Create an online course? Teach people online? Who… me? Just a few years ago I asked myself those same questions and since then I’ve launched 4 online courses and built a membership program.

When you’re at this point where you’re thinking about offering an online course, but you’re not sure if you could do it, and you’re a bit freaked out, this post is for you.

So, are you ready for an online course? I’m pretty sure you are! Let’s have a look at the most common misconceptions and fears that might be holding you back:

#1 I’m not an expert…

Maybe you’ve heard somewhere that you need to have tons of experience teaching your topic 1-on-1 before you should even think about creating an online course. Well, I didn’t! Instead I had experience working in digital marketing and a bit of understanding (and lots of love) for the yoga world.

The point is, if you have experience in your field, you’re ready to take that knowledge and experience and apply it in a new way through creating an online course. It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked with people 1-on-1, or how many years’ experience, or if you’re able to get into advanced yoga poses.

What you need to bring to the table are knowledge about your chosen topic. You shouldn’t teach things you don’t understand obviously, but you don’t need to be a total expert. You need to know more than your audience. If you’re teaching beginners, that’s a different level than if you would offer a course for advanced yoga students.

#2 I only have a tiny email list…

This is another very common fear. Can you launch a course when you only have a tiny audience?

To tell the truth, it’s more challenging. When you have a lot of followers on social media or, and this is preferable, subscribers to your email list, launching your online course will be easier.

It’s basically a number game. If you have 1,000 subscribers on your email list, you can expect between 2% to 5% to buy your course. This number will depend on how engaged your audience is, like how “warmed up” they are, have they heard from you regularly, are they your biggest fans, are they squeaking with excitement when you announce your course.

If not, you may have to warm them up before your launch. You can send them a weekly newsletter full of value, go live on Facebook and/or Instagram every week or run a free challenge.

If you have only a tiny email list, I would recommend that you try to grow it while working on your course. It will be more work, but it will help you launch your course successfully.

But in the end, it’s the quality of your list and how valuable your offer is for your audience that will define your success.

I heard stories of people having super successful 5-figure launches with a tiny list of just a few hundred people.

It’s not the total number of your subscribers that’s important (that’s why I don’t think it makes sense to say things like “you need to have at least 1,000 people on your email list before you can sell an online course”), it’s the quality of your email list.

#3 I’m not techy…

Ha, you’ve been waiting for this one, right? I don’t know ONE yoga teacher who would call themselves good with tech. But I DO know yoga teachers who successfully launched online courses.

What they did is that they stopped giving in to their fears. They stepped up. They embraced all the challenges and started educating themselves and learning.

Because the thing is – you will have to get into the nitty-gritty details of online marketing, websites, email marketing providers and all that. There is no magic fairy going to appear to take all that from your plate.

Well, if you’re already super successful (or rich) you could outsource everything and pay someone else to create your course and market it. But for most of us, this isn’t the case.

And that’s fine! Everything is figureoutable, as the amazing Marie Forleo teaches. Thanks to the advances in technology it’s never been easier than today to build an online business. Just a few years ago you would have needed a developer to program your website and member site for you. Today you can use a tool like Teachable (that’s what I use for my courses and I love it) and set your online course up in less then a day. There’s really no excuse!