Should You Accredit Your Professional Course for Continuing Education Credits? Here’s the Truth

One of the biggest questions professionals face when starting a continuing education course business is: Do I need to offer CE credits/hours to succeed?

In this video, Justin Allan Montgomery, founder of ProCourseStart, breaks it down with two clear answers: yes and no—and explains exactly when each applies.

Key takeaways:

If you solve a real problem for your professional peers, you don’t need CE.

When your course teaches solutions to genuine pain points—things that cost your colleagues time, money, promotions, or freedom—CE becomes irrelevant. Justin shares how his business generated $200K/month before ever offering CE, simply because he solved a massive problem for burned-out medical providers.

If your course is traditional or generic, you probably need CE.

Courses covering basic, public-domain knowledge—like standard disease processes, textbook tax code, or general legal procedures—often need CE attached, because otherwise your customers can find the same content elsewhere with credits.

They simply won’t find value in it because the value is in the CE!

Test before you accredit.

Don’t waste time and money getting accredited before you even know if your course sells. Launch your course, gather market feedback, and if buyers repeatedly ask for CE, consider accreditation.

But this is only applicable if you are providing value vs. public domain knowledge.

Accreditation isn’t as complicated as it seems.

Justin details why CE accreditation is usually a pay-to-play process with paperwork, not a mysterious barrier.

Bottom line:

If you want to build a continuing education course business that’s profitable from day one, focus on solving real problems, launch your course, and only pursue CE accreditation if market demand requires it. That’s how you avoid wasting time and money—and start building income fast.