"My course is for anyone who wants to learn photography." That sounds generous, but it's actually the fastest way to create a course nobody buys. The more specific you are about who you serve, the more your marketing resonates, your content connects, and your students succeed. Here's a concrete framework for defining your ideal student.
The 3-Part Student Persona
Your student persona has three layers. Most course creators stop at the first one. The magic is in layers two and three.
Layer 1 — Details: Give your persona a name, a one-line quote that captures their mindset, and a 3-5 word summary. For example: "Sarah, 42, marketing consultant. 'I know I should teach what I know, but where do I even start?' — Overwhelmed Expert."
Layer 2 — Pain and Benefits: List 3-5 specific pain points (not vague frustrations, but things that keep them up at night). Then write the inverse — the benefit that alleviates each pain. If the pain is "I spend all my time on 1:1 client work and have no leverage," the benefit is "A course that generates revenue while you sleep and frees up your calendar."
Layer 3 — The Interview: This is where most creators skip, and it's the most valuable part. Actually talk to real people who match your persona. Five conversations will teach you more than weeks of market research.
5 Questions to Ask in Student Interviews
These five questions, adapted from Ruzuku's course creation workshops, consistently surface the insights that shape great courses:
- "What brings you here? Why are you motivated to learn about [topic]?" — This reveals their trigger event. Something happened recently that made this feel urgent.
- "What are the biggest challenges you face with [topic]?" — Listen for the specific, not the general. "Time management" is generic; "I start working on my course at 9pm after the kids are in bed and I'm already exhausted" is gold.
- "If you were wildly successful with this, what would that look like?" — Their answer becomes your course promise. Use their words, not yours.
- "What thoughts keep you up at night about this?" — This surfaces fears and emotional stakes that don't come up in casual conversation.
- "What are you afraid to ask for fear of looking stupid?" — This reveals the real beginner questions your course needs to address. If they're afraid to ask it, dozens of others are too.
Pro tip: Record these conversations (with permission) rather than taking notes. When you're scribbling notes, you're thinking about what to write instead of listening. Review the recording later and transcribe the exact phrases they use — that language becomes your marketing copy.
The Curse of Knowledge (and How to Beat It)
The biggest risk in defining your ideal student is assuming you already know them. This is called the Curse of Knowledge — you've been in your field so long that beginner struggles feel obvious or distant.
Writing out a persona forces you to articulate what you think you know. Then interviews test whether you're right. Almost every course creator we've worked with discovers at least one major surprise in their first round of student interviews — a pain point they didn't expect, a goal they hadn't considered, or a misconception they need to address before teaching can begin.
One Persona, Not Five
Resist the temptation to create multiple personas for one course. Trying to serve "busy moms AND corporate executives AND college students" dilutes everything — your marketing, your examples, your pacing. One primary persona per course. If you discover a genuinely different audience segment during interviews, that's a signal for a second course, not a broader first one.
For your flagship course (6-8 weeks), do the full interview process before building. For a short workshop or mini-course, you can launch quickly with your best guess and refine the persona based on student feedback.
Start with a focused workshop →
Using Your Persona Every Day
Once your persona is defined, it becomes a decision-making tool. Before writing a lesson: "Would Sarah find this useful, or am I including it because I think it's interesting?" Before designing an exercise: "Can Sarah do this with the time and tools she actually has?" Before setting a price: "What is this transformation worth to Sarah's business?"
The persona isn't a one-time exercise — it's a filter you run every course decision through.