Ever since I started talking publicly about how digital courses changed my life…
8 figures, full time freedom, luxury travel, an unlimited Erewhon budget, students all over the world…the most common question I get is:
My answer: It depends.
Like, genuinely. I don’t think digital courses are for everyone. I don’t think every person reading this should build one, and I’d much rather you find that out now than six months and a half-built Teachable account from now.
The digital course business model requires a very specific kind of person -
Not a special unicorn. Not someone with a fancy degree or a huge following or some genius idea no one’s ever had before.
Someone who wants a specific kind of lifestyle + business model.
and if you’re not her, don’t worry - there are better paths (we’ll get to one of them later — spoiler: it might be the platform you’re reading this on).
But please hear me when I say:
But the method you should use to do so (courses vs substack), comes down to your personality, your lifestyle, and what actually feels most aligned for you.
That’s the article you’re about to read.
By the end, you’ll know:
what digital course topics are actually still profitable in the age of AI
whether the topic you’ve been thinking about could actually make $$
if you should start with a digital course or Substack first
how much $$ you could realistically make from a digital course in 30 days (starting from zero)
when courses absolutely beat Substack on the math (and when they don’t)
I also built you a quick quiz so you can find out with actual personalized data - whether this business model is the right fit for you.
Yes. You could ask ChatGPT to write you a workout plan. A nutrition plan. A 12-week glow-up plan.
And…. people still hire personal trainers.
Every single day. They walk past perfectly good free workout videos on YouTube and pay another human $150 an hour to count to ten while they do a squat.
Why?
Because they don’t want information. They want a plan.
They want someone watching their form. Someone who’s been where they are. Someone whose energy is so contagious they actually show up on the day they didn’t want to show up. Someone with a vibe they like, telling them what they are feeling is normal.
It is not, and has never been, JUST about the information.
People don’t pay for facts. They pay to be near the person who can take them somewhere they can’t take themselves.
And as much as you know I love Claude, I genuinely believe that AI has made us CRAVE real human connection more than ever before.
People buy courses for the same reason they hire a wedding planner when Pinterest is free. The information was never the problem. The execution was.
You will get to your result quicker, better, in a less stressful way if you have an expert guiding you through the process.
Side note: I created this little (free!) quiz - so you can find out with 100% certainty if creating + selling a digital course is right for YOU (or not).
The questions are personalized so I can really give you my honest opinion.
Because, truly…I don’t think this business model is for everyone. I don’t think everyone can or will be successful at it - and i’d rather help you figure that out NOW before wasting time on it, ya know?? 😅
Upgrading to paid is basically the cheat code for everything I teach. For less than the price of an Erewhon smoothie, you get the stuff I don’t put anywhere else on the internet:
The (personalized) quiz to find out if you should start with a digital course OR Substack
All of my favorite Claude hacks + prompts
The entire archive of every paid post I’ve ever written, instantly unlocked
Bonus resources, cheat sheets, and behind-the-scenes tea I don’t share on Instagram, TikTok, or anywhere else on the internet
Live subscriber-only Q+As with Amie (NEW!!!)
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