We all use platforms every day. Airbnb for that weekend away, Amazon for a new screen protector, or Uber to get back from a night out. They all say they are there to help make 
our lives easy as customers (and they do) and to make us make money as participants in the platform. We can put our self-published book on Amazon, our house on Airbnb, or offer our car and time on Uber. But when we do all of these things, who is it that is really winning? The platform. Amazon doesn’t care if you only sell 4 books, as it has 10,000 other people selling 4 books, so it still makes money. Airbnb doesn’t care how well your property does, but if you do rent it out, it will take 30% of your income. And Uber will take a good chunk of the money that your customer thinks they gave you. The same is true in business. If you write a course and add it to Udemy, if you sell your online webinar on Kujabi or sell your business book on Amazon, it works in the same way. You are making money for the platform; your hard work at promoting your Udemy course is driving traffic to Udemy, not you. Kujabi is charging you a hefty fee to allow you to direct traffic to their website. But there are alternatives. And the best alternative is for you to own the platform, as it’s the platform that always wins in the end.
Why should I own the platform? In business, we all have a website. For many, this is a few pages that are ignored, telling people what it is you do. But it could be so much more. It could be hosting your course. If it hosts your course, then all your promotion is driving traffic to your website, to your platform. You have set up the payment system, so beyond a small card commission, the payment made is yours. The people who sign up add their name to your website and your mailing list, which you have control over. It’s not just a
bout control, it’s also about website traffic. One major factor Google uses to rank your website is how many visitors it has (combined with how long those visitors stay on your site). If all your promotion is sending people to Kujabi, you are helping them, but not yourself. Promoting your course on your website means more visitors to your site. Engaged visitors who are finding out about your course. And people who subscribe to the course could spend hours at a time on your website. How engaging will that make it look to Google? And if Google sees lots of engaged visitors on your website, it will realise it’s a great website and move you higher up the search, as it sees that your website is a good place to send its users. Your website, your rules, your control, you own the data, and your website gets more visitors from Google Search. It’s a win-win situation.
How do I own the platform? As explained already, use your own website. Put everything there where you have full control. But it doesn’t end there. In terms of website traffic, it doesn’t matter what platform your website is on; the benefits still go to you. Squarespace and Wix don’t benefit if your website on their platform gets more visitors. You do. But 
control, data, and flexibility are a concern. If you build a website on Squarespace, it will be limited in what it can do by the Squarespace platform. You can never move it. If they double their prices, you can pay or abandon your website. You are still using their platform, and as we know, the platform always wins. So, to really make the most of this, what are the best options?1. Custom-coded website. This is the ultimate way to build a website. Coded just for you. It’s efficient, and 100% yours. However, it can be tricky to update and expensive to build. But if your website is going to bring in large numbers of visitors and the big money, this is the way to go. 2. WordPress. This free-to-use platform, unlike Wix, Squarespace, and others, is non-commercial. You can move it to any hosting platform you like. No commission is taken from your payments (beyond card fees), and all data stored there is yours. There are no rules and no tie-ins. The platform is truly yours.
What are the downsides to owning the platform? I have to be honest. Amazon makes it very easy for you to add a book to their platform, and Udemy makes it super simple to add a course to their platform. And they provide a range of tools to help you promote your book or course,e or is it to promote their platform? Running the platform yourself is more challenging. It will take a little longer to set up, and there will be more bumps in the road. But, to my mind, the benefits outweigh the cost. 
The only way to really make money from your ideas is to own them and own the platform you put them on. No matter what your business is trying to do, sell online courses, books, training, or anything else, remember the simple rule. The platform always wins, so the best approach is to own the platform. back from a night out. They all say they are there to help make our lived easy as customers (and they do) and to make us make money as participators in the platform. We can put our self-published book on Amazon, our house on Airbnb or offer our car and time on Uber. But when we do all of these things, who is it that is really winning? The platform. Amazon doesn’t care if you only sell 4 books, as it has 10,000 other people selling 4 books, so it still makes money. Airbnb doesn’t care how well your property does, but if you do rent it out, it will take 30% of your income. And Uber will take a good chunk of the money that your customer thinks they gave you. The same is true in business. If you write a course and add it to Udemy, if you sell your online webinar on Kujabi or sell your business book on Amazon, it works in the same way. You are making money for the platform; your hard work at promoting your Udemy course is driving traffic to Udemy, not you. Kujabi is charging you a hefty fee to allow you to direct traffic to their website. But there are alternatives. And the best alternative is for you to own the platform, as it’s the platform that always wins in the end.
