The Biggest Question People Ask About Creating an Online Course (And What the Data Shows Globally)

If you spend more than five minutes in any online-course Facebook group, Reddit thread, LinkedIn post, or creator community, you’ll notice something funny.

People think they’re asking dozens of different questions about creating a course…

…but they’re actually asking one question, over and over, in different disguises.

And that question is:

“If I build this course… will anyone actually buy it?”

Underneath all the talk about technology, platforms, cameras, email lists, pricing, confidence, and imposter syndrome… that’s the heartbeat.

And we have found that global data backs it.

So, let’s break down what people really worry about when creating an online course, along with research, surveys, and real quotes from creators worldwide. At the end, you'll be able to download our COURSE IDEA PROFIT TEST™, which we've created for you. It's a simple scorecard to predict whether your course will sell before you build it.

1. The Most Common Question Asked on Social Media

Scroll any community for course creators and you’ll see it expressed in a hundred different ways:

• “Will anyone buy my course?”

• “Is my idea good enough?”

• “How do I create a course that actually sells?”

• “Do I know enough to teach this?”

• “What if I launch and nobody signs up?”

None of these is a technical concern. They’re emotional ones:
Fear of failure, fear of wasting time, fear of being judged, fear of looking foolish, and fear of wasting your money creating a course in the beginning.

2. Proof From Global Creator Data (The Numbers Don’t Lie)

To get a clear worldwide picture, we look at the biggest creator surveys and research studies.

Podia Survey. 900+ Creators

Podia surveyed over 900 creators across multiple countries. In that article, they report:

• • 32.9% said “Growing an audience” was their biggest challenge. 

  • 21.6% said “Finding enough time for everything” was their biggest challenge. 

  • 14.4% said “Knowing how to monetise their work” was their biggest challenge.

Audience + monetisation =

“Can I get enough buyers to make this worth it?”

Whop Creator Statistics – Thousands of Creators

Whop analysed platform-wide performance data from thousands of creators. Their headline finding was unmissable:

52% of course creators say their biggest challenge is generating leads.

And “generating leads” is just the more practical, grown-up version of the same emotional question:

“Where will my paying students actually come from?”

Again, the fear isn’t the tech, the platform, or the content; it’s whether your course will sell.

GetResponse Global E-Learning Study. 1,000 Creators + 1,000 Students

One of the most expansive surveys of the online-course ecosystem to date. The research reveals a clear issue:

• Marketing and promotion are among the top challenges for creators.

• Even outstanding courses can fall flat if nobody knows they exist.

The study also confirms that social media is the single most-used channel for creators to reach students, where the same fears keep resurfacing day after day.

3. How These Fears Show Up in Real Communities

Visit any social platform where course creators hang out: Facebook groups, LinkedIn, Reddit and the pattern is evident:

Common threads:

• “What’s your biggest challenge in creating an online course?”

• “Why is nobody buying my course?”

• “Is my topic too niche?”

• “How do I get my first students?”

You’ll see people answer:

• “Marketing is the hardest part.”

• “I don’t know how to find buyers.”

• “I’m scared no one wants this.”

• “I don’t know if I’m qualified enough.”

4. The Three Universal Pain Points (Across Every Platform)

All the research above falls into three simple categories.

Pain Point 1. Fear the Course Won’t Sell

This is top of all fears. Creators worry about:

• Wasting months of effort

• Launching to silence

• Looking foolish

• Misjudging demand

• Choosing the wrong idea

Every major creator survey points to this.

Pain Point 2. Feeling “Not Expert Enough” to Teach

This one shows up especially with coaches, consultants, and subject experts. People wonder:

• “Who am I to teach this?”

• “Someone else knows more.”

• “I don’t have a qualification.”

• “My content isn’t perfect.”

• “What if students ask something I don’t know?”

Research shows this fear is widespread.

“You don’t need to be the world’s foremost expert. Being ahead of your audience is what counts.”

This worry is classic imposter syndrome, and it’s universal!

Pain Point 3. Overwhelm (Time, Tech, Content, Everything at Once)

Overwhelm is one of the biggest obstacles new course creators face, and industry research backs this up. According to eLearning Industry’s analysis of challenges facing digital-learning creators, two of the most significant hurdles are “keeping up with technology” and “finding and retaining learners.”

Both challenges feed directly into the sense of being overloaded, juggling tools, platforms, content creation, marketing, and delivery all at once. It’s no surprise that creators frequently describe feeling:

• Overloaded

• Burnt out

• Unsure where to begin

• Worried about “getting it wrong”

But overwhelm is nearly always a symptom rather than the root cause. Underneath it, sits one universal fear shared by creators everywhere:

“This looks like a lot of effort… and I’m not sure people will buy.”

5. So What Does This All Mean?

The one thing people want is certainty that their course will sell. Everything else is surface-level decoration.

Whether someone’s asking about:

• Kajabi

• Pricing

• List building

• Cameras

• Content structure

• “How long should my lessons be?”

• “Is my idea good?”

• “Am I good enough?”

…it’s all just different packaging of the same fear.

People want to build courses.
They don’t want to fail publicly.

And that is the emotional question every successful course creator, mentor, or consultant needs to have answered if they are to move forward confidently.

Bringing It All Together

When you strip everything back, the tech choices, the camera gear, the lesson structure, the platform debates. The same three fears sit at the heart of almost every conversation about creating an online course:

1. Will anyone actually buy this?

2. Am I expert enough to teach it?

3. How do I handle all the moving parts without burning out?

And the good news?
None of these fears means you’re not ready.
They mean you’re human.

 You don’t have to figure this out alone. I promised you our COURSE IDEA PROFIT TEST™ to predict whether your course will sell before you build it. Download it here. No email required.

And if you'd like further support, whether that’s validating your idea, structuring your course, simplifying the tech, or building a student experience that feels polished and professional, just reach out, tell us where you’re stuck, and we’ll guide you forward with clarity, confidence, and a plan that actually works.

Your course doesn’t have to be overwhelming.