Why Over 25,000 People Got Free Power BI Training
In the world of Business Data Analysis, Power BI is hot now isn’t it? If you have not gotten on the bus, you should go and learn Power BI fast.
I could have become a Millionaire in USD
It’s mid October, 288 days into the year and already, I have been teaching for approximately 544 days this year.
Wait a Minute, there are only 365 days in a year, so how can I have 544 days of teaching?
E-Learning guys! E-learning.
In the whole of 2019, my total class hours should be around 384. They were all physical classes. That’s about 204,000% increase. I wish that was revenue increase. I would have been a multi Millionaire in US Dollars. 🤣
Early Disappointment
From the first time I knew Udemy in 2014 and I saw the “Teach on Udemy”, I thought I would give it a shot someday.
Then sometime in 2015, I saw Michael Olafusi had his Excel Course on Udemy already. My thought became validated. Thank you Micheal.
As we were winding down year 2019, I made a final effort to get a course online. My Power BI Course.
Last week of December and I had not recorded 1 second of the course. I was running out of time. I challenged myself to record in 2019. I would record in 2019.
I thought I should give it a good shot.
For one, I needed a very quiet place (free of any kind of noise. Generators especially 🤣). So I reached out to someone close who has a Studio and was on vacation, out of country. I called, no response. Sent Whatsapp messages, no replies. Then I sent an email and got a reply some days later.
He did not grant my request. Even though I mentioned to him that I have my own Equipment. I have my Microphone and my Licensed Camtasia Screen Recorder and Video Editor. I only needed the space for some days.
I saw the disappointment coming. But I still needed to shoot my shot.
Despite it, a challenge is a challenge. I wasn’t going to fail.
Recording in a Hotel.
It was already 26th of December. I checked myself into a very quiet hotel in Ogba, Lagos. I recorded and edited till New Year. Somehow, I did not meet the December 31 deadline. So, I was in my room all day on 1st of January.
The plan was to spend only 2 days recording in that hotel but I did not know the amount of work I was in for. I found myself paying for 1 extra day every morning from 28th of December till 2nd of January.
I checked out on January 3. With my course. Uploaded to Udemy and was awaiting approval.
Early Success
My course got approved on 6th of January 2020 and it was live on Udemy Market Place.
I created a free coupon and shared on my Social Media platforms to get it going.
One guy, a fellow Nigerian, quickly gave me a 1 star rating (Free coupons are bad for rating). Many others (fellow Nigerians) followed suit with a bunch of 2.5’s and 3 stars. Most of them leaving no comments. While most of those who rated 5 stars left some nice comments. As a matter of fact, some of the 3 “starers” said they enjoyed the course. One person said it was the best course he had taken. He still left a 3 star 🤣. I now got to know how the Uber Drivers feel.
Before long, the course got an Udemy badge for “New and Hot” 🔥. I started feeling good.
Shortly after that, I got a new badge. Highest Rated!!!💪🏽. This one made me proud. I mean, there were over 107 Power BI courses listed as Primary Courses on Udemy at that time.
I brought my A game. I succeeded. From Ogba, Lagos….to the World!
My course remained highest rated till August 2020. I have been bounced 🤣, No Champion Forever. But the course is still one of the highest rated in my category.
I am planning to update the course soon to reclaim my championship.
The Year E2020, COVID19 and 25,000 Free Coupons.
At the beginning of the year, I tagged it E2020. Because I wanted to get more courses online and do virtual trainings. Little did I know that 3 months down the line, COVID was going to shut down physical classrooms along with physical other things.
After my first Power BI Bootcamp of the year ended in February, the next one was planned to commence in March but it never took off. We have not held a single physical class this year, since then.
In the thick of the Pandemic in April, I saw a post that Maven Analytics was giving out their Udemy courses for free for 3 days. I liked the Idea and thought to try it out. After all, my course was the Highest Rated in the Category. They had best sellers. I think they still do.
So, I shared my coupon in May for free signups. First thing I noticed was my rating started going down (Free coupons are bad for course rating). It bothered me a little, but as long as I kept my Badge, I did not mind.
When the free period ended, I noticed that despite sharing for free, while businesses were closed and everywhere was on lock down, my Udemy revenue did not drop.
I set a new target. Get 10,000 Nigerians on board for free. I shared again in June, July, August, September and October. The mark is close.
I used to receive notifications on my phone for every sign up. When I shared the free coupon in June, I killed the notification. My phone was blowing hot. I was getting notified every second.
Now, because I planned to get 10, 000 Nigerians free access to the course, the whole world has benefitted. Over 25,000 free sign ups and the Nigerians are less than 10,000. Nigeria Benefitting the world.
I should pull up that Image again. From Nigeria To The World!
And just this month, I have released another course on Udemy purely on DAX. It is already Hot.
The next related course I’m working on is Power Query for Data Cleaning and Preparation. Before I get to work with the remaining 12 courses 😉.
Appreciation
Udemy: For providing the Platform.
Micheal Olafusi: For showing me the way.
Paying Students: The Real MVPs. Technically, they funded the 25,000 students who got in for free.
Future Paying Students: The Next MVPs. Technically, they will fund the next students who will get in for free.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading.
Myself and Zainab have been dishing out some Free Power BI contents.
I have some interesting videos on our YouTube channel . It’s been a while but we are resuming again soo, be sure to subscribe to the channel for prompt notifications. I won’t blow up your phones.
Let’s connect on Twitter and LinkedIn. I share my thoughts and any other thing on those platforms.
Learn from the free documentation on Power BI and DAX. Everything is in there.
Drops Pen 🖊️
