059: Mark Lassoff says “Please Don’t Make an Online Course”

If the title of today’s episode has you worried, join the club! When I was researching my guest Mark Lassoff and his online courses, I came across a popular article he wrote last year that could seem pretty controversial for those of us who are online course creators. Fortunately, I had the chance to chat with him and hear firsthand more of his perspective on how to provide great content and succeed in the online course space. "You have to differentiate yourself through your personality, through what you teach, and what you actually give to your learners." -Mark Lassoff Mark is clearly passionate about what he does, and that carries over in the way that he gave such careful thought to my questions. I hope you enjoy our conversation! In This Episode, We Talked About: (2:52) An interesting article Mark wrote last year - and why he’s spreading a message of quality over quantity when it comes to online courses (4:41) Deconstructing a popular myth about course creation (6:55) The initial reason Mark believes he experienced a huge amount of success so quickly (7:57) His perspective on failure and following your passion (8:28) Some great food for thought for people who are really determined to succeed with their online course (10:52) How courses can play a part in transforming lives (12:34) The current role of SEO and rankings in Udemy courses (13:26) The story behind Mark’s transition from in-person teaching to creating online resources (14:32) His company’s transition into additional platforms while still incorporating Udemy (18:02) His perspective on continuing to teach many of his own courses as his business grows (18:32) Mark’s advice for course creators interested in expanding into the video streaming space and digital television (20:30) His biggest business struggles (21:12) What he would do differently if he was starting over today That wraps it up for today, but don’t forget to subscribe so you can keep up with all my latest episodes. Have a great weekend! Links Bonjoro Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Framework TV Udemy Piano in 21 Days The Online Course Guy