Is Teaching the New Gold for Small Businesses?

August 12, 2024

Have you noticed these days that everyone seems to have a course or at least a YouTube video on how they do what they do? Teaching has become a secondary (and sometimes primary) revenue stream for the small business professional. Marketers, eBay sellers, and even real estate agents are turning how-to instruction into a new business.


Sure, it can enhance your brand, generate additional revenue, and establish you as an authority in your field. But it’s not always the answer for every business.


Before jumping into becoming an online guru in your industry, it's important to weigh the benefits and challenges to instructional content creation. Here’s a guide to help you decide whether going that route is the right step for your business.


Benefits of Creating Educational Materials

Here are the reasons why so many people are creating educational content.

Monetization

Courses and other educational components can provide a new revenue stream. By packaging your expertise into a structured format, you can charge for access, offering a scalable product that doesn't require ongoing time investment once it's created. This is an appealing way to bring in money without clocking time in the seat.


Brand Authority and Exclusivity

Offering a course can position you as an expert in your industry (if you know how to market it). This can enhance your credibility and attract more customers who trust your knowledge and skills. In fact, many people see one-on-one coaching time with an internet teacher as very appealing. There’s a VIP, velvet rope exclusivity built when you’re showing people how to do something and then offering a few hand-selected followers the opportunity to work with you.


Customer Engagement

Educational resources can deepen your relationship with existing customers by providing them with additional value. Engaged customers are more likely to become repeat buyers and brand advocates. Plus, if your customers see you teaching others as an expert in your industry, they will feel like they are working with the best. Again, creating exclusive opportunities.


Lead Generation

Free or low-cost courses, eBooks, and checklists make ideal lead magnets, attracting potential customers who are interested in your expertise. With them, you can expand your audience and increase your customer base.


But creating educational components isn’t something everyone is suited to doing.


Challenges of Creating Educational Revenue


Time and Resources

The obvious one of course…developing educational materials of any kind requires a significant upfront investment of time and resources. You'll need to plan the curriculum, create content, and possibly invest in platforms or tools for hosting the course, webinar, eBook, etc.


Marketing Efforts

Simply creating a course isn't enough; you need to market it effectively. This requires a strategy to reach your target audience and convince them of the course's value.


Content Updates

Industries change, as does information. You'll need to keep your course content up to date to ensure it remains relevant and valuable to learners.


Rankings

This con doesn’t apply to every industry but if you sell on eBay or somewhere that uses an algorithm, you need to be aware of what you’re opening yourself up to. An eBay seller friend of mine recently branched out into creating video content on YouTube to show others how he was able to create a business that brings in over $80,000 a year selling clothes he purchases from thrift stores.


He quickly built a following (who doesn’t want to shop and sell things at a profit?), monetized his YouTube Channel (bringing in another $2,000 a month in revenue), and thought life was amazing. Until he realized that by offering training videos, people were visiting his eBay shop to see which brands he specialized in. When they visited without purchasing, it negatively impacted his standing and suddenly he wasn’t being featured as high in product searches. This hurt his sales so badly that he ended up having to shut that store down and start a new one that he did not tell his students about.


The moral is if you’re going to market yourself as a guru or coach, you may end up phasing out your day job. People will look to you for coaching and advice, your days of “doing” may be over.


Considerations Before Creating an Educational Component to Your Business


·        Assess Your Expertise. Ensure you have enough expertise and unique insights to offer a course that stands out in the market. Consider whether your knowledge can fill a gap or meet a specific demand.


·        Understand Your Audience. Identify your target audience and their needs. Know what topics they are interested in and what format they prefer.


·        Evaluate Your Goals. Clarify what you hope to achieve with this new business offering. Whether it's revenue generation, brand building, or lead generation, having clear goals will guide your development and marketing strategy. How will you incorporate it into your existing business?


·        Choose the Right Platform. Research different platforms for hosting your course or videos. Decide on the media you’ll use. Consider factors such as ease of use, cost, and features like eBooks, webinars, videos, quizzes, certificates, and community forums.


If you’re thinking about creating an educational component to your business let the chamber know. Your local chamber may have a need for an industry expert or even someone is willing to share their success story with others.


Creating an educational component to your business can be a valuable addition to your marketing strategy. If done thoughtfully, it offers opportunities for revenue, brand building, and customer engagement. However, it's important to carefully consider the time, resources, and marketing efforts required. By evaluating your expertise, understanding your audience, and setting clear goals, you can make an informed decision about whether to move from doer to teacher.


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Christina Metcalf is a writer/ghostwriter who believes in the power of story. She works with small businesses, chambers of commerce, and business professionals who want to make an impression and grow a loyal customer/member base. She loves road trips, hates exclamation points, and is currently reading three books at once.

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Medium: @christinametcalf

Facebook: @tellyourstorygetemtalking

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Leavenworth-Lansing Area Chamber of Commerce Appoints Shawn Carns as President/CEO

May 19, 2026
Introducing our new President/CEO Shawn Carns

Are You Accidentally Killing Your Business’ Unique Value Proposition?

May 18, 2026
Most businesses don’t lose their edge in one dramatic, cinematic moment. They lose it quietly. A tweak here. Following a trend there. A consultant recommendation that sounds smart but doesn’t fit. A few AI-generated ideas pasted into the marketing plan with the confidence of someone assembling furniture without looking at the directions. Before long, something feels off. The business’ personality is flatter. The message sounds like everyone else’s. The thing that made people choose them has been polished, sanded, and lacquered in beige. That “thing” that makes you who you are is aptly called your unique value proposition (UVP). It’s the combination of what you offer, who you serve, how you serve them, and what you share about the “why” behind what you do. It’s what sets you apart and entices people to buy from you or visit your business over others. A strong UVP breeds loyalty. And yes, businesses kill it by accident all the time. Here are some of the most common ways it happens so you can watch out for it happening to yours: Listening to Advice From People Who Don’t Understand Your Market Marketing experts and business consultants can be incredibly helpful. Fresh perspective works because outside expertise can uncover problems you’ve been too close to see. But a consultant who doesn’t understand your audience can accidentally steer you away from the very thing that makes your business special in the eyes of your customers. A trendy, high-end rebrand might make sense for a luxury market, but it could alienate customers who love you because you’re approachable, familiar, and practical. A polished “curated experience” might sound sophisticated on paper and what “everyone is doing” but if your customers come to you because they feel known, welcomed, and part of a family, removing that warmth isn’t a strategy. It’s a fast train to “It’sJustNotTheSameVille.” Good advice should sharpen your difference, not erase it. Chasing Trends That Don’t Fit Your Audience Every industry has trends. Minimalist branding. TikTok-style videos. Subscription models. Luxe packaging. AI chatbots. “Experiences.” Founder-led content. Ultra-casual copy. Ultra-polished copy. Whatever LinkedIn is currently pretending it invented. Some trends are useful and some are noise. The danger to your business comes when you adopt a trend because everyone else is doing it, without asking whether your customers want it. For instance, if your audience values speed, don’t make everything more elaborate and wordier. If they value personal service, don’t automate every touchpoint. If they value affordability, don’t redesign your offer to feel exclusively high-end and then act shocked when your regulars disappear. A trend should serve your customer relationship. It should never become the new boss of your brand. Using AI Randomly Instead of Strategically AI can help a business get smarter, faster, and more consistent. It can help draft emails, organize ideas, summarize customer feedback, outline campaigns, brainstorm offers, and speed up routine tasks. But randomly asking AI questions is not the same as making AI part of your business. If you use it without teaching it your audience, offers, tone, standards, objections, FAQs, and customer journey, you’ll get generic output. Generic output leads to generic messaging. Generic messaging makes you sound like every other business trying to “elevate solutions.” AI works best when it’s treated like a trained assistant, not a slot machine for copy. Don’t use it hoping it will yield million-dollar results. Give it context. Build repeatable prompts. Feed it examples of what you like/want. Review the output. Protect your voice. Otherwise, you’ll sound like a bot and cost yourself additional time editing. That’s not very efficient. Becoming More Generic to “Grow” As businesses grow, they often try to appeal to more people. Cast a wide net, catch more customers, right? While that makes sense to a point, trying to attract everyone can make your message so broad and bland that it speaks to no one. For example, a business known for serving busy parents may water down its message to reach “families, professionals, individuals, and the community” because it seems like there are only a limited number of “parents.” A boutique service provider may stop naming the exact problems clients bring them because they don’t want to sound too narrow. A restaurant known for its decadent sausage gravy may redesign its menu because they realized heart disease is the number one killer in the US, and they thought they should remove the fat and switch to a healthier menu. While it may attract new customers, it will lose those who love their comfort food. Growth should expand opportunity. It shouldn’t require a personality transplant. Copying Competitors Too Closely Keeping an eye on competitors is smart. Copying their offers, language, pricing structure, content style, and customer experience is where you’ll run into trouble. You don’t know why a competitor is doing what they’re doing. Maybe their strategy is working. Maybe it’s failing loudly behind the scenes. Maybe they copied someone else because they “had to do something.” Maybe this is a Hail Mary pass in the last few seconds of the game and they’re just hoping to move the marker. Competitor research should help you find gaps. It should help you understand where you can stand apart. If it turns you into a slightly different version of another business, you’ve traded distinction for something else entirely. Forgetting to Talk to Real Customers Your customers will tell you what makes you different, but only if you keep listening. Businesses often make changes based on internal opinions, industry chatter, or the loudest person in the room. Meanwhile, customers are giving clues every day. They mention why they came back. They name the employee who made the experience better. They compliment the thing you barely noticed. They complain when something meaningful disappears. Pay attention to repeat phrases in reviews, emails, conversations, referrals, and testimonials. Your strongest positioning and ideas to meet customers needs are often hiding in plain sight. Over-Professionalizing the Brand There’s nothing wrong with looking polished. But polished should never mean sterile. Some businesses scrub away personality because they think professionalism requires sounding bigger, colder, or more formal. They replace specific language with vague industry terms. They remove humor. They bury warmth. They stop sounding like humans and start sounding like a committee circling back and drilling down because bandwidth requires a game-changing pivot—a bunch of empty, overused words. Professionals and brands have personalities and the best brands feel trustworthy and recognizable. Your unique value proposition is not a slogan you write once and tape to the wall. It should guide your decisions, messaging, customer experience, hiring, technology, partnerships, and growth. Before you follow the next trend, hire the next expert, or hand your voice to AI, ask one question: Will this make us more clearly ourselves to the people we’re here to serve? Read More: Are You Accidentally Repelling Perfect Clients? Embracing Imperfection to Strengthen Your Business The Hidden Shift Every Growing Business Owner Faces Your Business Isn't Too Small to Build a Brand ------------------------- Christina Metcalf is a writer and women’s speaker who believes in the power of story. She works with small businesses, chambers of commerce, and business professionals who want to make an impression and grow a loyal customer/member base. She is the author of The Glinda Principle, rediscovering the magic within. _______________________________________ Facebook: @metcalfwriting Instagram: @christinametcalfauthor LinkedIn: @christinametcalf5

How to Turn One Happy Customer Into Three New Leads

May 11, 2026
Hopefully, your happiest customers are already doing some marketing for you. Maybe they’re mentioning your business to a neighbor or tagging you in a post. Perhaps they’ve told a friend, “You should call them.” The problem is that most small businesses leave those moments to chance and probably don’t even know about them. That’s why you must make referral marketing part of your marketing goals. Referrals are powerful because they come with built-in trust. A stranger clicking an ad may be curious. A person recommending your business to a friend is handing you a warm lead. That’s worth building a simple system around. You don’t need a huge budget or a complicated referral program. You just need a few repeatable habits that make it easy for happy customers to send more people your way. Ask at the Right Moment Start by knowing when to ask. Timing matters. The best moment is usually right after a customer has had a positive experience. Maybe they compliment your team. Maybe they leave a great review. Maybe they reorder, renew, rebook, or tell you how much something helped them. That’s your opening. Instead of saying, “Let us know if you know anyone,” which puts all the work on them, be specific. Try something like: “If you know another business owner who could use help with this, I’d be grateful if you’d send them my way.” Or: “We love working with customers like you. If you have a friend or colleague who needs this, feel free to share our contact info.” Specificity helps people think of someone. Or tell them the why you need referrals. People are more likely to help when you tell them why you need it. “We’re a small business and we get most of our clients through referrals. We would appreciate you telling your friends and family about us.” This helps them understand how important referrals are to you, but it also tells them that many people have referred you (“We get most of our clients through referrals.”)—that’s social proof. Make Referrals Easy to Share Next, make referrals easy to share. Create a short blurb customers can forward by text or email. Keep it conversational. For example: “I’ve been working with [Business Name], and they’ve been great. They help with [specific service/product], and I thought of you because [reason]. Here’s their info.” You can also create a simple referral card, QR code, or web page with your contact information, top services, and a clear explanation of who you help. If someone has to hunt for your phone number, website, or booking link, you’re making them work too hard and few people will do that. Turn Conversations into Warm Introductions Another quick win is to ask for introductions in person, especially at events. If a customer, vendor, or fellow business owner says they know someone you should meet, ask whether they’d be comfortable making the connection. A warm introduction is stronger than a cold email. It gives the other person context and makes the conversation feel less transactional. This is where your chamber can become a practical business development tool. Chamber events aren’t only for showing up, shaking hands, and collecting business cards you’ll later find in your purse, car, or desk drawer like tiny rectangles of guilt. Used well, they can help you build a smarter referral network. Use the Chamber as a Connection Partner Before attending an event, think about who you want to meet. Are you hoping to connect with real estate professionals, restaurant owners, nonprofit leaders, healthcare providers, employers, young professionals, or city leaders? Reach out to the chamber and ask which events tend to attract those groups. Many chambers know the personality and audience of each gathering. A morning coffee may draw a different crowd than a women’s leadership event, an industry roundtable, a ribbon cutting, or a large signature event. Your chamber may also be able to make direct introductions. If you’re looking to meet a certain demographic, ask. That’s part of the relationship-building advantage of membership. Chamber staff often know who’s growing, who’s hiring, who’s collaborating, who’s new to the community, and who might be a strong connection for your business. Follow Up Before the Lead Goes Cold Once you make a connection, follow up quickly. Within 24 to 48 hours, send a short note. Mention where you met, reference something specific from the conversation, and suggest a next step if it makes sense. Don’t overcomplicate it. A good follow-up might be: “It was great meeting you at the chamber event yesterday. I enjoyed hearing about your expansion plans. If you ever need help with [specific need], I’d be happy to be a resource.” Track What’s Working Finally, keep track of referrals. A simple spreadsheet or notes field in your CRM is enough. Track who referred whom, when you followed up, and whether the connection became a customer. This helps you thank people properly and see which relationships are generating real business. The best referral strategy isn’t pushy. It’s prepared and focused. You’re making it easier for people who already trust you to open the next door. Take the Next Step Look at the chamber calendar and see what’s coming up next. Then reach out to the chamber before you attend. Let them know who you’re hoping to meet. The right event, the right introduction, and one happy customer can turn into your next three leads. Read More: How to Stop Being the Best-Kept Secret in Town How to Turn Small Talk into Big Opportunities The Referral Engine: How to Get People Talking About Your Business The Referral Revival: 5 Proven Ways to Get More word-Of-Mouth Without Ever Asking -------------------------- Christina Metcalf is a writer and women’s speaker who believes in the power of story. She works with small businesses, chambers of commerce, and business professionals who want to make an impression and grow a loyal customer/member base. She is the author of The Glinda Principle , rediscovering the magic within. _______________________________________ Facebook: @metcalfwriting Instagram: @christinametcalfauthor LinkedIn: @christinametcalf5