3 Questions Web Designers Should Ask Before Buying An Online Course
Thinking of investing in an online course and leveling up your web design business? Before you autofill your credit card details and click the “Buy Now” button, ask these three questions to make sure it’s a worthwhile investment.
Invest responsibly
Ever since I started my web design business, I’ve constantly been trying to find a middle ground between these two ends of the see-saw:
Investing in my education and development so that I can grow my business more efficiently (without wasting time or energy)
Spending money responsibly so my business expenses don’t undermine my profit and savings goals
This is probably the same balance you’re trying to strike when thinking about buying a course like Fast Track, which helps web designers streamline their workflows and build a consistent flow of client projects.
Here are three questions to consider when deciding whether to invest in an online course as a web designer.
1) What am I trying to get out of this course?
The first step in making a thoughtful and informed decision: slow down.
Get clear on what you want to achieve with the help of this course. What are your goals right now? Where are you now in relation to those goals?
Once you’ve identified the gap between your goals and your current reality, it’s time to ask whether this course will help you bridge that gap.
For example, Fast Track may be a great investment for you if your goals are:
Raising your prices without working more hours
Streamlining your client processes and launching websites more quickly
Setting and managing clear boundaries with clients
Positioning yourself as a trusted expert and advisor
Feeling more organized with your work
Delivering a referral-worthy client experience
Signing clients with bigger budgets who are happy to pay you
Building your confidence as a business owner (not just a designer)
2) How can I apply what I learn to make back this money?
How do you plan on making back your investment after working through the course?
It’s difficult to predict the future, and I’m not saying you need to have a clear picture of the precise action steps you’ll be taking after the course.
But you can (and should) have a general idea of how you’ll apply the new knowledge and skills you develop. Thinking about this before making your investment will help you make sure you actually implement what you learn and make progress toward the goals that we talked about in the previous section.
As a web designer, making back your money and creating a positive return on your course investment might look like:
Reducing the amount of time spent on a typical client project without sacrificing the quality of your work, and creating time for more client projects
Getting better at translating your client’s vision into an effective website, thereby getting results-focused testimonials that attract good-fit clients who are ready to work with you
Building a reliable, low-effort system for getting in front of new audiences and getting referral clients consistently
Getting clear about the results you deliver for your clients, and increasing your prices to reflect that value
If you aren’t sure how you might apply what you learn, I recommend getting a sense of what is possible by reviewing the testimonials for the course.
Here’s a testimonial for Fast Track highlighting how Michelle, a web designer in France, implemented what she learned:
“The biggest change I made after Fast Track was improving my onboarding and welcome process for new clients. Adding project briefs and sharing simplified client-facing project plans helped set clear boundaries and ground rules, get client buy-in, and start each project off on the right foot.”
This helped Michelle keep her clients on track and complete her projects on schedule, creating more time in her business.
3) How quickly can I make back this money?
Roughly how long will it take for you to work through the course, apply what you learn, and make back your money?
There’s no right or wrong answer, but it’s important to get a general sense of your timeline so that you can make a conscious decision with realistic expectations about the outcomes.
For example, the investment for Fast Track is $695 USD. The course content is designed so you can go through it in 4-6 weeks.
But if your main goal is finding new leads and signing a new client over a smooth and low-pressure sales call, you can start applying what you learn almost immediately — Module 1 is all about Making the Sale. If you take action and sign just one new client within two months of buying the course, you’ll have made back your investment (hopefully multiple times over).
If you can make back your money within a couple of months, I would consider that a big green flag.
Side note: If you’re building a website that takes into account your client’s business goals and marketing strategy, and training your client on how to update their new website, please charge at least $1,000 USD. Most designers should be charging much more than this.
Bonus Question: Is this course specifically tailored to web designers?
There is a time and place for online courses that are designed for a wider audience. When it comes to skills that apply to a broad range of businesses — like copywriting, public speaking, podcasting, and storytelling — the fact that you’re a web designer is almost irrelevant.
But if you’re looking for a course to help you improve something that forms the foundation of your business — like how you get new clients consistently and how you deliver custom websites — you want to choose a course that is filled with strategies and examples that are relevant to your web design business.
This is why I created Fast Track just for web designers: so that if you see something that you want to use in your business, it’s easy to borrow and implement — we do not reinvent the wheel around here.
Recap and next steps
Here are the questions you should ask before buying another online course for your web design business:
What am I trying to get out of this course?
How can I apply what I learn to make back this money?
How quickly can I make back this money?
Is this course specifically tailored to web designers?
This blog post has hopefully also given you a good sense of what you can expect from my course, Fast Track.
I created this course to give you all the tools you need to build a successful web design business so you can earn more while working less.
If you’re curious to learn more, click here to view the sales page for Fast Track.
