How to Sell Your Online Course in 2026: 5 Real Methods for Hair and Beauty Educators (With Pros and Cons of Each)
If you're a hairstylist or beauty educator trying to figure out the "best" way to sell your programs, I need you to hear something first: what you're probably actually asking is which way will feel the least uncomfortable and work the fastest.
I get it. But selling your education isn't about finding a magic method. It's about understanding what each method is designed to do, what your lifestyle accommodates, and when it actually makes sense to use each one.
I've spent five years building my own education business and working behind the scenes with some of the hair and beauty industry's top educators to create marketing systems that convert. And one thing I've noticed? A lot of advice from massive online creators relies on long-term trust and an extremely strong personal brand. That can totally fall apart if you're just starting out. So let's break this down in a way that actually helps you.
What You'll Learn
The five main ways course creators and beauty educators sell their programs
The real pros and cons of each method (not the fluffy version)
Which selling method works best depending on your audience size and business stage
How to layer multiple methods together for sustainable sales
Why engagement doesn't always equal intent and what to do about it
Why Do Some Selling Methods Work for Other Educators But Not for You?
Before we get into each method, here's what actually matters when it comes to selling:
How warm your audience is
How much you're building and growing in between launches
How clear your message is (this one is massive)
How much trust you've already built
Selling methods fail when they're used in isolation, too early, or when you treat them like a magic bullet. Sometimes you have to try things, gather data, and that's gonna be the fastest way to see success.
There are three questions your marketing needs to answer before someone buys: What problem do you solve (or what desire do you fulfill)? How do you solve it? And why should they trust you versus anyone else?
Now let's get into the five methods.
Can You Sell Online Courses Just Through Instagram Content?
Short answer: yes. But there's nuance.
Selling through social content means your reels, posts, stories, and long-form content are doing all the work. Your ideas, your perspective, your lived experience building trust and converting.
The upside: When you're strategic about this, you can build a strong personal brand that compounds over time. I see successful beauty educators who do this almost naturally. They hit the everyday experiences of their people. They tell stories that make their audience see themselves.
I sold my education on Instagram before I had any sort of audience. I think I had less than 2,000 followers the first time I launched a group coaching program. My clients without giant audiences make sales on social all the time.
The downside: It's slow if your messaging isn't dialed in and you haven't built existing trust. What you see someone with a million followers doing after 10 years in the online space? That may not work for you right now.
Here's the other thing: engagement doesn't always equal intent. You can get lots of comments, lots of DM conversations, but then the actual conversions stall. And with a social-only strategy, it's hard to understand why.
If you shift your focus too far toward being liked and being popular, it can pull you away from content that actually converts. If you're someone who feels like you're inspiring but people aren't purchasing, I talk about exactly that in my private podcast series, The Content Edit (linked below).
The other real downside? If you stop posting, if you want to take a three-month break, nothing is happening in the backend. That can really affect your bottom line.
This works best when: You already have a warm audience, a clear personal brand, or you genuinely love documenting and being in conversation on social. Even then, I always recommend having an email list and some type of backend system so you're protected if your account gets shut down.
Here's what I'll die on this hill about: content selling is amazing at creating demand. But it's not always the best at creating decisions. That's where the next method comes in.
What Is Direct Selling and Does It Work for Course Creators?
Direct selling means DM conversations, selling from stage in a workshop, following up after someone engages, actually saying "here is the next step if this is for you."
I'm not talking about aggressive tactics. This is conversation selling.
The upside: Faster conversions. You can handle nuance in real time. You get to really understand what's holding your people back from taking action. It's great for higher-touch offers and gives you immediate feedback on objections and messaging gaps.
The downside: It's time and energy intensive. A lot of people just don't wanna do it (that's real and valid). It can feel awkward if your offer or positioning isn't solid, and it will highlight any insecurities you have about your education. It's also not scalable forever as your only method.
Here's the thing: people aren't deciding in a vacuum anymore. Direct selling works best as a secondary method that helps people who are already interested make decisions. It's very unlikely to turn someone who's completely cold into a client.
If direct selling feels uncomfortable: Congratulations, you're like most people. It usually means you're either selling too cold, selling in a way that feels inauthentic, you don't fully trust your offer yet, or you've got it in your head that you need to be pushy to convert.
I have never done a pushy sales call or had a pushy DM conversation in almost six years of business. If you think you need to hard sell to close, that will likely do more harm than good.
Think of direct selling as facilitating a conversation. Helping someone make a decision. Operating with integrity about whether what you offer actually solves their specific problem.
Do Evergreen Funnels Actually Work for Beauty Educators?
If you're unfamiliar, an evergreen funnel is an automated email sequence. Someone opts in (paid or free), they get a series of messages from you, and at some point they're invited to buy one of your offers.
I see a lot of people saying "do this without funnels" and what they're selling you is... a funnel. A funnel is just a guided path. Someone finds you, enters your world, gets the information and shifts they need, and then they're invited to buy. That's it. Evergreen just means the path exists without you manually guiding every single person through it.
Entry points can be freebies (webinars, challenges, private podcasts) or mini offers (low-ticket workshops, short programs, paid trainings that let people experience how you teach).
The upside: Creates consistent, repeatable sales once you crack the code. Takes pressure off launching constantly. Helps people self-select into your world. Mini offers especially build buyer trust before your bigger programs.
The downside: The biggest thing I see? People spend time setting up an evergreen funnel and then spend zero time getting traffic into it. You cannot get the data to make tweaks if you're not putting enough people through it.
If you're someone who wants to build something and then never touch it again, evergreen probably isn't for you. It requires going in and making consistent small tweaks. It's much closer to "set it and forget it" than other methods once you get it working. But it's not magic.
Your community changes over time. The problems your people face evolve. The way those problems show up evolves. So updating your messaging matters.
This works best when: You've validated your offer live or through direct selling first. Funnels don't replace connection. They support it and reflect it.
When Should Course Creators Use Sales Calls?
Sales calls are decision support, not persuasion. Same energy as direct selling, but you're inviting someone to book a call to talk through their decision.
I find sales calls work best when they're specific and designed to support someone in something concrete. One of my coaches years ago had a paid "Find Your Niche" call. 30 minutes, you'd map out your niche, and then after you got what you paid for, there'd be a conversation about whether her mastermind was a fit. Very upfront. Never "I'm not gonna sell you anything."
I do calls for my agency because I need to know if we're a good fit. Not everyone's right for done-for-you content. I want to work with people I know I can help and who'll be great clients for our team.
The upside: High conversions. Allows depth and discernment. Protects your energy and your offer because you're selecting your clients.
The downside: Time heavy. Requires boundaries and filtering. Easy to get pulled into free coaching and energy drain if you're not clear about what the call is for.
If calls feel like convincing: Something earlier in the journey is missing. If your conversion rate is really low, that's a sign your marketing isn't warming people up properly before they book.
Is Live Launching Worth It for Online Course Creators in 2026?
I like live launching. It's a lot of work, but it does multiple things at once. Most educators could benefit from doing this at least a couple times.
A live launch has a similar structure to an evergreen funnel, you're just doing it all at one time. Your launch event is on a specific date. You have a focused sales window. And you're not just selling during a live launch, you're building your audience while you sell (especially if you're using ads or partnerships).
The upside: Energy and urgency. Visibility boost. Community connection. Really great for new offers or repositioning because you get real-time q&a and feedback. When you get good at live launching, you can make a lot of money in a short period of time. If you'd rather focus on selling in specific seasons and then just deliver your education the rest of the time, this can be a great fit.
The downside: High output. Prepare yourself for emotional highs and lows. No sales days during a launch can be really difficult to handle. Risk of burnout without structure.
Prep everything in advance: emails, your launch event, ads if you're using them. Live launching works way better when it's intentional and supported by systems.
One more thing: Putting all your energy into a live launch when you don't have a validated offer can be risky and demoralizing. For a first offer, I'd say do a pre-sale or founding members launch first (social selling + direct selling). Then once you know it's good and you've made tweaks, go into a bigger launch.
I have a client who had a live launch that didn't go the way she wanted in September. She immediately went into investigator mode, audited the emails, learned what was missing, implemented it into her evergreen funnel, and made 10 sales really quickly after. That totally made up for the launch losses.
Adopt an experimental mindset. Take the losses as lessons and keep going.
Key Takeaways: Which Selling Method Is Right for Your Education Business?
Most sustainable educator businesses don't rely on just one method. They layer:
Content selling to build trust and create demand
Direct selling to facilitate decisions
Evergreen funnels to create consistency
Live launches to create momentum or launch new offers
You don't need all of this at once. You don't even need to ever do all of it. You just need the right combination for the stage you're in.
If you're just starting out: Focus on social selling + direct selling to validate your offer and learn your audience.
If you have a validated offer: Add an evergreen funnel or plan a live launch to scale.
If you want sustainability: Layer in systems so you're not the only thing driving sales.
How to Apply This to Your Beauty Education Business
Audit where you are right now. Which methods are you currently using? Which ones feel aligned with your energy and lifestyle?
Check your messaging. Are you clearly answering: What problem do you solve? How do you solve it? Why you?
Pick one method to strengthen this quarter. Don't try to do everything at once.
Gather data. Try things. See what works. Adjust.
Build your backend. Even if you love content selling, get that email list going so you're protected.
If this post gave you an idea or a new perspective, send me a DM on Instagram @itsJodiebrown. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And if you’d like to listen in on the exact podcast episode that accompanies this blog post, you can do that here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Xo Jodie
Ps. Don't forget to subscribe to the Sought After Educator Podcast to get more insights like this delivered to your phone every week.
