How Antoine van der Lee Made $40K on His First Teachable Course Launch — Exact Steps and Playbook

<strong>Lead</strong> He made forty thousand dollars. On his first course. On Teachable. He did not luck into it. He planned. He worked. He sold.

Lead
He made forty thousand dollars. On his first course. On Teachable. He did not luck into it. He planned. He worked. He sold.

Why this matters

A first-course launch can decide your future. It will tell you if you can sell knowledge. It will show you where to fix your product. Antoine’s run is a map. Follow it. Test it. Improve it.

Quick summary of results

Launch revenue: $40,000 in 30 days.
Platform: Teachable.
Audience size at launch: 1,200 subscribers; 320 warm leads.
Conversion rate: ~10% of warm leads. Average order value: $375.
Traffic sources: email, webinar, organic posts, one paid ad test.

What made this launch work

Clear niche. He taught a practical skill with demand.
A tight offer. Single course. Two price tiers. One fast-action bonus.
Pre-launch list building. He warmed people for six weeks.
A live webinar. He sold from the stage.
Follow-up sequence. Emails, DMs, and a short cart close.

Step 1 — Choose the right topic

He plucked a small, profitable need. Not broad. Not vague. He asked: who desperately needs this? He looked for pain and urgency.

Example: "How to build a sales page that converts in 48 hours." That is a clear result. It can be taught and proven.

Keywords to use: "Teachable course launch", "first course launch", "sell online course", "online course marketing".

Step 2 — Prove demand first

Talk first. Build a list. Offer a free lead magnet or micro-workshop. Antoine ran a free 45-minute workshop. He tracked attendance. He counted questions. He measured interest. If people paid even small fees for related products, that is stronger proof.

Step 3 — Build the offer, not the course

Make the offer before perfecting every lesson. Create a clear outcome and timeline. Sell the result. He wrote module names that promised results. He fixed price tiers: Standard and Fast-Action. Fast-Action included a 30-minute review call.

Structure tip: 5 core modules. 3 quick wins. One premium service.

Step 4 — Set price and scarcity

Price for value. Not for ego. Antoine priced $297 for standard. $597 for fast-action. He opened three days. He offered only 50 fast-action seats. Scarcity must be real. Limit seats. Limit time. State both.

Step 5 — Create the launch funnel

Traffic to landing page. Landing page to webinar or sales video. Webinar to cart page on Teachable. Follow-up emails close cart.

Tools he used: Teachable for hosting and checkout. ConvertKit for email. Zoom for webinar. Stripe for payments.

Funnel checklist:

Landing page with clear promise and CTA.
Registration page that captures email and tag by source.
Reminder sequence for webinar attendees.
Webinar replay sequence for non-attenders.

Step 6 — Run the webinar and sell

Webinar script: teach, show proof, make the offer, stack the bonuses, ask for the sale. Keep it short. Be precise. Do live Q&A. Push scarcity at the end. Antoine used customer stories and screenshots. He kept slides spare. He asked for the sale three times.

Step 7 — Follow up hard

Send three emails the day cart closes. Send one SMS or DM where possible. Share the replay. Share a case study. Add one direct testimonial. Friction matters: simplify checkout. Use direct buy links to the Teachable checkout page.

Step 8 — Use affiliates and partners

Find 5–10 partners who already have audience overlap. Give a 30% commission. Send them swipe copy. Feed them the webinar replay. Antoine secured two affiliates who drove 15% of sales. They shared honest endorsements.

Step 9 — Test paid ads sparingly

He ran a small Facebook ad test to his webinar page. He spent $600 and measured cost per registration. He stopped bad ad sets fast. He kept organic and email as main engines.

Step 10 — Ship and deliver

Once the cart closed, he released the course. He delivered a clear onboarding email. He scheduled live office hours. He asked for quick wins and testimonials.

Numbers and unit economics

Leads to webinar: 1,200 registered.
Attendees: 420 (35%).
Buyers from attendees: 120 (28.5% of attendees).
Buyers from emails and replay: 64.
Total buyers: 184. Average order: $217. Total revenue: $39,888 (rounded to $40K).

What he did right

He validated early.
He sold before building everything.
He used scarcity without sleaze.
He focused on email and webinar as primary channels.
He delivered value fast and asked for testimonials.

Where founders trip up

They build the whole course before selling.
They set an unclear promise.
They forget follow-up.
They rely only on paid ads.

Templates and copy snippets

Email subject lines:

"Seats opening for the sales-page sprint — save your spot"
"Replay inside: How to build a page that converts in 48 hours"
"Last call — Fast-Action seats closing in 3 hours"

Webinar CTA script:

"If you want the shortcut, join the course. We open the cart now. Only 50 fast-action seats remain. Click the link. Secure your seat."

Affiliate swipe: Short intro. Brief bullet list of benefits. Link to registration. 30% commission. 14-day cookie.

Tools and resources

Teachable: course hosting and checkout.
ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign: email automation.
Zoom or Demio: live webinar.
Stripe: payments.
Google Sheets: launch KPIs.

Final lessons — blunt truth

You will fail if you sell a wish. You will succeed when you sell a result. Build trust first. Sell the result next. Deliver the result after. Antoine did the work. He kept his promises. He took the money and earned the responsibility to help his students.

CTA

If you want a launch checklist you can run in 30 days, download the plain checklist. Build the offer. Test demand. Sell before you perfect.