Udemy Instructor Strategy: The Business Strategy of the Super Stars
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Ok, thanks !
So many of you have bought this paid service ?
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You can free preview it. I didn't buy it because I didn't see any additional data that I needed.
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True
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HI
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Dear @LawrenceMMiller
,
First of all, thank you for this article - as well as for many other articles you've written for the community. A lot of things to take action on.In terms of books, I believe that "The Black Swan" by Nassim Taleb has a fantastic relevance to building a business on Udemy.
In short, he says that for scalable businesses, the difference between super-stars and regular people is very, very underestimated. That is, top 1-3 (maybe 10) performers in a given category get 99%+ revenue, and other thousands of people get less than 1%, distributed among them.
And on top of that, he says that "luck" is one of the ingredients, like the luck to be the first mover in a certain topic, etc.
For some people it might be quite discouraging. And Nassim generally feels like an angry person - I hope he is not like that in real life, but his books are way too sarcastic. But personally, I found his ideas to be very useful and actionable - to really build proper expectations (or, to be more precise, to avoid building wrong expectations), and play the long game.
Thanks,
With kind regards,
Vlad.
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@Vlad_B
I have the Black Swan but I have never finished reading it.I think in any business there is a pyramid with a few at the top, some in the middle and the majority at the bottom. There is always some version of the Pareto Principle (80/20). I think online course publishing is very similar. It is a bit like... there are a lot of people who play the guitar and think they can sing, but only a very few get a record contract and only a few of them make significant money. The same in book writing/publishing. At Udemy, I don't think the top ten superstars get 99% of the revenue, however. I think there are probably 20 to 30 who have made more than a million dollars. I suspect that there are several hundred who have made $100k + and then a few thousand who have made a few thousand. But, I am just guessing.
In judging one's own success I think you have to be clear eyed about your expectations. If you have a full time job and you can make a couple thousand a month on Udemy that is a very nice additional income for most people.
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There are definitely 300k+ instructors (instructor share).
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That site is not sure accurate anymore, I am estimated at 8k and I am consistently over 20k on Udemy.
It is only based on student numbers, not enrollments, my enrollments per student are higher than the average instructors.
75k students, 250k enrollments.It is so individual it is hard to give proper metrics.
The $11.5 /review is also way off for me, mine is more than double.
This is all of course only on Udemy.
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Lawrence,
Great article, and good analysis. The one thing your analysis doesn't account for, though, with some of us "super stars" is the fact that because we have multiple courses, we can also upsell and cross-sell. This leads to a higher actual earnings per student/enrollment.
For example, I personally do twice a month promotions using my coupon codes to my existing mailing list (which is far more effective then the internal Udemy promo emails I am finding). When I do that, I can easily earn $3000 to $6000 during one of those promotions because I have such a large mailing list of willing buyers (50k students on my mailing list and counting).
When they buy with my links, I get 97% of the sale, so the numbers work out even better for us as instructors.
Based on your numbers, you are estimating we make around $3.50-3.60 per student, but for instructors who can promote their own courses, we can see that as high as $7-8 per student (on average).
All that said, you are right about everything you wrote in terms of what it takes to succeed:
- Build a brand
- Focus on what you can control, not external events
- Build a team and expand further based on your personal goal
Thanks!
Jason Dion4 -
@JasonDion
Very good point. Cross selling, or "mining" your list increases the value of each student. The larger you student body, the greater the ability to increase that value. Another argument for multiple courses and building your brand.2 -
It's not "luck" to be early or first in a category.
When Apple first introduced the programming language Swift, Nick Walter spent all weekend making the first Udemy course on it.
That's not luck. No way. That's striking at opportunity.
You want to be first in a category? Find one with no courses that you know is going to be popular and make a course. That's not luck. I didn't say it's easy to find one, but when you do, that's skill and effort that got you there.
And yes, Taleb is an angry person in real life. Check out his Twitter.
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Great post as expected @LawrenceMMiller
... thanks for sharing1 -
Really nice write up but I feel it's lacking some key details. I first heard about Udemy as a student by searching for courses that would teach me web development. This is when I came across Colt Steele's course - which was around 5 years ago.
Udemy has changed since then -
- There are far, far more mentors producing courses
- When competition was scarce, it gave a far higher chance of a new course becoming popular
- Those that did reel in students established a name for themselves. This is common on particular topics where a particular mentor is known for their courses
- By establishing a name, it is far more easier to produce more sales for new courses. Mentors often promote to their existing userbase to generate sales and is why new courses from existing successful mentors see fast sales upon release
- Udemy brought in new rules stating your course can only be published on the Udemy platform. No other platforms can be used, which was another avenue to generate a brand
The pricing model has since changed -
- Mentors tend to get less revenue after the recent change to the pricing system
- When I started I was making around $5 min per student. That figure is often now around $1.50.
- Combine the revenue cut with the increase in competition, it's no longer comparable to when someone like Colt or the more established mentors made a success for themselves
- Similar student enrollment figures while receiving less revenue means more work for less money. If student numbers remain the same or increase, then it's likely you will need to provide more time and dedication towards answering questions and supporting students. This can make it less appealing - hence why some people give up after creating a course or two.
I'm not arguing with what you have said. You've given some very useful advice - but I do not agree that it's now all in a mentors hands. New mentors coming to Udemy today will be fighting a very uphill battle to make a comparable success to those that are already successful.
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@GianniBruno011
I agree with most of your points. Of course Udemy has changed as it has grown. Every marketplace becomes more competitive and mature and there are advantages to those who have built their brand on Udemy.Just to clarify a couple things: You must be exclusive to Udemy to be in the Udemy for Business catalog, but not in the general marketplace.
It is not correct that we receive less per enrollment now. I monitor my data very closely. Last month my average revenue per enrollment was $3.11. It was about the same a year ago. This differs depending on a lot of factors for each instructor. But, what really matters is not how much you receive per enrollment, but how much you receive in total revenue. A good measure is the average growth rate from year to year. In September the average monthly revenue grew 52% as a two year average. That is close to the growth rate of Udemy overall.
I agree that many people give up after creating a course or two. That is why the strategy needs to be to build a brand with a good number of quality courses in your category. It is more difficult for new instructors today.
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@LawrenceMMiller
wrote:It is not correct that we receive less per enrollment now. I monitor my data very closely. Last month my average revenue per enrollment was $3.11. It was about the same a year ago.
Actually, it is very much correct. Revenue share has dropped and you can read about it here. Udemy also introduced a withholding tax at source for students enrolling from India. This was introduced over a year ago and is taken at point of sale, meaning a 20% tax in processed prior to the revenue being posted. Yes, this is to do with regulatory compliance, but it still reduces revenue considerably and appears to be solely at cost to the mentor.
It may impact you less if your students are mostly based elsewhere. I teach software development subjects and my courses tend to be popular with students based in India, since technology is one of the leading sectors in the country.
This is also confirmed by my sales data. Most organic sales from India generate roughly $1.70 per enrollment. This was closer to $5 when I started teaching.
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@GianniBruno011
I am very familiar with that change, the change from 25% and 50% to a common 35%. We have had endless discussions about that change. How it affected each instructor is somewhat different depending on their mix of marketing channels that bring them customers. If you are tracking the outcome of that for your own revenue than it may be different than mine. But, overall it was not simply a "reduction" as you stated.I can't speak to the withholding tax because that change didn't affect me.
Again, the "bottom line" is the net amount of revenue we receive. For many of us that has been going up each year.
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Thank you very much
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Hey there,
I've got to say, this is a goldmine of insights for anyone looking to make a splash on Udemy. Your deep dive into the strategies of these Udemy gurus is not just impressive but incredibly useful.
As someone who's been in the course creation game for a while now, making millions for my employers, I found your article resonating with my experiences. The emphasis on the need for instructors to go beyond just producing a single course and instead building a full-fledged business on the platform is spot on. It's a competitive world out there, and your article nails the fact that to stand out, you need a robust strategy and a truckload of dedication.
The way you broke down the success factors - expertise, consistent content creation, engaging presentation skills, and building a solid brand - is exactly what I've seen work in the field. And let's not forget the importance of an internal locus of control, as you mentioned. It's all about focusing on what we can control and continuously improving, rather than getting bogged down by external factors.
Your piece serves as a fantastic reminder that success on platforms like Udemy isn't just about knowing your stuff; it's about how you package and present that knowledge, how you connect with your audience, and how you market yourself.
Taking inspiration from your analysis, I'm doubling down on my efforts to create my own courses on Udemy. With the lessons from your article in mind, I'm excited to translate my past success into this new venture. It's about leveraging my expertise and experience but also adapting to the unique dynamics of the Udemy marketplace.
So, thanks for the great read! It's articles like yours that give seasoned pros like me the extra insights and encouragement to take the plunge into new opportunities. Keep up the fantastic work!
Cheers!
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@CoreyGrayCoaching
Surprised to see this post surface again. I'm glad you found it helpful. I see that I wrote it more than two years ago. I am sure that all of the number have changed dramatically. My number ("moderately successful") have doubled in the past two years. I would assume that is also true for the more successful instructors. However, the conclusions and advice haven't changed at all. I think my points are still valid, even if the data isn't.Good luck in your new career on Udemy.
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You always bring insights for us. Thank you. Any strategies recommend for instructors who have no work experience in the subjects they are teaching, but they have a university or training certification and want to dedicate in teaching on Udemy?
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Thanks Lawrence! Any idea how I can find more up to date stats on top earners? Im really curious!
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Freakishly brilliant thread. Thank you @LawrenceMMiller
!II've been thinking on this very same topic for a few days now, especially with the seemingly radical changes happening on Udemy, and will definitely use this a a blueprint going forward and for the new year.
Did I thank you yet?
Thank you!
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Yup! Agree. Hey so,,,, what radical changes are happening? Im brand new here and curious what you meant by that? Thanks in advance!
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Corey, you could take those same instructors and go on their profile page and see the number of students and reviews that are current. You could easily recreate the spreadsheet. I am afraid the $ per student or per review has probably declined in the past two years and it is about to decline a lot more beginning in January. Since you are new, you may have not read the changes to the revenue share for UB.
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This is really beautiful maths. I appreciate your writing.
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