There are a wide variety of marketing methods at your disposal, such as blogging, video marketing, email marketing, Amazon FBA, SEO, and more. But an online course can be as profitable as any of them, possibly even more so. And they can be easy to create if you already have an eBook or educational material at hand. There are plenty of valid reasons to consider an online course for your business.

Return on Investment
Online courses can deliver a very impressive return on investment if they are done properly. Once you have the course created and uploaded to a site such as Udemy, then there is not much else to do aside from promoting the product. Ideally, the product will have been promoted before it is released. Online courses can be sold over and over and can deliver an income for years without much additional enhancement. However, it should be noted that creating a course is a little more difficult than it appears at first glance.

They Are Increasing in Popularity
More and more people are turning towards online courses to receive their education compared to other methods. Online courses are far cheaper and often contain a wealth of information that cannot be obtained anywhere else. While the online course niche is becoming saturated, there is still a lack of high-quality courses that deliver original content not available anywhere else. If you can give this to your target audience, then your online course will be a massive success. If you find yourself giving the same advice over and over again, then a course is a good way to streamline your efforts.

Build Authority and Credibility
If you do sell a course effectively, then you will have a built a reputation as an expert in the field. Even if it does not sell that well, creating your own online course is going to be a massive boost to your brand. As your business grows, you will be able to point your customers towards your course. You can use the course as an upsell or as a downsell with associated products and services. In many ways, it can be like having two separate kinds of business. While there can be considerable work involved in creating an online course for your business, it is definitely worth it.

Digital Transformation is not a technical concept. Many have this idea that the very mention of digital transformation connotes technology or technical activities. Digital transformation can simply be described as strategic innovation leadership through people and part powered by technology.

I have come to learn in my years of business automation experience, that digital transformation is more of strategy, leadership and how we manage our people through the transformation part powered by technology. Leadership with a digital mindset is what sets them apart as being good at transforming organizations leveraging technology as opposed to others that simply adopt some technological changes but don’t transform teams and culture within the organization even when they have access to the same resources, it’s that leadership mindset that delivers a successful digital transformation.

The digital mindset leader understands how to identify and plan for a digital transformation initiative, incorporate your transformations into the organization’s corporate strategy and manage communications among stakeholders. Technology can act as an inspiration for transformation, but technology alone, does not translate to transformation, but it sure is an essential part of digital transformation. We can see how the emergence of AI technology has become a major enabler of digital transformation for innovative companies.

 To help us understand the impact of the digital age, let’s look at the Telephone…

Above is the image of the telephone as a kid back in the 80s it was a prized asset in any home back then and was always lock by my parents and we could only receive calls when no adult was home. But the telephone is one invention that changed the world and opened a wide world of communication. Many businesses benefited from the additional communication options that became available after the invention of the telephone. But the uncommon story about the invention is that it started with Alexander Graham Bell researching on using electrical current to send sounds from one place to another which birthed the telegraph and other speech innovations, including sign language and advanced lip-reading techniques. That data and learning gave us the telephone six years later in 1876.

 As communication continued to evolve, businesses benefited from the additional communication channels that are open to making completing business transactions and connecting with customers easier. The number of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 persons was 1, but according to Statista, the current number of smartphone users in the world today is 3.8 billion, and this means 48.20% of the world’s population owns a smartphone.  The telephone permeates every corner of everything that we are doing and will do. Understanding the history and impact of the telephone in business can give us a greater appreciation of what going digital means today. To simply put, digital transformation is a telephone on steroids.

Digital isn’t something unique, something different, it is the fibre of everything that we are doing and will do. As someone who works daily with software engineers who have years of experience working on enterprise applications, they still beg for guidance and direction to better understand what the business needs. This is usually the missing element in transformations that put technology above strategy. In any digital transformation initiative, I believe strategy is where we create a competitive advantage for the enterprise. People and the culture of innovation are what will sustain it, while technology and communications are how it’s delivered. Since strategy creates a competitive advantage, then it would we need to put in much time and effort into understanding the business problem, the data to support the plan needed to create the innovation.

While many leaders opt to focus on technology instead of strategy, the case for starting with a strategy may be.

1.      Strategy will help stakeholders to understand the opportunity the change would create and how it can be scaled.

2.      Identify and generate data needed to plan and data is needed to sustain the transformation.

3.      Define the kind of innovative culture to sustain it in the long run.

4.      Create a shared language and understanding of the transformation.

The business that can innovate and reinvent themselves are the ones running in the digital economy. However, what we see in the digital transformation world is the stronger narrative pushed by the marketing industry and technology providers that digital transformation is all about technology. The technology alone does not translate into digital transformation. Strategy and leadership are at the core of any successful digital transformation. 

The choice of online business model can have a huge impact on future success. So be careful when starting out that you select a model that matches your lifestyle. The following are 5 of the best online business models you can make use of to secure financial freedom.

1 – Blogging

Blogging is still one of the best ways to make money online. Blogging takes consistency to work, and the results can take a while to materialize. But blogging is still essential. Even if it is not going to be used as the primary form of income, having a blog is a good way to promote your other business or to bolster your reputation. Once a blog generates enough traffic, it can be monetized using affiliate links or paid advertising.

2 – YouTube

In many ways, videos are taking over from written content. Customers like videos more than written content and video content has the potential to go viral. YouTube is the biggest video streaming platform and it is easier to create a video than is commonly believed. You can use YouTube to build up a following and then market to them. This method is far quicker than blogging in most instances.

3 – Physical Products and Amazon FBA

It is also possible to sell physical products online with the help of other services. With the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) service, you simply ship your goods to Amazon. The sale and processing occur through the Amazon platform, as does delivery of the product itself. Amazon even takes care of the customer service. In other words, Amazon does a lot to complete the business. However, they do take a large share. Other methods of selling physical products online include drop shipping and third-party logistics companies.

4 – Create an Online Course

If you are an expert on a particular topic, then you should consider creating your own online course. This is not as difficult as it sounds, but you will still be responsible for marketing and promoting your course. Udemy is one of the most well-known online course platforms. With the increase in the price of third level education, more people than ever are turning to online courses for instruction.

5 – Freelancing

Freelancing is a great way to earn money on the side. You can work from anywhere and leverage your existing skills for compensation. You can also use freelancers to enhance your business and quality of life. Virtual assistants are available and can complete menial tasks such as data entry or email management for as little as $5 per hour.