Should you teach on Skillshare? Watch before you try teaching on Skillshare | Skillshare changes

Been thinking thinking about teaching on Skillshare? Hold up, because there have been some concerning changes to the payment structure recently, so watch this before your try teaching on Skillshare. What are these Skillshare changes, and is teaching on Skillshare worth it anymore? That's what we're discussing today (+ a look at my online teaching revenue!)

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[ArtBusinesswithNess]

Are you teaching on Skillshare, or considering Skillshare in the future? What are your thoughts on these changes?

[awomanandabear]

I so appreciate you standing up for artists and encouraging us to refuse to participate with companies who really don't value creators - the very people they depend on for income. As a fine artist and former licensed artist, I've seen so many negative changes in the payout structure for artists - i.e. no advances for licensing deals, smaller percentages, no promotion for new artists on sites like Skillshare and Etsy. These big platforms are like an art gallery in that, if they want 50% (or more) of what I create, then they need to earn it by marketing and promoting to their audience. That's their end of the bargain and my end is to create quality art (or videos). Anyway, great content - I totally agree with you!

[green_bicycle]

Also, I think it would be important to highlight how much data they collect on you. It is smart to and read this portion of their site because they go above and beyond what I feel is normal and use third parties to collect information and that is scary. Again, thanks, you videos are great!

[megauchenbach]

I am totally in for your class on creating a course!

[kaymeadowsartandillustration]

Great video about Skillshare. Yes! I’d love to take your class on how to create video classes! It’s my next step. I’ve signed up.

[green_bicycle]

Yes, good point. I am a serious graphic artist and wanted to teach young designers but I think it was too much for skillshare. I chose skillshare because I thought it would reach the right audience. But I guess not, I realized the quality of my skills by going through the process because it gave me the contrast to see this. The rules do not make sense, my video was very high quality but my class was refused for false reasons. They were not nice about it and they accused me of fraud, that is so wrong. All they had to do was say, your class needs editing or here's what we need but they closed my account and my student account too which I paid for. I was then blocked from the platform and I didn't do anything wrong. They caused me to doubt myself and I spiraled into a depression for about a month until I realized that they were wrong and it wasn't me. Your video is very true. There are better options out there.

[karenburns]

Agree on all counts. I have classes on Skillshare and was to a point of making about $200/mo. Last month it was $70, though that was due, in part, to not adding classes lately. Why? Because their “3 strikes” policy meant that if they made some arbitrary decision about quality it would be a strike, and after 3 strikes you’re out—i.e., couldn’t add more classes. (This may have changed with the new policy, but I didn’t care to check it because I’d decided to not add more, anyway.) And their “housecleaning” removed the 3rd class in a 4-part series, all of which are connected. The whole “Top Teacher” favoritism thing really irritated me, though the Top Teachers I know DO have good classes. But, as you say, why shouldn’t all teachers have access to ways to improve their classes?I am starting to create classes on another platform, and I can manage all of that myself, It seems much more fair to me; what I put into the classes are the greatest determining factor in how successful the classes are.

[bodawei]

Good video that shows the other side of the picture about Skillshare. Unfortunately, Skillshare follows the path of many Internet companies and, more generally speaking, of what is called the 'new economy'. That is: 1. Make themselves known with the launch of very broad marketing campaigns ; 2. Attract more investors to pour millions of $ that fuel your marketing campaign ; 3. Make sure you have a very rich and diversified content that can suit lots of potential customers ; 4. Outpace competition with agressive promotional prices to attract even more customers, even if you need to burn more cash ; 5. Now that the company is a market leader, it is time to show profitability and to reward the shareholders ; 6. Cut costs by controlling the way content is made and by adjusting the model so that the margins are maximized, even at the expense of content creators who bear a bigger and bigger share of the work.

In the end, content creators are being 'commoditized' as their visibility is totally diluted in the large pool of classes. It is sad. The best way is as you do to go solo and get the fruits of their efforts for themselves.

[brittanyellis]

Yes I think you should do a class on how to teach a class because I want to to that myself!

[Mariposa-rgb]

I will sign up!
I would love if you could include in the class or maybe as a regular video, if the topic doesn’t really fit your plan for the class, talking about impostor syndrome, how to know if what you offer is going to be useful for anyone.

For long time I have wanted to create some educational content, books or classes but I always end putting the idea in the back burner because I don’t know if anyone would be even interested in what I could say.
I am not a professional with tons of experience and there are lot of people who know much more than me, but I always think I could teach people who are just beginners.

But how do you validate an idea when you don’t have a big following at all? When you don’t have thousands of people following and ready to buy whatever you offer. Do you just go for it and make it (the class or book or whatever) and then hope somebody will be interested?

Thank you for all the amazing content you create!

[avrahamnacher]

I have a number of classes on Skillshare. Like you said, I had a few closed for poor audio quality, but I was able to use audio adjustment software and improve the quality to get them reopened. Self-promotion / marketing is a weak point for me, so I'm happy that I get some monthly income from Skillshare, but it is *much* less than the $200 average 🙁I would be very interested in other ideas

[alicejungdesign]

Well, I uploaded a course about upcycling packaging waste into a night light 6 months ago and received 5 euros once and nothing else. I think the payment only came about because I took part in the Teacher Challenge and that's probably how the views came about. None of my viewers wrote a comment or posted photos of their work. I thought this was a nice topic to do with children but apparently, I didn't market it enough or it's not that popular. You never know beforehand which theme will be well received. I thought it would be good for Skillshare because I wouldn't have known how much to charge for a course like this because it's more about having a simple project without spending a lot of money.

[joeman]

i was going to create a teacher account to teach C# from scratch. I'm going to need to create at least a 10h class. but the amount of labor needed to create my class may not be worth it....

[MaddCB]

Those big earners also have a really big platform on YouTube…

[kelleylmiller]

Skillshare is a horrifying company. They discriminate against corporate employees and retaliate when they report. I used to work there.