About Course.Coach

Hi, I'm Richard Smolenski

I spent years as a college dean, overseeing programs that trained 39,000+ professionals across all 50 states. I know what makes a course work — and what makes it fail.

Most online courses have a completion rate under 15%. Students buy with excitement, open the first lesson, and never come back. That's not a student problem. It's a course design problem.

After years in traditional education, I saw the same mistakes repeated in the online course world: too much content, no clear structure, no validation before building, and production quality prioritized over learning outcomes.

I've built and launched my own online course platforms — including Notary Training School, Aardvark Notary Training, and CalNotary Class — state-approved training programs serving notaries nationwide. That hands-on experience building, selling, and running online courses is what informs everything I teach here.

Why I Built Course.Coach

I created Course.Coach because I believe experts shouldn't need a $2,000 course to learn how to create a $200 course. Everything here is free — 33+ courses covering planning, recording, editing, launching, and selling.

The business model is straightforward: the free education builds trust. Some people decide they'd rather have it done for them — and that's where consulting comes in. Others use the free resources and do it themselves. Either way, everyone gets access to the same quality information.

What Makes This Different

• Academic credentials + real-world practice. Not another marketer who learned from another marketer. Actual instructional design training applied to online courses.
• Video is one option, not the default. Email courses, PDF guides, audio, live cohorts — the format should fit the content, not the other way around.
• Start before you're ready. Course #0 teaches you to validate with a pre-sale and launch a beta in days, not months.
• No upsells inside the content. The courses are free. Period. No "unlock the full version" gates.

How the Affiliate Stuff Works

When we recommend tools and equipment (microphones, cameras, software), we use affiliate links. If you buy through our links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps keep the courses free.

We only recommend things we'd use ourselves. See our full affiliate disclosure.