Should You Pay For Online Education?

Self-education and knowledge consumption is one of the fastest growing industries to this day. An article by Forbes.com says the worldwide e-learning market is projected to be worth $325 billion by 2025. Years ago, to learn a new skill or trade, you had to go to college, attend live seminars, take special trainings, etc. But today, with technology at the tip of our fingers, it’s SUPER easy to consume new knowledge and doesn’t take long at all.

I believe online education is wonderful! With the boom in individuals wanting self-education, many people are coming out with courses as a way to give away their knowledge for free or for a fee. But, before you buy a course, one should ask, “Should I pay for this course?”

Here are 5 things to do before you decide to buy your next online course:

1. Learn for free. Google/YouTube your topic beforehand. You can learn almost anything just by simply typing the topic you want to learn into YouTube. Take some time to check your sources to make sure they are reliable and trust-worthy and then take some time to learn for FREE. Also, feel free to join some free Facebook groups about the topic you are learning.

2. Take some time to evaluate the course(s). Once you’ve learned everything you can online for free, then decide whether you want to buy the course or not. The pro’s about many courses is that they will allow you to ask personal questions and be personally mentored by the teacher and sometimes the topic goes in-depth more. Take some time to evaluate the course to see what is included and what you’ll be learning. If it’s going to teach you everything you already know, it may be wise to find a course that is more advanced. Don’t just buy a course because it looks like it could make you money... Do some research on it first.

3. Check the credentials. Because it’s so easy to start an online course, I would check the credentials of the teacher before I purchased the course. Does the teacher have experience in what he/she is teaching? What does their success look like from their experience? It sounds crazy, but there are plenty of people that learn for free on Google/YouTube and turn around right after to sell what they’ve learned, without having any experience.

4. Check reviews from other students. If you still aren’t sure about the course, take sometime to read reviews from other students. There may be some biased opinions so be smart and sift through the opinions/reviews that you think are true and make sense.

5. Is this investment wise for me in this moment? Many courses are very expensive - ranging anywhere from $0-10,000 or more. Ask yourself, “Is this investment wise for me in this moment in time? Am I willing to dedicate the time and money to put towards the course?” There are many people who buy courses and education just out of wanting to feel good and feel like they are making steps towards success. A few weeks fast-forward and they find themselves non-committed to the course and return to normal life. Before you buy the course, you need to decide if you are willing to commit to the process. The same thing would apply if you were deciding whether or not you should go to college... are you willing to commit to putting in the time and effort or is this just a bubbly feeling inside your mind that will fizz away in a few hours or days?

Those are just a few things I watch out for when I’m considering buying online education. There are thousands of ways to learn online and I love that you can acquire so much information in so little time. I hope this article helped you and if you have any comments on online education, leave a comment below. I’d love to chat with you!