How to Sell Your Knowledge & Expertise Online (8 simple ways)

Want to find out how to sell your knowledge online?

Then you’re in the right place.

Today, I’ll teach you how to sell your expertise in 8 simple steps.

Let’s get started!

8 essential tips to start selling your knowledge 

Believe it or not, you have knowledge people are willing to pay for!

To sell your expertise, you have to do a few things first:

1. Identify your skills
2. Research the market
3. Create and price an offer
4. Build an audience
5. Get testimonials
6. Find your first clients
7. Set up a system
8. Market your business

To begin, you’ll need to identify your skills.

1. Identify your skills  

The good news is that you don’t have to be a revolutionary to sell your knowledge. You just have to be able to help people solve their everyday problems.

So, start by identifying the skills you already have. They can be related to your job, personal experience, or hobbies.

Make a list of your skills and include the results you’ve gotten yourself or others, no matter how small.

Do any stand out as something you’re good at or love to do? Those could be your answer.

For example, I used skills I learned in my corporate job to launch a digital advertising consulting business that helped other small business owners.

Action steps:

✅ Make a list of at least 10 skills 

✅ Choose at least one skill to research

2. Research the market 

Make sure there’s a market for your knowledge before selling it. 

First, find your niche – what group of people needs your help? 

I’ll teach you how to find a profitable niche with just one sentence in this video:

Then, figure out if people are willing to pay for what you’re offering.

That’s where market research comes in.

I know it sounds like a huge undertaking, but it’s crucial if you want to sell your knowledge. And it’s not as hard as you may think.

Market research will help you determine:

• Your audience
• Their problems
• How you can help solve those problems
• If your idea fits into the market

That’s why a majority of companies use it. Here are some statistics:

• 77% of B2B companies
• 82% of B2C companies
• 83% of B2B2C companies

Learn more about market research in this guide.

Action steps:

✅ Join online groups where your audience hangs out or ask your network to get people on a short market research call to understand your audience 

✅ Research your competitors to see if there’s an existing market for the service or product you want to create

3. Create and price an offer

Figuring out how to price your product or service can be tricky when selling your knowledge.

But you have a few options.

Hourly is exactly what it sounds like –your clients pay you per hour, meaning you get paid for the time you work.

A retainer means your client pays you a set amount each month.

And then there’s package pricing, which is the best option. 

Not ALL service or product businesses can offer package pricing, but I highly recommend it if you can.

Not only does package pricing position your offer based on what your client will get out of it, but it also helps keep marketing costs down!

Here are a few package pricing examples:

• 5-page website design package
• 10-session massage package
• Seasonal lawn maintenance package
• 10-post social media design package
• 3-month health coaching package 

Once you have that set, you’ll need to build your audience.

Action steps:

✅ Think about the result you’ll help your clients get to position your package in the right way

✅ Design a package and price it (I recommend a 3-month package that you price at $1,500) 

4. Build an audience

You don’t need a huge audience when you first sell your expertise.

But you should build one, and I recommend doing it with content marketing and an email list.

Content marketing is creating and sharing material online, like blogs, social media, or videos. 

It helps get people interested in what you’re selling – after all, 70% of consumers prefer reading content to seeing ads.

And it works! 74% of companies say content marketing has boosted their leads.

I mean, this blog has helped me grow a sustainable multi-seven-figure business – but I’ve been creating content almost daily for the past decade. 

I’ll show you how I do it in this video:

Email marketing is also a great way to sell your expertise, and it has an insane ROI – $42 for every $1 spent!

But first, you have to build an email list.

The best way to do it is with a lead magnet, which is a freebie in exchange for their email.

Here are some ideas:

• PDFs
• Checklists
• Printables
• Ebooks
• Templates  

From there, you can use your email list to share your content, client stories, and insights into your offering.

I’ll teach you how to use email marketing effectively in this guide.

Action steps:

✅ Start by reaching your audience in your network or on social media 

✅ Sign up for an email list provider like Mailchimp once you’re ready to start promoting your email list to people 

5. Get testimonials

Over 9 in 10 consumers are more likely to buy a product or service if they read a trusted review.

So, when you’re trying to sell your expertise, testimonials like these are crucial:

If you’ve already started to sell your knowledge, it’s as simple as asking a client if they’d be willing to share their experience.

But you can still get testimonials if you haven’t worked with a client yet!

You can ask for a testimonial from anyone you’ve helped.

You could also offer a service, totally free of charge, in exchange for a testimonial.

Hear more in this video (again, it says it’s for coaches, but these steps work for anyone):

And to learn more about asking for and getting great testimonials, check out this complete guide.

Action steps:

✅ Reach out to someone in your network who needs the services you offer (if you don’t have anyone like that in your network, go to a relevant social media platform and start building relationships there) 

✅ Offer them a short, free coaching or consulting session in exchange for a testimonial

6. Find your first clients 

Landing your first paying client is one of the most exciting parts of learning to sell your expertise.

Here’s how to do it.

Get comfortable with networking. 

Chances are, you can help someone you know.

Take it from me – I found my first paying clients in my network!

And if nobody needs your services, ask them to refer you to their network.

Sign up for social media platforms. 

Which platforms do your ideal clients spend time on? Look at places like Reddit, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (X).

Once you’ve identified the right platform, start contributing to the conversations by offering valuable advice and building genuine relationships.

Taking time to become a trusted source makes it easier to sell your expertise.

Be a podcast guest. 

It’s a great way to sell your expertise because it gets you in front of your audience and establishes you as an expert.

Whatever you do, don’t focus on getting a ton of clients when you start to sell your expertise.

That’s a surefire way to self-sabotage.

Instead, focus only on what you need to do to get your next one. 

Hear more about finding clients to sell your knowledge to in this video:

Action steps:

✅ Reach out to people in your network and let them know about your business

✅ Share valuable content on social media or podcasts and direct people to sign up for a sales call with you 

7. Set up a system  

Your business has to run like a well-oiled machine to sell your expertise.

And that means systematizing, which I cover more in this guide.

Here are the systems you’ll need to sell your knowledge:

• Lead generation
• Sales mechanism
• Delivery
• Payment collection
• Finance tracking

Why do systems help sell your knowledge?

Because they make your business predictable and allow you to focus on things other than just making sales.

Hear more about using systems here:

Action steps:

✅ Think through: What task takes up a lot of your time? 

✅ Create a system around that task either by automating or outsourcing it 

8. Market your business 

Focus only on getting your first paying clients when you begin selling your expertise.

Once you have them, you can start marketing your business more broadly.

Start by focusing on one or two strategies to determine what works, and double down on them. 

Eventually, you can scale up to more advanced marketing strategies like paid advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).

For example, when I was starting out, I marketed my business using Facebook groups and paid ads. 

But as time passed, I branched out and found that other things – YouTube and SEO – worked better because I’m focused on revenue rather than followers.

I’ll help you find the right marketing strategy to sell your expertise in this video:

Keep reading to find out how to monetize and sell your knowledge.

Action steps:

✅ Decide on one marketing strategy to reach your clients

✅ Decide on 1-2 repetitive tasks you’ll complete every day to implement that strategy 

10 ways to monetize and sell your knowledge and expertise 

Selling your knowledge and expertise can take on many forms. Some of the best ways to do so include the following:

• Coaching
• Consulting
• Online courses
• Freelancing
• Ebooks
• Paid memberships
• Digital products
• Podcasting
• Ecommerce

First, let me help you with coaching.

Coaching

As a coach, you sell your knowledge to help people reach their goals.

There’s a coach for everything, including:

• Life coaching
• Relationship coaching
• Mindset coaching
• Spirituality coaching
• Fitness coaching

For example, David Alsieux is a health coach who helps people get healthy using herbs.

And Adunola Adeshola is a career coach who helps her clients land their dream job.

Interested in starting your own coaching business? I’ll teach you how to start it TODAY in this video:

Consulting

Like coaches, consultants help their clients reach their goals.

The difference is that consultants tell their clients exactly how to solve their problems while coaches guide their clients through them.

As a consultant, you can sell your knowledge in niches like:

• Management
• Operations
• Healthcare
• Legal
• HR

For instance, Mara Freilich is a law school admissions consultant who helps applicants get into their dream schools.

Just remember to focus on the skills you already have. Use those to figure out what kind of coaching you should do.

Creating online courses

Creating an online course is a great way to package and sell your expertise, regardless of your niche.

You only need to make it once. Then, you can keep selling it.

For example, Briana Macwilliam’s courses help people overcome attachment issues.

Want to learn more? I’ll teach you how to create a successful online course in this video:

Freelancing

If you have a writing background, consider using job boards like Upwork to sell your knowledge.

Clients look for all types of content, including:

• SEO writing
• Technical writing
• Copywriting
• Content writing
• Press release writing

You can specialize in one or many types.

Platforms like Upwork also offer services to help you land clients and plenty of tools to market yourself with. 

Writing ebooks

Publishing ebooks is an excellent option if you’re a writer looking to sell your expertise, whether they’re fiction or nonfiction.

Keep in mind you will need to build a large audience and write several ebooks before making much money.

But it can be done! Carol Tice has earned $45,000 self-publishing her ebooks.

Paid memberships 

Paid memberships let you sell your knowledge to subscribers who, in turn, get exclusive content.

This can take many different forms, but the most common are physical newsletters and Facebook Groups.

I especially like Groups for the community and expert feedback.

Just remember to make the exclusive content worth the price.

Take Baking for Business, a website that offers a paid membership for bakers:

Selling digital products

Digital products are one of the best ways to sell your knowledge.

It just involves packaging some of your knowledge into a downloadable file that can be sold infinitely. 

Some examples of digital products you can sell include:

• Online courses
• Online services
• Templates
• Software and apps
• Printables

I recommend focusing on just one at first, then branching out to the others.

Starting a podcast

Podcasters publish episodes in which they share their knowledge and interview guests for their audience.

You can make a lot of money with a podcast through sponsorships, advertisements, and support, but monetizing it takes a while. So, while this is a great option, remember to stay patient and don’t give up.

Lenny Rachitsky has built a multiple six-figure business by sharing information to fellow product managers. 

Ecommerce

In ecommerce, you sell your knowledge through physical products online.

That can include:

• Subscription boxes
• Printables
• Digital downloads
• Educational toys
• Teacher resources

Now that you’ve got some ideas, let me help you figure out where to sell your expertise.

For example, Hannah Perry sells cotton candy cakes with her ecommerce business, Floof Cotton Candy: 

Masterminds

You can run masterminds where you help a group of people on a subscription basis. 

I personally run a mastermind called Empire, where I help entrepreneurs who are more advanced scale up. 

However, the best way to run a mastermind is to first start with one-on-one coaching or consulting. 

You learn what obstacles your clients need to overcome, so that you can create a methodology for your mastermind group.

Where can you sell your skills online?

Finding a place to sell your skills online depends on what you’re selling.

For instance, platforms like Fiverr and Upwork connect freelancers with businesses seeking specific services, including writing, design, programming, or consulting.

While creating an online course on your own website is the best option, course builders like Teachable and Thinkific make the creation and delivery processes easier. 

Udemy is great if you want a built-in audience, but it will take some of your sales.

Substack and Patreon are made for newsletter writers and podcast hosts who want to share more in-depth content and build revenue with paid subscriptions. 

Apple Podcasts is also a great option for podcasters.

Anyone can sell a digital product or ebook on Amazon.

And Etsy is great for ecommerce and digital products like planners.

What’s next? 

There you have it! A complete guide on how to sell your knowledge.

One of my favorite ways to sell your expertise is through courses. I’ve made my fair share of them, after all!

But I see course creators repeatedly make the same four mistakes when they create their first course.

And I’ll show you how to avoid them in my FREE guide. Get it now!

Read more:

How Much Money Can You Make Selling Online Courses? (Realistically!)

The Best (Fully) Remote Business Ideas from Home

The Most Low-Risk, High-Profit Business Ideas