VALIDATION STATION (PART 2) - NUMBERS DON'T LIE (BUT THEY CAN BE REALLY BORING, SO LET'S MAKE 'EM DANCE)

So, you survived the human interrogation phase last week. You bravely ventured out, talked to potential students, lurked in the digital shadows, and gathered those precious, squishy qualitative insights. You’re feeling pretty good. Your course idea isn’t just a fever dream! People sorta nodded when you mentioned it!

Awesome. Now comes the part that makes most creatives break out in hives: the numbers.

Yeah, I said it. Quantitative validation. Data. Spreadsheets (okay, maybe not spreadsheets, let's not get crazy). It sounds about as sexy as watching paint dry in a beige room, but trust me, ignoring this step is like trying to bake a cake without knowing if anyone actually eats cake anymore. Or owns an oven.

Diving into the Keyword Swamp (Without Drowning)

First up: Keyword Research. This isn't just for the SEO wizards brewing potions in dark basements. It's your reality check. Are people actively searching online for solutions related to your course topic?

Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz, SEMrush (or whatever fancy tool you can get your hands on, even the free ones) are your periscopes into the collective unconscious of the internet. You type in phrases related to your course ("learn underwater basket weaving," "fix my crappy photos," "write poetry that doesn't suck"), and these tools spit back estimates of how many lost souls are searching for those exact terms each month.

Use Hyper-Particular Specifics: Don't just look for "writing course." Dig deeper. "How to write a query letter that doesn't scream desperation?" "Online course for freelance writers who hate invoicing?" Find those long-tail keywords, those specific, aching questions your ideal students are typing into the void. High search volume + relatively low competition = You might have hit a Profit Pocket. Low search volume for everything related to your idea? Houston, we have a potential problem.   

Stalking the Competition (Like a Pro, Not a Creep)

Next, you gotta size up the existing players. Who's already teaching something similar? Dissect their sales pages. Analyze their course outlines. Scour their student reviews (the good, the bad, and the ugly). What are their prices? How many students do they seem to have? Where are they nailing it? More importantly, where are they dropping the ball, leaving a big, gaping hole for your unique genius to storm in? Use that competitor analysis framework in the plan – don't just glance, investigate.   

The Ultimate Litmus Test: Dare to Pre-Sell?

Okay, deep breaths. This is the big one. The scariest, most powerful validation of all: Pre-selling.

This means putting your course up for sale before you've finished creating it. Yes, it feels like jumping off a cliff and knitting the parachute on the way down. Yes, it requires cojones the size of watermelons. And yes, it is the single best way to know if people will actually PAY for your thing.

You create a sales page outlining the transformation, the modules, the outcome. You offer it at a special early-bird price. You tell your fledgling audience about it. And you see who bites.

Anticlimax Alert: You might dream of thousands flooding your inbox, crashing your server... and then get five sales. Don't panic. Even a handful of pre-sales is MASSIVE validation. It means real people, with real credit cards, believe in your promise enough to invest upfront. It gives you cash flow. It gives you your first students to gather feedback from. And it gives you the rocket fuel needed to actually build the damn thing. No pre-sales? That’s also data – painful, maybe, but crucial. It means you need to revisit your offer, your audience, or your messaging before you sink months into creation.   

Combining the whispers from your qualitative chats with the slightly terrifying clarity of quantitative data and the gut-check of pre-selling? That’s how you stop guessing and start building a course someone might actually buy. Go on. Be brave. The numbers await.

No Audience Yet?

If you don't yet have an audience, or if you are relying only on social media followers, check out our free course, My First Fans, and learn how to start building the most important asset in your online business—your email list.