Interesting. TBH, it never even occurred to me that anybody would make, or even attempt to make, their living as a full-time Udemy instructor. I always assumed that creating Udemy courses was a combination of "labor of love", "side hustle / extra income", or marketing for someone's consulting service or product(s).
I know I've given some thought to creating a couple of Udemy courses myself, but haven't taken the plunge yet. And for me, it would mostly be "labor of love" and "marketing". Any extra income would be like "found money" to me.
EDIT:
@fiftyacorn said something interesting in another thread.
but it did improve my understanding of the subject, and also made it easier to get work and consultancy opportunities
That also reflects some of my thinking on this subject. I remember when I did my Qualification School as a Firefighter I/II instructor, our instructor said something that has stuck with me for 30 some odd years now. He said "you don't really understand something until you've taught it to somebody else." I wholeheartedly endorse that mindset, and that would be another reason I might make a Udemy course - as a forcing function to make me do a deep dive into something, and deepen my own understanding.
I think that's about how to think about posted online content in general. Maybe you'll hit a somewhat jackpot but if that's what you're betting on, you should probably rethink because it's very unlikely to happen. Assume you'll make ~nothing. So it's not really a side hustle. If you're not OK with that, you probably shouldn't try.
Assume you'll make ~nothing. So it's not really a side hustle.
Yeah, no doubt. For me, the marketing aspect really is the biggest thing in terms of any financial return. If I do create any courses, it would be part of an effort to position myself and/or my company as experts in a particular area. And that would just be one part of a multi-pronged strategy that would include making Youtube videos, possibly writing (a) book(s), etc.
Yeah, but if you look at the numbers, it isn't any good as a side-hustle, either. The vast majority of courses don't make enough money for the effort invested to even qualify as break-even.
I think online courses are a challenge. I've taken a number of them, and for them to work you have to get many, many things right, because you don't have the opportunities for course-correction that exist in an in-person class.
The professors who do EdX (or whatever) versions of their big lecture classes--which they've done a million times--can be pretty good and they don't get a lot of real-time feedback there either. But that is the exception, of course.
I always assumed those classes don't need to make the professors any money, as the professors earn a salary,
and they're more about broadening access and performing the school's charitable goal of educating lots of students,
secure in the knowledge that even a thousand hours of free online Harvard lectures can't replace a Harvard degree, so the tuition money will keep pouring in.
Sure. My sense is that the Unis have somewhat fallen out of love with MOOCs (as have students as they realize that they're not getting the certification value they have hoped for).
I know I've given some thought to creating a couple of Udemy courses myself, but haven't taken the plunge yet. And for me, it would mostly be "labor of love" and "marketing". Any extra income would be like "found money" to me.
EDIT:
@fiftyacorn said something interesting in another thread.
but it did improve my understanding of the subject, and also made it easier to get work and consultancy opportunities
That also reflects some of my thinking on this subject. I remember when I did my Qualification School as a Firefighter I/II instructor, our instructor said something that has stuck with me for 30 some odd years now. He said "you don't really understand something until you've taught it to somebody else." I wholeheartedly endorse that mindset, and that would be another reason I might make a Udemy course - as a forcing function to make me do a deep dive into something, and deepen my own understanding.