Your Repeatable Production Workflow

You’ve learned about gear, recording, editing, and captions. Now let’s put it all together into a single workflow you can run for every course you create.

The goal: a repeatable process that removes decision fatigue. When it’s time to produce your next course, you don’t wonder what to do next — you follow the workflow.

The End-to-End Process

Here’s the complete production workflow, broken into phases with time estimates for each.

Phase 1: Design (Before Recording)

Step	Time (per lesson)	Total (14 lessons)
Review outline and learning objectives	5 min	70 min
Design all slides	15–20 min	3–5 hours
Review slides for flow and errors	2 min	30 min
Create intro/outro template	30 min	30 min (one-time)

Key principle: Complete all slides for the entire course before recording a single lesson. This lets you see the full arc, spot gaps, and batch your recording.

Phase 2: Record

Step	Time (per lesson)	Total (14 lessons)
Equipment setup (one-time per session)	15–20 min	45–60 min (3 sessions)
Record lesson	15–25 min	3.5–6 hours
Re-record sections as needed	5 min	70 min

Key principle: Batch record 3–5 lessons per session. Set up once, record multiple. Use the don’t-stop rule for mistakes.

Batch recording schedule for a 14-lesson course:

• Session 1: Lessons 1–5 (2–3 hours)
• Session 2: Lessons 6–10 (2–3 hours)
• Session 3: Lessons 11–14 (1.5–2 hours)

Phase 3: Edit

Step	Time (per lesson)	Total (14 lessons)
Import and sync tracks	5 min	70 min
Cut mistakes and dead air	15–20 min	3.5–5 hours
Layer tracks, add text overlays	10 min	2.5 hours
Level audio	5 min	70 min
Add intro/outro	2 min	30 min
Export	5–15 min	70 min – 3.5 hours
Watch final export	10–15 min	2.5–3.5 hours

Total editing time for a 14-lesson course: 13–18 hours

Key principle: Edit in batches too. Don’t edit one lesson, upload it, then edit the next. Edit all 14, review all 14, then upload all 14. This keeps you in “editor mode” and maintains consistency.

Phase 4: Caption and Upload

Step	Time (per lesson)	Total (14 lessons)
Generate auto-captions	5 min	70 min
Review and correct captions	20–30 min	5–7 hours
Upload to course platform	5 min	70 min
Add caption file	2 min	30 min
Test playback	3 min	40 min

Key principle: Caption all lessons in one session. You’ll develop a rhythm that speeds up as you go.

Total Time Estimate

Phase	Time
Design	5–6 hours
Record	6–10 hours
Edit	13–18 hours
Caption & Upload	7–9 hours
Total	31–43 hours

For your first course, expect closer to 40–45 hours (you’re learning the tools). For your second and third courses, expect 25–30 hours as the workflow becomes automatic.

At 3–4 hours per day, a 14-lesson course takes about 2 weeks to produce from start to finish.

The Production Schedule

Here’s a sample 2-week schedule for producing a 14-lesson course:

Week 1:

• Monday: Design all slides (4–5 hours)
• Tuesday: Review slides, create templates (1 hour). Record lessons 1–5 (2–3 hours)
• Wednesday: Record lessons 6–10 (2–3 hours)
• Thursday: Record lessons 11–14 (1.5–2 hours)
• Friday: Begin editing lessons 1–5 (3–4 hours)

Week 2:

• Monday: Edit lessons 6–10 (3–4 hours)
• Tuesday: Edit lessons 11–14 (2–3 hours)
• Wednesday: Generate and edit captions for all lessons (4–5 hours)
• Thursday: Upload all videos and caption files to platform (1–2 hours). Test all playback (1 hour).
• Friday: Buffer day. Fix any issues, re-export problem lessons, final review.

This schedule assumes 3–5 focused hours per day. Adjust based on your availability.

When to Hire an Editor

At some point, editing becomes the bottleneck in your production process. You can record faster than you can edit. When that happens, it’s time to consider hiring an editor.

Signs you’re ready to hire an editor:

• You’ve produced 2–3 courses and your editing workflow is dialed in
• You’re spending 15+ hours per course on editing
• You’d rather spend that time creating new content or marketing
• You have consistent revenue that can cover editing costs

What to expect to pay:

• Freelance video editor: $25–75/hour or $30–100 per finished video
• Course-specialized editor: $50–150 per finished lesson (includes captions)

Where to find editors:

• Upwork and Fiverr (search “course video editor”)
• Video editor communities on Facebook and Reddit
• Referrals from other course creators

What to brief your editor:

• Your export settings (1080p, 30fps, MP4, bitrate)
• Your intro/outro template
• Your text overlay style (font, size, position, color)
• Your audio leveling standard (-3dB to -1dB)
• Your file naming convention
• Your folder structure

Create a one-page “editing brief” document with all of this. Give it to any editor you hire. This ensures consistency regardless of who does the editing.

The workflow with an editor:

1. You design slides
2. You record lessons
3. You upload raw footage to shared storage (Google Drive, Dropbox)
4. Editor downloads, edits, captions, and exports
5. Editor uploads final files to shared storage
6. You review and approve (or request changes)
7. You upload to your course platform

This reduces your time per course from 30–45 hours to 15–20 hours (design + recording + review).

Your Production Checklist

Print this. Laminate it. Tape it to your wall. Use it for every course.

Pre-Production:

• Course outline finalized
• All slides designed and reviewed
• Folder structure created
• Intro/outro templates ready
• Equipment tested (10-second test recording)

Recording:

• Pre-flight checklist complete
• Camera framed and focused
• Audio levels checked
• Lighting set
• Recording in 1080p, 30fps
• Using don’t-stop rule for mistakes

Post-Production:

• Files organized into folder structure
• Raw footage backed up
• Mistakes cut, dead air removed
• Audio leveled and noise reduced
• Text overlays added for key points
• Intro/outro added
• Exported at 1080p, 30fps, MP4

Caption & Upload:

• Auto-captions generated
• Captions reviewed and corrected
• Video uploaded to course platform
• Caption file uploaded
• Playback tested on desktop and mobile

Next up: where to go from here.