If you’re like most professionals out there (physicians, lawyers, physical therapists, accountants, nurses, etc.), you are probably hitting a wall in your career:
- You are grinding away, shift after shift, day after day, and not making significant progress financially or professionally.
- You are likely getting sick of regulations, demanding clients, higher expectations, and increased liability.
- You are starting to realize that you must exchange your time for money. The only way you earn money without working is through your limited PTO…
So, where do you go from here? You busted your ass going through school, getting additional training, and learning your trade, but you feel stuck.
I have been there. But I am no longer there. For those who don’t know who I am, I’m Justin Allan Montgomery, founder of ProCourseStart. Not too long ago, I was stuck in the endless grind as a burnt-out nurse practitioner, thinking to myself:
“Is this it? Am I going to be working my life away until I am 65 doing the same shit day in and day out?”
Sound familiar?
Well, I decided to change that, and I realized something one night while sitting in my dining room: I have high value knowledge and expertise, why not leverage that and turn it into a business?
So here is the truth everyone: you are probably sitting on a GOLDMINE of knowledge and might not even know it.
Other professionals desperately need the practical, real-world knowledge you’ve spent years mastering. Especially new grads or novice professionals. Even experienced individuals in your field still want to learn the tricks of the trade to advance their career and earn more money.
And it’s your ticket out of the grind. It was for me. It is how I retired before the age of 39 with an 8-figure net worth. If you don’t believe me, email me and I’ll send you a screenshot of my brokerage account.
Alright, then how do you start an online continuing education course business? Many of you are going to try to do it the WRONG WAY, which is why I started ProCourseStart. I want to ensure you do it the RIGHT WAY. So, let’s talk about doing it the RIGHT WAY:
IT IS ALL ABOUT CONTENT FOLKS! Not just selling a course.
Here’s exactly how I built an 8-figure continuing education empire, so do what I did because it is a proven methodology that delivers results. But you must be patient with the process. It doesn’t happen overnight. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
But that is a good thing: it means it’s attainable for those that put the work into it and allow the process to unfold over 3-6 months.
Let’s get started:
Step 1: Build Your Course Business & Core Course (The Foundation)
First, get your core foundation in place:
- Set up your LLC (preferably in Wyoming for privacy and liability).
- Choose your LMS (Kajabi, Thinkific, or similar).
- Create your flagship course around one specific, painful problem your profession faces. Remember, your entire businesses ecosystem revolves around your flagship course… so make it good!
Warning: don’t try to solve everything for your entire profession, just solve ONE big problem clearly and practically where 1% of your profession will benefit (all you need is 1% of your profession to buy your course to build a million-dollar course business).
Example:
Don’t just teach “business skills.” Teach:
“How Physicians Can Launch a Cash-Pay Aesthetic Practice in 60 Days.”
This sets your foundation, your core product, and positions you immediately as the definitive expert. BE SPECIFIC!
Step 2: Develop Valuable, Actionable Content (The Engine of Trust)
Next, you start creating high-value, FREE content consistently:
- SEO-optimized articles answering burning professional questions.
- Short, actionable videos teaching concrete skills.
- Podcasts discussing industry-specific insights your audience won’t find anywhere else.
Your goal: demonstrate expertise and build trust BEFORE asking for money.
Let me say it clearly:
Your free content isn’t A.I. generated garbage, it’s proof that you can solve your audience’s problems. It’s your credibility on full display.
CONSISTENT CONTENT BUILDS AUTHORITY… which builds TRUST…. which eventually leads to paying customers. It is what I am doing right now through ProCourseStart. I am not earning anything from this article.
Step 3: Build Your Audience (The Community of Future Buyers)
When you consistently create valuable content, you attract an audience of professionals who enjoy your content and begin really thinking about what you are talking about. This creates curiosity ultimately.
Building a real audience changes everything:
- Cold leads (strangers) become warm leads (followers who know and trust you).
- Warm leads become hot leads (ready and eager buyers).
Instead of desperately chasing sales, customers come to YOU.
Your audience isn’t just numbers; they’re future buyers who deeply trust your expertise and eventually become interested in investing their time and money in your solutions. It might take people in your audience to read your content for 3-6 months before they pull the trigger and buy your course or mentorship program. But that is the ultimate goal.
Step 4: Generate Organic Sales (The Natural Outcome)
With trust and credibility established through content and a growing audience, the sales then begin to naturally follow. This is a GOOD thing because it lowers your marketing expenses. Should you still do paid advertising? Absolutely, but this strategy builds long-term growth which is what you will need to build a million-dollar course business.
With a growing audience build through consistent content, when you launch your course, your audience won’t feel “sold to”, instead, your course becomes the logical next step they already want to take. Now you should still be doing this even if you have a course product as individuals in your audience will eventually want to buy your course, especially during sales events.
Listen, you’re no longer selling to cold leads. You’re offering a clear solution to an audience already primed to buy because you’ve already given them tremendous value through FREE CONTENT. It is why it is one of my pillars of success. It is CRITICAL.
Step 5: Scale & Accelerate (The Path to Freedom)
Once your audience and content engine are running smoothly (this can take 3-6 months folks), scaling becomes easy and efficient:
- Existing customers promote your courses through word-of-mouth.
- Retargeting and follow-up marketing become laser-focused and highly effective.
- Your loyal community provides feedback for new products which will increase your customer lifetime value. This is a huge win.
This is what creates the ultimate freedom: your business working FOR YOU, rather than you working endlessly for it (like most profession-based businesses where you exchange your time seeing clients, patients, and working on projects).
This scalable content-focused foundation lets you rapidly grow your CE business into a sustainable, profitable, enterprise-level business that transforms your life. This is EXACTLY what I have done, and it is the main reason why my continuing education business scaled to 8-figures within 4 years.
The reason why continuing education is a the “cheat code” for a professional business:
Building a continuing education business isn’t like building any other random online business or starting a practice or opening an office. The pros are numerous:
- Built-in Demand:
Professionals need continuing education credits and advanced knowledge yearly. Many have stipends dedicated for courses. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT! - High-Value Pricing:
You can sell your CE courses for $500+ if you are solving a real problem and delivering a valuable solution. Sure, you can offer cheaper generic CE courses… but you need a higher customer base for that to work. - Easy Targeting:
Platforms like Google and Meta allow laser-targeting (e.g., “Family Physicians” or “Criminal Defense Lawyers”), making advertising effective and affordable. You literally can target people based on job titles. That is the true cheat code when it comes to marketing. - Tax Advantages:
CE investments often qualify as tax-deductible professional expenses, which further incentivizes your buyers.
Simply put, online continuing education is THE easiest, most profitable online business you can build as a professional.
The demand is built in, and you have a primed market ready to purchase your course products.
So, use the above steps and ensure you build a continuing education course business from a CONTENT-FIRST approach. If you do this, you will be ahead of the game. I guarantee it.
I personally leveraged this content-first approach to build The Elite Nurse Practitioner, which has become an 8-figure online CE empire. I have put this proven system into a step-by-step guide called The ProCourseStart Blueprint.
Here’s exactly what you get:
- How to pinpoint and validate your profitable CE niche. Your value proposition is everything!
- How to structure your course for easy and simplified implementation.
- Detailed setup guidance for your website, LMS, automation, email marketing, and much more… Literally all the guidance you need to build the business the right way.
- Proven marketing strategies for building your audience, promoting your brand, and selling your educational products. The marketing section is the longest section in the Blueprint for a reason: MARKETING IS THE NUMBER ONE FUNCTION OF YOUR COURSE BUSINESS.
- Step-by-step instructions for building sales funnels.
- Detailed systems for scaling your business so you can eventually sell it to private equity for the huge paycheck.
This isn’t theory, it’s literally the exact roadmap I used to achieve massive, life-changing results.
Take Action NOW: Here’s Exactly How to Start:
Option 1: Download the FREE ProCourseStart Startup Checklist
Start today by downloading our free business startup checklist. It gives you a clear overview of exactly how to begin. But remember, this is an overview. Simply subscribe to our email list to receive it.
Option 2: Enroll in the ProCourseStart Blueprint
If you want to move fast, the ProCourseStart Blueprint provides the detailed roadmap you need to confidently build your business and rapidly scale using a proven model.
I’m not selling hype or a get rich quick scheme… I’m offering proven results and real freedom from burnout and frustration. Because I have lived it.
The only question is:
Will you keep grinding, or take control of your professional and financial future and join the movement dozens of professionals are taking to get out of the hustle?
Take action and get started. The best time to start a business was yesterday. Use this content-first approach and you will see results if you are patient and trust the process. I guarantee that.
To your success,
Justin Allan Montgomery
Founder, ProCourseStart
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long does it take to build a CE course business using this strategy?
A: If you follow the content-first approach consistently, you can launch within 8–12 weeks and begin seeing sales within 3 months typically. Full-time income typically follows in 6-12 months for committed professionals who stay consistent.
Q: Do I need to be a “thought leader” to succeed?
A: Not at all. You just need to solve a specific problem for your profession and consistently show your expertise through helpful content. That’s enough to build trust and generate sales.
Q: What platforms do I need to run this business?
A: You’ll need a course platform (like Kajabi or Thinkific), an email marketing tool, social media pages, and a simple website. Everything else can be built during the process. But those are the bare bone essentials.
Q: Will this work if I have no audience?
A: Yes. The content-first strategy is designed for professionals starting from scratch. Content builds an audience, and the audience drives revenue. This is how you organically build a course empire.
Q: How do I know what to teach?
A: Start by identifying the most painful, frustrating problem in your profession that YOU know how to solve. Build your flagship course around that. Just 1% of your profession buying your course can create a 7-figure business.
Key Takeaways
- Professionals are sitting on valuable, monetizable knowledge, and most don’t realize it. Figure out how you can monetize that into a true course product.
- A continuing education business built around a specific problem can replace (and exceed) full-time income if you put the time into content development.
- The content-first strategy builds authority, trust, and an audience, before you ever ask for a sale. This builds a LONG-TERM customer base. CRITICAL for success.
- Organic sales become easy when you provide consistent value up front because your audience develops trust with you.
- This is one of the simplest, highest-margin businesses a working professional can build as long as you follow a proven model and develop regular content.
- For a generic CE business that sells low ticked CE courses, the content strategy won’t be as effective because the value proposition is in the cheap CE, vs. the transformation from a valuable course.