Douglas James is a highly successful entrepreneur and marketing expert who uses digital marketing to empower entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. Known as the“High Ticket Client Guy”, he specializes in working with businesses that sell high-ticket products or services, and helps them retain high-paying customers. A high-ticket field he focuses on is the online educational space, working with online coaches and course owners who charge thousands of dollars for their services. According to James, anyone who charges less than that is simply wasting your time.

“I focused heavily on the coaching market because a lot of people are definitely willing to pay for education,” says James. “Those industries are changing the game. A lot of people are starting to realize that you don’t need to go to school for X number of years and go into tens of thousands of dollars of debt to succeed.”

As the job market continues to evolve at a rapid rate, many people are turning to online courses to learn modern business skills and digital techniques that traditional tertiary institutions do not provide. According to an article by Forbes, these skills are just as, if not more valued, as traditional degrees. “When hiring, companies are now recognizing the value of certifications that come from specialized providers, as opposed to solely prioritizing those from traditional institutions. These tertiary providers are known to be just as capable, or even more so, of providing training as universities and colleges.”

With so many different online courses available right now, it may be tempting to choose the cheaper option. However, according to James, by paying less you’re actually wasting your money, because you won’t be getting the quality and attention of higher-priced courses. “I’ve seen people sell their education for $1000, which is cheap. I feel like that’s a disservice to the end-user, because if you’re selling a course for $1000 and you’re selling it to hundreds or even thousands of people, how much time can you actually dedicate towards each customer?” he asks.

According to James, you need to charge more to do more. “I always educate our clients to charge $5k or even $10k for their educational product, because if you collect more money from the student, you can provide additional support,” he says. “You can provide weekly calls, or you can actually hire people to give them one-on-one support. If they have or have any questions or if they need something, they have someone to reach out to.  People are willing to pay more for access instead of just a bunch of videos.”

In addition, more expensive courses will ensure more dedicated students. “From a consumer’s perspective, the more you pay, the more you pay attention,” says James.