Why selling courses/coaching is dumb af

Picture this:

You're scrolling social media at 2 AM.

Your eyes are burning from blue light.

Your bank account is burning from bad decisions.

And there it is…

Another 23-year-old "entrepreneur" flexing his $69K course launch.

Screenshots of Stripe notifications.

Testimonials from customers who "went from broke to $10K months."

And you think to yourself:

"Man, if this kid can do it, why can't I?"

So you do what every wannabe guru does.

• You fire up Canva.

• You slap together 37 slides about "mindset" and "productivity hacks."

• You price it at $297 because that's what the gurus told you.

And then you sit there.

Waiting…

Crickets.

Not even your mom buys it.

(And she bought your lemonade stand inventory when you were 8.)

Here's the thing nobody tells you about selling info products…

Wannabe Iman Gadzhis and Dan Koes

You're watching level 100 players and thinking you can start at level 99.

It's like watching Tom Brady throw touchdown passes and thinking you can skip high school football, college ball, and 15 years of NFL experience.

The Iman Gadzhis and Dan Koes of the world?

They didn’t start with courses or coaching.

They learned a valuable skill, built a business, and got punched in the face by reality until their work didn’t suck anymore.

Then they built an audience.

And then (and only then) did they slap a price tag on their knowledge.

But here's what you see:

• The highlight reel.

• The $500K launches.

• The Lambo in the driveway.

What you don't see?

• The years of grinding before that.

• The failures and screw-ups.

• The hard-earned lessons.

Most importantly:

The expertise they built before they ever thought about teaching it.

Everyone tells you to "start a course" or "launch a coaching program."

But they don’t tell you that you have to:

• Know a skill worth teaching.

• Have proof you can get results.

• Understand how to teach.

• Build an audience that trusts you.

• Create systems that actually work.

It's like telling someone to perform brain surgery after watching Grey's Anatomy.

"Just cut here and stitch there. Easy money."

Meanwhile, the patient dies (and your business).

Because you skipped every single step that actually matters.

The 4-Step Roadmap To Selling Courses/Coaching

Before selling a coaching program, I started at level 0.

• 0 online skills.

• 0 social media following.

• 0 idea what the hell I was doing.

Did I start by selling a course or coaching?

Hell nah.

I recognized that I was a beginner and had to pay my dues.

So I followed something I now call the 4E Framework:

1) Emulate

First, you need to learn a skill that:

1. You have an interest in.

2. Solves a painful problem for the market.

No interest in the skill? You’ll get bored and quit.

No painful problem the skill solves? Nobody will pay you.

I enjoyed writing and saw the explosive demand for content.

So I saw a lucrative opportunity with social media ghostwriting.

I learned it by emulating the top accounts, courses, and books in business, writing, and social media.

2) Experience

Next, I gained real-world experience by applying the tips I was learning.

• I wrote posts for myself.

• I got on sales calls.

• I built systems.

Over time, I learned valuable lessons I could only get from taking action (not consuming theory).

3) Educate

As I gained experience from my wins and mistakes, I gave actionable tips on social media to those a few steps behind me.

This grew me a following of people who knew, liked, and trusted me.

4) Evolve

Over time, I evolved by creating my own:

• Style.

• Systems.

• Frameworks.

I created my way of doing things instead of copying others.

My $150K Moment

After 2 years of ghostwriting, I had people asking me to coach them.

I realized there was demand, so I launched my first coaching program.

Within 2 weeks, I made $150,000.

But it only worked because I wasn't selling theory.

I had:

• Real expertise in ghostwriting and social media.

• Proven frameworks that worked.

• Case studies and testimonials.

• An understanding of what people wanted to buy.

• An audience who trusted me.

See the difference?

I didn't start by trying to teach.

I started by learning (and getting paid for it).

Here's what most people don't understand about ghostwriting (or any other service business).

I wasn’t just ghostwriting...

I was learning the fundamentals of business.

• How to build authority.

• How to position offers.

• How to nurture audiences.

• How to create compelling messages.

• How to convert followers into customers.

The Bottom Line: Should You Sell a Course Or Coaching?

Look, I'm not saying you should never create a course or coaching program.

I'm saying you first have to earn the right to create one.

For me, ghostwriting was perfect because it taught me:

• How to build my personal brand.

• How to convert followers to clients.

• How to package my skills into a system.

For you, it might be a different skill.

But regardless, don’t start with courses. Don’t start with coaching.

Start by learning something worth teaching.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Sell a Skill, Not a Fantasy” Robertson

P.S.

I don’t just sell a coaching program.

We still run our ghostwriting agency.

If you want to learn ghostwriting from people who actually run a ghostwriting biz (not teach outdated tactics from 4 years ago)…

Click here to see how I can help you build your ghostwriting business.

Personal Update

After 2 months in Medellin, Colombia, I’m now heading to Chicago for 2 weeks.

If any of y’all are down there, shoot me an email!

Links Of The Day

• [Form] My free ghostwriting course.