10 Reasons all of the online courses you’re taking aren’t helping you grow your business

The world of online courses is amazing. Taking classes from talented course creators has become so accessible. But when I talk to aspiring full-time entrepreneurs, I often hear that they have taken numerous courses related to their business with little result. Growing their business has become more of a money drain or a break-even venture than a money maker.

If this is you, know you are not alone. Lots of people find themselves losing money to online courses trying to get their businesses off the ground, and most entrepreneurs actually are losing money. But that doesn’t mean you should keep draining money into courses if it isn’t actually making a difference.

So what may be to blame for the fact that, despite your level of knowledge, you still aren’t making traction? And what might you focus on instead? Here are 10 things to consider.

1. The issue isn’t that you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s that you’re trying to feel qualified.

If your personal brand of online courses tends to be in the certifications and training category, ask yourself what you hope will be different after you get that next certification. Expanding your knowledge in a field is great, but if you’re hoping that another certification is going to make people take you more seriously, what’s more important is to ask yourself if you take yourself seriously.

If you get solid results, great testimonials, and referrals, and you’re still convinced you’re not experienced or good enough, adding another training to the list will not have the effect you think it will. In fact, it may make you feel less qualified — “I’ve drained all of this money into these certifications and I still am not getting any results. It’s so much easier for everyone else.”

Before you sign up for another course or certification, ask yourself why you need the additional skill. Are you feeling yourself at the edge of your current skill level and ready to expand, or are you hoping another course will give you the permission you’re looking for to finally own your talents? Then put your credit card away and ask yourself what opportunities are currently available for you to stretch.

Organizational behaviorist Scott Sonenshein found that businesses that are able to get creative about how to do more with less are actually more successful than those that keep chasing more in hopes that it will solve their problems. In this case, you may need to look at your own confidence rather than invest in another course.

2. You’re avoiding the uncomfortable part of the learning curve

The truth is, gaining the information is only a small part of the equation. Then you have to go out, apply it to your own business, learn what parts do and do not work for you, and actually build the skills it will take to apply the information successfully.

The learning process is made up for 4 stages: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence. The transition from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence is when you go from being completely clueless to becoming aware of all of the things you don’t know and aren’t skilled at yet.

Think of someone with no restaurant experience deciding to buy a failing restaurant and turn it around. They might start off confident and excited, but 3 days in, after they’ve realized the complexity of the issues the restaurant is facing and just how clueless they are on solving them, their excitement and optimism fades.

Moving into this phase feels like a setback, but it’s actually a sign that you’re learning! For you, you may find that in practice, some of the things you learned in your marketing or copywriting courses aren’t working. Being willing to experiment, leave behind practices that don’t work, weave in things that do, and get curious about these problems and how to solve them on your own is a lot more uncomfortable and frustrating than putting down $997 on another course that promises to solve all of your problems.

No matter how skilled your teachers are, they can not save you from having to build your own skills. So if things feel challenging, it’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong, it’s actually a sign that you’re in the process! Taking another course in hopes that you will be given “The Answer” may be your way of opting out of this essential process.

3. You aren’t clear on your motivations and beliefs

Knowing why you want to grow your business (your motive) is essential. Sure, you may want to grow your business so you can make 6-figures, take vacations, and give back to charities — but the crucial element here is to take a look at what you want most and if you truly believe this is compatible with you growing your business.

Ask yourself what you’ve decided is true about your ability to build a business and make money. Have you decided it will require a lot of work? Have you decided it will take an enormous amount of time? Maybe time away from your kids? Have you decided that everyone who manages to make money is shady?

It’s important to take a look, because if what you want most is freedom and to be a decent person, these deep rooted beliefs will have you sabotaging your growth.

Whenever your goals are at odds like this, what you really want, and what you really believe deep down will always take precedence and motivate your behavior accordingly. You may find yourself enrolling in courses in hopes that you will learn a way to grow without feeling “salesy” or having to give up your free time. But a more direct approach would be to get clear on your motivations and beliefs, ask yourself where you learned these things, and question if they are really true.

4. You’re hoping someone has the secret or it will just “click”

Sure, you know intellectually that nobody is going to swoop down and save you, but if anywhere deep down you are secretly hoping someone has ‘The Answer’ that will finally make it all click, you may as well pitch a tent, because you’re going to be here a while.

Courses, instructors, consultants, and coaches are not saviours. The reason you keep having to search for The Secret or The Answer is because really, there isn’t one.

Many entrepreneurs can remember moments where things sort of fell into place, or “clicked”. But the truth is that these moments typically come when you decide to stop trying to rely on other people and finally take matters into your own hands.

Instead of taking another course, ask yourself what opportunities you’re not acting on because you’re scared, let yourself feel the fear, and take action. Even if it doesn’t lead anywhere, practicing moving forward even when you’re uncomfortable is essential, because that is when you will finally start making traction.

5. You’re focused on being a good student and are afraid of breaking the rules

It’s important to remember that you paid for the course, and the course and instructor are actually there to help you — not the other way around. If you’re more focused on doing everything right, being attentive, and showing the instructor or participants how good you are than you are on getting curious about how the material can really help you, you might be doing yourself a disservice.

According to research by psychologist Carol Dweck, people are less likely to become discouraged by set-backs when they shift their focus away from demonstrating or proving their ability, and toward overcoming challenges to learn as much as possible and get a strong handle on the material. So if you’re the good student type, this may be playing into #2.

Further, being a successful business owner has a lot more to do with taking matters into your own hands than it does with doing things the “right” way and expecting it to work. In business, things rarely just go according to plan. So while information is valuable, it won’t get you very far if you aren’t practicing the skill of shaking things up when the “right way” doesn’t work.

6. You’re afraid you might not have what it takes

Do you ever wonder if you really have what it takes? If so, you might actually be stopping yourself from giving your business your best effort. Research conducted by Andrew J Elliot shows that people who are afraid of finding out that they don’t have what it takes engage in something called self-handicapping. It’s when you intentionally don’t give something your best shot in order to avoid finding out if you’re any good or not.

If you really want to work through the uncomfortable learning curve and develop the skills that you will need to run your business, it will require effort. But this doesn’t mean you need to hustle around the clock. In fact, many of the entrepreneurs I’ve worked with are already spending enormous amounts of time and energy posting on social media, creating marketing graphics, or writing emails to avoid other things that might actually take less time and energy and deliver greater pay off.

For example, what if instead of posting to social media about your offer for 3 weeks, you sent 10 direct emails to people who you know need your help and offered them a chance to jump on a call and see if it would be a fit? This would actually require less time and energy, but it might immediately indicate to you if people are interested or not. So the emotionally easy route isn’t always a time saver.

If this is you, you might find yourself taking more courses because you think if it requires effort on your part it must mean you don’t have what it takes yet. That’s not the case. Everyone has to develop their own skill and giving it your best shot will always require effort and potential failure.

7. Your community isn’t supportive

The people you surround yourself with make a difference. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have if the people around you don’t get it, think you should be spending your time elsewhere, or have a bad attitude about people who make good money.

I’ve worked with multiple business owners who were half-assing their messaging and marketing, and even shying away from being specific about what they offer because their partners didn’t approve of or believe in what they were doing.

If you plan to market your business on social media, you may consider blocking people who you know don’t approve. If you don’t have anyone in your corner who is rooting you on, reach out to someone who you can form a mastermind with or join a community with other business owners who will cheer you on. Without a supportive community, you may not fully be applying what you’ve learned.

8. You need a mentor or coach, not an instructor

If you already have a stockpile of courses, resources, and information at your fingertips but are struggling to make good use of it, a mentor or coach may be more helpful than an instructor who is focused on teaching specific material.

A coach can help you uncover the deeper, underlying reasons that you aren’t making progress and help you see past your perceived limitations. Mentors and coaches can help you see opportunities that aren’t currently on your radar, and when specific tactics don’t work, they can help you see alternatives. Being held accountable to apply what you’ve learned and having someone who believes in you in your corner can make a real difference.

9. There is trauma at play

Starting and growing a business is a significant personal development journey. You may have read inspirational quotes like “believe in yourself” and “you have to have your own back” or “dream beyond your limitations”. But if you had an experience or series of experiences that taught you to abandon yourself for survival, just believing may not be a real option just yet.

Taking courses is an easy way for us to look to someone else to tell us what to do, but if you need to repair your relationship with yourself, regain self trust, and learn to extend yourself some compassion (amongst other things) you may find yourself stuck when it comes time to leave the course and confidently apply what you have learned for your own gain.

Believing in yourself is important if you’re going to grow your business. But you can’t bypass the deeper reasons that it may be difficult for you to shift your energy. It is not uncommon that my clients realize there is a deep emotional reason they are staying stuck in a particular pattern in their business. When this comes up, I recommend they bring this to a therapist who can support them further.

10. You aren’t doing what you really want to do

Is there something else you really want to be offering that you’re holding yourself back from? If so, you may find that the content that naturally pours out of you doesn’t exactly align with your offers. Rather than taking another course to learn how to create high-conversion content or copy, maybe it’s time to create an offer that aligns with the topics you already find yourself excited to talk about. If this is you, the Circumventing “Should” DIY Workshop may be a great place to start.