MBA1581 How to Run a Paid Live Workshop or Course
2 Feb 2026 · 13 min
This content was created by Omar Zenhom. This content was uploaded by Omar Zenhom. This is a podcast episode titled "MBA1581 How to Run a Paid Live Workshop or Course" (PODCAST, created 2020-07-30) hosted by Omar Zenhom. Omar provides a how-to lesson on running paid live workshops/courses: benefits of live formats (higher completion and success rates, interactivity, perceived value), recommended workflow (webinar software, registration/landing page, video sales, workbooks, email reminders, calendar adds, recordings/replays), tool recommendations and a shameless plug for WebinarNinja, plus promotion and monetization tips (two-week promo window, ads, reselling recordings). The excerpt also contains multiple sponsor ad-read segments (Intuit QuickBooks, Dell, ADP, ClickUp, USAA) voiced by other speakers.
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Online courses on Udemy, on Coursera, on Skillshare, on all the different platforms, the private brands that are having their own courses. Well one easy way to stand out from the crowd is to offer a live workshop or course where you can go back and forth with your answer questions and have an interactive experience. But how do you actually set one up so you can charge and deliver your workshop or course? Well that's what we'll cover in today's episode. We'll go through the A to Z, the tools you'll need, some tips on the delivery of this course and what you can offer to all your students to make sure that even when the live course is over, they have what it takes and they have what they need to succeed with Your subject matter. I personally have offered several live courses in the past. There are so many advantages that I'll also cover in today's lesson. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I run and run currently on demand courses as well as live ones. But there are significant advantages to running a live workshop or course, and I want to go through these right now. The first thing is that live means interactive. It means that you're able to actually answer questions from your audience, cater to the audience, and make sure you're actually delivering better value that suits their needs. So that automatically gives more value to your actual offering. It also has more perceived value. That's why a ticket to a live on the stage play is more expensive than a ticket to a movie. Third, your audience can experience the course not only live, but also the recording afterwards, which is fantastic. They get both worlds. They get live and recorded. But the final advantage I want to share with you, that is probably the biggest, and it's kind of hard to ignore, is when you offer a live class. Statistically, I have found that a live class will have higher completion rates and higher success rates. So what does this mean? Let's say, for example, you have a course and 10 people take a live course versus a on demand course. The completion rate of the course is 3x compared to a on demand course. So a live course, three times of the people will complete the course, actually show up, and go through it. This results in a higher success rate. That means that people actually implement what you taught and are able to give you a great testimonial about how you've impacted their lives. So live courses really have that huge advantage. Now, this isn't to say that on demand courses are a waste of time, just to know that live courses, because of the investment you make being there live, you're gonna get these advantages. Now, with all this value, you can charge more with a live course because live again has more value. So you're able to interact, you're able to answer questions. It's just a different ballgame. So how do you set one up? Well, a live course is very similar to an on demand course in terms of the curriculum or the content. So whatever content you'll be teaching, whether you have some slides or you're gonna be teaching on camera, this is gonna go the same basically with a live course. So your preparation is the same, but when it comes to course, you're not recording this and then uploading the video to a course platform, for example, you can actually just do this live. And the best thing to do is to use a webinar software. So Shameless Plug, we have a webinar software called Webinar Ninja that allows you to charge for webinars whether it's a one off live webinar or a series webinar which allows you to charge for a series of dates and times. So if somebody registers once on the series webinar and they register for different dates and time, and you can actually mix and match live and record with webinar Ninja, meaning you can have one session that's live, the other one's recorded, or you can do them all live or all recorded. But this is the simplest way to get started with a live course or one off workshop because of our seamless integration is this easy just to charge for. People register for it and they automatically get the replay. Now I like to also offer a workbook with all my courses so people can work along and then also do some assignments later on. So I always include the recording and a workbook with my paid webinar. So a paid live course or a paid live workshop can be easily done with a webinar software. If you're looking to try something for free, we have a 14 day trial over at Webinar ninja. Com and that's kind of the simplest way to set it up in terms of the software. Now, if you wish, you can download the video recordings of these sessions and sell them as standalone courses, as prerecorded on demand courses. So that's just a little hint for you after you run your live workshop or course. So what you're gonna do is when you set up this webinar, you're going to create a registration page, a landing page, and this is very simple. You can customize this with your images and your logos and your copy. And your job here is basically to sell people on why they should be on this course, why they should be on this live workshop or course, why should they buy. And this is really a sales page. And this is why we recommend, if you're gonna sell your webinar, you is to use a video template. We have a video template with webinar Ninja and this allows you to insert a recorded video on your registration page. And why do I say you should have video? Because video is a really good way for you to convince somebody quickly that they should buy, showing the advantages, showing what you're going to cover. And it also shows you, it shows who's going to teach them and allows you to build some trust and rapport and also gives them a chance to say, okay, I want to learn from this person now on the registration page, this is when they're going to register, this is where they're going to pay, where they have a credit card form. This is pretty seamless with us. And after they check out, they get to the thank you page. The thank you page is exactly what it sounds like. It thanks them, it allows them to add the event to their calendar. It even allows them to share it on social and allow you to get some viral marketing. From there they get email notifications reminding them about the event, reminding them what to do. And I recommend that in those email notifications you prepare them for that live session, for that live course, tell them what to do. They need to bring in some materials, whether it's paper and pen and notepad, something like that. If you're teaching a software, for example, have that software installed, get them ready, you know, as you're leading up to the course. Also prepare them to let them know this is going to be interactive, come with questions. You can even reply to the emails and ask questions beforehand. We'll answer those first. When it's time to go live for your session or sessions, it's pretty simple. You just show up to the studio, you hit start broadcast and and you can be on camera, off camera, show your slides, upload your slides directly. It's very easy and you go ahead and teach your material in the follow up emails. After the webinar you can include the replay and also include any workbooks that you offered during the webinar or during the class. And that way they have a backup kind of link just in case they lose their workbook somewhere so they can download it anytime. Now I have a few more tips. When it comes to the business of selling a live workshop or live course, make sure you make it clear to people that hey, you're running this session once. So show up live if you want questions answered, but you will get a recording if you don't make the live broadcast. Also upon registration in the registration process, on the registration form, you want to collect a couple pieces of information to inform you about these attendees, about these students. Find out what industry they're in. Find out any critical information will help you cater the course or cater the level of the course. Whether they're a beginner, a novice, or they've been an expert, they've been doing this for some time. You could do this with our registration form builder on webinar Ninja. I'm sure there are other softwares that do this as well. But I know that we do it, so I'm kind of giving you some of the tips that I do with our own software. I'd also recommend giving yourself at least two weeks time to promote this live session live course prior to the date you're going to be doing it. This gives you a chance to get some momentum, some marketing. Maybe you do some paid ads if you want to do on Facebook or Instagram, you can use even the video that you shot for the registration page for your ads.
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It'S really, really fun to run a live workshop or class. You get so much interaction, you get so much feedback. You can go back and forth. You can help people out. It's just a great way for you to deliver a lesson, deliver a course, deliver a workshop. I know many of our users at Webinar Ninja do this regularly. They do a workshop every single week. They charge for it. They get hundreds of people. Even if you charge, you know, 50, 60, $100 per course, that stuff adds up. And what's great about it is again, you have the recordings that you can resell later to new students. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you love today's episode, if you love this show, let us know. In an ITUNES rating and review. We read every single review. And by leaving us a review, you enter our weekly random draw we call Free Ride Friday. Every Friday, we give away a lifetime membership to one of our programs. We're giving away easy course, our 30 day course on how to build your own online course. Check it out at EasyCourse co. You can win it for free. Just go and leave us an itunes rating and review and listen in on Friday to see if you won. It's that simple. It's our way to say thanks for showing us love on itunes. All right, thank you so much for listening. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. One of the things I love about live courses is that it forces you to improve your communication skills to really understand how to deliver your message. We all know the information in our head. We are experts at what we know. But do we know how to deliver it? And a live workshop. Live classes really allow you to think on your feet and really work on that muscle, which I really love. So the more you do, the more you can get better at it. The more you're going to be better on stage, the more you're going to be better on interviews, all that kind of stuff. Thank you so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Free Art Friday. I'll see you then. Take care. Of. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the.
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