Giving it a proper go

Back in the 1990s, the accepted way to break into the comedy establishment was to write for a BBC Radio 4 show called Week Ending.

It was one of the few programmes that would accept unsolicited submissions from new writers.

Each week you could fax (yes, fax!) your topical jokes and sketches to a machine somewhere in the depths of Broadcasting House.

The exciting thing was that you only knew if your idea had been chosen when you heard it broadcast on Friday evening.

Getting a few of my ideas broadcast (and being paid for them) sowed the seed of an idea that stayed with me for years:

“I wonder if I could make it as a full-time comedy writer.”

After nearly a decade of conventional jobs, I decided this question would follow me to my grave unless I took action.

In other words, I needed to give comedy writing “a proper go”.

So I gave up my full-time job, cut my expenses to the bone, and focused on “making it” as a comedy writer.

And over the next few years I enjoyed a few modest successes.

I landed a writing agent. I got a web series commissioned by the BBC. I worked for BBC Comedy as a freelance editor/producer.

All-in-all I had a blast, but in the end I decided that comedy writing was not the right career for me.

It was a decision I could make knowing that I’d given it the “proper go” it deserved. And that niggling question melted away, letting me focus on my next chapter.

So if creating an online course is your idea that just won’t go away, the best way I know to resolve it is to give it a proper go.

What that looks like will be different for different people. You might need extra help, you might not.

But you’ll know when you’ve done it because you’ll either have a course you can sell, or you’ll know exactly why course creation is not the right path for you.

Alternatively, you can continue to enjoy the daydream of course creation.

After all, it’s fun to imagine a world where your income is more passive, your impact is less constrained, and your business is less dependent on you and your time.

But it’s not as good as the real thing.

See you soon,

Glen.