I am a lover of travel, and yoga, so I thought to myself, “why not combine them, and create a course online? What a brilliant way to make some money while on the road!”

I thought the idea through a bit more, and decided I was going to go for it. Why not, right?

I had done a graphic design course through a platform called Udemy, and after doing some research, I discovered that there was definitely a market for yoga courses.

I watched a few preview videos for other yoga teachers courses, and it seemed straightforward enough. Udemy actually has a course on creating a course that walks soon to be instructors through the process of creating a course. They also have a Facebook group where you can post questions and comments.

I was excited to get started, so I began Udemy’s course on creating an online course, and at each step, I began planning my own.

I began this process in early November, and it is now the end of March, and I have just launched my course. The entire process has been a struggle for me, and I am continuing to struggle.

For those of you who want to create a yoga course online, the struggle is very real, and from my struggles, I learned the following things:

1. Scripting. I thought I could just sit down and talk. The first problem with this is that it is always easier to talk when you aren’t staring at a screen that is recording you. Everytime I sat down to record, my mind would go blank, or I would stumble through what I was trying to say. Second, when you listen back, you will realize how much you say “umm”, “uhh”, and “like”. It’s not very pleasant as a listener. Plan to dedicate a large chunk of time to scripting, and then practicing your script. It will probably suck, but it will be better than the time wasted stuttering and stumbling through what you are trying to communicate.
2. Lighting is extremely important when you are creating videos. Udemy has a review process before you create your course where you can send in a test video, and my first test video was rejected due to lighting. Prior to creating this course, I had no idea that lighting was something that I needed to consider, much less how to set up lighting for a talking head video. Doh!
3. Finding a space to video myself doing yoga. This was an absolute nightmare. I don’t have a production crew. I live in a small, one bedroom apartment with basically no blank wall space. Filming outside would have been an option for me had it not been winter, and I promise you, I did consider postponing filming until spring. Fortunately, I eventually found a yoga teacher who was generous enough to let me video in her studio space. My biggest lesson learned from this is that you don’t always have to do it on your own. Ask for help when you need it.
4. I was stoked when I finally found a space to record in, and then I made my way there, set myself up, only to discover that my iPhone didn’t have enough space to record the length of my videos. I spent hours and hours doing yoga, only to find that mere minutes had been recorded. I am usually pretty calm. I was not calm in these moments.
5. Video editing is a real b*tch when you don’t have good video editing software and / or good skills. It is time consuming. It is frustrating, and in my case, it will be a gentle reminder that your filmography is fairly average.
6. After 5 months of working on my course, I finally uploaded it. I felt relieved, excited, and annoyed by the entire process all in one go. The most frustrating part may just be the marketing of the course though. Sure, it’s on the market. Along with hundreds of other courses about yoga. So why would anyone choose to take mine? This, my friends, is what I’m currently figuring out.

Have you had a frustrating journey with creating an online course? What did you learn? Share your thoughts with me! And if you want to give my yoga course a try, I would love for you to try it at a discounted rate. Click here for more details!