Online communities are a fantastic way for entrepreneurs, coaches, and personal brands to tap into their potential and turn their passion into profit. Communities offer a wealth of benefits for business, with 75% of branded community users believing that being part of a community has helped improve their customer experience. Because of this, online communities are growing more rapidly than ever before, with 49% of online spaces existing and thriving for 5 years or more. Community platforms have grown, too, with options such as Thinkific, Podia, and Teach.io standing out amongst the crowd. With this in mind, there’s never been a better time to harness the power of community building and take your business to the next level.
All the creators on this list are hugely successful, proving that you can build a sustainable and paying community, regardless of which niche you’re a part of. Here are some of the biggest online community creators and their strategies for success.
Ali Abdaal’s Productivity Lab is a community of entrepreneurs, creators, and professionals. According to Abdaal’s website, the goal of this community is to help members double their productivity.
Ali Abdaal studied for a Bachelor’s degree in Preclinical Medicine and Psychology at Cambridge University. He graduated in 2018 after six years, where he went on to spend two years working as a Junior Doctor.
During his time at the University, Ali Abdaal created his YouTube channel. Initially, his videos consisted of medicine and studying, but he now makes content about books, productivity, technology, and strategies his followers can use to become more productive.
Following the success of his YouTube channel, Abdaal created the Part-Time YouTuber Academy, started the Deep Dive podcast, and launched his Productivity Lab community. With 5.69M YouTube subscribers and 903K Instagram followers, he’s proven that productivity is key to creating a thriving and sustainable business.
Make $10K/Month as a Creator
You can find Ali Abdaal on YouTube, Instagram, and X.
Rob Percival offers a complete web developer community with different courses, helping its members hone and sharpen their skills. With 2,344,207 students on Udemy, it’s clear that the quality and effectiveness of his courses cannot be disputed.
Rob Percival originally started out as a mathematics teacher in London and Cambridge while building websites for his friends and family. He eventually gave up his teaching job to build websites full-time.
After seven years of experience, he noticed that many people wanted to learn how to code but didn’t have the skills. From there, he started teaching his web development course, helping thousands of beginners become professionals.
You can find Rob Percival at Udemy or on LinkedIn.
Teresa Greenway is a teacher, blogger, author, and, most importantly, a baker who uses her talent in the kitchen to teach others and make millions.
Teresa Greenway’s love of teaching came from her love of sourdough, and she set out to teach bakers how to bake real sourdough bread.
This niched market approach to baking has helped her build her own business, Northwest Sourdough, and set up her community, The Baking Network. With 45,621 students on Udemy, she teaches bakers worldwide how to make delicious sourdough bread at home.
You can find Teresa Greenway on Udemy.
Joseph Michael is a writer, entrepreneur, and coach who has turned his challenges and writing hardships into a course where he helps others. He teaches writers of all levels how to work Scrivener, a popular writing platform used by bloggers, novelists, copywriters, and screenwriters alike.
Joseph Michael originally worked as a pizza delivery man, but when his wife discovered she was expecting another child, he knew he had to find another job to support his family. He first came across Scrivener, a website he dubs “the most raved-about writing software,” when he started blogging and selling products online. Although he considered himself tech-savvy, Joseph Michael found Scrivener impossible to navigate.
Determined not to let this stop him, he knuckled down and buried his nose in research, finding frustrated writers like him who wished they could find a course to help them harness Scrivner. Learn Scrivener Fast was born out of determination to help writers like him.
You can find Joseph Michael on Learn Scrivener Fast and X.
Timothy Sykes has made millions by trading stocks, and he’s used this expert knowledge to teach students his special formula. And with 1.4M followers on Instagram and counting, he’s carved a huge space for himself in this particular niche.
Timothy Sykes graduated from Tulane University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. He made his first million from $12,415 of bar mitzvah money that his parents gave him. Since then, he’s traded stocked for 20 years and has made $7.4 million.
He started teaching and sharing his expert knowledge in 2007, helping a record number of students become millionaires through his Trading Challenge.
You can find more information about Timothy Skypes on his website or through his Instagram and X.
Pat Flynn teaches his students how to make money from doing nothing with his Smart Passive Income community. He has 448K YouTube subscribers who follow his every word.
In 2008, Pat Flynn was laid off from his dream job as an architect, which steered him towards entrepreneurship. Since then, Flynn has built several successful online businesses, and he now uses the knowledge he has gained to share with others and help them be successful, too. His focus is mainly on passive income and online business strategies.
You can find Pat Flynn’s website or check him out on YouTube, and Instagram.
Vanessa Lau is a digital creator and online educator who documents her business and lifestyle to her thousands of Instagram followers and YouTube subscribers. She now teaches others how to achieve the laid-back business life.
Vanessa Lau started her creator journey after she quit her job in 2018. It wasn’t an easy beginning – she became a part-time coffee barista while she began to build up her YouTube channel. However, success soon came when she gained over 100,000 subscribers and made her first $500,000 within her first year through selling digital products. After four years, she’d grown her business to 8 million dollars.
However, she soon realized that the constant grind wasn’t sustainable, and so she scaled back her business and found more balance. Today, she teaches people how to build a business on their terms without sacrificing their mental well-being in the process.
You can check out Vanessa Lau’s website or follow her on YouTube and Instagram.
Graham Stephan is a personal finance enthusiast and real estate investor who shares his knowledge with his 4.75M YouTube subscribers. He helps them achieve financial independence by saving and investing money. He also founded a coffee business, Bankroll Coffee, where he delivers coffee at an affordable price.
Stephan started selling real estate as a real estate agent shortly after he turned 18 and managed to become a millionaire by the age of 26. Despite being told he was too young and inexperienced to sell homes and make a career out of real estate, Stephan proved everyone wrong. He now teaches others as a YouTube influencer and educator.
You can find Graham Stephan on the following social media platforms: YouTube, Instagram, and X.
Phil Ebiner is a creator with a background in production and editing and a teacher who has created online courses for more than one million students worldwide. Topics include video and photography, as well as business courses.
Phil Ebiner graduated in 2011 from Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. He has an extensive background in production and editing, having worked on thousands of theater, film, and TV projects.
After 2012, Phil Ebiner turned his passion into teaching, creating online courses for beginner students all over the world.
Check out his website and find him on Udemy.
Nicole Walters is an NYT bestselling author, Emmy-nominated producer, and entrepreneur who has turned her talent to teaching. She believes in “practice what you preach,” meaning you should never teach something you don’t know about.
Nicola Walters started as a top-selling corporate executive, making six figures. Although she was successful, Walters became tired of the everyday grind and soon quit her job. She used her expert knowledge to build her own million-dollar business in under one year. She started a blog NapturalNicole, but never considered it a source of serious income. However, she was swiftly proven wrong.
Now, Walters teaches others how to monetize their lives and turn their passion into reliable income sources.
You can find Nicole Walters on her website or on YouTube and Instagram.
Make $10K/Month as a Creator
Despite each creator building a business from varying niches, they’ve done so by using similar strategies for success. Here are some of the best strategies taken from the digital communities examples above.
As a creator and entrepreneur, you can harness the success of the brands we’ve examined in this article by implementing their strategies in your own community.
Create a community by engaging with your audience. Leave comments, invite them to live events, and offer personalized advice to make your audience feel like they belong. This ongoing support will inspire loyalty and create brand advocates.
Teach.io has everything you need to build an educational community all in one place. Offer your members support, chat one-to-one, host live events and virtual meetups, build courses, and so much more. Try Teach’s 14-day free trial.
Drawing inspiration from the successful creators on this list and their strategies can help you take actionable steps toward building a successful online community. It’s important to note that not every single strategy will fit your brand. For example, a storytelling approach and personal updates will work well for a lifestyle coach but may not resonate with an audience trying to learn a language.
Find what works best for your audience, whether that’s free webinars, a blog, YouTube videos that offer tips and tricks, or multiple online courses. Once you’ve applied some of these strategies to your business, you can build a thriving educational community.