u/Tekelpath

I've been reaching out and engaging in chats with some people here and for the most part gotten some great feedback on the world cosmetology creators and how some have gotten smart about leveraging places like tiktok, IG, and even yt to help your business grow or even earn some side income with deals as affiliates.

I'd like to know this though, have any of you thought about how much your knowledge is worth?? especially if you are specialized in any way?

even better, say you did all the work of going to school, busting your ass, graduating and getting licensed, then busting your ass even more to find someone to work for whose not a pain to work for, and pays enough so you can eat while you learn. then after all this, you managed to open your own place, maybe took some loans to get decked out, and now you are sitting with your own brand and doing pretty damn good.. Imagine for a second how much valuable knowledge you got by being one of the few who made it.

For a stylist-made course, a realistic starting range is usually around these numbers

low-ticket PDF / mini course: around $19 to $99,

standard self-paced course: around $100 to $500,

premium niche training or certification-style offer: $500 to $1,500+.

If you already have audiences on social media then the hardest part about something like this is already done. every person who watches your tutorials or how tos, every person whose asking questions every other post is someone who wants help.

I read and heard a lot of people here say they've done well for themselves, but ive seen more say they wish they could scale to even bigger heights.

would this not be something that could work towards that goal?

1 of the 1st objections ive heard is people say "well people go to school for it bc of the in person training".. and yet there are a few, very very few, in this space whose already gone the route of courses they created and sell themselves, and they have done pretty damn good.

Just a thought.

Hopefully this is the right place for this, but keeping it short, I'm developing something similar to skool and Kajabi, but more towards trades based content, like hvac and cosmetology. Leaning towards cosmo 1st.

The idea is simple, easy to use, allowing users to build and host online courses alongside private, paid communities to teach what they know.

Specifically this would work best for the ones who already have social media presence, as they have an existing audience who'd be more likely to want to be a part of something the creator offered.

For the cosmetology field, I believe this could atleast double their annual revenue.

I've answered the "how is this different than skool/kajabi/Udemy" question many times since starting development, and without giving too much away, the 2 biggest ways are the ICP for the platform (underserved by most major platforms) and the creator 1st mentality.

other platforms say this all the time, but the way i prove it is by letting creators on this platform keep 100% course sales revenue. No one else does that.

for anyone interested in hearing more, I can answer any questions here. I think ive answered the biggest one.

currently i have myself as founder and dev, another dev on payroll to assist, a community growth operator with years of experience helping people in skool grow their community numbers, a meta ads manager, and just signed a contract with a marketing agency.

launch is expected to be August.

WHAT AN INVESTMENT WOULD BE USED FOR: ads. upon launch the more money to launch an effective ad campaign the better. as I stated above already running meta ads for validation with promising results. happy to show that as well.

simple enough question, I'm curious how other people deal with users churning out of their courses, and if any of the platforms they use has built in tools (standard or pro plan) that make it an easy. seamless process to address.

according to current market trends the average course has about 6 - 9% churn per month, with the weakest course seeing as much as 12 - 20%.

most people here probably also know that the self paced courses tend to churn more, as well as the general interest 1 and done type courses.

combine this with reportedly low completion rates and it doesnt paint a very good picture.

so what do you do?

also would like to know what kind of stack is best to pair with the other platforms to get a reliable picture on churn overall.

title says it all, am wondering what incentives/ bonuses platforms like skool thinkific udemy, all the rest handle their advertisements about being creator 1st.

what kind of offers do they send you for solid work, and do they ever surprise you with any bonuses that really impressed you about the service they provide?

I was reading something talking about the idea of platforms recognizing when a course creator is doing solid, making sales left and right, and rewarding the creator with a cash bonus as a way of saying "I see the work your putting in here, and am seeing its paying off. keep it up"

Another post was talking about the idea of the platforms that offer community building paying bonuses to its users for bringing new members in per month, but also paying bonuses for retention of their members as well.

is this an idea anyone's experienced or something that would be very different in this space?

anyone had such experiences with what's out there? and if so, what was it like being recognized by the platform as a successful builder?

​

Keeping it short, I'm developing something similar to skool and Kajabi, but more towards trades based content, like hvac and cosmetology. Leaning towards cosmo 1st. as there are more users.

The idea is simple, easy to use, allowing users to build and host online courses alongside private, paid communities to teach what they know.

Specifically this would work best for the ones who already have social media presence, as they have an existing audience who'd be more likely to want to be a part of something the creator offered.

For the cosmetology field, I believe this could atleast double their annual revenue, if not up to 4X it.

Even if your not involved in any way in trades, the app offers both online course building, hosting, and community building.

anyone who is willing to test it out can keep everything they make for free, and if interested in long term usage, can also host up to a year free in appreciation for helping me out.

hey so I'm currently doing some searching on the idea of how to get the most out of an audience who wants to actively learn more about cosmetology a part from just going to school for it.My fiancé has decided this is her chosen path (starting out in a home setup, plans to get a building for her business by Dec.)

I've noticed that its a field that if your good at it, you can create multiple income streams, which helps a lot with the avg salary being about 65k a yr.

doing some digging i saw a lot of creators on tiktok, ig, and yt who have built some audiences that actively engage beyond just likes, and noticed that its not uncommon for the creator to get comment after comment after comment requesting a tutorial about a specific thing or just general questions about the trade.

I also noticed something else that is at the core of what I want to ask this community about; for those who have used social media to grow your business or have just built a following to help out the people getting into the field, have you had luck opening an exclusive community and teaching what you know?

like start a paid community and provide the kind of education that sometimes the schools dont manage to cover?

If this is something doable, Ive an idea to help her build it.

all thoughts are appreciated.

getting straight to the point: Ive been developing a platform for creating and hosting paid private communities for content creators to better monetize audiences. the ICP are creators who do content that is

1. a Teachable skill

2. engages an audience (minimum 1k subs/followers best)

I have a few ways mine will differentiate from all the others currently 1 of which is that the platform won't take a cut from any sales a creator makes within the community (merch, etc) creator of the community will keep 100% from that. got all that figured out to both be user forward and profitable as a platform.

the piece i need from a partnership would be marketing, funds aren't so much the issue as it is the experience.

Anyone whose interested in learning more about it id like to hear from, and as far as numbers go, I'd start off at a 35% rev share and be willing to increase after 3 months if the launch is solid.

trying to find some quality cosmetology creators on both tiktok and ig, ideally ones who create high quality tutorials and how tos.

would like to understand how they best stand out in their category and if they have success monetizing or is that something they struggle with overall?

also would love to know if any out there have started up exclusive communities around what they can teach, and if so how did it go?

thanks in advance.

as the title says, new to the idea of building courses, launching communities, etc and not sure whose the go to for what im thinking about.

im sure there's some long time players in here, and would greatly appreciate it if any of them can share the biggest pro of Skool, what makes it one of a kind and your choice out of the rest.

as well as 1 thing, if any, that just drives you bonkers about it and wish theyd change (if they have anything that is.)

got a couple ideas about the direction id want to go in, but the big detail that matters to me.is the idea of launching a paid community and nurture it, while occasionally building courses.

from what I've read so far, it seems not too many people have done this successfully (making real money per month steadly) but im hoping to run into atleast 1 person whose got it figured out.

Some people said the Gamification of the platform makes it in a league of its own, and I'd be interested to know the thoughts of real users.

also, those whose built an impressive size community in any way, how do you handle churn within the community?

my ultimate goal would be to be able to use a community, or communities, as basically passive income, or as close to it as possible.

answers appreciated in advance, thanks.

quick question about your account, assuming you use it to attract clients as well as provide real insight into the field of cosmetology.

Do you have any kind of exclusive community, membership, or VIP offer for your clients (like a private group, subscription, or loyalty program)?

would love to hear about how this sort of thing has worked out for you if your doing it, and if your not, have you thought about it before??

not sure if this is askable but I'm currently looking for actual, honest, and real tiktok accounts related to cosmetology, specially ones who actually teach their audience and provide real value.

Not the typical "omg but this is the greatest product ever go use my code and buy" bs...

any recommendations? and if by chance you are in this category all the better.

thanks in advance.

TLDR: my sister 27F has a pattern of jumping into relationships fast, hasn't sustained one with a guy for more than a yr, been a different guy about every 6 months to a yr. her latest 28M got going last dec, and she got pregnant by him this Feb. Seeking advice on is this normal? and tbh what are her odds this will work out positive for her?

I think i covered all the rules, anyway an expansion on the TLDR:

we grew up in a single mother household, and our other siblings (other sisters) all have done something similar, getting pregnant fast and none have stayed with the guy, repeating the cycle.

She in particular has been a bit aimless with her choices in life l, not working anywhere better paid than at animal shelters, although she does some stuff in the national guard.

I'm looking for just some advice/ thoughts from people to see if im viewing this through a pessimistic air or if im on point about what's in store for us.

Basically she got pregnant by the guy around 2 months in the relationship, and this is month 6 of it, around the time.most of hers fails to begin with.

any advice/thoughts are appreciated about what's likely to happen.

Recently, I've been considering the idea of starting up a paid community because ive seen some data that suggests that. if the core idea of the community is based on something people find value in, you as the creator gain a more loyal follower base from members who are paying you to be a part of the exclusive community and this can create reoccurring revenue streams.

what was interesting to me is what kind of community people would decide was worth paying so much a month for.

for example there was a medium blog post about the topic featuring someone who open a community around tennis, nothing major, just discussing the sport, threw in some affiliate links to equipment and other items associated with the sport, and was charging $7 a member.

After about a yr, he had dozens of people in it.

Some quick numbers on this showed that on avg a person will pay minimum about $29 a month to be a part of an exclusive community, and upwards of $200 a month. obviously the key is that they find whatever the core of the community is about to be valuable enough to spend the money every month, and thats what's motivating me to ask this here.

for all the creators here who've built an audience, even a small one of say, 1k followers, and your getting consistent engagement, (even better if your content teaches some kind of skill and your getting asked repeatedly questions about how to do something) maybe even started selling something related, have you tried this? or thought about it? would love to hear about the experience and weigh the pros and cons before committing to this myself.

hello, I'm currently launching a startup (community platform in the E learning space) and am in the market for a content creator with a decent sized audience, and does content about real ways to make money in 2026. not the BS posts that are just for clickbait, real work put into giving facts to their audience.

anyone who fits this category I'd love to have a conversation and see if we can work out a business deal.

If this is the wrong sub apologies, but I'm currently researching the two fields i mentioned in the title, and im currently hooked on the fact that there are a number of creators on the platform who are experts in these fields and provide incredible information, especially the how to videos.

I'd like to talk to anyone personally who does this type of content and get a sense of how well they're doing with this type of channel.

With demand in these trades reaching all time high levels, I believe the opportunity for these creators to be a sort of low hanging fruit, im meaning using their knowledge to build a sort of exclusive community and provide real educational content.

anyone here in this sort of thing?

​

Been noticing something lately. Some of the most knowledgeable HVAC techs I've come across are on YouTube or Reddit giving away insanely valuable knowledge for free. Guys with 15, 20, 25 years of field experience. The kind of diagnostic knowledge that takes a decade of callbacks to develop. Just... posted for free.

Not complaining. I've learned more from a few HVAC YouTube channels than I have from most formal resources.

But I'm genuinely curious about something.

The gap between what an experienced tech knows and what the industry desperately needs right now is enormous. HVAC engineer demand rose 77.89% between 2022 and 2026.

(FeedSpot) There are 110,000 unfilled positions in the industry right now. The number of certified techs has dropped 50% over the past decade. (trustindex) Apprentices are hungry for real field knowledge from people who've actually done the work — not textbooks and not trade school simulations.

And the people best positioned to teach that are posting it for free on YouTube.

Here's the part that gets me. A channel with 100,000 monthly views in a decent niche earns somewhere between $100 and $700 a month from AdSense. Most creators earn between $1 and $10 per 1,000 views. So an HVAC tech with 50,000 subscribers and solid viewership is probably clearing $200–$400 a month from YouTube for content that teaches people a skill worth $60,000 a year.

Meanwhile a single online course in this niche — taught by someone with real field experience — can sell for $297 to $997. To the same audience that's already watching for free.

So I'm genuinely curious for those of you who do post content, or who've thought about it what's stopped you from charging for it?

Is it a tech thing, not knowing how to set up a course or community platform without spending weeks figuring out software?

Is it a confidence thing not sure anyone would actually pay for it when they can get so much for free?

Is it a time thing already working full days in the field and the idea of building something on the side feels like another job?

Or have you tried it and hit a wall somewhere?

Not trying to sell anything here. Genuinely trying to understand what's actually in the way. Because from the outside looking in, there's a real gap between what experienced HVAC techs know and what the next generation is able to access and I can't figure out why more of it isn't being monetized.

​

Been noticing something lately. Some of the most knowledgeable HVAC techs I've come across are on YouTube or Reddit giving away insanely valuable knowledge for free. Guys with 15, 20, 25 years of field experience. The kind of diagnostic knowledge that takes a decade of callbacks to develop. Just... posted for free.

Not complaining. I've learned more from a few HVAC YouTube channels than I have from most formal resources.

But I'm genuinely curious about something.

The gap between what an experienced tech knows and what the industry desperately needs right now is enormous. HVAC engineer demand rose 77.89% between 2022 and 2026.

(FeedSpot) There are 110,000 unfilled positions in the industry right now. The number of certified techs has dropped 50% over the past decade. (trustindex) Apprentices are hungry for real field knowledge from people who've actually done the work — not textbooks and not trade school simulations.

And the people best positioned to teach that are posting it for free on YouTube.

Here's the part that gets me. A channel with 100,000 monthly views in a decent niche earns somewhere between $100 and $700 a month from AdSense. Most creators earn between $1 and $10 per 1,000 views. So an HVAC tech with 50,000 subscribers and solid viewership is probably clearing $200–$400 a month from YouTube for content that teaches people a skill worth $60,000 a year.

Meanwhile a single online course in this niche — taught by someone with real field experience — can sell for $297 to $997. To the same audience that's already watching for free.

So I'm genuinely curious for those of you who do post content, or who've thought about it what's stopped you from charging for it?

Is it a tech thing, not knowing how to set up a course or community platform without spending weeks figuring out software?

Is it a confidence thing not sure anyone would actually pay for it when they can get so much for free?

Is it a time thing already working full days in the field and the idea of building something on the side feels like another job?

Or have you tried it and hit a wall somewhere?

Not trying to sell anything here. Genuinely trying to understand what's actually in the way. Because from the outside looking in, there's a real gap between what experienced HVAC techs know and what the next generation is able to access and I can't figure out why more of it isn't being monetized.

Title: Anyone here ever tried turning their trade knowledge into content or courses? What happened?

Curious how many electricians have experimented with teaching online — YouTube, TikTok, courses, paid communities, anything like that.

I keep seeing comments from guys in this sub who clearly know their stuff cold. The kind of knowledge that takes years of field work to develop. The kind of thing an apprentice would genuinely pay for if it was packaged and accessible.

And the market demand for that knowledge right now is hard to overstate.

Employment of electricians is projected to grow 9% from 2024 to 2034 — much faster than the average for all occupations. About 81,000 openings for electricians are projected each year, on average, over the decade. (Fortune)

Only about 7,000 new electricians enter the field annually against demand for over 80,000 openings per year. (Influencer Marketing Hub) That gap doesn't close on its own. Someone has to teach the next generation. Right now most of that knowledge transfer happens through formal apprenticeships that take 4–5 years and still leave huge gaps in practical field knowledge.

For decades, high school graduates have been pushed toward four-year degrees, leaving fewer to pursue apprenticeships or trade school programs. This has reduced the pipeline of skilled workers entering the electrical trade. (PTTI) The people who actually know this trade — journeymen and master electricians with real field hours — are retiring faster than apprentices can replace them.

Meanwhile there are electricians on YouTube with thousands of subscribers teaching exactly what apprentices need — panel work, service calls, troubleshooting real-world problems — for free. And most of them are pulling in $200–$400 a month from AdSense for it.

A single online course from someone with real licensure and field experience the kind that actually teaches what you'd learn in years of callbacks can sell for $300 to $1,000 to the same audience already watching for free.

So I'm genuinely curious about a few things for anyone who's tried it or thought about it:

Did you ever post content and actually build a following from it? What was that like, did the audience surprise you?

Did you try to monetize it, courses, memberships, Patreon, anything? What happened? Did the platform cause problems or did the demand just not show up?

If you haven't tried it, what's the actual mental block? Time is the obvious one. But is it also not knowing where to start technically? Not believing people would pay when so much is free? Something else?

And for the guys who tried a course platform and got burned what went wrong? Curious whether it was the tech, the pricing, the audience, or just a bad platform experience.

Not pitching anything here. Genuinely trying to understand whether experienced electricians see this as a realistic income stream or whether there's something about this trade specifically that makes it harder to monetize online than other niches.

Because from the outside the gap looks enormous. The demand is real. The knowledge exists. I just can't figure out why more of it isn't being captured.

Been going down a rabbit hole of trades content on YouTube lately, watching many genuinely skilled people, master electricians, HVAC techs with decades of field experience posting free tutorials with real practical knowledge. Some of these channels have tens of thousands of subscribers. Real audiences. Real trust.

What I haven't found much of is quality paid courses from this group.

The online course world is almost entirely dominated by business, marketing, finance, and tech. Trades are basically invisible in that space.

But the demand side of this is hard to ignore when you actually look at the numbers.

HVAC engineer demand rose 77.89% between 2022 and 2026. Demand for electricians, welders, and construction specialists grew by an average of 30% over the same period, significantly higher than the broader job market.

And that's before you factor in the AI infrastructure build-out driving even more demand for people who can physically build and maintain the systems that power it all.

according to many forums, it is now more difficult and time-consuming to hire an HVAC professional or an electrician than a software developer.

Electrician employment is expected to grow 6% through 2032 with about 73,500 job openings per year on average. this was from trustindex.

The industry is short 110,000 HVAC technicians and the number of certified techs has dropped 50% over the past decade.

Lowe's just announced a $250 million investment specifically to train plumbers, carpenters, and electricians their CEO called skilled trades "critical to the future."

So there's an enormous and growing population of people who desperately need to learn these skills. And there's a generation of experienced tradespeople with YouTube channels giving that knowledge away for free.

The gap between those two things seems like an obvious opportunity for online courses. But I'm genuinely not finding them at least not from actual practitioners with real field experience rather than trade schools selling formal certifications.

A few things I'm curious about:

Has anyone here actually taken a good online course from a working trades professional not a trade school, but an actual HVAC tech or electrician who packaged their knowledge? Was it worth it?

For anyone in the trades who creates content have you ever tried selling courses or building a paid community around your knowledge? What happened?

And if you tried one of the big platforms like Udemy or Kajabi how did that go? I've heard from a few people that the platform experience was rough.

Genuinely curious whether this is a real market gap or whether I'm missing something.

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everybody knows those posts that are all over the platform, especially the reels. Those posts about earning 100s if not 1000s of dollars a month from remote or work from home jobs or side hustles. I'd like to believe we also know which ones are legitimately useful tips and which ones are pure clickbait.

personally I'm not into the pretty packaged posts that just take up space, I'd rather see the type of post that is real, and showcases the reality of trying to run a business/ make money online. this just seems rare to find.

my question rn is this; anyone here have any experience with 1. showcasing a legit skill that people can earn money from AND is in demand. 2. anyone have experience launching paid, exclusive access communities where you teach people this skill, and have had some success with it?

appreciate all answers.