The Right Way to Create Your Own Educational Product | @professor_ilia

I started creating courses not out of idleness but out of necessity. At first, it was because my group needed something the textbook didn’t offer. I figured that instead of endlessly adapting existing materials, I’d rather start from scratch. Over time, as learners' needs changed, my approach to course design changed too: short, on-demand courses started making more sense. Not everyone wants to commit to a long-term program. Some people just want to improve their public speaking skills in two months. Others, already at a C1 level, need a personalized grammar course to fill in the gaps.

I noticed this trend and jumped on the bandwagon. Suddenly, I could create niche courses tailored to very specific problems and interests. That’s how I ended up with Effective Work Communication for working professionals and Afternoon Readings for advanced learners who "know it all" but want to keep expanding their vocabulary through modern literature.

Having several courses that I could run on repeat brought tangible benefits. It freed me from endless lesson planning—rather than constantly reinventing new materials, I could refine and upgrade what I had. It also gave both me and my learners a stronger sense of achievement: a well-defined start and end point, combined with a clear focus, made learning (and teaching) feel more structured and rewarding.

And yet, I still felt like I was running on a treadmill. My income depended on the number of live lessons I could give, which in turn depended on my mental energy—a resource that fluctuates throughout the year.

And that’s when I started thinking about something else teachers rarely think about: creating a product that could exist beyond my teaching hours. Some things I taught were merely repetitions. I found myself explaining the same concepts over and over, using up my voice and precious classroom time. Wouldn’t it be wiser to record those parts? That way, I could accommodate more students and free up energy for the real-time practical sessions.

This blended approach—pre-recorded materials combined with live interaction—is what works best for me, both as a teacher and as a student.

Why We Hesitate to Create Our Own Products

Most teachers are brilliant at designing lessons. They know how to explain complex concepts, scaffold learning, and adapt to their students. And yet, when it comes to creating something that exists outside their live teaching, they hesitate.

Some worry, “I don’t have time.”

Others think, “I’m such a technophobe—how will I make and edit those recordings?”

And then there’s the perfectionist trap: “It has to be flawless before I release it.”

These doubts aren’t just mental noise. Psychologists call this status quo bias—our tendency to stick with what’s familiar, even when change could improve our lives. Add in imposter syndrome, and suddenly the idea of launching your own product feels like applying for a job you’re convinced you’re underqualified for.

But waiting for the perfect time or the perfect product means you’ll likely never start.

When teachers do finally decide to create something, they often aim too high—an ambitious full-length course, an entire training program, a whole methodology. And then? They get overwhelmed and don’t create anything at all.

I know this pattern well because I’ve seen it happen, and I’ve fallen into this trap myself. But the truth is, you don’t have to start big.

A single lecture, webinar, or mini-course can be the first step. That’s exactly how I started with my products for teachers. Instead of designing a massive program, I first created Organic Grammar, a mini-course on teaching grammar lexically, and then a lecture on course design. Both were small, manageable projects—but they served as a good starting point.

Even when teachers have a clear topic in mind, many struggle with how to organize everything they want to include. They worry about whether they’re covering too much, too little, or structuring things the right way.

This is something that Kathleen Graves explores in Teachers as Course Developers, a book in which several educators share their accounts of designing courses in different contexts. Each teacher approaches course design differently, yet the underlying challenge remains the same: how to turn knowledge into a structured, engaging learning experience that would equip the target students with a desired skill.

Thinking through course outcomes, deciding what to include and what to leave out, and making sure the content flows logically—these are all skills that teachers aren’t necessarily taught. They figure them out as they go.

The Modern Teacher’s New Challenge: Marketing

But even structuring a course isn’t the final hurdle. Once you’ve created something, there’s another challenge: how do you get people to actually buy it?

It’s no longer enough for teachers to just know their subject well. To create a successful educational product, you also need to understand such marketing notions as target audience, positioning, and offer. Who is your product for? What problem does it solve? How do you communicate its value?

This is where many teachers get stuck. They pour their heart into a course, but when it comes time to promote it, they hesitate. They don’t want to “sell” or put themselves out there. They think, “If it’s good, people will find and appreciate it.” But in a world where attention is scarce, even the best product won’t reach the right audience if you don’t talk about it.

Unfortunately, there’s no specific book or resource about marketing for teachers. Some teachers figure this out through trial and error. Others seek individual support—from mentors, from colleagues who’ve done it before, from people like me who help educators navigate these challenges.

Because the reality is, making a great product is just one part of the equation. Making sure people see it, understand it, and want to buy it—that’s what determines whether it succeeds.

Stepping Off the Treadmill

So where does that leave us?

It’s easy to stay on the same track—overbooked, overworked, relying on an income stream that’s entirely dependent on live teaching. It’s also easy to get stuck in endless preparation, waiting for the perfect moment to launch something of your own.

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But what if there was a way to step off the treadmill without abandoning teaching altogether?

The good news: there is.

The bad news: it requires a mindset shift that, for many educators, is harder than working full time.

It means embracing the idea that your knowledge has value outside of one-on-one lessons. It means starting small, experimenting, and giving yourself permission to learn as you go.

The first step doesn’t have to be a perfect course. It just has to be a step.