Turn Expertise Into Courses
👋 Welcome - Your Weekly Spark
Hey there,
Over the past three weeks, we've covered consulting and coaching—both powerful ways to monetize your expertise. This week, we're completing the trio with the model that truly scales: online courses.
If you've ever thought "I should really document this," but never got around to it, this one's for you. Let's turn that expertise sitting in your head into something that works while you sleep.
—Curt
🌟 Words to Inspire
"The younger version of you—the one just starting out—would have paid good money to learn what you know now. Somewhere out there, that person exists today, struggling with the exact problems you've already solved."
Your decades of hard-won wisdom have real value. The confidence you've earned through experience? That's exactly what makes you qualified to teach, not what holds you back from it.
📖 Featured Story: Turning Your Expertise Into an Online Course: Where to Start
You've explained this concept a hundred times to colleagues, clients, and anyone who'd listen. Each time, they nod along and say "that makes so much sense—why doesn't everyone know this?" Then they ask if you have it written down somewhere.
And every time, you say "not yet."
What if that casual "not yet" is costing you a scalable income stream that works while you sleep?
After decades in finance, I've watched countless experienced professionals give away their expertise for free while 25-year-olds package far less knowledge into courses and charge premium rates. The difference isn't capability—it's willingness to structure what you already know.
This week, we're completing our expertise monetization trio. We've covered consulting and coaching. Now let's talk about the model that scales infinitely: online courses that turn your intellectual legacy into income.
Your "Obvious" Knowledge Is Someone Else's Breakthrough
Here's the expertise trap: What feels basic to you after 30 years represents exactly what people struggle to learn through trial and error.
Those recurring questions colleagues ask you? That's your course curriculum writing itself in real-time. The problems you solve instinctively? Those are someone else's expensive learning curve.
Try this 10-minute exercise: Write down the 10 most frequent questions people ask about your area of expertise. Group similar questions together. If 3+ questions revolve around the same challenge, you've just validated market demand for that specific knowledge.
Consider someone with decades of HR experience who's repeatedly asked about navigating difficult employee conversations. Their course outline already exists: identifying the real issue, preparing effectively, handling the conversation skillfully, and following up appropriately. Four modules. One validated problem. Scalable solution.
That's pattern recognition as curriculum. You're not inventing content—you're documenting expertise you've already built.
Choose Your Strategic Approach Based on Your Goals
Here's where course creation strategy splits based on what you're ultimately trying to accomplish.
Two paths, same destination—different timelines:
• Platform Building: Offer robust free courses to build authority, grow your newsletter, test multiple business models, and gather extensive feedback. You're exploring several angles simultaneously, so substantial free value serves multiple objectives.
• Revenue Focus: Create a short free mini-course (5-day email series or single video module) as a lead magnet, then transition students quickly to paid introductory courses at $49-$97. Your primary goal is course income.
The key principle remains constant: Validate demand with real students before investing months building comprehensive paid programs. Whether that validation happens through substantial free courses or quick lead magnets depends on your broader business objectives.
With Retirepreneur, I chose the platform approach—offering substantial free courses in the Hub because I'm building authority, growing the newsletter, and testing what resonates before creating paid offerings. Every student who completes a course tells me what worked, what gaps remain, and what they need next.
Don't give away the buffet if courses are your primary revenue stream. But don't be afraid to offer genuine value for free if you're building authority and testing multiple business models simultaneously.
Let AI Handle the Blank Page
Most experienced professionals never create courses because staring at empty outlines feels overwhelming—even though they could teach the content in their sleep.
Think of AI not as a robot writing for you, but as the junior research assistant you always wished you had. You have the wisdom; they have the organizing ability. Your job is simply to share your experience, and AI's job is to structure it.
Here's the workflow that eliminates blank page paralysis:
Step 1: The Expert Brain Dump
Open Claude and use this prompt:
"I want to teach [topic] to [audience]. Let me explain how I think about this, and I want you to ask clarifying questions."
Talk through your expertise conversationally for 15-20 minutes. Let AI ask follow-up questions.
Step 2: Extract the Structure
Ask:
"Based on what I've explained, create a 4-6 module course outline with clear learning objectives for each module."
Review it. Does it match how you'd actually teach this?
Step 3: Develop the Content
For each module, prompt:
"Break this into 3-4 lessons. For each lesson, provide the core concept, example needed, practice exercise, and common mistakes to address."
Step 4: Find the Gaps
Finally:
"Review this outline as if you're a student with [knowledge level]. What questions would you still have?"
This reveals where you need additional content before students ask.
You're not asking AI to teach your subject. You're using it to extract and organize what's already in your head. It transforms 30 years of experience into structured curriculum in 30 minutes.
Price Based on Your Strategy
Your pricing approach should align with your validation strategy and business goals.
If you're testing course viability: Start with introductory pricing at $49-$97. Ten students paying $79 proves more than zero students considering $499. Build confidence with real users first.
If you're building a tiered system:
• Free Foundation – Entry-level content covering fundamentals (builds authority, gathers feedback)
• Paid Introduction ($49-$97) – Expanded version with templates and examples (validates willingness to pay)
• Advanced Implementation ($197-$397) – Comprehensive content with personalized elements (serves serious students)
The pricing research is clear: these psychological price points work because they feel accessible while still signaling professional value. Start where students can say yes easily, then scale pricing as you demonstrate results.
If you can't get 20 people to pay $79 for your course, you probably won't get anyone to pay $497. Test introductory pricing first. Let momentum build evidence.
From Expertise to Legacy
Course creation isn't just income generation—it's intellectual legacy building.
After decades solving problems within specific organizations, creating a course lets your knowledge outlive those temporary relationships. Students you'll never meet benefit from wisdom you spent a career developing.
The questions shift from "How many billable hours can I work?" to "How can my expertise create ongoing value while I focus on living?"
That's the transition from employment thinking to entrepreneurial leverage. And it's available to anyone willing to document what they already know.
Your Next Move
This week, complete that 10-question exercise and identify your most validated knowledge area. Then open Claude and spend 30 minutes transforming that expertise into a structured outline using the prompts above.
Decide your strategic approach: Are you building a platform with multiple revenue streams, or laser-focused on course income? That answer determines whether you lead with substantial free content or a quick lead magnet.
Either path works—just choose the one that serves your broader objectives while letting you start gathering real student feedback this month, not six months from now.
Your decades of expertise deserve better than disappearing when you retire. Give it structure with AI's help. Share it strategically. Watch it create impact long after you've stopped actively teaching.
The world needs what you know. The only question is whether you'll package it.
⚡ Your Quick Action Step
Challenge: Based on the results of your 10 Questions Exercise, spend 10-15 minutes this week with Claude or ChatGPT to create a rough course
outline.
Take the question cluster with the most questions (your validated demand) and use this prompt:
"I repeatedly get asked about [your topic]. Help me create a simple 4-module course outline that addresses this: [paste your 3-5 clustered questions]."
Let AI organize what's already in your head. Don't judge the output—just see if the structure excites you enough to keep going.
Immediate win: If the outline feels right, you've just proven to yourself that your expertise can be structured. If it doesn't, refine your question cluster and try again. Either way, you're 15 minutes closer to a real course.
The goal isn't creating the perfect outline—it's discovering whether this knowledge wants to become a course.
🎁 Partner Spotlight
If you're serious about creating and selling online courses, you need more than just expertise—you need infrastructure that doesn't fight you. That's where Kajabi comes in.
I use Kajabi to run the entire Retirepreneur platform: website hosting, course delivery, community management, email sequences, and payment processing. All in one place. For course creators specifically, it handles student onboarding, content delivery, progress tracking, and automated follow-up—the kind of operational backbone that lets you focus on teaching instead of tech headaches.
Here's what matters for experienced professionals: Kajabi isn't built for twenty-somethings chasing passive income. It's designed for people delivering real value who need professional-grade tools without a steep learning curve. You can have your first course live in an afternoon, not a month.
The platform includes everything: video hosting, quizzes and assessments, certificates, student communities, marketing funnels, and analytics that show you exactly what's working. No duct-taping together five different tools and hoping they play nicely.
They offer a 14-day free trial, which gives you enough runway to test whether it fits your workflow and upload your first module.
Full disclosure: Retirepreneur may earn a commission when you use this link—at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I actually use.
🔄 Strategic Life Change
Course creation represents a fundamental shift from trading time for money to building leverage that compounds. You're not just documenting what you know—you're creating an asset that continues generating value while you sleep, travel, or pursue entirely different interests.
This is how experienced professionals transition from "still working in retirement" to "income streams that support the lifestyle I actually want." Your knowledge becomes the foundation for calendar freedom.
🎬 That's a Wrap
I hope this week's article helped you see that course creation isn't just for digital marketers or tech experts. It's for anyone who's spent decades solving problems that others still struggle with.
Your expertise isn't trapped in your head. It's intellectual property waiting to be structured, shared, and scaled. Start with that 10-question exercise. See what patterns emerge. Then take one small step toward packaging what you already know.
Keep building what matters,
Curt
💡How We Can Help
Building your second act doesn't have to be complicated. Here are the resources available to you:
🚀 FREE Retirepreneur Hub
Complete resource library with step-by-step guides and frameworks designed specifically for professionals 55+. Access business templates, pricing guides, and startup checklists—no credit card required.
🛠 Business Tools & Resources
Curated tools that actually work—vetted by daily use. Honest assessments of platforms, software, and services with exclusive partnership benefits for Retirepreneur members.
🌐 Retirepreneur.com
Explore weekly blog articles, podcast episodes, comprehensive guides, and more resources for building your expertise-based business.
Sharing Invitation
Know someone who's been saying "I should really document what I know"? Forward this newsletter their way. Sometimes we just need permission to start packaging decades of expertise.
