Learn from My Mistakes: 7 Digital Course Pitfalls to Skip

Welcome to Creator Columns. This is where we bring in real voices and helpful tips to guide you through your journey and help you grow with confidence.
Mistakes are part of the process when you’re building digital courses. We’ve made our fair share too. But with every mistake, we’ve also learned something valuable—and that’s what we want to share with you today.

7 Biggest Mistakes We Made as Digital Course Creators

1. Launching a Course Without Real Experience:

It’s tempting to jump in quickly, especially when you’re excited about your idea. But before you create a course, it’s important to have real, hands-on experience in what you’re teaching.

Let’s say you want to create a course on real estate investing—that’s great! But you should actually have experience in real estate yourself. The same goes if you want to teach salon owners how to run a business—you should’ve run one before.

We once launched a course without real experience in the niche. We wanted to come across as experts right away, but that first course didn’t do well at all.

Here’s why having real experience matters:

• It builds trust: People are more likely to listen to you when they know you’ve actually done what you’re teaching.
• It makes teaching easier: You can speak from experience, explain things clearly, and relate to what your students might be going through.
• You can solve real problems: When you’ve faced those same struggles, you’ll be able to offer helpful solutions.
• You feel more confident: When you’ve been through it yourself, you’ll naturally speak with more confidence and clarity.
• Your reputation grows: With time, people start seeing you as a real expert, which can lead to exciting opportunities like speaking, consulting, or collaborations.

You don’t have to be the top expert in your field—you just need what we call a 10% edge. That means having just enough experience to stay one step ahead of your students.

2. Letting Imposter Syndrome Take Over:

Even when we had the right knowledge, we sometimes felt like we weren’t good enough. We asked ourselves, “Who am I to teach this?” Those doubts slowed us down.

But here’s what helped us get through it:

• Celebrate your wins: Even small wins matter. Remind yourself of them often.
• Don’t chase perfection: Focus on growing and learning, not on being perfect.
• Be kind to yourself: Everyone has moments of doubt. It’s normal.
• Keep a “feel-good” folder: Save positive feedback or messages from people who appreciate your work.

Also, don’t let lack of tech skills or marketing knowledge hold you back. You don’t need to be a tech expert to launch a successful course.

You also don’t need a perfect course idea to start. That’s why programs like Digital Course Academy (DCA) exist. DCA gives you a step-by-step guide to help you find your course idea, create it, and share it with the world.

3. Creating a Course We Weren’t Excited About:

Let’s be honest—working on something you don’t care about is a waste of time and energy. We once started creating a course on a topic we weren’t even interested in anymore. And guess what? We never launched it.

Before you start building your course, make sure you find your sweet spot. This means your topic should match three things:

• What you enjoy
• What your audience needs
• What you know well

When all these things come together, you’ll stay motivated and excited. And that excitement will show in how you teach.

4. Spending Too Much Time Outside Your “Zone of Genius”:

Your Zone of Genius is where you do your best work. It’s the space where your passion, skills, and impact come together.

Here’s how to spot it:

• Passion: You love doing it
• Skills: You’re good at it
• Impact: Your audience benefits from it

As business owners, we often try to do everything ourselves. We’ve been there, spending hours editing course videos when we could’ve handed it off to someone else.

When you focus too much outside your Zone of Genius, you miss chances to grow. As your business grows, try to delegate tasks that don’t need your personal touch. This gives you more time to focus on the work that truly matters.

5. Believing Our First Course Had to Be Perfect:

When we created our first course, we thought it had to be the best course ever made. We packed in too much, trying to prove how much we knew.

But here’s the truth—your first course doesn’t have to be perfect.

Courses get better over time. Focus on helping your audience and giving them real value. You can always improve the content with each launch.

You don’t need five different courses to be successful. Just one good course can be enough to get started and make a profit.

6. Playing It Too Safe:

You’ve probably heard the saying “Go big or go home.” That also applies when it’s time to launch your course.

In the beginning, we played it small. We only sent a few emails, avoided videos, and skipped webinars because we didn’t feel ready.

But here’s the thing – video is powerful. It helps you connect with your audience and build trust. We waited too long to use it, and that slowed down our growth.

So don’t hide. Start small if you need to—maybe a short video or one live session. As you practice, you’ll get better and feel more confident.

And when it’s time to launch, you’ll be ready to go all in.

7. Not Staying in Touch with Your Audience:

Let’s talk about launches. One of the most important things you have is your email list. If you don’t keep in touch with your subscribers, it can really hurt your course launch.

You need to connect with your audience regularly. Share helpful content, keep them interested, and build trust over time.

And if you think your email list is too small to launch a course, don’t worry. We’ve seen people with only 120 subscribers make thousands of dollars in just a few days.

The key is not the size of your list—it’s how engaged your audience is. If your readers already know you and trust you, they’re more likely to sign up when you launch.

Another big lesson we learned: get people excited before your launch. A simple welcome email isn’t enough. Warm them up. Share what’s coming, give them tips, or offer a freebie.

We learned this the hard way. We once hosted a few online classes and barely anyone showed up. Why? We didn’t build interest ahead of time.

Don’t make that mistake – start connecting early so your audience is ready and excited when it’s time to launch.

You’re Ready to Build Your Digital Course

Now that you’ve seen the mistakes, it’s time to focus on what works. Remember, this is a journey. We’ve shared the lessons. Now it’s your turn to take action.

Let this post be your reminder to learn from our mistakes and avoid these 7 digital course pitfalls. You don’t need to be perfect—you just need to start, learn, and grow.