Thinkific

What: Teach (and sell) online courses

Expected pay: varies

Husl$core: $$$$$

Commissions & fees: 10% of your course price or a monthly fee

Where: Nationwide

Requirements: Have a course to teach; have the legal right to teach it; and be able to navigate simple commands to post it on Thinkific’s website

Review: Like Udemy, Thinkific allows individuals to design and publish an online course. It can be anything from “How to Master Excel,” to “How to Improve Your Abs.” However, Thinkific doesn’t dictate how much you charge for your course, nor does it limit your ability to communicate directly with your clients.

“You have total control over your clients; your marketing; your brand; your price,” said Patrick McGill, business development manager in an interview with SideHusl. In fact, Thinkific often runs silently in the background of well-known teaching sites, such as HootSuite, McGill says. The fact that the course was prepared with Thinkific software would only be disclosed if you happened to choose the company’s free plan. In that case, Thinkific places its logo on your site (much like Mail Chimp does with its free email service).

Also unlike Udemy, the only courses you’ll see on Thinkific’s site are those offered by people who have provided the site with testimonials and case studies. SideHusl chatted with one such client — John Michaloudis of MyExcelOnline.com.  He raves about the platform.

What Thinkific does not do, however, is help you sell your course.  McGill suggests establishing a following elsewhere — Facebook, Instagram, or even at Udemy — before launching on the Thinkific platform. Why does SideHusl rate Thinkific so much more highly than Udemy? Because it will not discount your offering and you have the option of using the platform for free, paying just 10% of revenue, if a course sells. This is a far lower commission than charged by Udemy. Better yet, if you start selling a ton, as Michaloudis did, you can switch over to a monthly fee plan, which saves the highly-successful users a fortune on commissions. Finally, user reviews are highly complimentary.

What their users say (from SoftwareAdvice). a

Thinkific won’t host all your marketing needs, but it will nail your online course, and I’m a big fan of that. They also offer GREAT webinars and opportunities for professional development, which I really appreciate. I really do feel like they want me to succeed. I wish there were more options for how my course pages are laid out. It’s pretty much all standardized with the course online on the left of the page and the content on the left. That course outline is ALWAYS there. Now, that might be really handy for students, but I wish I had some options and maybe could make things a little prettier. (It’s not ugly or anything, I just would like another option or two to choose from)

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