Ask Me Anything - Phil Ebiner, long-time instructor
Comments
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Hi Phil, you're an inspiration for everyone here and for me too... I would like to ask you something technical... I'm about to buy a background panel to put behind me when I film my talking heads videos... I want to know your thought about what would be the best color to have in this panel... I am programming to have a light at the floor behind my back to get that nice effect I see in Udemy staff videos... what do you think? I am thinking maybe a light blue?
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Hey man great profile and trend thank you! My question is i am planning on creating fitness and health videos and i don't want to show myself. My videos will be mostly screen recording and voice. And i have a friend that'll show the excercises and i am going to talk and create programs.
Do you think it is ok and can i have a connection with the viewers?
Thanks!
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I am definitely impressed with what have you done here!
I am in the same boat to start with no experience at all. It's exciting and scary but I'm pushing forward.
My question is, are there tools to explore topics? Similar to like keywords on Google. I will be teaching how to be a successful independent contractor. Both free content and the nuts and bolts of running a successful businesses.
I do not see a ton of others teaching what I plan to teach and hope that means I have a huge niche to fill. On the other hand, it would be nice to know there is some sort of interest on this platform.
Any advice you could give would be phenomenal!
Thanks,
Carl
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Hi Phil,
Elisha Elias Lomay from Tanzania - East Africa.
I have gone through your video.
Thank you for being an inspiration.
You really touched me to connect with you especially when you said that you are a father of tweens.
I am a University lecturar and a father of four boys two of them being tweens.
For a long time I have been investing in teaching online and Udemy seems to be the best.
Is it possible to teach, run my courses and be paid for my courses in udemy from Tanzania ?
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Thanks for posting this. I've long been curious :-).
I've been on Udemy for almost 5 years and am just approaching $100k. Looking at your chart I like to kid myself that you were flat for several years before things took off and my take off is just late in coming. So, your chart gives hope where needed ;-).
Questions related to your chart:
1) What did you do in 2017 to have revenue explode?
2) Organic and Ad revenue seem to have taken off the most. Any explanation?
Just thought, I should browse the responses to see how many times these questions have already been asked ;-).
Again, thanks for the leadership,
---Brian
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thank you so much for all your effort to help us.
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Hi Phil!
Great to see you have found success in your teaching! Bravo!I've been teaching in university classroom for past four years, but that might all changes shortly.
I want to bring my passsion for teaching online.
Any suggestions to get started again creating first course?
Your teaching and helping others learn is inspiring!
Thanks,
Jannet
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Hi; Thanks for your effort to informing us. Regards;1
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Hi Phil
I'm new at Udemy...could you please advise me as to how toto crea or which software shall I use to build my content.
Warm Regards
charu
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Hi;
The best software i think is BB Flashback;
It has free version so you can try it.
Regards;
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Congratulations @PhilEbiner
. This kind of income is great with two kids
Did you switch a free course to a paid course to get the leads?
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Can you give me some advice on choosing topics for new courses? Obviously I would look for high demand and low supply but can you give me a few tips on how to evaluate potentional topics?
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It sounds like you already know about Marketplace Insights. That's a great place to browse the potential and competiion of a huge number of niches. Keep following the related niches and gather keywords for your course titles and subtitles along the way.
Next, actually enter each keyword and see what the competition looks like in each niche as far as course length and the number of reviews you'll need. Try to find niches that you can dominate by having the most courses, longest courses and best reviewed courses.
Definitely begin your search checking out your passions and areas of expertise. Just remember that you don't need to be the worlds greatest expert in a subject to do a course on it.
Hope this helps,
---Brian
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Thanks Brian, this info is useful. Yes I know about the Marketplace Insights and using that with the tips you included will help me come up with some really good new course topics.
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hi.
I publish my course (2D Archery Game in Unity3d) at 5/2019, but after a month, I only earned $ 4.
Can you help me to sell more?2 -
Hey Phil,
Thanks for your time and all the answers you're providing. I'm not sure how to interpret you answer to the facebook ad thing. Did you seriously tried social media adds and concluded that they are not the best way to promote courses etc.? Or did you simply never really put time and effort in figuring out how to do social media ads?
Atm I see a lot of top level executives like Gary Vaynerchuck talk about how underpiced social media is and how we should put money in ads etc. Therefore I'm a bit confused.
Friendly,
Dries1 -
What is the best way to advertise your class? I just published my first class a couple weeks ago, and have 4 students. Two of which are members of my facebook page that I offered a free course in return for an honest review. I just wondered how to get more traffic to see my course. Thank you!
Rhonda
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Thank you. You were an inspiration and great help for lunching my first Udemy course.
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Hi Phil. Great that you make yourself accessible to everyone. I have decided to take my Udemy career more seriously . I was wondering whether to spend my time updating my 6 courses to make them more professional or maybe my time would be better spent creating new courses. I think there is a niche for graduate level maths and physics courses .
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Hi Phil,
Congrats on your babies!!
Just want to share it's my first day here on Udemy and I seeing your message is super inspirational, I look forward to sharing here on the platform and learning new ways of doing things!
Much love and success!
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Hi Phil,
Congratulations on your Udemy success - I'm currently working my way through one of your courses and the quality is fantastic.
I have a question and would greatly appreciate your input (it's slightly different).
I joined Udemy back in 2014 and launched 4 courses within a couple of months. Just as these were taking off (I quickly jumped to $350/mo in revenue) I was offered my dream job, which had long been in the pipeline. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I let my Udemy business go and did very little to keep it going and support my students.
Fast forward to today and those 4 courses are still live, one of which has a rating of 4.7 stars from 17 reviews and has generated thousands of dollars in passive income. That course currently ranks on the 2nd page for 'Amazon FBA'.
I feel ashamed for having let my Udemy business go, but most of all, for letting my students down. Teaching is a real passion and seeing people succeed is both a pleasure and honour - and i've made a committment to myself that I'm going to recitfy this.
Out of the four courses, one of them has done well (considering I haven't touched it in 4.5 years), is in an area where I have had some great success and is a topic that genuinely interests me (Amazon FBA).
Do you think I should build on this one course and focus on Amazon FBA type courses (baring in mind how competitive it now is) or would it be better to start a fresh in a less competitive niche?
Whatever I do, all of my existing students will have lifetime access to every course I publish for free.
Thanks in advance for your input - it's gteatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Adrian Knight1 -
Hi Phil,
Your Intro is Awesome
I have a quick question, Can I use video from Youtube (posted by other people) in my course content as embedded videos with Link to Youtube?
Thanks
Vijay
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Thanks for the all the great info.
You had mentioned "1920x1080 is the norm on Udemy, you'll wish you had recorded your courses at a higher resolution" and you also suggested to record in 1440x900. Confused :smileyhappy:
Also, what resolution monitor should I be getting. Does 1440x900 or 1920x1080 monitor do?
Thanks!
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it's nice thing to hear because it helps MI also not to give up and also be hardworking and patient like the years you have spent on udemy
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Good luck with your course @Prizzy-fashion
. Keep up the positive attitude and I am sure you will succeed.1 -
Congratulations, this is amazing and inspiring
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Congratulations @PhilEbiner
.Those are impressive results!
Having been a long-time instructor on Udemy, have you noticed any fluctualtions with the implementation of the new coupon and refferal system?
Regards,
Joyce W. Solomon (Standout Personal Branding Coach)
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Hi Phil,
You have done so well for yourself and for that I say congratulations to you.
Please am new on this platform and really don't know how to start up.
Is there a way you can help me?
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Hello,
I am about to make my first course. It will be a long course covering a deep subject.
I imagine it growing to be about 15-20 hours of material (maybe more)
I read that the udemy guidelines allow for courses as short as 30mins in length.
Is it possible for me to release a 30minute long course (or course that is just a few hours) and gradually add more modules to it?
Is it possible to create "blank" module (or something of that sort) so I can display the modules that are yet to be produced so the audience knows what they can expect to be rolled out in the future?0 -
Hello Phil!
I am Pramod from India, a brand new instructor raring to go. Your story is amazing & inspiring.
I need your suggestions on - how to reach where you reached or better it. I give a few details about me and my class.
My class name: Stock sutra
What does it teach? Stock trading, currency trading, commodity trading.
Total class length - 3.45 Hrs
Total videos - 101
Design - Powerpoint slides and me talking in the background. The class is engaging with pictures and examples. The class is in such simple words that even a 15-year-old child in any part of the world can master stock trading and benefit from it.
Current status - Class is completed. Instructor verification on.
About me: I am from India. I have been trading stocks for the last 15 years. Also, I have many years of work experience in other fields too. I am now 60. This is my 1st class ever anywhere online. I am a passionate teacher and love teaching. I have worked for over a year on this class and invested all my money and loans from friends and family. I would like to return the loans as early as possible with handsome returns. I want to make my 2nd class on - Simple Yoga & Meditation.
Could you please give 5 tips to success that I should be looking to act upon.
Best wishes.
Pramod
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