How Long Does it Take To Create Curriculum?

Curious about curriculum? You’re in the right place! A curriculum is the backbone of any offer outside of your one-on-one work. It’s the answer to the “what goes where” question that pops up any time you create a course, digital product, group coaching program, masterclass… you get the idea!

However, building your offer (or offer suite) is not the same as creating your curriculum, which also means the time it takes to create a curriculum is not equal to the time it takes to build out your signature course.

It actually takes less time, and here’s why:

What is a Curriculum?

Your curriculum is the backbone of your offer. Your student or client needs to know everything to experience the transformation you want them to have. For example, if you’re creating a course, your curriculum would be everything and anything that will go into your course content.

It’s taking the information or expertise within your brain and putting it into an outside container, like Google Docs, Notion, or wherever you want to organize it.

You should have a curriculum for any offer that is not your 1:1, high-proximity client work (and even then, you can have a curriculum to assist in your client work, too).

Course Creation vs. Curriculum Development

Yes, your course requires curriculum development if you want to see the best results and student transformations — but course creation and curriculum development are not the same.

You develop a curriculum that serves as the backbone or foundation of your course, but curriculum development doesn’t include the slide decks you’ll create, workbooks for students, or replace recording your script for voiceovers.

It will serve as your guide for creating these things, but it’s not your course. You can have a curriculum without a course — but you CANNOT have a course without a curriculum. Plus, rather than a week or month, creating a course takes around four months.

How Long Does it Take to Create Curriculum?

The time it takes to create your curriculum will depend on the offer or product you’re trying to create. For example, you can make a curriculum for a masterclass in a weekend, but a curriculum for a course or group coaching program may take a month (or more).

It also depends on your personal workload and capacity. If you have more time to dedicate to your curriculum development, you could complete it sooner rather than later, whereas if you have a lot of client work to juggle, it may take longer.

My number one rule or principle is to create a timeframe for your curriculum development based on your own schedule and work from there. If you’re unsure where to start, use this Course Creation Checklist as your guide.

When to Start Creating Your Curriculum

Creating your curriculum can only begin once you’ve figured out what your offer is, who it’s for, and the results or transformation it will help them achieve. Once you’ve established that — and officially pulled your idea out of your Notes app — it’s time to start mapping out your curriculum.

Don’t be nervous if you’re spending a lot of time trimming your curriculum or making edits; that’s why we start with curriculum — to make sure we’re only putting in what our students actually need.

If you’re not ready to “go it alone” but aren’t quite ready to outsource your curriculum development, use Coaching to Curriculum, a self-paced course for coaches and service providers ready to create an impactful curriculum for your students at every level.