How To Build A Successful eLearning Company
eLearning companies are businesses that offer training, development, management and learning assistance and services to various organizations in order to help them accomplish their goals and business objectives. Their job is to assist clients in leadership, human capital development, and organizational strategies, as well as coaching and mentoring services along with staff management and development. As more and more companies turn to eLearning as their preferred mode of instruction, the eLearning business becomes even more popular.
Even though the current worldwide global eLearning market cap is approximately $170 billion, it is expected to expand with a compound yearly growth rate of 7.2% to finally reach $325 billion by the year 2025. Currently, there are over 6,500 eLearning Companies in the US. These figures only show how fierce the competition is for eLearning businesses. The following 6 tips will help you stand out and be successful in such a dynamic business environment.
1. Create A Strong Community
The more you dedicate yourself to achieving your goal, the more advantages you gain. The majority of eLearning startups depend on networking with experts in the training and development market. In addition, blogging about the subject matter, presentations at eLearning conferences, or attending professional events or workshops can help develop a new pool of customers. Spending money on any type of marketing, especially online marketing, may not be as effective if you are not known in the industry.
2. Don’t Always Hire Employees Based On Their Skills
Hiring the ideal candidate for your eLearning company on the basis of skills match may sound like the best way to go, but more often than not candidates with passion, energy, curiosity to learn, and core values that align with your business may work out much better in the long run. If a potential candidate has the appropriate attitude and shows the ability to learn and evolve, even if they do not have the ideal skill set, the chances that you can easily teach them what they need to know are quite high.
3. Spend Wisely And Slowly
Running out of cash is a major problem an eLearning startup can face. Even though there is high demand for eLearning services in the market, it is in your best interest to make sure that you focus your energy (and money) mainly on the primary business operations. Knowing your spending patterns will help your business prosper. If you are considering spending money on a marketing campaign, consider this: conference sponsorship, webinar hosting, and affiliate marketing are some of the safest and most effective ways to get the most out of your limited capital.
4. Drive Engagement With The Help Of Incentives
Incentives can motivate your team to get behind your business mission. You could incentivize your teams on the basis of accomplishment goals or reward the members by role, like “designer of the month”, for example, and provide perks as rewards. You could also use incentives to encourage workers to offer feedback about your eLearning business. You can use such incentives as free lunches in exchange for valuable business improvement suggestions.
5. Make Sure Your Employees Use The Right Tools
eLearning is no longer limited to academics and students. These days, lots of companies are turning to eLearning to train their workers and share knowledge as part of their skill development processes. While the demands of corporate customers may be different from the demands of educational customers, you can use the same tools to make your projects successful. Here are some examples of the great tools that your staff should be using on a daily basis.
- ProofHub. This is a flexible all-in-one Project Management tool that allows businesses to enhance their collaboration and communication among remotely located members in learning projects. It has some of the best features, such as customized workflows, online proofing tools, document sharing system, file management, notes, etc. With this tool, eLearning companies can collaborate, plan and deliver projects in real time.
- Join.me. This is an online conferencing and meeting platform that links people by using multiple devices at various locations. It offers an improved conferencing experience with the ability to share screens, add and delete participants, and make recordings. It also allows you to add around 250 participants, and you can also join meetings from any mobile device, such as a tablet, laptop or smartphone.
- Timecamp. This a flexible time tracking application that offers an array of billing, reporting, and invoicing features. It tracks the task you are working on and automatically assesses the time you spend on it. In general, Timecamp provides 3 kinds of services: desktop time tracking, timesheet maintenance, and mobile time tracking. It basically allows you to trace the number of billable hours you spent on a project. In turn, these time entries can be used to bill your clients.
Finally, make sure you are using the right eLearning authoring tools. While there are dozens—if not hundreds—of tools on the market, each project may require a different approach and a different authoring tool to be used.
6. Be An Inclusive And Accessible Leader
Anyone can be a boss, but it takes a specific skill to be a good leader. Look for ways to show that you are a good listener and that you actually care about your team’s performance and hard work, their needs, their aspirations and their concerns. For instance, offer workers more face time (make easy changes such as skipping the typical long email conversation; instead, hold a quick face-to-face meeting) or consider setting up mentor programs. Look for ways to involve the entire eLearning team, and be sure to always remain approachable.
While building a successful eLearning business can be difficult, especially for a startup company, with the right tools and strategies, your business can accomplish any goals and overcome any barriers. By fostering a community, watching your spending, hiring the right people, providing them with the right tools and support, you will succeed at building a great company.