From $70 to $5000: My High-Stakes Bet on Udemy (and Myself)
Can a high-quality creator win big without selling out?
You’re staring at the clock. It’s 3 AM. Another episode of that drama just ended, and the credits are rolling, pulling you back to reality.
Your “to-do” list for tomorrow mocks you from the corner of your mind. You just melted away three hours, again, when you should have been crushing that tech course outline. Sound familiar?
For a while, I’ve been wrestling with a similar beast — the siren call of fictional romance versus the cold, hard numbers of my online course income. My best Udemy course, a seven-hour monster that took over a thousand hours to build, brings in up to a princely $70 a month. Seventy. Dollars.
I’m not a rookie. I’m a senior software engineer, a content creator, and a tech instructor. I’ve built a solid brand around high-quality, instructor-led content. My courses have attracted over 36K students. You’d think that kind of effort and reach would translate into, well, more than $70 a month. But in the unpredictable world of online learning platforms, effort doesn’t always equal income.
And then there’s the other beast: my coping mechanism. My past is, shall we say, a bit of a mixed bag. So, I built walls. I became a workaholic, pouring my energy into articles, videos, and a full-time job. The crying stopped years ago. Now, I just immerse myself in my work.
When the tech market shifted and my main income took a hit, the disappointment was immense. My dream of making a living from my passion and eventually buying a home felt further away than ever.
That’s when the dramas became less of a pastime and more of a lifeline. Sometimes, entire nights would vanish, replaced by the captivating, idealized stories many craved but never found. I’d imagine myself in the characters’ shoes, feeling, for a moment, the safety and deep connection.
The problem, of course, is the morning after.
The crash of guilt. The stark realization that those hours vanished, unspent on the very tasks that would move me closer to my goals. The stress of looming deadlines would hit, and what would I do? Escape again, for another two or three hours, shrinking the available time even more. It’s a vicious cycle.
The Offer That Stopped Me
Then, a video message arrived. From a young guy, barely in his twenties, who claimed to have cracked the Udemy code. He’d built an account and sold it for $15,000. His secret? Volume. He admitted his courses were mostly outsourced, and he often wasn’t even the instructor.
My eyebrows probably went up so high they fused with my hairline. My entire brand is about me teaching, my expertise, and my quality. But the promise of “thousands of USD per month” echoed in my ears.
His program offered a six-week sprint:
finding competitive topics,
creating “converting” courses,
ranking high,
guaranteeing first sales,
scaling, and even “free wins” like AI dubbing.
The price? A cool $5000.
I looked at my $70 or less monthly income from courses and then at his $5000 price tag. It represented over six years of my current Udemy earnings. This wasn’t just an investment; it was a gamble. A big one, especially with financial responsibilities, and my debts to pay down.
My dream of buying an apartment, of finally having that stable, safe home, felt contingent on this kind of breakthrough.
My Non-Negotiables and Bold Counter-Offer
My mind raced. How could I reconcile my commitment to quality and personal branding with his volume-driven, outsourced model? I didn’t want to become an “Udemy course factory owner.” I wanted to be a “tech thought leader” and a “learning experience designer.”
I drafted my response carefully. It wasn’t about rejecting his success, but about defining my own path:
My Brand, my Way: I made it clear that any strategy must maintain my high-quality, instructor-led brand.
Leverage my Achievements: I’ve got 36,000 students — most of them got my courses with free coupons. I wanted to know how his program would leverage my existing audience and courses, not treat me like a newbie starting from zero.
Proof for my Model: I asked for examples of instructors who achieved thousands per month with a smaller portfolio of high-quality produced courses. If his method works, it should work for my kind of course, right?
ROI, Please: For a $5000 investment, I needed an estimated timeline to recoup that money. This wasn’t a hobby for me; it was a desperate need for financial stability.
And then, I made my bold move. Instead of paying his upfront fee, I proposed a partnership:
I would pay him 50% of my newly achieved monthly income (anything above my current baseline of $70) until the end of the year.
Alternatively, I’d pay him a lump sum of $5,000 or higher the first time my monthly Udemy income reached or exceeded that amount.
This aligns his compensation directly with my success. No results, no pay. Big results, big pay. It shifts the risk.
What’s Next for my Battle?
This isn’t just a negotiation with a young entrepreneur. This is part of a larger battle I’m fighting within myself. The fight against old traumas, the yearning for more safety, the drive to achieve success not just for money, but for the profound sense of accomplishment and validation it brings.
I know I need to be more strategic with my time, to build the financial freedom that will allow me to breathe, be more present, and truly focus on building the life I dream of. That includes achieving my dream shape (yes, I’m still working out 40 minutes a day, but the diet part? That’s another story).
The $5000 gamble isn’t just about money. It’s about betting on myself. It’s about seeing if someone else’s “system” can truly accelerate my journey without forcing me to abandon the very values and qualities that define my brand.
It’s about finding a path to financial freedom that also honors my aspiration to be a thought leader, not just a content factory.
The answer from him will be interesting. But regardless of his reply, this negotiation has already forced me to clarify my vision, assert my worth, and take a more active, strategic role in my own future. That, in itself, feels like a win.
Further Reading and Viewing
📖 How My Udemy Course Made It into the Udemy Business Collection (Only 3% of Courses Get Selected)
🎥 How I Transformed From a Shy Person into a Confident Public Speaker
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Until next time—stay curious and keep learning!
Best,
Rakia
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