11 Online Courses Business Success Stories [2024]
If you're a mechanical engineer, you can share your knowledge and make money by creating an online course.
Start by picking a specific area in mechanical engineering that you know well, like designing cars or understanding how engines work. Make your course interesting with videos, assignments, and helpful materials. Create a user-friendly website where people can access your course, and use social media and emails to tell others about it.
When people enjoy your course and find it helpful, they'll spread the word, and your business will grow. As you gain experience, you can even add more courses or explore other engineering topics to expand your online teaching business.
In this list, you'll find real-world online courses business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a online courses business that makes money.
1. ContentCreator.com ($6M/year)
Anthony Gallo and Paul Xavier launched ContentCreator.com after realizing an untapped market for beginner-friendly, affordable cinematic video production courses. With just $60 in initial Facebook ad spend, they rapidly scaled to $35,000 in weekly sales and now run an 8-figure business aiding thousands of aspiring content creators globally.
How much money it makes: $6M/year
How much did it cost to start: $2K
How many people on the team: 5
This case study article is about ContentCreator.com, an online education platform that teaches professional content creation, which started with just $60 spent on Facebook ads and scaled to over $35,000 in sales per week within the first month, becoming an 8-figure business that has helped launch the careers of thousands of aspiring content creators.
2. Justin Welsh ($3.8M/year)
After handling loads of stress as an SVP of sales, Justin decided to step down from his job and start a consulting business. He started creating digital content from there on, and have been moving forward ever since, releasing courses, building a massive following, and double down on his solopreneurship efforts.
How much money it makes: $3.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 0
Solopreneur Justin Welsh built a knowledge business through social media with over $2M in annual revenue and no full-time employees, offering flagship digital courses with a monthly revenue of $80K and $45K respectively, through LinkedIn and Twitter growth as well as organic and affiliate marketing.
3. Dan Koe ($2.5M/year)
Eager to choose an unconventional career path and his love for fitness got him to start a fitness YT channel in college, then a freelance course out of his love for web development through which he built an audience, and lot of iterations with failing and succeeding at digital products.
How much money it makes: $2.5M/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0
Learn how Dan Koe, a solopreneur targeting 7-8-figure entrepreneurs with a 98% profit margin and 2.6 million social media audience, built his brand from a fitness YT channel to a successful freelancing business with a strategic content growth strategy and revenue averaging $2.5M/year.
4. Publishing.com ($1.44M/year)
Christian and Rasmus Mikkelsen, also known as the Mikkelsen Twins, started their online education company after finding success in book publishing. They initially enrolled in community college to redirect their energy and prove their ambition. After finding success in publishing and growing their businesses, they started a YouTube channel and eventually launched their online course, Audiobook Income Academy, which generated $43,865.62 in pure profit in just 24 hours.
How much money it makes: $1.44M/year
How many people on the team: 2
Mikkelsen Twins grew an online education company from scratch with over 800 students, making over 6-figures in profit every month thanks to their successful program, Audiobook Income Academy 2.0.
5. Easlo ($504K/year)
While in school, Ruiyi often used Notion — a note-taking software platform — to organize his lecture notes.
After using the tool repeatedly, he quickly realized that Notion could be customized for various purposes. He decided to fiddle with the program’s functionality and produced basic templates, like a budget and habit tracker.
He then started promoting the template to his growing Twitter followers and posting on Product Hunt to spread the word.
How much money it makes: $504K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0
A self-taught designer turned CEO leveraged his passion for minimalist design to create a Notion Templates marketplace, Easlo, generating an impressive $42K/month and $504K/year in revenue, with a Twitter following of over 290k and 16k+ on Product Hunt, catering to creators and small businesses seeking digital organization tools.
6. Oki Doki Digital Inc ($480K/year)
Marie Poulin came up with the idea for her course, Notion Mastery, after discovering the software tool Notion in 2018. She found that Notion helped her with organization and productivity, and she began sharing her tips and tricks on YouTube. After receiving requests for a course, she launched Notion Mastery, which now generates an average of $40k/month in revenue.
How much money it makes: $480K/year
How many people on the team: 2
Marie Poulin built a digital strategy and design company, Oki Doki, with her husband and pivoted the niche to course creators, culminating in their signature course, Notion Mastery, which generates an average of about $40k/month for the company.
7. OneHourProfessor.com ($360K/year)
Ron Stefanski, the founder of OneHourProfessor.com, came up with the idea for his online business when his step-brother asked for help finding a job with a felony record. Seeing a need for employment resources for those with criminal records, Stefanski launched a website that quickly went viral, attracting thousands of visitors in a short period of time. The business has since become highly profitable, with Stefanski making over $1 million in profit and earning $30-$40k per month.
How much money it makes: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $140
How many people on the team: 3
Learn how Ron Stefanski generated over $1 million in profit from his online business, OneHourProfessor.com by obsessively measuring and following data, using SEO, and focusing on reinvesting profits into growth.
8. Write of Passage ($300K/year)
After taking Tiago Forte's course, David wanted to help 1,000 people start writing online. He was so excited he even tweeted about it and approached it as a challenge.
How much money it makes: $300K/year
Unlock the growth strategy of Write of Passage, a business making $25K/month and $300K/year in revenue, with founder David Perell's laser focus on shareable content and driving people to his email list.
9. No Code MBA ($72K/year)
Seth Kramer, founder of No Code MBA, came up with the idea for his business when he saw the growing trend of no-code tools and realized there was a need for a platform that taught people how to use these tools to build businesses. After pivoting from his previous business, ConferenceTap, he started creating video lessons and offering both free and paid courses on building apps using no-code tools. With over 400 paid members and organic growth through content sharing, No Code MBA is quickly becoming the go-to community for entrepreneurs looking to build businesses without code.
How much money it makes: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $200
How many people on the team: 0
No Code MBA founder, Seth Kramer, has built a training platform for entrepreneurs who want to learn how to launch their very own businesses and build apps using no-code tools, recording over 150 real-world video lessons which have resulted in over 400 paid members in just 6-months and a focus on growing the No Code MBA community.
10. Just Ninety ($54K/year)
Andrew Lawson, founder of Just Ninety, came up with the idea for his business after realizing the need for professional trainers to reclaim their time and generate more revenue in the virtual training space. After beating cancer for a third time, Andrew decided to use the online courses he had created during COVID as the foundation for Just Ninety, helping trainers around the globe shorten their design process and deliver engaging corporate training materials in a 90-minute format. Since launching, Andrew has made $4,500 in just over 4 weeks and is focused on increasing web traffic and generating more leads through targeted campaigns.
How much money it makes: $54K/year
How much did it cost to start: $17.2K
How many people on the team: 1
Founder Andrew Lawson launched Just Ninety, a platform that offers ready-to-go corporate training materials to professional trainers to shorten development time for virtual courses, and has made $4,500 in revenue within the first month of launch.
11. iCodeThis ($30K/year)
Florin Pop noticed new developers lacked a platform to hone their coding skills.
He observed that while beginners watched numerous videos and enrolled in courses, it was not enough to help them become professionals.
Recognizing this gap, he created a GitHub repository where he shared project ideas, which garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
As people began sharing the repository on Twitter, it gained popularity.
Seeing the success of the GitHub repository, Florin Pop was inspired to build a website for app ideas, which today is ICodeThis
How much money it makes: $30K/year
How many people on the team: 0
Learn how founder Florin Pop grew iCodeThis from a GitHub repository with hundreds of thousands of views to a thriving business generating $30K/year, leveraging a 35,000-strong email list, social media, and influencer marketing campaigns to reach the right audience and drive growth.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
