#53 From One-on-One Services to Online Courses (Coaching Session with Kathy Kwon)

You can feel it when someone’s ready for their next chapter.

In this coaching-style episode, I’m joined by Kathy Kwon, a brand + website designer who helps creativity-driven entrepreneurs stand out authentically through strategic branding and website design. Kathy’s work is rooted in visual storytelling, and after years of delivering high-touch, one-on-one services, she’s ready to explore what it could look like to bring her expertise into the world of online courses.

But she’s at a crossroads that will feel very familiar if you’ve ever thought, “I want to create a course… I just don’t know which direction to commit to.”

Kathy is weighing two strong ideas:

• a practical, foundation-building course that would give website designers stronger visual branding skills
• a more unconventional, expressive course that helps creative entrepreneurs use design to get seen and noticed

And underneath both ideas is the real question most course creators don’t ask clearly enough:

Which one solves a problem people will actually pay to solve—and how do you find that out without building the whole course first?

In this conversation, we talk about what to do when you’re caught between “what would sell” and “what would be fun to teach,” why you shouldn’t build in isolation, and how to start gathering real feedback without needing your course to be “perfect” yet.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The hidden difference between a course idea that’s interesting vs. one that’s painful enough to create demand
• Why identifying a “gap” in someone’s skill set isn’t the same as confirming they’ll invest time and money to close it
• How to approach student conversations so you get honest insight (without pitching your idea)
• Why building your audience and building your course need to happen at the same time
• A smart progression for new course creators: validate → create something small → build proof → expand

Mentioned in the episode

Build Lab — my community for course creators who want to actually get their course finished and done right. Inside, you’ll get support, feedback, accountability, live calls, monthly challenges, and exclusive tools (including custom GPTs), plus access to the first module of my signature course.

Connect with Kathy

Kathy’s free resource: “5 Essential Pages a Course Creator Needs on Their Website” (checklist)
Website: Bright Matters Studio
Instagram: @brightmattersstudio

Want coaching on the podcast?
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Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community.

To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU.

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