Building an online course can seem fairly daunting when you actually sit down and make a list of all the different moving parts. Videos, course hosting, payments, logins…. Your to-do list gets long fast!

I knew I wanted to have an online course to bring some passive income into my business. I was excited and willing to put in the work but the more I researched, the more I realised that many successful course creators were using several paid platforms and tech tools to get their courses up and running.

For me, and I know for many of you, investing in multiple platforms up front is just not viable. All the advice about ‘spending money to make money’ is good and well but when you have kids to feed that line can become a little blurred. So! If you’re like me and need to get your course off the ground without spending a ton right away, I’ve got you covered.

Here are some free tools that I used to help me build my online course. I hope you’ll find them helpful in bringing your dream business to life too:

*By the way, I am NOT an affiliate for any of the tools mentioned in this post. I simply used them and found them really useful so I hope they can help you too :)

For recording videos

ZOOM

ZOOM is a great tool for recording videos. It’s most commonly used for hosting group meetings and coaching calls but you can also use it to record your course training videos. It has the option to just record you, or to screenshare if you want to do a powerpoint presentation or something.

When you sign up you’ll be prompted to download it to your computer. Once that’s done you can open zoom on your computer, click ‘new meeting’ and get started. Just be sure you remember to hit record before you start :)

I totally recommend Zoom if you’re planning on creating videos for your course lessons and you can do so on the free plan.

For video editing

SHOTCUT

Shotcut allowed me to edit all of my videos for free. A lot of YouTube tutorials were necessary but totally worth it. You can use it to simply edit out any errors in your recording or, if you’re feeling fancy, you can join multiple videos together. This is great if you want to include an intro or maybe a face to face welcome before switching to slides.

For notes and organisation

TRELLO

Trello is a fantastic project management tool that you can use for free. I used it to map out the modules of my course and also to house my to-do list as it has a checkbox feature (and who doesn’t love the satisfaction of seeing all your completed tasks checked off?!).

For hosting videos if you’re using your website to host your course

YOUTUBE

YouTube is great for hosting your videos. You can upload them to YouTube, put them as unlisted, and then embed the link on your website if you’re hosting your course there. This is a great option if you’re not using a course hosting platform.

For designing graphics

CANVA

Canva has got to be the program I use most in my business. It has a free plan that allows you to do more than enough. You can use it to create logos, graphics and icons and you can also search free pictures. You can even create slideshows on canva and use their professional templates. Just add in your brand colours and you’ll have a professional presentation in no time.

I love using cute little icons to break up the content and add visual interest to my course content. Canva is truly invaluable in my business!

If you’re thinking about creating an online course for your business but don’t have much to invest in the process I hope you find this list of tools useful.

I used all of them and I’m so thankful that I was able to get my course off the ground without investing a lot of money up front. Are there better tools that could make the process easier and more efficient? Of course. But if you’re strapped for cash you use what’s available and these tools are fantastic.

That course you’ve been thinking about creating for months needs to be out in the world serving your customers. You have the expertise to bring it to life and now, I hope you have the tools as well so you can stop stalling and start earning!

In your corner always,

Michelle xxx