Lessons From Launching – What Went Well, What Didn’t, and How Much I Made

Is Creating and Selling Online Courses Still Worth it for Therapists in Private Practice?

Before we get into the real focus of today’s post, I wanted to let you know about some online workshops I’m delivering for the BABCP. They’re aimed at CBT therapists and CBT-informed practitioners who are considering starting private practice.  You’ll find all the details here. I’d love you to see you there!

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Is Creating and Selling Online Courses Still Worth It?

In January, I ran my signature course, Getting Started in Private Practice, for the fourth time. Each launch tends to teach me something different. This time, I’ve been reflecting on a question that’s probably uppermost in your mind if you’ve been considering adding this sort of income stream to your business.

In the current online landscape, is creating and selling online courses still worth it for therapists in private practice?

My answer is yes – a course is still absolutely worth it!

But creating the course itself is only a small part of the work. The harder part is the marketing, the positioning, and the audience-building. How people buy online keeps changing, so writing the course content is easy compared to selling it well.

My Main Goals for this Launch

Online courses are never one and done. They require constant tweaking. Sometimes I focus on the content, sometimes the emails, sometimes the sales process. This time, I updated parts of the course because AI has changed private practice significantly — some things are easier, some things are definitely harder.

For this launch, my main goals were:

• Over 100 people on to the waiting list

• Over 1000 people registered for the free masterclass

• Sell the course from that free masterclass

I achieved these goals, but that’s not the whole story. Let’s get into it…

Selling to a Cold Audience Versus a Warm Audience

Although attracting 1000 people into a free masterclass sounds like a huge number, most of those people formed what’s known as a ‘cold audience’.

This means they didn’t necessarily know me well. They may have come in through Facebook ads or broader promotion, and although they were interested in the topic, they weren’t yet deeply connected to me or my work.

This is very different to a ‘warm audience’ who may have spent time in my world, followed my work, subscribed to Therapists Corner, and joined the waiting list intentionally. This sort of customer journey involves building trust over time.

Cold audiences nearly always convert at a much lower rate than warm ones. So, in practice, getting 1000 people into a free masterclass does not mean 1000 people are ready to buy a course straight away. This has certainly been my experience.

However, many of these people may well join a future round of the course. For example, in September, once they’ve had more time to get to know me, read my work, watch videos, and build that know-like-trust factor. The masterclass wasn’t wasted just because they didn’t all convert immediately. It may be doing longer-term nurturing work.

What Went Well

1. The Free Masterclass (with Caveats)

The free masterclass did what free masterclasses often do well:

Therapists' Corner members continue reading below for all the details