Your Own Website vs Marketplace: Where Should Coaches Sell?

One of the biggest decisions coaches and wellness professionals face when going digital: should you sell on a marketplace like Udemy or Teachable, or build your own platform?

The answer isn't straightforward. Each path has real advantages and real costs. And the "right" choice depends on where you are in your business right now — not where some guru says you should be.

Let's get honest about both options.

The Marketplace Model: Built-In Audience, Built-In Limits

Marketplaces are platforms where multiple creators sell their content side by side. Think of them as shopping malls for digital products. Customers come to browse, and your offer competes alongside everyone else's.

Udemy

The Amazon of online courses. Massive audience, low prices, volume-based model.

Pros:

• Access to millions of active learners
• Zero marketing required to get initial sales
• Simple upload process — just create and publish
• Good for validating course topics quickly

Cons:

• You set a price, but Udemy controls promotions — your $199 course may sell for $12.99
• Average instructor earns very little per sale
• You don't own the customer relationship — no email addresses, no direct contact
• Massive competition, especially in popular categories like mindfulness and personal development
• Your brand is invisible — students buy "a Udemy course," not your course

Revenue split: 37% to you for organic Udemy sales, 97% for sales through your own referral links.

Teachable

A step up from Udemy — you get more brand control and keep your pricing.

Pros:

• You set and control your pricing — no forced discounts
• Students enroll on your branded school
• Built-in email and basic marketing tools
• You keep student email addresses
• Good course delivery experience

Cons:

• No built-in marketplace traffic — you have to bring your own audience
• Transaction fees on lower-tier plans (5% + payment processing)
• Limited website customization
• You're still on someone else's platform
• Monthly fees regardless of revenue ($39–$199/month)

Revenue split: You keep 95–100% minus payment processing, depending on your plan.

Podia

The minimalist all-in-one — courses, memberships, downloads, and email in one tool.

Pros:

• Clean, simple interface
• No transaction fees on any plan
• Courses, digital downloads, memberships, and coaching all in one place
• Built-in email marketing
• Affordable entry point

Cons:

• Limited customization and design options
• No marketplace traffic — you bring your own audience
• Feature set is simpler than competitors
• Less established than Teachable or Kajabi

Revenue split: You keep 100% minus payment processing (Stripe/PayPal fees only).

Skillshare

The subscription model — students pay monthly, you earn per minute watched.

Pros:

• Exposure to Skillshare's large subscriber base
• Good for short, specific classes
• Can build a following within the platform

Cons:

• Payment is based on watch time, not course value — a 30-minute class on life transformation earns the same per minute as one on Excel shortcuts
• Average earnings are very low
• Not suited for high-value coaching content
• No direct relationship with students

Revenue split: Royalty pool system — highly variable and generally unfavorable.

Your Own Website: Full Control, Full Responsibility

Selling on your own website means you own everything — the brand, the customer relationship, the data, the pricing, and the revenue.

Pros of Selling on Your Own Site

• 100% brand control — your site looks, feels, and sounds like you
• You own the customer list — email addresses, purchase history, engagement data
• Full pricing freedom — charge what your work is worth without platform interference
• No revenue share with a marketplace (just payment processing fees)
• Unlimited flexibility — create any offer type, any funnel, any experience
• SEO benefits — your content drives traffic to your domain, building long-term organic reach
• Cross-selling and upselling — guide customers through your full offer ecosystem

Cons of Selling on Your Own Site

• You need to drive your own traffic — no marketplace algorithm sending you buyers
• Higher upfront investment in building the site
• Technical responsibility — hosting, security, updates
• Requires learning (or hiring for) marketing, SEO, and conversion optimization
• Slower to get first sales compared to marketplace exposure

The Critical Question: Who Owns the Customer?

This is the question that should drive your decision.

On a marketplace: the platform owns the customer relationship. They control how and when you can communicate. They can change the rules, the algorithms, and the fee structure at any time. Your business is built on rented land.

On your own website: you own the relationship. You have their email. You can follow up, nurture, upsell, and build a long-term connection. Your customer list is the most valuable asset in your business.

A coach with 500 email subscribers on their own platform has a more sustainable business than one with 5,000 Udemy students they can never contact directly.

The Revenue Math: Marketplace vs. Own Platform

Let's make this concrete. Imagine you sell a course for $197.

On Udemy (organic sale):

• Udemy sells it for $14.99 on promotion
• You earn: $5.55
• You get: no email, no customer relationship

On Teachable (Basic plan):

• You sell at full price: $197
• Teachable fee: 5% = $9.85
• Stripe fee: 2.9% + $0.30 = $6.01
• You earn: $181.14
• Plus: $39/month platform fee
• You get: customer email and relationship

On your own website:

• You sell at full price: $197
• Stripe fee: 2.9% + $0.30 = $6.01
• You earn: $190.99
• You get: full customer data, email, and relationship

The difference is dramatic. And it compounds. Over 100 sales, the gap between Udemy and your own site is potentially $18,000+.

The Hybrid Approach: Best of Both Worlds

Here's what smart coaches actually do: they use both, strategically.

How the Hybrid Model Works

1. Use a marketplace as a lead generation tool. Create a low-priced or free introductory course on Udemy or Skillshare. Its purpose isn't revenue — it's visibility.

2. Inside the marketplace course, direct students to your website. Offer a free resource, a deeper assessment, or bonus content that requires them to visit your site and join your email list.

3. Sell your premium offers on your own platform. Your high-ticket programs, memberships, and 1:1 coaching happen on your territory, where you control the experience and keep the revenue.

4. Build your email list relentlessly. Every marketplace student you convert to an email subscriber is someone you can serve (and sell to) for years to come.

Example Hybrid Funnel

• Udemy: "Introduction to Mindful Leadership" — $14.99 (or free)
• Your website: Free assessment + email opt-in from course bonus materials
• Email sequence: Nurture with valuable content over 7–14 days
• Premium offer: "Mindful Leadership Intensive" — $497 on your own site

This way, the marketplace pays for customer acquisition, and your website captures the long-term value.

When a Marketplace Makes Sense

• You're brand new and need to validate your course idea before investing in a website
• You want to test pricing and positioning with real buyers
• You're building a low-priced, volume-based offer (under $50)
• You need social proof — marketplace reviews can build credibility fast
• You want a secondary revenue stream with minimal effort

When You Need Your Own Platform

• You're selling anything over $100 — you need to control the sales experience
• You have (or are building) your own audience through content, social media, or referrals
• You want to create a membership or recurring revenue model
• Brand matters to you — you want clients to associate your name with your work, not a marketplace
• You're thinking long-term — building an asset, not just making sales

Making the Decision

If you're reading this and feeling torn, here's a simple framework:

Start with a marketplace if you have no audience and no website, and you need to validate your idea quickly.

Go straight to your own website if you already have clients, an email list (even a small one), or a clear niche — because every day you sell on a marketplace is a day you're building someone else's business instead of your own.

And consider the hybrid approach if you want the best of both — marketplace exposure feeding your own platform's growth.

The technology to build your own platform has never been more accessible. Whether you use a website builder or go custom-built, the infrastructure exists to support you at any stage.

For the full picture of what tech you need, explore our complete tech stack guide. And if payments are on your mind, our payment systems guide covers everything from Stripe setup to checkout optimization.

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Ready to Build Your Own Platform?

If you're ready to stop renting space on someone else's marketplace and start building a digital home you actually own, let's talk about what that looks like for your business.

Book a free discovery call and we'll map out the right approach for where you are right now.