Online teaching in Africa: become a thought leader

Do you know there’s an online class on ‘How to Jump Higher?‘ Complete with videos and things? And yes, there are multiple people who signed up and paid for it. Online teaching has become one of the top ways of showing off your brains while making a decent buck.

Story time!

Around a week ago, a lady called me. She’s a wildly celebrated Oil and Gas Engineer that I’d randomly met virtually. She’s won a couple of awards and is the very definition of badass. She wanted me to show her the back-end of creating some of the courses and programs we do and I spent the next 45 mins giving her the step by step of what it takes. And I remember her specifically saying, ‘Damn! That’s intense. You make it look so seamless! I need to sit down and let it all sink in.

Here’s the thing. I don’t find it intense. It’s a whole lot of work, yes, but it’s just what we do. There’s a process to it. I know the process like the back of my hand. I laid every single brick. Then taught my incredible team where each brick lies and how it was built. Creating the Zoom link is the absolute last step.

Here’s the other thing. I went to law school and I’m an admitted Advocate of the High Court of Kenya; technically, I can sue someone’s ass in court. Technically. But guess what happens when someone asks me a legal question? I listen, give them very light advice based on my knowledge and tell them, ‘let me consult, I’ll call you back asap’. Then I call any of my friends who actively practice the law.

Why? There’s a difference between knowledge and skill. Knowledge is what you know, skill is how well you can implement that knowledge to solve someone’s pain point.

​Online teaching is best when your knowledge is backed up with real skill.

​So, I want to ask you this. Forget what you learnt in school; look at your life or career, what’s the one thing you do that looks just so… easy? What can you teach someone else even while you’re asleep; not because you watched a YouTube or two, but you have practised it so much, you know how every single brick is laid?

The knowledge business is soon going to hit the hundreds of billions in USD. And it’s going to be even juicier in Africa. Why? Because most of the info you get online don’t work within the African context. If you’re one of the few people who have learnt how to translate that knowledge into a skill that can be applied within the context of your country… and you know it so well you can teach it; congratulations, you’re a walking gold mine. Online teaching is begging for your attention.

​There’s someone dying to learn what you know without the stress and time it took you to learn it. Charge them for the benefit of your experience. You are saving them time. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what college you went to… what skills have you got that I need asap?

Whenever you’re ready to stop sleeping on yourself, Village2nation would be delighted to support you in your online teaching journey on our Academy platform.

​Start teaching what you know today!

Fondly,

Awino.