Whether you’re a creator educator or simply a passionate person in the early stages of your online business, we know you’ve got some knowledge or insight to share.
That’s where mini-courses come in.
Not to be confused with a full online course, when it comes to mini-courses, you can throw out any preconceptions about traditional online courses.
A mini-course is meant to be “bite-sized,” full of quick, actionable information that helps your audience achieve a specific learning outcome.
In this article, we’ll explore everything from the definition of a mini-course to mini-course ideas and mini-course pricing strategies. We’ll even give you some mini-course examples!
Read on to learn how to create a mini-course without breaking the bank with The Leap’s AI-powered mini-course builder.
What is a mini-course?
A mini-course is a compact, bite-sized online course that delves into a specific topic. Think of it as a valuable nugget of knowledge that’s easy to digest and perfect for busy folks who want to learn something new without a big time commitment (or attention span).
Keep in mind that “mini” is key here. Your course should be no longer than 10-30 minutes, and it shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to create. To achieve this, you’ll want to ask yourself these questions:
- What do I want my audience to learn or do in a quick mini-course?
- How can I teach this learning outcome in a quick presentation or a casual conversation?
If you’re at the stage where you’re considering how to create a mini online course, remember to keep in mind that it’s different from a full-length online course.
A mini-course should be a “bite-sized” resource, aka a chunk of content that has a short run time and doesn’t take long to produce (but still provides your audience tons of value).
A mini-course is a low-cost, low-risk way to experiment with what your audience likes and doesn’t like. Often, a mini online course can lead to bigger digital product ideas. Whether that’s a higher-ticket online course, membership-based premium content, or an ebook.
This is why creating digital products, particularly mini-courses, are so great! They allow you to create a collection of validated content valued at $0 to $50 each, that you can later package into a higher-ticket digital product.
Read on to learn more about the benefits of mini-courses.
Benefits of mini-courses
There are a multitude of benefits that a mini-course can bring to your creator career. We explore our favorite benefits below.
Create a direct relationship with your audience
Offering a mini-course as a lead magnet is a great way to collect leads and build your email list, aka a direct line to your audience.
Earn passive income
A mini online course doesn’t take long to create, but it can be a great source of recurring passive income. If the average mini-course is sold between $5-$50, that’s a great ROI.
Validate bigger digital product ideas
A mini-course is a low-investment resource that showcases your expertise and lets you test whether a topic resonates with your audience.
Engaging format for delivering value
Mini-courses are a fun, bite-sized method of delivering value to your audience. You get to teach your audience something new and show off your expertise in a format that’s easy to create and super engaging.
Terrific ROI
Mini-courses are quick to create, cost little to produce, and can generate passive income while building trust and credibility with your audience.
Mobile-friendly
Mini-courses are perfect for mobile-first content, making it easy to create, share, and consume vertically-oriented lessons right from your phone.
How to create a mini-course in 5 steps
- Choose a mini-course creation platform
- Select a topic
- Plan your video content
- Create your mini-course content
- Put a price tag on your mini-course (or don’t!)
Curious about how to create a mini-course online? Or more specifically, how to create a mini-course for free? We got you! Here’s a step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Choose a mini-course creation platform
First things first, you need to find an intuitive — and ideally free — platform that can help you build a mini-course quickly and easily. Some key features to look for in a mini-course creation platform include:
- Usability: Your mini-course platform should feel intuitive, like an extension of your current content workflow. That means looking out for mini-course platforms that look and feel like the social platforms you already produce content. Think TikTok, Instagram Stories, or Reels.
- Mobile-friendly: Not only should it be easy for you to produce a mini-course on your phone, but you also want it to feel intuitive for your audience to consume it from theirs.
- AI assistance: AI is a valuable tool for creating content quickly and effortlessly. Look out for platforms that have online course builders or AI assistants for generating copy, images, or other content.
- Sales and promotion: Ideally, the platform you choose can promote and sell your product with a link-in-bio or mini-course sales page, email marketing, email list building, analytics and reports, and more.
- Flexible payment options: Look for a platform with flexible pricing options like integrated payment processing, coupons and discount codes, or buy now / pay later and pay-what-you-can options.
The Leap, aka the best platform to create a mini-course
If you’re looking for a platform with all of the above features (and more), we’ll save you some time — look no further than the all-in-one creator store, The Leap.
The Leap is free, mobile-friendly, and ridiculously simple to use. It’s also backed by powerful AI that does all the heavy lifting for you. Its AI-powered digital product builder uses AI to generate ideas and build products in just minutes. All you have to do is tell The Leap what you’re good at, sit back, and watch the magic happen.
With The Leap, you can create mini-courses, guides, challenges, and tutorials, or sell digital services like 1:1 consultations and coaching sessions with the platform’s Book My Time native calendar feature.
The Leap’s Creator Analytics dashboard tracks store performance, product popularity, and overall marketing channel success to help you optimize your digital products for increased sales. And its automated email marketing tools work in the backend to help you convert leads into customers, fast.
With The Leap, you can also offer your customers flexible payment options like buy now / pay later option, one-click payments, and discount/coupon codes. Its plug-and-play Stripe integration
Want to learn more about how The Leap can help you monetize your expertise with mini-courses and more? Sign up for The Leap Way mini-course series
Step 2: Select a topic
Selecting the perfect topic for your mini-course course content is all about merging your expertise with what your target audience craves.
Before you create a mini-course, begin brainstorming by thinking about your target audience. What are their pain points and interests?
Tailor your topic to address their needs and offer solutions to their challenges. Mini-courses work best when you focus on a small promise. Help your online audience solve a problem or achieve a small goal in 30 minutes or less, then you’re on the right track.
Next, consider your passions and expertise. What do you genuinely enjoy and know a lot about? Figure this out, and your enthusiasm should shine through in your course content and engage your learners.
If you’re still stumped thinking about your own mini-course ideas, consider using The Leap’s AI-powered mini-course template, which will generate mini-course ideas for you. All you need to do is enter your particular brand of expertise into The Leap’s AI generator and you’ll have a mini-course template in no time at all.
Here’s an example of what that looks like:
Step 3: Plan your video content!
When it comes to planning your content, you don’t need a word-for-word script, but you should outline what your overall key structure and points are to cover. This planning will help make your mini online courses more effective and engaging.
Your content outline should be clear to your audience from the get-go. Keep in mind the following key content components:
Introduction
Your mini online course introduction is crucial for audience engagement. Start by introducing yourself as an expert in your content niche. Give context to your experience and expertise. Spew out any stats regarding the success of your creator career so far — a mini-course is not the time to be shy!
What is the learning outcome?
What is the ideal learning outcome of your mini online course? Clearly express to your audience what value they will gain from engaging with your content.
For instance, what problem are you solving for them? What pain point are you addressing? What are you setting out to help them achieve?
Provide context
Remember to provide context on why it’s valuable for your audience to learn more about your topic.
For example, if you’re a florist offering a mini online course on creating bridal bouquets, you might highlight how the preparation differs from that of a standard vase arrangement.
Step 4: Create your mini-course content
Once you’ve planned your content, it’s time for the best part: Creating!
Keep in mind that several different forms of content delivery are what make a mini-course interactive and engaging. For example:
Text and images
Think of using text and images to signpost the beginning of a new chapter, section, or step. For example, highlight an important quote from your lesson or essential ideas and recommendations.
Video
The shorter the video, the more engaged your audience will be. A general rule of thumb here is to ensure each video in your mini online course is less than five minutes, to allow your audience to process information without the expense of cognitive overload.
Quizzes
Low-stake quizzes are one of the best ways to ensure the lessons in your mini-course are fully watched, while also helping your audience think about the material you’ve just dished out.
External links
Links are an opportunity to dive deeper into a subject than your mini online course may allow. Not to mention they’re a great opportunity for promoting other digital product offerings you might have, like templates, other mini online courses, ebooks, or even long-form online courses.
Step 5: Put a price tag on your mini-course (or don’t!)
Finally, once you’re done building your mini online course, it’s time to set a price for it. Conversely, you can offer your mini online courses for free as lead magnets.
If you decide to stick to a more traditional fixed rate for your mini-course, most creators keep their content within the ballpark of $5 to $50 maximum. This is because the idea behind a mini-course is that you want it to be accessible.
Remember, a mini-course should be an introduction to your expertise that might inspire interest in higher-ticket digital products like a long-form online course, ebook, or membership-based service or content.
Other popular pricing options include:
Freebie/lead magnet
Many creators choose to offer their mini-courses as freebies (aka lead magnets) to attract new followers and collect valuable contact information that contributes to a more robust email list.
Of course, it’s always up to you as a creator to decide the pricing structure of your mini-courses. There may be times that you decide earning some passive income is of utmost importance. Then there are times you may come up with the perfect mini-course topic to attract new potential followers or subscribers.
The beauty of offering a digital product like a mini-course is that you have options!
“Pay What You Want”
Some digital product builders offer a sliding scale option — an alternative to a traditional fixed-rate — like The Leap’s “Pay What You Want” feature. Some creators prefer this option for a digital product like a mini-course because it can attract a wider audience and build general goodwill.
As a creator, you might choose this approach to empower your audience, accommodate different financial situations, or even potentially receive more generous payments from those who value your work. Basically, a pay-what-you-want option for your mini-course is a great way to foster an improved sense of trust and community.
Mini-course pricing
If you decide to stick to a more traditional fixed rate for your mini-course, most creators keep their content within the ballpark of $5 to $50 maximum. This is because the idea behind a mini-course is that you want it to be accessible.
Remember, a mini-course should be an introduction to your expertise that might inspire interest in higher-ticket digital products like a long-form online course, ebook, or membership-based service or content.
The Leap by Thinkific course examples
Looking for some inspiration? Check out these five great mini-course examples, all built on The Leap, the latest brainchild from the leading online course platform, Thinkific.
1. How To Become a Creative Director by Kate Terentieva
Kate Terentieva is a professional creative director and branding strategist. On TikTok, she posts educational content related to her profession, aimed at helping others who aspire to become creative directors, themselves.
In a field that can be notoriously vague in terms of how to get started, Kate’s advice on being a creative director, alongside inspirational marketing ideas, and her opinions on the latest in the world of marketing are a refuge for many creatives.
Kate’s mini-course, titled “How To Become a Creative Director,” guides learners through exactly what a creative director does and how to kickstart your career. Kate offers her mini-course for $19.99. In the week after its launch, she made 10 sales for her mini-course!
2. Launch Your Wedding Planning Business by Candice Coppola
Candice Coppola is a business coach, author, and wedding planning expert. Candice took her wedding planning business, Jubilee Events, from scratch to a six-figure enterprise in just two years!
On her Instagram, Candice generously shares the strategies and insights that propelled her wedding business to success, offering advice on revamped marketing strategies, building a distinctive brand, and leveraging AI for growth in the wedding industry. In addition to her educational content, Candice sells a range of mini-courses and guides through her website.
Candice’s most recent mini-course, “Launch Your Wedding Planning Business,” was crafted using The Leap’s AI-powered authoring tool. Concise and video-centered, Candice’s course is designed to help users develop a comprehensive business plan for their wedding planning ventures.
Using her marketing strategy expertise effectively, Candice offers this mini-course for free as a lead magnet tool to grow her email list.
3. Building Your Email List by Millie Adrian
Millie Adrian is a prominent YouTuber creator educator, and the founder of The Modern Influencer. While working 9 to 5 as a project manager, Millie grew her social media audience to 400K+ followers. Now, she’s helping her audience do the same.
Leveraging the knowledge she gained from project management and drawing on her personal experience balancing a day job and side hustle, Millie provides her YouTube and Instagram following with everything they need to know to build their brands while working a day job.
As a firm believer in prioritizing email list building, Millie recently applied her expertise and knowledge to a brand new mini-course created using The Leap’s AI-powered digital product builder.
Millie’s online video-based course teaches users how to build their email lists. In it, she touches on the importance of lead magnets and the concept that your social media followers are a “rented” audience.
Sign up below for access to Millie’s mini-course — it’s free!
4. Planning Your Digital Products by Juan Galán
Starting his journey working in marketing for corporate and startup companies, Juan Galán treated Instagram as his side hustle for years until he decided to finally take the leap. Today, he’s a full-time Instagram creator and founder of his own business, IG Creator Academy.
Through his company, Juan seeks to help content creators embark on their entrepreneurial journey. He brings over 10 years of marketing expertise to his educational content, which spans macro topics like leveraging AI to elevate your business, to smaller tips like crafting the perfect IG caption.
Recently, Juan teamed up with The Leap to create a new mini-course using our AI-powered authoring tool. Juan’s course teaches you how to plan which digital products to sell, by using your audience to research pain points and adopting an MVP mindset.
This mini-course is full of useful insights and tips for understanding the digital product sphere.
Get free access by signing up below!
5. Creating Video Content by XayLi Barclay
XayLi Barclay is a seasoned video consultant and an expert in creating online courses, having successfully generated close to $1 million in revenue from her expertise. With a significant following of over 7,000 learners in her online school, XayLi has also empowered numerous course creators on their journeys.
XayLi’s mini-course is divided into four key parts: unlocking the secrets to powerful video content, mastering simple tricks for mobile filming, expert tips for crisp audio, and digital product tools for the best video post-production.
Throughout her mini-course, XayLi highlights the importance of video content in the digital learning landscape, emphasizing its interactivity, ease of consumption, and high engagement levels. She describes video content as a way to bring the platform into the palm of learners’ hands, capitalizing on the boom in online learning and people’s willingness to pay for unique insights.
Want to learn more? Sign up for the mini-course for free.
Create a mini-course with The Leap!
Creating a mini-course is a smart, low-risk way to share your expertise, build your audience, and generate passive income.
With tools like The Leap, you can create, market, and sell a mini-course (or offer as a lead magnet) all from the same place—for free.
From its AI-powered mini-course creation tool to flexible payment options, automated email marketing, and a Creator Analytics dashboard, The Leap has everything you need to get started.
Psst: The Leap even launched a new Referral Program where you can earn up to 40% recurring commission!
Want to start small by building and selling your own mini-courses? We have a tool for that — try The Leap free today!
How to create mini course FAQ
How can I build a mini-course online?
Building a mini-course online is super easy to do if you find the right platform for creating mini-courses. Ideally, building a mini-course online should feel like an extension of your existing content workflow on social media platforms.
Going with a free, AI-powered platform like The Leap will not only save you time and money, but it’ll also make course creation look and feel intuitive to your audience.
How can I build a mini-course for free?
The easiest way to build a mini-course online for free is to find a platform that offers the tools to help you do so. The Leap is a completely free AI-powered mini-course creation tool that helps you generate a mini-course in minutes.
With The Leap, you can build your mini-course from scratch, or if you’re feeling stumped, The Leap’s AI mini-course builder can help by generating the perfect topic.With other helpful features offered by The Leap, like flexible payment options, automated email marketing, a Book My Time native calendar tool, a Creator Analytics dashboard, and even a brand new Referral Program, building a mini-course online can be an amazing ROI for your content creator business.
Follow The Leap on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for more tips for creating and selling digital products. We also make a newsletter.
Further reading
- 9 Best Examples of Digital Products Created on The Leap
- How To Make Passive Income Selling Digital Products
- 9 Best Tools To Create Digital Products To Sell
- How To Sell Digital Products Online: A 6-Step Launch Checklist
- What Is a Creator Educator? (And How To Become One)
This article was originally published in November 2023, and updated in December 2024 with additional information.
