How to Know Your Course Will Sell Before You Build It: The 4-Step Market Demand Blueprint

And if there IS strong demand, how do you know that people will buy it. Today I'm going to show you exactly how to do this.

First, decide which of the 3 markets your topic will be under 

There are three markets: health, wealth, and relationships. Every single product ever sold since the beginning of commerce has been marketed under one of these three huge markets. 

Under each market are sub-markets. For example, under the market of health you have submarkets such as working out, fitness, bodyweight training, healthy eating, intermittent fasting, emotional regulation, sleep training, gut health, pain management, digital detox, and postpartum care. 

That’s just the market of health. You also have submarkets in the wealth market such as financial management, real estate investing, crypto, investing in stocks, selling on Amazon, debt elimination, options trading, early retirement services, career coaching, affiliate marketing, wealth planning, and course selling. My submarket is course selling–I teach men of faith how to turn their expertise into a course and sell it for a lot of money.  

You also have submarkets under relationships. This includes topics like conversation coaching, dating advice, marriage communication, sexual intimacy, conflict resolution, love languages, boundaries and self respect, navigating workplace conflict, EQ leadership, divorce recovery, and dealing with difficult bosses. 

Under each submarket is a niche. Wealth is a market. Investing in crypto is a submarket. Investing in crypto altcoin is a niche. So is investing in meme coin. So is trading NFTs.

Wealth —> Investing in crypto —> Investing in altcoin.

Relationships is a market. Marriage is a submarket. Intimacy with your spouse is a niche. So is communication with your spouse. So is dating with your spouse. So is doing finances with your spouse.

Relationships —> marriage —> intimacy with your spouse.

So decide if your area of expertise will be under health, wealth, or relationships. 

Second, pick a niche that plays into your strengths

This is where a lot of coaches and course creators make a mistake. They look at what’s going on in the world, find something getting a lot of attention, and enter that niche. 

And the result? They get crushed. 

Why? Two reasons: 

1. They entered a market that was already blood red with saturation. If the market is growing fast enough for you to notice it, it’s already saturated.

2. They did not build a product based on their strengths. 

Okay, that’s great, Seth, but if I start with my strengths, how do I know the market will be strong and not saturated? 

I will show you.

Point 1: decide which of the three markets you will be under. 

Point 2: pick a niche that plays into your strengths. 

To pick a niche that plays into your strengths means that you need to start with a topic that you’re good at. In our Craftsmen course we walk men through domains and layers–a technique that helps them extract every single possible skill they have developed over the years. (Our most recent client extracted 47 skills! When you use the domains and layers method there is no lack of topics to turn into a course.) 

Third, make sure the niche is growing and trending 

There are 7 ways you can test to see if there is strong market demand for your course topic. 

1. Buzzwords. Does your area of expertise have their own terminology unique to its industry? For example, if your topic of expertise is pickleball, you’ll hear words like dink, kitchen, erne (“ernie”), bert, coach, and pickled. In Amazon FBA it would be words like FBA fulfillment, fulfilled by Amazon, referral fees, storage fees, private label, OEM, and Alibaba. 

2. Communities. Does your area of expertise have communities built around them? A quick search on Telegram, Discord, and Facebook will show you this. 

3. Events. Are there online and in-person events where fans of your area of expertise congregate to network and learn? These often come in the form of masterminds, business conferences, and trade shows. 

4. Channels Are there channels on YouTube and TikTok devoted to your area of expertise? 

5. Podcasts Are there podcasts in your area of expertise? Because almost every active podcast is on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you only need to hunt for your topic on these two podcasts and you’ve covered your research for the podcast world. 

6. Courses. Do online courses exist for your area of expertise? If so, this is good. If there are multiple courses this indicates people are able and willing to spend money on this topic. I will show you how to make your course uniquely different from what’s on the market, thus eliminating much of the competition and making it easier for you to sell yours. 

7. Experts. Does your area of expertise have established experts and gurus? For example, the world of online marketing has experts like Gary Vee, Neil Patel, and Alex Hermozi. If other experts are already making money selling information in this market then you know there is a market for your niche. 

Fourth, carve your hyperniche out of the niche. 

A hyperniche is simply a subcategory of your niche.

The hyperniche is not one you look for. It's one you create.

Wealth is a market.
Investing in crypto is a submarket.
Investing in altcoin is a niche.
Investing in Ethereum (which is a subcategory of altcoin) to pay off your debts is a hyperniche.

Wealth —> Investing in crypto —> Investing in altcoin —> Investing in Ethereum (ETH) to pay off your debts.

To use another example:
Relationships is a market.
Marriage is a submarket.
Intimacy with your spouse is a niche.
Sexual intimacy with your spouse of 20+ years is a hyperniche.

Relationships —> marriage —> intimacy with your spouse —> sexual intimacy with your spouse of 20+ years

If no one else is selling a course in your exact hyperniche, you just created a new market! 

The niche ensures your market is strong. The hyperniche ensures your offer is new. 

Once you create your new hyperniche, you will pull customers from the niche into your hyperniche. 

This is why your niche needs to be full of sharks and your hyperniche needs to be blue ocean water. 

Fish in the niche. Make money in the hyperniche.

"But Seth, what if there is no hyperniche opportunity?" 

When I started Craftsmen, I knew there had to be a hyperniche, but how on earth do you create it?

My original niche was teaching people how to make and sell courses. That's an incredibly flooded niche. I desperately needed a hyperniche.

So I decided to niche everything into a subcategory. I did this by asking myself three questions:

1. What is a subcategory of my service?

My service is teaching "how to make a course." A subcategory would be "turn your expertise into a course."

2. What is a subcategory of my client?

My client is humans. A subcategory would be, "men who love Jesus."

3. What is a subcategory of my client's dream outcome?

My client's dream outcome is "to make money." A subcategory would be, "make money while impacting lives."

That was it!

I help men of faith create wealth turning their expertise into a course while helping others. 

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