Playbook · Online course
Plan for a course creator's first sales
Seven moves to sell your first 10–20 seats before you've built an audience.
- 7 ranked plays
- 30-day sequence
- Costs and tools included
Plan for a course creator's first sales: what should you actually do?
Seven moves to sell your first 10–20 seats before you've built an audience. There are 7 ranked plays here, starting with pre-sell before you record a single lesson, sequenced over 4 weeks, each with the tools it needs, the hours it takes and what it costs. Written for 2026 and free to read in full.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Play | Effort | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-sell before you record a single lesson | 2 days | £0–£15 a month |
| One-to-one conversations with 20 people who'd buy | 1 week | £0 |
| Publish one free, complete lesson as proof | 1–2 days | £0 |
| Guest on three podcasts or newsletters your buyers already follow | 3–4 hours to research and pitch | £0 |
| Run the first cohort live, not pre-recorded | 4 hours a week during the cohort | £0–£15 a month |
| Post the process publicly, not just the outcome | 1 hour a week | £0–£12 a month |
| Ask your first cohort for a specific testimonial and referral | 1 hour | £0 |
Most first-time course creators build the entire course before trying to sell a single seat, then discover nobody wants it. The fix is to sell before you finish recording — a pre-sale validates the topic, the price and the promise with real money, not likes.
This plan assumes you have expertise worth teaching (a result you've achieved yourself or helped others achieve), no existing email list or audience of size, and a topic narrow enough to describe in one sentence. It's built around getting your first 10–20 paying students before the course is finished.
- — A specific, provable result you can teach someone to get
- — No requirement for a large existing audience
- — Willingness to sell the course before it's fully built
- — A topic narrow enough to name the exact buyer
If you're trying to teach something broad like 'how to be more productive' with no specific before/after result, narrow the topic first — vague promises don't sell in a pre-launch with no social proof.
The moves
Ranked, highest return first.
Work down the list. Each one names the first step so there's nothing to plan.
- 01
Pre-sell before you record a single lesson
Selling the outline gets you real payment commitment and tells you if the topic and price work, before you spend 100 hours recording something nobody wants.
First step: Write the module outline and one core promise. Set up a simple checkout page and offer a founding cohort discount for the first 15 buyers, delivered live over four weeks.
- Tools
- Gumroad, Stripe, or Podia for checkout
- Effort
- 2 days
- Cost
- £0–£15 a month
- 02
One-to-one conversations with 20 people who'd buy
Talking to potential buyers before building anything tells you the exact words they use to describe the problem — words you'll reuse in every piece of sales copy.
First step: Message 20 people who fit the buyer profile and ask for 15 minutes about how they currently deal with the problem your course solves. Don't pitch — listen.
- Tools
- LinkedIn, existing network, relevant communities
- Effort
- 1 week
- Cost
- £0
- 03
Publish one free, complete lesson as proof
A genuinely useful free lesson proves you can actually teach, which matters more for a first cohort than any amount of sales copy.
First step: Record or write one standalone lesson that solves a small but real piece of the problem. Publish it on YouTube or as a blog post with an email opt-in at the end.
- Tools
- YouTube, Loom, or a blog post
- Effort
- 1–2 days
- Cost
- £0
- 04
Guest on three podcasts or newsletters your buyers already follow
Borrowing someone else's audience for 30 minutes is faster than building your own from zero, and a warm recommendation converts far better than a cold ad.
First step: List ten podcasts or newsletters your ideal student already follows. Pitch a specific, useful talking point, not a generic 'have me on'.
- Tools
- Podcast guest directories, direct email
- Effort
- 3–4 hours to research and pitch
- Cost
- £0
- 05
Run the first cohort live, not pre-recorded
A live cohort with real deadlines and interaction is easier to sell and finish for a first cohort than a self-paced product, and gives you direct feedback to improve the next one.
First step: Schedule four weekly live sessions with a fixed start date. Sell the seats against that date, creating real urgency.
- Tools
- Zoom, Google Meet
- Effort
- 4 hours a week during the cohort
- Cost
- £0–£15 a month
- 06
Post the process publicly, not just the outcome
Documenting what you're building and why gets more engagement than polished announcements, because people follow progress, not finished products.
First step: Post twice a week on LinkedIn or X about a decision you made building the course and why — pricing, structure, a student question.
- Tools
- LinkedIn, X, Typefully for scheduling
- Effort
- 1 hour a week
- Cost
- £0–£12 a month
- 07
Ask your first cohort for a specific testimonial and referral
A testimonial that names the exact result ('cut my invoice-chasing time from 4 hours to 40 minutes a week') sells the next cohort far better than 'great course!'
First step: At the end of the cohort, ask each student one specific question: what changed for you, in numbers if possible. Ask directly if they know one other person who'd benefit.
- Tools
- A short survey form
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- £0
Sequence
What to do first, week by week.
Validate
Run the 20 buyer conversations, write the outline, and set up the pre-sale checkout page with a founding cohort price.
Build proof
Publish the free lesson, pitch five podcasts or newsletters, and start posting twice a week about the build process.
Close the pre-sale
Push the pre-sale directly to everyone from the buyer conversations and email list, with a clear close date.
Deliver and collect proof
Run the first live session, gather feedback weekly, and prepare the specific testimonial questions for the end of the cohort.
Avoid
Where this usually goes wrong.
Building the full course before selling anything
Months of recording before a single sale means you've validated nothing. Sell the outline and a live delivery date first, then build.
Pricing too low for a first cohort
A founding cohort at a steep discount still needs to feel like a real commitment for both sides. Pricing too low attracts unmotivated buyers who don't finish and don't refer anyone.
Teaching a topic too broad to describe in one sentence
'Become more productive' can't be pre-sold because nobody can picture the specific outcome. Narrow it to one measurable result for one specific audience.
Questions
Common questions.
How many people do I need to talk to before building a course?
15–20 genuine conversations with people who fit the buyer profile is usually enough to validate the topic and hear the language they use to describe the problem.
What's a reasonable price for a first cohort?
Most first cohorts price between £150–£500 depending on the depth and the result promised — low enough to be an easy yes, high enough that buyers show up and finish.
Should the first cohort be live or self-paced?
Live, with a fixed start date. It's easier to sell against a real deadline, easier to finish building under pressure, and gives you direct feedback you can't get from a pre-recorded course.
How big does my email list need to be to sell 15 seats?
You don't need a list at all if you run direct one-to-one conversations and outreach — many first cohorts sell entirely from 20–40 direct conversations plus a couple of podcast guest spots.
What if the pre-sale doesn't sell any seats?
Treat it as data, not failure — go back to the 20 buyer conversations and check whether the promise matches what they actually said they wanted, then adjust the outline or the price before trying again.
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