes one module.
- For each module, define one primary learning objective using Bloom's Taxonomy action verbs. Prefer higher-order verbs (analyze, build, evaluate, create) over lower-order ones (recall, list, define). Students are paying for capability, not awareness.
- Design one assessed deliverable per module. The deliverable must be (a) real-world applicable, (b) visibly shareable, and (c) buildable in under two hours. A portfolio of six to eight real deliverables is your course's most powerful marketing asset.
- Only after milestones and assessments are defined, create the lesson content. Each video lesson: 5-12 minutes maximum. Each video answers exactly one question or teaches one technique. Never combine multiple concepts into one lesson -- it kills rewatchability.
- Lesson structure for every video: (1) Hook -- what problem does this lesson solve? (2) Teach -- the core content. (3) Demonstrate -- show it in action. (4) Assign -- what the student does immediately after. Total ratio: 20% concept, 50% demonstration, 30% practice prompt.
- Supplementary materials per lesson: one downloadable resource (template, checklist, or cheat sheet), one discussion prompt, one external resource link if applicable. These double perceived value without doubling creation time.
- Course length targets: Mini-course (1-3 hours total, one focused outcome, $29-$149) -- Flagship course (6-15 hours, comprehensive skill transformation, $197-$997) -- Certification program (20-50 hours, professional credentialing, $497-$3,000) -- Membership academy (ongoing curriculum, $29-$149/month or $297-$997/year).

### Step 4: Select the Platform Based on Business Model

- Match platform to the primary business model. Do not pick a platform because it is popular -- pick it because it fits your specific revenue model and technical capacity.

**Platform Decision Framework:**

| Scenario | Platform Recommendation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo creator, self-paced course, first product | Teachable or Thinkific | Low friction, solid checkout, good enough for $0-$200K/year |
| All-in-one (course + email + funnels + community) | Kajabi | Eliminates integration headaches at $149-$399/month |
| Community-first academy with courses as add-ons | Circle + Teachable or Thinkific | Best community UX plus solid course delivery |
| High-touch cohort course | Mighty Networks or Disco | Built for cohort scheduling, community, and live sessions |
| Interactive and quiz-heavy (compliance, professional certs) | LearnWorlds or Articulate 360 | SCORM compliance, branching scenarios, advanced assessment |
| Developer with full control | WordPress + LearnDash or LifterLMS | Unlimited customization, self-hosted, requires technical skill |
| B2B / enterprise training | TalentLMS or Docebo | SSO, team reporting, bulk licensing, compliance tracking |

- Do not over-invest in platform before validating. A $39/month Thinkific plan is sufficient for the first $100K in revenue. Platform switching is painful but survivable -- not launching because of platform paralysis is fatal.
- Evaluate five platform criteria in order: (1) Does it handle your delivery format natively? (2) Does checkout integrate with your payment processor? (3) Does it have drip scheduling if your format requires it? (4) Can students access it easily on mobile? (5) Does support documentation match your technical comfort level?
- Required integrations: email marketing platform (ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, or Mailchimp), payment processor (Stripe), community tool if platform lacks one, and Zapier or Make for automation if the platform does not have native connections.

### Step 5: Build the Student Experience System

- Completion rates for online courses average 5-15% industry-wide. Your target: 40-60% for self-paced, 60-85% for cohort-based. Every system decision should be measured against its impact on completion rate.
- Onboarding sequence (first 48 hours): (1) Automated welcome email with exactly one action item -- watch Lesson 1 and complete the first exercise. Not five things. One. (2) A "quick win" lesson that produces a tangible result within 30 minutes. (3) An introduction prompt in the community: "Tell us your name, your goal, and one thing you are worried about." (4) A 48-hour check-in email asking: "Have you started? Here is a link directly to Lesson 1."
- Progress mechanics: implement milestone badges at module completion -- these trigger automatic congratulation emails. Use a visual progress bar on the dashboard. Email students who have not logged in for seven days with a specific "pick up where you left off" message that links directly to their last incomplete lesson.
- Community structure: create one general channel, one per-module channel (for questions specific to that week's content), one "wins" channel, and one "accountability partners" channel. Do not create more than six channels -- community dies of fragmentation.
- Live elements: weekly or bi-weekly 60-minute Q&A calls. Record and upload within 24 hours. Office hours calls convert lurkers into completers. Even one live call per month has measurable impact on completion and testimonial generation.
- Graduation system: send a personalized (mail-merge name) congratulation email with certificate attached, a request for a testimonial (link to a Google Form with four specific questions), and an introduction to the next logical course or membership upgrade.

### Step 6: Build the Marketing and Launch System

- The funnel for online courses follows a four-stage model: Awareness (content marketing) -- Interest (lead magnet + email list) -- Consideration (nurture sequence + social proof) -- Purchase (launch or evergreen sales sequence).
- Audience building timeline: 6-12 months before a full launch is ideal. However, creators with fewer than 1,000 email subscribers should launch a cohort-based beta first -- small audience + live delivery = higher conversion rates (10-25% vs. 1-3% for evergreen).
- Lead magnet selection: a single, highly specific free resource that solves one problem in your course's domain and is usable in under 20 minutes. Formats in order of conversion effectiveness: (1) actionable template or toolkit, (2) short video training, (3) quiz with personalized results, (4) cheat sheet or reference guide, (5) email course (5-7 days). Avoid generic ebooks.
- Email nurture sequence post-opt-in: Day 0 -- deliver the lead magnet with one specific action to take. Day 2 -- share your origin story and why you teach this topic. Day 4 -- teach one high-value concept relevant to your course topic. Day 6 -- address the most common objection to buying a course like yours. Day 8 -- share a student result or case study. Day 10 -- soft pitch to join waitlist or buy.
- Launch strategy for first course: a four-week open/close cart launch generates 70-80% of annual revenue in one window for many solo creators. Week 1: announce and build excitement. Week 2: deliver free value (workshop, challenge, or video series). Week 3: open cart for 5-7 days. Week 4: close cart and begin fulfillment. The urgency of a close date is the single highest-impact conversion lever in online education.
- Evergreen funnel (post-launch): the automated always-on alternative. Traffic -- opt-in for lead magnet -- 10-day email nurture -- sales page -- checkout. Evergreen converts at 1-3% of leads on average. A launch window typically converts at 5-15% of leads. Use evergreen to sustain between launches, not as the primary revenue strategy in the first two years.
- Pricing anchors: always present three tiers. Self-paced (base), self-paced + community + Q&A (mid), cohort or 1-on-1 coaching option (premium). The middle tier is where 60-70% of buyers land. The premium tier makes the middle tier feel like a bargain. Price anchoring is more important than the actual price point.

### Step 7: Build the Business Operations and Scaling System

- Solo creator profitability benchmark: at $500-$997 average course price, a creator needs to sell 100-200 units per year to hit $100K. At $29/month membership, they need 290 active paying members. These numbers determine the audience size and conversion rate targets that make the business viable.
- Affiliate and referral system: activate after first 30 students have completed the course and generated testimonials. Offer 25-40% recurring commission for memberships or 20-30% one-time for courses. Use Rewardful or FirstPromoter to track. Students make the best affiliates -- they have authentic credibility.
- Content marketing engine: one platform, consistently. YouTube (SEO-driven, long game, highest-quality leads), LinkedIn (B2B professional courses, fastest to conversions), TikTok/Instagram Reels (fastest audience growth, lowest conversion), podcast (deepest relationship building, slowest growth). Pick one primary channel and one secondary channel. Do not spread across five platforms.
- Hiring sequence when scaling beyond $200K: (1) Virtual assistant for student support and admin (10-15 hours/week, $15-25/hour). (2) Video editor (per-project, $75-200/video). (3) Course success manager to run community and Q&A calls. (4) Marketing manager or media buyer when ad spend exceeds $5K/month. Do not hire before these thresholds -- premature hiring kills margins.
- Annual content calendar: plan two launches per year minimum for course creators, four launches for membership academies (quarterly enrollment windows). Between launches, publish lead-gen content weekly and send nurture emails every 7-10 days.

---

## Output Format

When responding to a user request about building an online academy, structure your output as follows:

```
## Online Academy Build Plan

### Situation Assessment
- Creator Stage: [Pre-validation / Early Traction / Growth / Academy]
- Primary Constraint: [Audience / Conversion / Product / Operations]
- Recommended Business Model: [One-time course / Cohort / Membership / Tiered]
- Time-to-Revenue Target: [X months]

---

### Core Value Proposition
"I help [specific student type] achieve [specific outcome] in [timeframe] even if [objection]."

Competitive Differentiator: [What makes this different from the top 3 competing courses]

---

### Curriculum Blueprint

**Course Title:** [Working title]
**Format:** [Self-paced / Cohort-based / Hybrid]
**Total Length:** [X hours across Y modules]
**Price Point:** [$X one-time / $X/month / Tiered at $X, $X, $X]

**Capstone Assessment:** [What students will produce or demonstrate at completion]

| Module | Title | Learning Objective | Assessed Deliverable | Length |
|--------|-------|-------------------|---------------------|--------|
| 1 | [Title] | Students will be able to [verb] | [Deliverable] | [X min] |
| 2 | [Title] | Students will be able to [verb] | [Deliverable] | [X min] |
| 3 | [Title] | Students will be able to [verb] | [Deliverable] | [X min] |
| 4 | [Title] | Students will be able to [verb] | [Deliverable] | [X min] |

---

### Platform Recommendation
**Primary Platform:** [Platform name]
**Reason:** [2-3 specific reasons tied to the creator's situation]
**Required Integrations:** [Email tool, payment processor, community tool if separate]
**Monthly Platform Cost:** [$X/month]

---

### Student Experience Design

**Onboarding Sequence:**
- Hour 0: [Automated action]
- Hour 2: [Automated action]
- Day 2: [Email or check-in]
- Day 7: [Re-engagement trigger]

**Completion Drivers:**
- [Specific mechanism 1]
- [Specific mechanism 2]
- [Specific mechanism 3]

**Community Structure:**
- Channel 1: [Name and purpose]
- Channel 2: [Name and purpose]
- Channel 3: [Name and purpose]

---

### Marketing and Launch Plan

**Lead Magnet:** [Title, format, and specific topic]
**Primary Content Channel:** [Platform and content type]
**Email List Target Before Launch:** [X subscribers]

**Launch Timeline:**
- Week -6 to -4: [Action]
- Week -3 to -2: [Action]
- Week -1: [Action]
- Launch Week (Days 1-7): [Action]
- Post-Launch: [Evergreen or next launch date]

**Pricing Structure:**
| Tier | What's Included | Price |
|------|----------------|-------|
| Self-Paced | [Inclusions] | $[X] |
| Accelerator | [Inclusions] | $[X] |
| VIP / Coaching | [Inclusions] | $[X] |

---

### 90-Day Revenue Projection

| Month | Action | Revenue Estimate |
|-------|--------|-----------------|
| Month 1 | [Activity] | $[X] |
| Month 2 | [Activity] | $[X] |
| Month 3 | [Activity] | $[X] |

**Break-Even Point:** [X students at $X price]
**Target Annual Run Rate:** $[X]

---

### Immediate Action Items (Next 14 Days)
- [ ] [Specific action with deadline]
- [ ] [Specific action with deadline]
- [ ] [Specific action with deadline]
- [ ] [Specific action with deadline]
- [ ] [Specific action with deadline]
```

---

## Rules

1. **Never recommend platform before validating demand.** A creator who has not yet sold anything should not spend more than $39/month on a platform. Recommend Zoom + Notion + Gumroad for beta delivery. Kajabi at $399/month before a single sale is premature infrastructure.

2. **Never confuse topic with transformation.** "A course on copywriting" is not a value proposition. "A course that helps freelancers double their client rates in 60 days by mastering persuasion frameworks" is. Every curriculum decision must trace back to the transformation statement or it does not belong in the course.

3. **Completion rate is the leading indicator of business health.** Low completion rates predict high refund rates, poor word-of-mouth, and stagnant testimonial generation. If a creator reports completion rates below 20% for a self-paced course, diagnose the student experience before recommending more marketing.

4. **Pricing must be calibrated to audience sophistication and outcome value, not creation cost.** A 3-hour course that helps someone land a $20K salary increase can legitimately sell for $997. A 30-hour course on a hobby topic may struggle to sell for $199. Never let course length drive pricing. ROI to the student drives pricing.

5. **Do not recommend broad multi-platform content strategies to creators without a team.** A solo creator posting daily on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, and a podcast simultaneously will burn out and execute none of them well. Recommend one primary and one secondary channel maximum until monthly revenue exceeds $20K.

6. **Cohort-based models require real operational readiness.** Cohort courses demand weekly live calls, synchronized content release, facilitated community, and personal instructor presence. Do not recommend cohort format unless the creator has 10+ hours per week available during the cohort period and the confidence to run live sessions.

7. **Email list ownership is non-negotiable.** Social media following is rented. If a creator's entire audience lives on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube with no email list, flag this as a critical business risk before any other recommendations. The first action item must always include a strategy to convert social followers to email subscribers.

8. **Certification credibility requires real assessment, not completion clicking.** A certificate that requires only watching videos has no market value. For professional markets, certificates must involve demonstrated competency -- project submission, graded assessment, or peer evaluation -- to justify premium pricing and student investment.

9. **Refund policies must be stated clearly and honored without friction.** A 30-day money-back guarantee reduces purchase anxiety and increases conversion rates more than it increases refund rates (industry data consistently shows refund rates below 5% with strong curriculum). Do not recommend hidden refund policies or excessive friction in the refund process -- it destroys reputation and generates chargebacks.

10. **Student results are the marketing department.** Every curriculum, community, and support decision should be optimized to maximize the number of students who achieve the stated course outcome. One verified, specific student result (quantified outcome, before/after, real person) is worth 100 hours of content marketing. Build testimonial collection into the graduation flow automatically.

---

## Edge Cases

### Creator Has a Large Audience but No Course Yet

Large audiences (10,000+ email subscribers, 50,000+ social followers) represent a one-time trust opportunity. A bad first launch permanently damages the relationship. Do not rush to ship. Run a survey first to identify the highest-demand topic. Run a free workshop to gauge live engagement. Launch as a live cohort with 25-50 students at a discounted "founding member" price before building the self-paced version. Prioritize depth and student results over fast shipping. The first course needs to be genuinely excellent -- it sets the reputation for everything that follows.

### Creator Has Expertise but No Audience

This is the most common situation and requires a specific sequencing. Do not build the course first -- build the audience simultaneously with course creation over 90-120 days. Commit to one content platform (LinkedIn for B2B professionals, YouTube for how-to skills, TikTok/Instagram for visual or lifestyle topics). Publish three times per week minimum. Every post should demonstrate expertise and point toward a free resource opt-in. Use the content creation process to validate which topics get the most engagement -- these become your highest-priority modules. Launch to a small email list (even 300-500 subscribers) as a live cohort at low volume first, then scale.

### Course Has Sold but Students Are Not Completing

Diagnose before prescribing. Run a "dropout audit": identify exactly which lesson or module students stop at (all platforms provide this data). If 60% of students drop at Module 3, that module has a problem -- it may be too long, too abstract, too technically difficult, or it lacks a compelling deliverable. Solutions in priority order: (1) add a "quick win" exercise to the problem module; (2) break long lessons into shorter segments; (3) add a live office hours session timed to the dropout point; (4) add a peer accountability pairing at module entry; (5) email all students at the dropout point with a specific prompt and direct link.

### B2B Client Wants to Build a Customer Training Academy

This differs substantially from creator-to-consumer course selling. Key differences: content must support product adoption and reduce support burden, not just educate; completion is often incentivized or required rather than optional; certificates serve compliance or onboarding purposes; billing is seat-based or enterprise contract, not individual checkout. Platform selection shifts toward Skilljar, Docebo, or Thought Industries for customer education specifically. Curriculum design should map directly to product feature adoption milestones. Success metrics are customer retention (NRR), time-to-first-value, and support ticket deflection -- not course revenue.

### Course Revenue Has Plateaued Below $10K/Month

Plateau at this level almost always means one of three things: (1) price is too low -- test a price increase of 30-50%; (2) the evergreen funnel is not converting -- the copy, the offer, or the lead magnet needs testing; (3) the audience is exhausted -- no new traffic is entering the funnel. Diagnose by checking: conversion rate from lead to buyer (below 1% means funnel copy problem), email list growth rate (below 100 new subscribers per month means traffic problem), and average order value (below $197 for a flagship course means pricing problem). Address in this order: traffic, conversion rate, then average order value.

### Creator Wants to License Their Curriculum to Other Instructors

This is a legitimate and lucrative scaling path but requires operational infrastructure most creators do not have. Requirements before licensing: a fully documented instructor guide for every module, a standardized student assessment rubric, a clear brand and quality control process, a legal agreement covering IP ownership and revenue share, and a minimum of 50 students through the original course with documented outcomes. Revenue share models: 60/40 (licensee/creator) or 70/30 for instructors who bring their own audience. Platform recommendation shifts to a white-label LMS or a master account structure with sub-accounts. Treat the licensing program itself as a separate product that requires its own sales and onboarding process.

### Creator Is Teaching a Regulated or Legally Sensitive Topic (Finance, Law, Health)

All content must include a clear disclaimer stating the material is for educational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Do not promise specific financial, legal, or health outcomes in sales copy -- this creates regulatory and liability exposure. Certificate programs in regulated fields should explicitly state they are not equivalent to professional licensure. For financial topics, avoid specific investment recommendations. For health topics, include "consult your physician" guidance. Review sales page copy with a legal advisor before launch. Pricing in regulated categories tends to be higher ($500-$3,000) because professional audiences have higher ability to pay and clearer ROI.

---

## Example

**Input from User:**
"I'm a UX designer with 8 years of experience. I've been freelancing for 4 years and make about $120K/year. I have around 2,000 LinkedIn followers and a 400-person email list, mostly people who've asked me questions over the years. I want to build a course teaching other designers how to go freelance. I've never created a course before. I have about 10 hours per week I can put into this. Is this feasible and where do I start?"

---

**Output:**

## Online Academy Build Plan

### Situation Assessment
- **Creator Stage:** Early Traction -- you have real expertise, a small but relevant audience, and proof of concept through your own freelance success
- **Primary Constraint:** Audience size (400 email subscribers is workable but small -- conversion math requires either a live cohort or audience growth before evergreen launch)
- **Recommended Business Model:** Cohort-based launch (3 cohorts over 12 months), then evergreen
- **Time-to-Revenue Target:** 8-10 weeks to first paying students with a beta cohort approach
- **Feasibility Assessment:** Highly feasible. Your 8 years of experience and real $120K/year income are powerful proof points. A 400-person email list is sufficient for a beta cohort of 10-20 students. The gap between you and a $100K/year course business is narrower than you think -- it requires one strong cohort, strong student results, and a disciplined content plan.

---

### Core Value Proposition

"I help mid-career UX designers land their first freelance clients and replace their full-time salary in 90 days -- even if they have no portfolio, no network, and no idea what to charge."

**Competitive Differentiator:** Most freelance courses are taught by generalists or business coaches. You are a practicing UX freelancer earning $120K/year. Your course teaches the actual UX-specific path: which platforms UX clients use, how to position a UX portfolio for freelance vs. employment, how to price UX deliverables (not just "set your hourly rate"), and how to handle UX-specific scope creep and project management. That is your moat.

---

### Curriculum Blueprint

**Course Title (Working):** "Freelance UX: From Employed to Independent in 90 Days"
**Format:** Cohort-based (live weekly calls) for first two runs, then self-paced version
**Total Length:** 8 modules, approximately 10 hours of video content, delivered over 8 weeks
**Price Point:** Beta Cohort 1 at $497 -- Full Price Cohort at $797 -- Self-Paced (post-cohort) at $597

**Capstone Assessment:** Students submit a complete freelance business setup: a repositioned portfolio with three case studies, a rate card, a client proposal template, and proof of outreach to five potential clients.

| Module | Title | Learning Objective | Assessed Deliverable | Length |
|--------|-------|--------------------|---------------------|--------|
| 1 | The Freelance UX Business Model | Students will be able to articulate the three freelance income models and select the right one for their situation | Written "freelance business model" decision document | 60 min |
| 2 | Positioning and Niche Selection | Students will be able to define a specific UX niche with identifiable clients and documented demand | 1-page niche statement with three target client types | 75 min |
| 3 | Portfolio for Freelance (Not Employment) | Students will be able to restructure existing case studies to speak directly to freelance client outcomes | Two revised portfolio case studies published live | 90 min |
| 4 | Pricing, Rates, and Scope | Students will be able to calculate a minimum viable day rate and build a scope-of-work template | Completed rate card and one scope-of-work document | 80 min |
| 5 | Finding and Approaching Clients | Students will be able to identify five qualified leads and write a personalized outreach message for each | Five documented outreach messages with responses tracked | 75 min |
| 6 | Discovery Calls and Sales Conversations | Students will be able to conduct a structured 30-minute discovery call and move a prospect to a proposal | Discovery call script + one conducted call (role-played with cohort peer) | 60 min |
| 7 | Proposals, Contracts, and Onboarding | Students will be able to send a professional proposal and execute a legally sound freelance contract | One completed proposal + signed contract template | 70 min |
| 8 | Managing Projects and Clients (Sustainably) | Students will be able to manage concurrent freelance projects without scope creep or burnout | Project management dashboard setup + client communication template library | 60 min |

---

### Platform Recommendation

**Primary Platform:** Teachable (Growth plan at $99/month)
**Reason:**
- Handles drip scheduling natively -- you can release one module per week to simulate the cohort cadence
- Clean checkout and payment plan options (critical for $497-$797 price points -- offer 2-payment plans)
- Enough for $0-$300K/year without needing to migrate
- Simple enough to set up in one weekend without developer help

**Required Integrations:**
- **Email:** ConvertKit (free up to 1,000 subscribers, built for creators, has automations needed for drip sequences and re-engagement)
- **Payment:** Stripe via Teachable's native integration
- **Community:** Slack (free, familiar to designers, separate from Teachable -- link from welcome email)
- **Live Sessions:** Zoom for weekly group calls
- **Scheduling:** Calendly for any 1-on-1 touchpoints

**Monthly Platform Cost:** $99 (Teachable) + $29 (ConvertKit after 1,000 subs) = $128/month

---

### Student Experience Design

**Onboarding Sequence (triggered immediately on enrollment):**
- **Hour 0:** Automated welcome email with one action item -- complete the "Freelance Readiness Survey" (a 5-question Typeform) and watch Module 1 Lesson 1. Nothing else.
- **Hour 2:** Automated Slack invite with a prompt: "Introduce yourself -- your current role, your freelance goal, and your biggest fear about going independent."
- **Day 2:** Personal email from you (can be a mail-merge template): "I saw you joined -- what brought you here this week specifically?" This one question generates replies that give you both a student connection and sales copy insights.
- **Day 7 (if no module progress logged):** Re-engagement email -- "Life gets busy. Here is a 12-minute path back in: [direct link to Lesson 1 at their current progress point]."
- **End of Week 2 (Module 2 complete):** Automated milestone badge + congratulations email with a prompt to share their niche statement in Slack.

**Completion Drivers:**
- Weekly live Q&A calls every Thursday at 12:00 PM ET -- recorded and uploaded by Friday morning. The call schedule creates a weekly commitment anchor.
- Peer accountability pairing at Module 1 -- match students in pairs to check in via Slack DM weekly. Pairs report back in the main channel each Sunday.
- Module completion certificates at Modules 4 and 8 -- mid-course and graduation. Mid-course certificate is titled "Freelance UX Business Fundamentals." Graduation is "Freelance UX Launch Certified."
- A shared cohort "progress wall" in Slack -- a pinned post updated weekly showing which students have completed which modules (gamification through social visibility).

**Community Structure (Slack):**
- **#introductions** -- first post for all new students
- **#module-discussions** -- questions about current week's content
- **#portfolio-feedback** -- share Module 3 work for peer review
- **#client-wins** -- post every discovery call booked, proposal sent, or client landed
- **#office-hours-recordings** -- weekly call recordings uploaded here

---

### Marketing and Launch Plan

**Lead Magnet:** "The UX Freelance Rate Calculator" -- a Notion template that helps designers calculate their minimum viable hourly rate, day rate, and project rate based on their target annual income, desired billable hours, and tax/expense overhead. Takes 15 minutes to complete and produces a number they have never had before. This is highly specific to your audience and directly related to your course content.

**Primary Content Channel:** LinkedIn (your 2,000 followers are already there; UX hiring managers and potential clients are there; written posts perform well; you can build to 10,000 followers in 6-9 months with consistent posting)

**Secondary Channel:** A 5-day email course opt-in called "5 Mistakes UX Designers Make When Going Freelance" -- each day covers one mistake with a story and a fix. Delivered automatically via ConvertKit. This email course runs forever and feeds the main course waitlist.

**Email List Target Before Full Launch:** 800-1,000 subscribers (you currently have 400 -- you need 4-6 months of list building for a full evergreen launch, but you do NOT need to wait -- you can launch a beta cohort to your 400 now)

**Launch Timeline (Beta Cohort -- Starting Now):**

- **Week -3:** Post three LinkedIn articles about freelance UX mistakes, pricing lessons, and portfolio strategy. Each directs readers to the Rate Calculator lead magnet. Send the lead magnet announcement to your 400-person email list.
- **Week -2:** Email your list announcing the beta cohort -- "I am teaching a small group of 15 designers to go freelance over 8 weeks. Beta students get a 40% discount ($497 vs. $797) in exchange for detailed feedback and a case study. Applications close in 10 days." Link to a Typeform application (3 questions -- not a checkout page).
- **Week -1:** Follow up with non-applicants: "Spots are filling." Email applicants who were accepted with a checkout link. Personal Zoom call with anyone who applied but has not paid.
- **Launch Week:** Accept first 15 students. Close beta enrollment. Send "we are full" email to generate FOMO for Cohort 2. Begin collecting survey responses from accepted students to refine content priorities.
- **Cohort 1 (Weeks 1-8):** Deliver the course live. Record everything. Collect written and video testimonials from students at Week 4 and Week 8. Document 3-5 specific student results.
- **Post-Cohort 1 (Week 10):** Open Cohort 2 at $697. Send testimonials and case studies to your full list. Begin evergreen lead magnet funnel on LinkedIn. Target Cohort 2 enrollment of 25-30 students.
- **6 Months Post-Launch:** Self-paced version launched at $597. Evergreen funnel driving traffic from LinkedIn and email list continuously. Cohort 3 scheduled as "advanced" option at $997 with direct feedback from you.

**Pricing Structure:**

| Tier | What's Included | Price |
|------|----------------|-------|
| Self-Paced Access | All 8 modules, all templates, Slack community (6 months) | $597 |
| Cohort (Accelerator) | All above + 8 weekly live Q&A calls + peer accountability pairing + priority feedback on deliverables | $797 |
| VIP Cohort + Coaching | All above + three 45-minute 1-on-1 calls with you + personal portfolio review | $1,497 |

---

### 90-Day Revenue Projection

| Month | Action | Revenue Estimate |
|-------|--------|-----------------|
| Month 1 | Beta Cohort 1 -- 12 students at $497 | $5,964 |
| Month 2 | Cohort 1 in progress -- lead magnet funnel building list | $0 new (list building) |
| Month 3 | Cohort 2 open enrollment -- 20 students at $697 + 2 VIP at $1,497 | $16,934 |

**3-Month Total:** ~$22,898
**Break-Even Point:** 4 students at $497 (covers 6 months of platform and tools at ~$500/month)
**Target Annual Run Rate (Month 12):** $80,000-$120,000 (three cohorts + evergreen self-paced + growing email list enabling larger Cohort 4 enrollment of 40-60 students)

---

### Immediate Action Items (Next 14 Days)

- [ ] **Day 1-2:** Write and publish the UX Freelance Rate Calculator in Notion. Add a cover page with your photo and a brief "why I built this" paragraph. Set up ConvertKit sequence to deliver it automatically to new subscribers.
- [ ] **Day 3-5:** Write and schedule three LinkedIn posts for the next three weeks. Post 1: "The pricing mistake I made in my first year of UX freelancing (and what it cost me)." Post 2: "How I landed my first freelance UX client with a portfolio that was not perfect." Post 3: "What no one tells you about going from employed UX designer to independent."
- [ ] **Day 5:** Send an email to your 400-person list introducing the Rate Calculator lead magnet. Casually mention at the bottom that you are "exploring whether to run a small group program this fall -- hit reply if that interests you." This gauges demand without commitment.
- [ ] **Day 7:** Build the beta cohort application form in Typeform (three questions: current role, freelance goal, biggest obstacle). Set up Teachable account on Growth plan. Do not spend more than 2 hours on platform setup this week -- the content comes first.
- [ ] **Day 10:** Outline Module 1 fully using the backward design framework above. Write the learning objective, design the deliverable, then outline the five to seven lessons that lead to that deliverable. Repeat for Module 2. Do not record anything yet -- outline first.
- [ ] **Day 14:** Send the beta cohort announcement email to your list. Be specific: 15 spots, 8 weeks, $497, applications close in 10 days. This is your first revenue signal. Everything you learn from this announcement informs every marketing decision going forward.
