How to Sell Online Courses in 2025 (Organic Approach)

Ready to start organically growing your online course-selling business?

Creating an online course-selling business is one of the best ways to scale your impact and achieve financial freedom.

But what if I told you that you can build a business like this, all without spending a penny on paid ads or any direct outreach?

In this video, I share with you everything I’ve learned over the past two years building my seven-figure course selling business.

This does take time and effort, but if you’re a teacher at heart and don’t want to be confined to a classroom or deal with the financial restraints that teachers often face, this is a perfect solution for you!

Here is the eight-step process I suggest following to organically build and grow an online course-selling business:
1. Identify your audience
2. Create free content
3. Grow your mailing list
4. Validate your course idea
5. Presell your course
6. Launch your course
7. Grow your business

Following along with this process is a surefire way to start building your own course-selling business, grow in an organic way, and begin your path toward financial freedom. Check out the links below to explore each step in more detail!

Using the affiliate links below will help support me and the content on this channel:

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0:00 Intro
1:06 About Me
3:35 Why Course Selling?
5:10 Setting Expectations
7:44 The Process
8:53 Identify your Audience
12:55 Create Free Content
20:02 Grow your Mailing List
23:49 Validate your Course Idea
28:34 Presell your Course
31:52 Create your Course
35:01 Launch your Course
38:09 Grow your Business
40:28 Next Steps

[DevlinPeckYT]

If you enjoyed this video and you’re looking forward to the rest of the playlist, please let me know by subscribing to the channel! 😃

[HansRosenberg]

Hi Devlin, about a year ago I watched this video, and used it as a blueprint for setting up my own online course business. Together with a video by Youri van Hofwegen in keyword research I got monetized in 13 days showing expert material in my field (I'm an electronics engineer). It took me 1 year (!) to get to the point where I could start selling my course since I'm covering a very large part of electronics design. I've sold 10 high ticket courses in less than 5 weeks without having done any marketing in the past 4-5 months. That is the next step I'm working on with a course I've bought on marketing via youtube.

This video basically got me over the line to think: Hey, I can do this.

It took hard work and I had to learn a whole bunch of other professions than electronics (setting up such a business is not that easy) but your blueprint was the start!

Thanks a lot!

[jodishuck]

Hi Devlin! I do not have any intention of starting my own business but I just wanted to say congratulations on your success! You have provided so many wonderful FREE resources to many people who felt hopeless in their current situations. You are an invaluable resource to the field and those looking to enter it. Thank you for all you do!

[GersonSydor]

I'm from Brazil and in my searches I found your channel. I liked the content! I already arrived and had 7 digits in 2 years before the pandemic. But now I'm looking to do it organically and without paid traffic. Let's go!

[PamelaSaxon]

I am so excited about all of this material! I am a graphic/web designer with 20+ years of experience in marketing. Over the past 2 years, I have been studying ID and doing freelance ID development client work on the side, and I have become passionate about online learning. Now I am considering how I might be able to build out a course of my own. You've lit a fire under my feet! Thank you so much for all of the valuable information and for showing up in the way you do. You're an inspiration!

[danstrizak]

Hi Devlin, I want to say thank you for posting this! I've been a part of your support groups and network for a while and it has been a big help. So I wanted to share two things here:

1. If you are doubting yourself, check out all of his videos - they have been one of my go-to resources as I transitioned out of teaching into my corporate job.

2. Following his advice, I recently signed up for a class to help with one of my hobby businesses. I offered to do a free course analysis for the class as I saw a lot of gaps, and now I'm meeting to discuss how I can help and develop a new course!

Y'all can do it, I went from being a painfully burnt out teacher to having a real work-life balance and having time for myself while earning more in my new job.

[ThunderSkippy]

Hi Devlin, being contract dependant is a tough challenge - financial insecurity (especially if you have to stop work as I did to care for my child) combined with putting heart and soul into building brilliant work for others - that you then have to walk away from and often can't even show due to client IP restrictions - can be a soul-destroying experience. I love ID and look forward to being able to do your Bootcamps when I can invest, in the interim courses such as this are really appreciated. Your inspiration couldn't have come at a better time, as I said on LinkedIn - your talent and heart are really inspiring. Cheers

[miguelsalazar]

Thanks Devlin for sharing your insights on Online Courses! I have been following your material as a freelance ID and developer for a few years and I'm SUPER glad to see you expanding your videos into this new online-course-creator space. I've often wondered why there is not as much cross-over on this subject from IDs. (I think because it is more oriented towards entrepreneurial audiences rather than corporate sector. ) But you are bridging the gap and I am LOVING it!

[susanspencer]

Thank you for starting this course creator playlist, Devlin! It is much appreciated 👍

[daniellindey]

Once again, you have provided us with extremely valuable information for FREE, which is why I enrolled in your Bootcamp almost two years ago! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and passion!

[tammyburrows]

Hey Devlin, thanks for this video series! It is perfect timing because I've pondering creating resources to help people plan what to do with their time in retirement. As I'm in this age group (50 to 64), I've been amazed at the number of people who don't make any plans on what to do once they retire. Not any concrete ones, anyway. I'm looking forward to the upcoming videos!

[SarahWilsonID]

Hi Devlin! Thank you for this video! I'm considering starting my own business, and I've been taking notes watching this video! I had watched the first two videos before I realized there's a chain of them coming out, and I'm really looking forward to it!

[maysaffar]

I was that close from signing up with a course mastery folks, but my daughter told me I should do it myself. Boy! Am I glad she did. Thank you for sharing my very same sentiment;)

[jacquelinepreston]

Hello Devlin! Thank you. This was great, and I'm so excited to learn more. I've been following your videos on Articulate and they've been so helpful. This video though speaks directly to my flagship project, a resource hub for secondary and post secondary PBL instructors. I'm currently a professor at a large state university, and project based learning has been the focus of my research and part of my teaching most of my career. I plan to create an online course for secondary and post secondary instructors who need support in building their PBL courses. I'm just getting started building a mailing list, so I'm in the early stages. I have a whole new sense of how to go about this, thanks to this video. : ) I'm super excited for your next one. I'll be following along.

[theengpower]

Hi Devlin, This is the best online course tutorial I have found so far! It's straightforward and concise. Thank you so much!

[JourneywithTiffany]

Hi Delvin! Found you In the wee early hours of the morning so it must be a sign! Thank you for not being a gatekeeper and only focusing on making money! It’s nice to be able to get needed information without having to pay $1 million to learn how to do so. I am a therapist trying to figure out how to turn that into a course so I can have more of my time back. You would think that would be easy but for some reason in my mind, it’s a struggle. I will figure it out and continue to watch your course. Thanks again.😊

[mohamedabdelnaser]

thank you man. that was some helpful free content!

[NaturalFrugalista]

Great information! Looking forward to your upcoming videos in this playlist. Thank you!

[charlenefm]

Thanks, Devlin for sharing a variety of content. Looking forward to this series.

[fromwandtowealth]

Thank you for this content. It was very helpful. Looking forward to the rest of the playlist