How to Turn Your Skills into an Online Course (and an Income Stream)

Nomadic Side Hustle Strategy 5

🌍 Welcome to This Week’s Nomadic Side Hustle Strategy

Each strategy is designed to be simple, practical, and doable from anywhere, whether you’re at home, on the road, or planning your next adventure.

Enjoy this week’s breakdown, and remember: consistent focused action is what turns ideas into income.

This post is for paid members of The 50+ Nomad Club only.

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🎓 Create an Online Course

If you’ve learned something useful in your career, business, or travels, you can turn that knowledge into a digital product that helps others and funds your freedom.

You don’t need to be a tech wizard, professional speaker, or full-time educator. With the right tools and a clear focus, you can package up your skills and get a course live quickly, even from your phone.

This strategy is especially powerful if you already have a few people asking, “How did you do that?”

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🧠 What You’re Really Offering

You're not just recording videos. You're offering:

• A shortcut to someone else’s progress

• Encouragement from someone who's been there

• A simplified learning path

• Real results they can follow and implement

People buy courses because they want clarity, confidence, and a plan.

🛠 Skills You’ll Need

• Practical experience in a topic (not just theory)

• Clear communication — written or spoken

• Basic video and audio recording

• Light editing and slide design

• Understanding of the problem your course solves

💸 Startup Costs

You can start for free or with minimal investment. A few options:

• Platforms:

  • Udemy: Free to start & has an in-built audience

  • Leap by Thinkific: AI course platform - Free plan available (great for creating courses from your phone!)

  • Teachable/Podia: $0–$139/month

• Gear:

  • Smartphone (free if you have one)

  • Microphone: $20–$100 (I use a DJI mini mic - $89)

  • Lighting (ring light or daylight): $20–$50

Total setup: Around $50–$150 (or less if you already have a phone + earbuds)

⏰ Time Commitment

• Course planning: 5–10 hours

• Creation: 10–20 hours per course

• Marketing: 5–10 hours/week

• Student support: 2–3 hours/week

If this is your first time expect to spend 1–2 months on your first course from idea to launch.

However, I went a bit crazy and recorded/created 7 courses in a two month time period to include as part of my Substack membership (and they’re darn good, if I do say so myself).

Get all courses as part of the First Class membership or 50% OFF all courses as a paid member

So once you’ve built your skills, you could produce a new course every month if there’s demand. Or focus on creating one or two flagship courses and send all your traffic there.

The world is your oyster! 😊

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🚀 Getting Started in 3 Steps