You probably have heard me say this before but it’s worth repeating…there is one excuse for not creating an online course that I just can’t bear.

Not because it’s something I cannot fix.

But because it’s not really a problem in the first place.

You see, sometimes people don’t create their own online course
– because there’s TOO MUCH COMPETITION.

“The market is saturated,” they say. “There’s no room for me. Sorry!”

And even when people ask me the secret of how I built my business and what opportunities there are for them…

Quite often their kneejerk reaction is along the lines of: “Ha, well maybe ten years ago, Heloise, but it’s probably all sewn up now by the big players. If any course was worth doing, it’s been done by now.”

And what I say to this is…

“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!”

As someone who’s been in this business since the ‘90s, these are frustrating messages to receive.

At best, the people who say there’s “too much competition” are wrong – which is unsurprising, bearing in mind they haven’t been working in information publishing for over 20 years like me.

At worse, they are just using it as an excuse – and a really bad one, at that.

Honestly, I’d rather hear “My dog ate my hard drive”, “My house went on fire” or “I’ve been recruited by MI6 and need to go undercover immediately”.

These excuses would make more sense to me.

Anyone who knows anything about business will know that competition is not only inevitable but should be embraced.

Because look, it’s extremely rare that anyone ever just comes up with a totally unique, high-demand product that nobody has every thought of before, and launches it into a market, alone, to scoop up all the riches.

Courses already exist – lots of them, too – and that’s a good thing, because it means there’s a massive market for home education and self-help.

What’s more, it is inevitable that there is more than one course in your chosen area.

In fact, if you are the only person in your marketplace, it’s a cause for concern.

Ask yourself, “why is nobody else doing it?”

Why competition is your friend

When I created my first information product What Really Makes Money back in 2003, there were other courses, newsletters, websites and books offering home business advice.

This encouraged me, rather than put me off, because I knew there was an appetite for this kind of information.

Competition confirms that you’re onto something. It means there’s a demand for your product. It proves that there are plenty of buyers you can reach.

Competition also means there are blueprints for what to do (the right way and the wrong way).

I first learned this back when I was working as a publisher in the mid-‘90s at billion dollar company Agora Inc.  They published courses, newsletters and books about finance and investment.

Our most successful product at the time was a product called the Penny Share Guide, a monthly newsletter that tipped small cap stocks to invest in for potentially huge gains (if you got it right!)

One day, we had a big meeting where the American owners of the company came over from Baltimore and told us that it was time to launch another penny share newsletter.

…err…. WHAT?

I remember us all sat in the meeting room, with our mouths open, aghast.

It made no sense. Why would we decide to sell more of the same thing? We’d be competing against ourselves and cannibalising our own market!

Our bosses listened to our naïve concerns, then very patiently explained how Proctor and Gamble made their money.

As you probably know, Procter and Gamble create a range of everyday products for clothes and dishwashing, baby care, grooming, hair and beauty.

They’re the company behind brands like Crest toothpaste, Gillette razors and Pantene shampoo.

Most famously, they make washing detergents, including Tide, Ariel, Bold 2in1, Daz and Fairy Non-Bio.

Now, many people would be surprised at that list, because they’ve have assumed that these were all made by different companies.

After all, why would a company make a successful washing powder, then launch another one as a rival? And then another… and then another?

Well, that’s precisely their strategy.

They find a product that works, then they launch another one, almost the same, but with different branding and often a slightly different price points.

The idea is that the different branding and pricing, captures different groups of people with different tastes, attitudes and incomes.

Sometimes they compete with up to four different brands of pretty much the same product!

They do the same with fabric softeners, shampoo, deodorants and nappies. For example, they launched a lower-price “Simply Dry” version of Pampers, which at the time was the biggest of their mega-brands. And this only increased their business.

Procter and Gamble don’t worry about competition, or shy away from launching products into a busy market.

They create competition in order to thrive…

Now, you might think – well, ok, with washing powder someone might buy different brands because they run out and regularly need to go back to the shop for more.

Surely a newsletter is a “one off” thing that people buy and hold onto. So surely there wouldn’t be enough potential customers in Agora’s marketplace willing to go out and get a new one?

Well, that just wasn’t the case. The second penny share newsletter was even more successful that the first, and many of the subscribers to the original bought the new one too.

So it’s really no different in the world of information publishing.

How to create something the same… yet different!

There are all kinds of people out there wanting help to develop their skills, and they’ll come across a variety of courses potentially offering similar advice.

That’s a good thing, because now you have a readymade market, chomping at the bit to buy.

All you have to do is create your own unique version, based on your personality, experience and worldview. After all, nobody can replicate YOU!

And just because there are ‘big players’ creating courses in your chosen niche, doesn’t mean there’s no room for you.

The fact that you are small, independent and home based can give you an edge. It can make you more relatable and trustworthy.

Even if your content is less slick, that doesn’t matter either, as it will make you more human – after all, people want help from a real person who has ‘been there and done it’, not a corporation or a publishing house.

I’ve bought multiple courses about social media marketing, from super slick interactive seminars to simple video training, because I want to learn from different people’s experiences.

Even in that one subject, there are so many different approaches, styles and philosophies – and the game is constantly changing, so there’s always something new to find out.

This is why, while I’m sympathetic to many doubts and niggles, I don’t really tolerate the “too much competition” excuse, I’m afraid!

All you need to do is be honest, and yourself, and you can create something that’s already out there – but with your unique stamp.