Education is Blowing Up and Now is the Time to Get in
As more and more people shy away from traditional education, online education has quickly become a way for businesses to add additional income streams and/or drive traffic to their services or products. Here are 3 reasons why you should add educational content to your repertoir:
1) Additional Income Stream
The age of technology has brought about an influx of entrepreneurs, and with that, a pure hunger for knowledge. The proof is in the pudding with huge companies like LinkedIn acquiring online education site, Lynda.com for $1.5 billion in 2015, and Creative Live raising almost $30 million to become the largest producer of Live programming. As traditional degrees and certifications lose value in today’s evolving workplace, more and more people are turning to trade specific education to jumpstart their careers. If you’ve been thinking about selling online educational content, now is the time to do it.
2) Become the expert
Your industry is saturated with other businesses just like you. Set yourself apart from everyone else by becoming the expert, and what better way to do that by showing people that you know your sh*t. Assuming you actually know what you’re doing, putting out online educational content is an automatic way to become an expert in your field. Not only will your peers come to you for advice but your end-client will trust you and hire you more over the competition because you’ve built up trust as a qualified leader.
3) Give back
You’ve spent time, blood, sweat and tears to get where you are, and most likely there have been people that helped you get here. Putting out online educational content is a way for you to give back to your community and show them that you appreciate their help for supporting you throughout your journey. We are firm believers that raising the bar within your industry helps everyone in the industry (including yourself). For example, if you’re a plumber and you know exactly all of the things that go into your pricing (time, tools, insurance, bookkeeping, etc.) and there’s a new plumber in your area completely undercutting your prices, educating the community to better understand what to charge and why to charge it, will make it better for everyone because now your end consumer knows what to expect when it comes to hiring a plumber. As the saying goes, “The rising tide raises ALL ships.”
If you’re afraid that giving away your “trade secrets” will damage your business, then it’s probably time to rethink why you’re getting hired in the first place. People aren’t just hiring you because you provide a service. They’re hiring you because of YOU and the work and effort you’ve put in to provide the best customer experience possible. There’s millions of restaurant choices out there. Why do people go to certain restaurants over others when the quality of food is similar? Customer experience. And that can never be taken away from you. Get into the online education game now through online webinars and workshops. There’s only upside to doing it.