Ask Me Anything - Phil Ebiner, long-time instructor

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Ask Me Anything - Phil Ebiner, long-time instructor

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Hi, 

I'm Phil Ebiner. I'm a long-time Udemy instructor - been here since 2012. And I'm excited to be a part of this community. Please feel free to ask me any questions!

 

Since 2012, I've made over $1.5 million from Udemy. And I don't say that to brag, but to show you what a normal guy like me can do... someone who started like many of you without an audience, experience teaching, experience selling, email list, website... nothing.

 

It has taken a lot of hard work and time to do this, but I believe you can achieve your goals if you have the right mindset and put in the right amount of effort!

 

Screen Shot 2019-02-05 at 10.41.53 AM.png

I love Udemy, and hope to help you out on this amazing platform!

Cheers,

Phil

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Twins! Congratulations!

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Woow. That is impressive 🙂

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I teach creative skills like photography, photo editing, video editing, motion graphics. 

 

Great question about how long a course should be. I always say that they should be 'as long as it takes to teach the topic.' I wouldn't focus on just simply trying to reach a certain length of course... just focus on teaching a topic in an efficient and easy-to-digest manner. You don't want to drag on and on about a topic.  On the flip side, I've seen longer courses do better on Udemy. So adding additional topics/content, and making the course comprehensive enough to be 5+ hours is generally my rule of thumb.

 

In terms of finishing the course - do it! Just get the course done and launched!

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Wow. That's impressive. I have been procrastinating with my courses. They are written but I've not taken the first stepl to launch. What advice do you have as to making it grow once i launch the first course.

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Hey Phil, thanks for doing this. Big fan of your Online Course Masters podcast.

 

How many Q&A's do you get per day? How long do you spend managing that? How big is your TA team?

 

How many people work with you in course production (if it's more than just you)?

 

Jose

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Hey Phil! Congrats on your success on Udemy. Along with being an instructor, I'm also a student of some of your courses. I wanted to ask about your marketing. I noticed that a decent portion of your earnings come from self promotion (basing this on the screenshot you've posted).

 

What do you do to market your content? Which platforms do you use? Do you do Facebook advertising? I would love to know your strategies. Thank you for doing this AMA!

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That's all becasue of hard working and your consistency 

U Simjee

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I definitely think free courses are a great way to build your brand and student base. Not only should you put that free course on Udemy, but also on YouTube and potentially on your own website so you can use it to build your email list that you will send the paid course to when it's done. 

You'll have to pay attention to the rules on Udemy though, because you can't send free coupons to students in a free course via an announcement. This would have to be done with your own email list or on a website/YouTube channel to your own audience.

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At the end of the day, what ends up making more money is making more great courses. So while I truly believe building your brand (website, YouTube, social media) is super important for the long run, I also think if just starting out, you might want to just focus on creating as many good high quality courses as you can.

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Great question! What I've learned is that those ups and downs are just the normal trends across Udemy for all instructors. November, January, June, August... those are usually peaks. Other peaks will be when I launch a new course. 

 

As for when it's a new month, and it's going slow... I just want to ask what you are doing to improve it? Are you working on a new course? Are you building out a website? Are you growing an email list? Are you growing a YouTube channel? Are you testing out new ways to promote? 

 

What are you doing to grow?

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Thank you for being selfless and sharing with us. What do you have to say about the many sites that promote udemy free or discounted coupons? Is it worth a try? If it is, which sites are recommended?

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Hi,

Do you think using Google Ad is uesful for marketing my courses?

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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 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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I see you haven't published a course yet. 

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Hello Phil, how can we talk in person about your offer? 

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Amazing job Phil... I'm really impressed! I hope I can make my first $1.5 🙂

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Hello,My name is Panos Hadjigeorgiou.I am a personal trainer coach,am trying to create my first video on udemy.I want your help....What video editing do you recommend to me.I thinking to make one big video about 30 minutes and then small videos for the explanations of every exercise and the to combine them together.Or is better to write them in a slite before every exercise?

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It is a marathon, in the long run it can be helpful. But, only one course is not enough. You'll need to publish more than one courses if you want this income stream to become a part of your income portfolio mix. 

I believe the barrier of entry is lower for developing countries like Pakistan, we don't need a lot of equipment and our expenditures are lower as compared to U.S based instructors. 

You can call me on Whatsapp sometime if you need more information, I'll share my number if need be. 

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Thnks sir, I sent you a message on facebook

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Of course, sure. I'll check it when I get back to my laptop, have forgotten FB password and the Messenger app on phone is not working right now. 

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How can i become a instructor. I'm unable to find where can i post my articles and videos. 

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Dear PhilEbiner 
Really surprise to have a link with you. I thank God for these happenings. My Sincere thanks to Udemy for creating such an arena with studio, Instructor and millions of students.
Best wishes to You and your family including cute twins.
After hard work and with basic experience in Ms-office, I alone create a course titled "Vedic Maths: Fastest Mental Calculation Techniques ". No review yet. 
Please guide me. No other income till now

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Hi, it is so impressive. As in your chart, the second top source of revenue comes from ad program. May you recommend me which ad program do you use? Thanks

 

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Hello Phil, how can we talk in person about your offer? 

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I have 20+ published courses, is there a way to talk in person? 

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Hey Phil,

This Rawan Darwish over here. 

I just started on Udemy, and my question to you is: What is the best Software to Build and Create Online Courses?

 

Thank yij for offering to help. 

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Hey buddy, Cool video! I'd like to know some of the best ways you have used to drive traffic to your courses?

 

Thanks 

Andreas

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Amazing job Phil... I'm really impressed! I hope I can make my first $1.5 🙂

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Hi Phil, 


Please recommend the specifications of a PC for course creation in 2020. 

 

Regards,

Naeem Malik. 

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Hey Phil,

Thanks for sharing your experience. It really is something.

 

i just have a few questions i want to ask. I posted it in the First Curse Creation Section but no one answered. May be because no one knew the answers.

 

Q1. I want to know whether having two accounts in Udemy is allowed or not. I have an individual account but then I decided to involve my friend as well to teach with me. so I created another joint account because I did not want to publish his courses in my account. is it legal?

I see other instructors do it like Mr. Schwarzmüller  who has an Academind account and a personal account.

 

Q2. this question relates to the first question. Let's say I create and complete a course and I want to share it in both of my accounts. what I mean is, in the course landing page for some instructors like again Mr. Schwarzmüller's JS course, it says "Created by Academind by Maximilian SchwarzmüllerMaximilian Schwarzmüller". it is available in Academind by Maximilian Schwarzmüller account as well as Maximilian Schwarzmüller account. now back to my question, how is something like this possible? I have not published any course yet but I am curious, is it possible when publishing the course (during the process in Udemy) or the course has to be uploaded twice, separately for each account?

 

Q3. This question relates to the previous one. this question has two parts. Part 1: If the situation in q2 is accomplished and let's say it is the first course for both of the accounts, then would Udemy ask for Tax information from both of the accounts or only one of them? they belong to one person in the end. Part Two: In case Udemy asks both of the accounts to provide tax info, and because those accounts and the course belongs to one person, then the tax info is going to be the same, would this create a problem according to Udemy's regulations?

 

Q4. Again this is related to the previous one. if everything goes well and a course is shared between two accounts (there are two accounts as authors which basically is one person), then will the income be shared between the accounts or not? If shared, then what is the ratio? I just want to see the whole picture.

 

Any help is appreciated. 

Thanks in advance.

 

Muslim Helalee

Love From Afghanistan


Muslim Helalee - Full Stack Web Developer and Instructor

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Hello,My name is Panos Hadjigeorgiou.I am a personal trainer coach,am trying to create my first video on udemy.I want your help....What video editing do you recommend to me.I thinking to make one big video about 30 minutes and then small videos for the explanations of every exercise and the to combine them together.Or is better to write them in a slite before every exercise?


@PhilEbiner wrote:

 

Hi, 

I'm Phil Ebiner. I'm a long-time Udemy instructor - been here since 2012. And I'm excited to be a part of this community. Please feel free to ask me any questions!

 

Since 2012, I've made over $1.5 million from Udemy. And I don't say that to brag, but to show you what a normal guy like me can do... someone who started like many of you without an audience, experience teaching, experience selling, email list, website... nothing.

 

It has taken a lot of hard work and time to do this, but I believe you can achieve your goals if you have the right mindset and put in the right amount of effort!

 

Screen Shot 2019-02-05 at 10.41.53 AM.png

I love Udemy, and hope to help you out on this amazing platform!

Cheers,

Phil


 

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Hello,My name is Panos Hadjigeorgiou.I am a personal trainer coach,am trying to create my first video on udemy.I want your help....What video editing do you recommend to me.I thinking to make one big video about 30 minutes and then small videos for the explanations of every exercise and the to combine them together.Or is better to write them in a slite before every exercise?

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That's very inspiring and encouraging too Phil. What would be your 3 vital tips to a person like me who has just started on Udemy?

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Definitely, That is impressive. Thanks for sharing your story, and you are very inspiring.

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Congratulations! I'm new here and you certainly Inspire me . I want to ask you , Did you initially promote more free courses to grow your audience for the first few months


@PhilEbiner wrote:

 

Hi, 

I'm Phil Ebiner. I'm a long-time Udemy instructor - been here since 2012. And I'm excited to be a part of this community. Please feel free to ask me any questions!

 

Since 2012, I've made over $1.5 million from Udemy. And I don't say that to brag, but to show you what a normal guy like me can do... someone who started like many of you without an audience, experience teaching, experience selling, email list, website... nothing.

 

It has taken a lot of hard work and time to do this, but I believe you can achieve your goals if you have the right mindset and put in the right amount of effort!

 

Screen Shot 2019-02-05 at 10.41.53 AM.png

I love Udemy, and hope to help you out on this amazing platform!

Cheers,

Phil



or did you post free and paid courses side by side? Thank you for all your support.

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Hello Phil, 

i am from Montreal, Canada and am new to this!

I am an art instructor would like to teach painting on this site. First, I am not sure what category I fall into..Design?? Wish there was an art section to Udemy. Next, is microphone: Part of this course, I will be standing and moving around. What microphone wold you recommend? One that is affordable, if possible. Any help you can give me would be great!

Thank you, 

Lucie

ElianaC
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

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Hi @LucieMic123 I'll recommend you to go through the marketing insights tool https://www.udemy.com/instructor/marketplace-insights/ 

 

Here is a list of his recommended instructor resources: https://community.udemy.com/t5/First-time-Course-Creation/A-list-of-useful-sources-for-instructors/m...

 

I was able to found a post regarding the experience from other instructors with microphones https://community.udemy.com/t5/A-V-Solutions/What-microphone-do-you-use/m-p/2056 

 

Hope this helps!

Eliana Cerna

Udemy Community 

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I pop into this thread pretty often to get inspired. 

Thanks, Phil

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