How to Make a “No-Thrills” Course For Free That Actually Sells

This part-time solopreneur is flushing out your excuses

Some creators seem to come from nowhere.

Eve is one of those.

In recent months, her tweets have blown up, gaining thousands of impressions and comments:

The reality is this is no overnight success.

Eve has been writing online for two and a half years. She started on Medium and added Twitter to her toolbelt.

Perhaps most impressive, Eve has written 800K+ words online whilst working a 9–5 job.

She recently shared her routine:

On the back of her success, Eve released a course: 0–1000 on Twitter.

In an hour and a half of content, she breaks her Twitter success into actionable steps, and there’s lots of juicy stuff.

I won’t go into that here, though. That wouldn’t be fair on Eve.

What I do want to pick out is how she has made and sold her course to aspiring content creators.

It’s a textbook example of how to make a no-thrills online product for free that actually sells.

Let’s go!

Step #1: Be hyper-focused on what you want to teach

Eve’s course teaches full-time workers how to go from zero to 1000 followers on Twitter.

And with her methods, she shares a proven blueprint.

That’s it.

It reminds me of how Justin Welsh has made over $1.28 million from online courses.

Here are four course-creation steps he recommends:

Choose a topic you could easily talk about for 30 minutes. No research, no reading other people’s takes, no stealing content from blogs, etc.
Keep your course between 30 and 45 minutes.
Focus on high-value information — not production value.
Create course benefits and outcomes. What specific problem will you be solving? What are the benefits and outcome(s) a student can expect? Create an outline for your product that helps solve #1 and delivers on #2.

Let’s get back to Eve.

Step #2: Put this content into slides

Again, this doesn’t need to be flashy.

What’s important is the content.

Eve uses Google slides.

Step #3: Record your course with Loom

Loom lets you record your screen and camera for free.

(There’s a free 14-day trial on the Business plan, which is more than enough time to create your course.)

You can then embed these videos into Notion.

Step #4: Host the course on Notion

I would never have thought to host a course on Notion.

Eve has embedded these videos onto a Notion page and added commentary. She’s also added a colourful header and links to her work at the bottom.

It’s genius!

As a long-term solution, this may or may not work. It’s easy for people to share Notion content, so those who don’t want to buy the course may find it online for free.

However, as a quick and free way to ship your course, Notion is perfect.

Step #5: Create a free Gumroad landing page

Again, Eve keeps this simple.

She tells people about the course and why she’s the right person to teach.

When selling online products with Gumroad, Niharikaa is the queen.

For example, with Summit 21, Niharikaa tells people precisely what they’ll get and the learning outcomes. She also includes countless testimonials from past students, including me:

Step #6: Direct people to this landing page

Eve nailed the launch of her course.

She made it free for a limited time and encouraged people to take action.

She did a similar thing for her Top 100 Headlines on Medium database.

One of her tweets blew up:

Takeaways

Eve’s work ethic is admirable.

And it’s paying off.

Because she’s a fellow Brit and I like her writing, I’ve followed her since the beginning.

It’s been a slow burn. However, Eve’s been honing her craft for the past two and a half years, and it seems she’s now getting the attention she deserves.

Sure, her schedule might not be for everyone, but that’s not the point. She’s going against the “jump head-first into entrepreneurship” narrative, and I love it.

I only quit my 9–5 job last November after years of building on the side. Following Eve’s approach is the perfect stepping stone.

And if you want to build a free course that actually sells, she’s paved the way.

No more excuses!

Want to ditch the 9–5? Get my free 19-page guide: Everything I Did to Quit My 9–5 Job & Transition Into Profitable, Sustainable Solopreneuring :)