Here’s something I see all the time. Someone is thinking of making an online course so they ask which platform they should use in a large Facebook group.
The problem is that they get lots of ‘I use platform X and I love it’ – type answers when the people doing the recommending know nothing about the aspiring course creator’s goals, technical ability, budget, strategy… you get the idea.
Even worse, many people doing the advising have no idea that they should be paying EU VAT if they are selling an ‘automated’ course to a European country. EU VAT potentially applies to anyone in the world, but most Americans don’t know about it, or turn a blind eye thinking they’ll never be caught.
That’s entirely their choice, but Europeans need to at least be aware of the EU VAT rules, and in my experience they aren’t getting that info in big online marketing Facebook groups. EU VAT will affect your choice of online course platform because different platforms handle it in different ways. Some don’t handle it at all.
So this all sends the person asking the question on a long journey to check out all the platforms, even though they probably don’t have a clear goal or audience for their course yet and don’t really know what they’re looking for. And it can get overwhelming pretty quickly.
If this sounds familiar to you (or if you’d like to avoid it completely) then please do come over to my free Facebook group where I will help you plan your course in the right order and avoid the overwhelming race around the online training platforms!
www.facebook.com/groups/onlinecoursebrainstormers/
By the way, this drawing is by me! Over the last few months I’ve been learning about visual communication (yes, drawing ideas with a pen!) and wanted to try illustrating this post. I’ve exhibited some of my art work in local exhibitions, but until now my drawing has never crossed over into my business. I need a bit more practice yet, but I’m enjoying drawing and it’s a great way to get your point across in seconds.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I make a note of any US company that refuses to comply with EU and then I don’t buy from them. I’ve actually sought out more EU partners in the last year due to the attitude of a lot of US-based people in FB groups. I know I’m not the only one doing it. Be careful of the advice you get in groups, often it’s not as good as you’d think it is!
Great idea to refuse to buy from companies who refuse to pay the EU VAT. How can you tell for sure? Or is it the ones that publicly state they won’t pay it? I know there were a lot of irate US digital product creators when the EU VAT was being introduced. They were furious at having to pay tax to a European country when they didn’t live there. But I guess they might see it differently if EU nationals were making profit from US citizens and not paying their taxes. 🙂
I agree, I’ve seen some terrible advice in Facebook groups lately. Be careful who you listen to!
This post has really woke me up to the reality of asking for help in facebook groups. It is so true, there is a lot of advice from well-meaning people who do not know the wider implication like you point out. Recently, I have started to pay less attention to the advice there and ensured that I take it off a group and speak to experts directly. Being careful who we listen to is really important, as you point out. I love your illustration, keep it up 🙂 I am looking forward to seeing more of them Helen 🙂
Thanks very much Carrie, really pleased you like the illustration. 🙂
I think Facebook groups can be valuable, but there are so many variables including the leadership of the admin team/owner and the questions being asked. E.g. I think people sometimes assume a well-moderated group just means no spam, but the admin team have a big impact on what’s discussed and how, too. Also, people often ask one-line questions and get a one-line answer when a full answer should be an entire business plan or six months of business coaching! E.g. ‘what’s the best way to start an online business?’ is a classic. 🙂