Back in 2018, I launched my first online course. I was full of excitement, nerves, and anticipation.
How would my course be received?
Would people like it?
I had spent months and countless hours preparing the topic, scripting, filming, editing, and preparing everything to market after launch.
Post-launch, I spent the first weeks maniacally refreshing the Udemy Instructor page to see if I had any new students or reviews.
Much to my delight, the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. As a result of this social proof, the number of students in the course continued to grow and I gleefully started considering what my next course topic should be.
Until I came across a 1-star review with the comment:
“Not a great match. A little too basic…”
A pretty vanilla comment.
Not personal and clearly explaining the reason for the poor review.
Seems pretty fair right?
Yet, I felt it.
I had spent so long working on this course — and someone didn’t like it!
I was crushed.
I immediately went into mental defense mode:
Too basic? I said it was a beginner course.
They should have read the course landing page better.
I bet they didn’t even look through the course content outline.
By this point, the course already had over a hundred reviews, typically 4 or 5 stars. Yet, this 1-star review is the one I remember.
I don’t remember a quote from a positive review. Though I know there were many lovely ones because I can remember how I felt reading them. But, I can’t remember the comments themselves off the top of my head.
Full blog available on Medium.
Credits:
Read aloud by the author.
Image credits:
Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash
Music credits:
True Feelings: Relaxing Lofi by The Turquoise Moon
Relaxing Lo Fi Chill by Sondé
Sofa Sleeping by Jon Presstone
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