This definitely feels like one of those ‘where to even begin’ style posts, but it’s all top of mind for me as I recently conducted a course platform migration, so I’m just going to let it flow.
In short: I switched course platforms (again). This time, from Circle to Thrivecart Learn+. I already had Thrivecart, which includes Learn (their learning management system (LMS). So I just had to pay a one-time $200 upgrade fee to enable the features of Learn+. I need the ‘+’ version so I could import my existing student/customer base.
But it’s a $200 move that will save me $2,988/year at minimum.
I already have Thrivecart (despite the fact that we’ve been using Circle) because at some point or another, my former team and I decided we needed it for the checkout pages (if my memory serves me correctly). So I had made the lifetime access purchase of $1k+ or whatever it was for the software.
I hated making that purchase at the time. But recently, I thought, “Wait… this is a learning management platform that I’ve already paid for? That I don’t have to pay for on a monthly basis? And it does pretty much everything I’m paying another program to do?”
Mk, wow. No brainer.
As we all know by now, “passive income” isn’t really passive (in world of online education at least) and when you’re in the stretch of life & business where you’re navigating multiple pregnancies, maternity leaves, part-time childcare / work hours, and striving for an entirely different business model, you want to do all you can to eliminate unnecessary overhead & fixed expenses.
Besides, the internet is always changing, and what works for you at one point in time, may not be the thing that does a few years down the road.
Of course, the goal is always longevity and sustainability, and I *agonize* over trying to think long-term and forecast every possible scenario, but often you just don’t know how things will play out … until they play out.
I created my first digital product (Social Media Caption Kickstarters) for $29 using a program called DPD — or Digital Product Delivery. I don’t even know if they’re still in business or operating under that name - I haven’t checked. It was literally zero frills but it allowed me to, as the name suggests, deliver a very simple digital product in the format of a PDF. Lo & behold! Selling digital products was fun! Easy! What a time!
I created my second digital product (The Email Welcome Sequence Template - I can’t remember if the name was any more creative than that or not.) I wanted a system that felt a little swankier and allowed me to structure multiple components of the products in a way that was better for the student experience.
Enter: Podia. Given that it was an under $100 digital product and Kajabi was like $200+/mo with a bajillon more features than I needed at the time, it fit the bill. The price was less than all the other ‘T’ platforms on the market, too (Teachable, Teachery, Thinkific).
Podia worked well, until it didn’t, because of limits with integrations, checkout features, and an underwhelming interface.
Side note: While my memory is getting very fuzzy, all of this still feels like yesterday and I can’t believe we’re approaching 6 years out from the year 2020.
This was the year of The Copy House — our flagship website copywriting course for entrepreneurs. At this point in time, I believe I made the switch to Kajabi. I finally felt like I had a full course (as opposed to a simpler digital product) and wanted a quality interface to house it all.
I initially launched with a cart open/cart close cohort format that included live calls and a bonus of a draft review for early adopters. For the size of my audience, it sold great.
Somewhere amidst all of this, our education suite had expanded to include:
The Creating a Client Experience Bundle
A Guide to Launching & Marketing Your New Site
The Website Copy TONIC (created to with/for/to support the audience/customers of Tonic Site Shop)
And then because I’ve always believed in the power of a brand messaging guide, I created & launched my personal favorite, Vine to Voice — a course on developing your messaging for creatives/small business owners.
We then also tweaked various videos and course materials within The Copy House, debuting its 2.0 version.
Yes, I’m feeling tired just reflecting back on all of this!
Lastly, we developed The Tasting Room — a 4-part “taster”, covering a mix of brand messaging, website copy, sales page copy, and launching + marketing it all.
The thinking was that it was perfect for those who needed a little bit of everything at an affordable price point. (Who doesn’t!?)
I finished & launched this product while on a cross-country roadtrip with my little sister. The roadtrip was a great idea, but maybe not the launching while on it part…
Then things went HAYWIRE. I’m kidding, kind of. But seriously.
In late June, I found out I was pregnant, with our daughter Pendry. By Q3 of 2023, I ultimately decided to retire all existing educational products to make way for their fully revamped versions to come.
This decision was loaded and not out of left field. Although I can see how it perhaps felt that way.
When I first created The Copy House (my original website copywriting course for entrepreneurs), I had a prominent leader in the online space tell me, “That name is so good! You should definitely trademark it - like yesterday!”
I took it as a big compliment and deprioritized the idea of paying $2500+ to file for ownership of it. I was naive and innocent and figured it was clearly a name I was using and no one else would take it. L-O-L. So trusting.
By the time I got around to filing for it, it was too late. Someone else had beat me to the punch, as well as a few other derivatives out there.
At that point, I was advised by my attorney to no longer use it, and I had no idea what I was going to do with this course I’d created and ran for 3+ cohorts and was just about to turn evergreen.
I’d fully branded it. Created an entire theme around it inspired by my experience visiting Champagne houses in Reims and Épernay. Even paid a photographer who lived in France for rights to her photos that fit with the theme of it all.
Oof.
Oh — and remember how I’d also created Vine to Voice, my original brand messaging course for entrepreneurs? Yeah, well, I loved the course, the marketing behind it, the shoots I did for it in California + a vineyard in Virginia, and it genuinely received so much high praise from my students.
But the problem was, brand messaging comes first in the process (before web copy), yet I’d created this course second, and I felt like there was weird overlap with The Copy House material and it wasn’t as fluid or bundle-able as I would’ve liked.
I was always asked, “Which course is right for me — The Copy House, Vine to Voice, or both?” And I felt like I didn’t know how to best answer that question.
Granted, this was probably me mostly overthinking, ughhhh what’s new!
So while I was reeling and so disappointed in the whole legal situation (not with my attorney though!), the rational side of my brain saw it as an opportunity to create anew and improve on the original combo.
Not to mention, the industry had been changing rapidly, even before the explosion of AI. I’d learned a lot, heck, I even looked different than I did in my course videos, and figured it was time to let those ‘older’ programs go.
I devised a whole new direction, complete with a very ambitious new course suite, AND a quarterly membership/community add-on. I had it reviewed by a curriculum specialist, hired my designer to illustrate a map of the course flow, and my team and I set out to make it happen.
That new direction led us to the Circle platform, which we loved for the membership capabilities and interface, but not so much for the course platform side of it.
It wasn’t bad enough to be a deal breaker, so we rolled with it. I’d also recently been on the receiving end of a program in Circle and enjoyed my experience as a student/user so I was energized by the promise of it all.
YAY, decisions made! Big vision & goals!!!
Did I mention I was pregnant and approaching a maternity leave?
Back to the timeline …
While it took longer than planned, by the grace of God and with ample help from my team at the time, we managed to create, finish & launch The Essential Copy Course® — our new version of a website copywriting course for entrepreneurs.
The course includes a 220+ page Coursebook packed with prompts, exercises, templates, and mock copy to pull from, as well as supporting videos and 8+ additional materials/resources.
With it, we debuted The (Non) Copywriter’s Society® — a quarterly membership complete with live calls, draft reviews, and more. (This served as the cohort/support component that was originally part of The Copy House - but with the goal of offering it on an ongoing basis, and across all copywriting aspects, not just web copy).
It was an actionable, step-by-step, fillable, printable, flexible, well-supported offer — and we were PROUD.
The Circle platform made for a great home for it all.
But I was nearing the end of pregnancy, planning for my first maternity leave, and straight up burnt out. I didn’t have the energy to really market it, especially after launching it right in the middle of the holiday season and not quite seeing the immediate return I’d hoped & planned for.
Part of the long lead time was also because you better believe I was smart enough to file trademarks for both names this go-round.
I was hesitant to launch them before I knew it looked like we were going to secure the marks for each. Thank you, Paige!
Most former students had no problem with receiving our emails announcing the change, giving 3+ months notice ‘til their retirement, and providing instructions on what to download of the course materials.
We also provided original purchasers of The Copy House with free access to The Essential Copy Course® because I wanted to honor their original buy-in and this was, after all, more or less a recreation of it.
But unfortunately, some students didn’t receive our emails and I can’t say I enjoyed that period of hearing from disappointed people who went looking for their course access months or even more than a year later. 😞
I know, in retrospect, I made the right decision and handled it with as much grace and integrity as I possibly could’ve (we found solutions for everyone) but I suddenly felt this INSANE pressure of being locked in and on the hook to maintain and host these programs year over year over year.
BUT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THAT. And I for one, can’t make it make sense.
Although, it does explain why a lot of course creators launch cohort-style programs or only allow access to their course content for a defined period of time.
To me, that always felt like a lot of admin work to track and keep up with — unless you had the just-right program with the ability to automate that for you. (Which, yes, I know is possible, but to each their own.)
So I’d always chosen to describe our duration of access as “for the lifetime of the product”. Which means, for as long as it’s being hosted and remains available for sale. Which in this case, meant those original programs had reached the end of their lifetime.
Obviously none of this happened over night, so I kept accounts with both Kajabi AND Circle for almost the full year as we worked to create the first new program, The Essential Copy Course®, and complete the retirement process + timeline of everything else.
These experiences and realizations definitely influenced the way I created The Essential Copy Course®. I made it more of a workbook-driven ‘course’ that was downloadable and couldn’t be taken away from students — and should I want to change platforms again in the future, was easy to migrate.
Granted, it’s also a course on writing, so it felt most sensible that it was written and incredibly easy to follow without hours on end of video content.
2024:
This was the year of becoming a mom, taking a maternity leave, and experimenting, testing, and trialing the combination of The Essential Copy Course® and The (Non) Copywriter’s Society® while my well-oiled team mostly ran the agency-side.
I felt big changes welling within me all year and struggled HARD to ascertain what those changes would, could, or should be.
2025:
As I’ve shared, it ultimately led to scaling down the agency in early 2025, shifting back to being the primary service-provider for the time being, and letting The Essential Copy Course® and The (Non) Copywriter’s Society® run in the background with a quiet, organic evergreen funnel.
I put a hold on all things product development as I worked to sort things out in my brain, digest the impacts of AI (and my own involvement with it), and work through client projects on mostly part-time working mom hours.
And then, bam!! I found out I was pregnant again in July. 😂 A blessing for sure and another new season to navigate.
My continued experimentation with AI and long-standing love for brand messaging work led me to rework my framework/messaging guide and start creating what will be my first/next product launch since 2023 — The Messaging Dash 2.0.
I had a free, mini Notion template version available for most of this year, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the AI-integration, training, and additional resources that are going to make the paid, 2.0 version so impactful.
I’ll host it on Thrivecart Learn+ alongside The Essential Copy Course® and any other educational offers.
Looking Ahead to 2026:
February is fast approaching — at which point, I’ll take a 2 to 3 month maternity leave with no done-for-you client work until ~late April/early May.
I’m also planning to focus on a more hybrid business/services suite in general with a lot of AI incorporation. Of course, without ever losing the emotionally intelligent, personality-driven, and laid-back refinement that the CU brand and portfolio is known for.
PHEW. A lot learned…
Looking back, it’s wild to see how every season — every platform switch, every re-work, every start-over — has shaped what Copy Uncorked (and I) have become. At the time, it all felt messy and exhausting.
In hindsight, it’s been a masterclass in longevity, discernment, and letting things evolve when they need to.
🍷 So considering this post was the unfiltered pour, Part 2 will be the tasting notes — the lessons, takeaways, and recommendations I’d offer anyone building (or rebuilding) an online education arm today.
Keep an eye out for that forthcoming post and in the meantime, I’d love for you to weigh in on all of this in the comments below!
Are you a course creator? What has your own experience with online course creation been like? Are you hoping to create + launch your first digital product? What questions can I address for you in Part 2?
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