Phil Ebiner to Studio U
February 10, 2017 ·
Udemy family... I haven't shared my income here in a long time, but I wanted to share a milestone that I crossed in January - 500k lifetime earnings. (my rev report doesn't show my graph or monthly totals anymore - too much data Udemy says... haha)
I hope this inspires you who are just starting out. I definitely don't mean to gloat. I've always been inspired by others who share their earnings (even when it's their first sale), and hope this inspires you.
When I started in October 2012, I made $62 in my first month without any audience, teaching experience, or real clue what I was doing.
Since then, I've committed myself to creating lots of great courses, lots of great content off of Udemy that I share for free (YouTube, blog, social media), and have updated or redone courses to make sure they get great reviews.
I did this for a few years while holding another full time job. Then in May of 2015, I left that job to focus on my courses full time. And I haven't looked back since because revenue continues to increase - including.
I'm happy to say that 90% of my income comes non-business courses - video editing, photography, motion graphics, graphic design, etc. The other comes from a few business-type courses.
There isn't a secret to my success. It's just been consistency and determination. I realized that what works on Udemy is to get courses ranked high in the search results. So that's what my goal always is with each course. And this means driving my own traffic to Udemy courses to get initial traction. Yes, it's easier now that I have a big audience of my own. But it wasn't always like that. I remember looking up to the 'big' Udemy teachers who could sell $1,000 in their first day of launch and dream of doing the same.
Slowly and steadily as my Udemy courses grew and grew, I was able to get there myself. And I believe you can too! Just keep at it. It probably won't happen with your first course (or your second or third). And it won't happen overnight. For most successful teachers on Udemy, it comes from having lots and lots of great courses.
If there is anything you want to know about me, feel free to ask in the comments below. I'd be happy to share as much as I can today!
