My Plan To Make $10K Per Month With Microsoft Excel

People tell me all the time: “Alston, you show us what works for other people, but you never pull back the curtain on what YOU are actually doing.” Fair point. So in this post I am doing exactly that. I am showing you the real business I am testing right now, the sales page, the traffic strategy, and the exact math behind why I believe Microsoft Excel, one of the most boring and overlooked tools on the planet, can produce $10,000 per month in income.

Before you scroll past because “Excel” sounds too basic, sit with this: 750 million people worldwide use Microsoft Excel as of November 2022. That number is not a typo. This is a massive, hungry market, and most of the people in it have never been pointed toward a course that actually helps them. That gap is exactly where the opportunity lives.

What You’ll Walk Out With

The market-size math that made Alston confident enough to launch an Excel course
The exact price point, upsell structure, and daily ad budget he is testing right now
Why Facebook ads work even if you know nothing about audience targeting for this niche
The free organic strategy using YouTube and TikTok to drive traffic without spending a dollar
How to stack multiple revenue streams on top of one course (templates, community, ad revenue)
Why you do not need to be an Excel expert to sell Excel education
How this exact model works for Canva, Google Sheets, PowerPoint, and other everyday tools
Not sure which skill you could teach? Find your starting point at finder.platformproof.com

The Market Size Argument: 750 Million Users

The first thing I did when this idea hit me was go to Google and search “how many people use Microsoft Excel worldwide.” The result: an estimated 750 million people as of November 2022. That is not 750 million potential customers, obviously. But do you think you need all 750 million? You do not.

You need a fraction. Let’s do back-of-the-envelope math. Out of 750 million users, what percentage equals 1,000 people? It rounds to essentially zero percent. To hit $10,000 per month selling a $19 course, you need roughly 526 buyers. Five hundred and twenty-six people out of 750 million. That is not a reach. That is table stakes in a market this size.

To push the point further: go to Udemy and search Microsoft Excel. There are over 10,000 courses listed. One of them, a single course, has accumulated more than 1.4 million learners worldwide. If that course launched around 2019 and has been selling for roughly 10 years, that’s around 140,000 new learners every year. Multiply 140,000 by even $9.99 and you get $1.3 million in gross revenue per year from one course, on one platform, in one niche. The market is not the bottleneck. Execution is.

The Offer: $19 Course With a $9 Upsell

Here is exactly what the current offer looks like. Alston built a sales page with a pre-launch discount pricing the Excel course at $19. There is an order bump, an upsell on the next page, for an additional $9. If a buyer takes the upsell, the total order value is $28.

The initial ads budget is $20 per day. The Day 1 goal is simple: one sale per day. If that one buyer takes the upsell, the numbers are $28 revenue against $20 in ad spend. That is an $8 profit on day one while also building a customer list. Once two or three days in a row produce a profitable result, the budget goes up: $20 to $40, then $40 to $60. Each time you scale the budget, you are testing whether the machine keeps working at the new spend level.

The reason for starting at $19 rather than a higher price is intentional. At a lower price point, the barrier to entry for buyers is low, which means more people will buy without hesitation. That gives you more data faster. Once you see that 526 buyers per month is achievable, you can test raising the price, adding higher-ticket upsells, or launching a monthly template subscription on top of it.

Why Facebook Ads Work Here (Even If You Are New)

One of the concerns people raise immediately is “I cannot afford $20 per day on ads.” That is a real constraint. But for people who can test it, the Facebook ads argument for this niche is stronger than most realize.

The plan is to run the ads globally, targeting everyone and letting Facebook self-select. Excel is used by people for personal budgeting, small businesses, mom-and-pop shops, and Fortune 500 companies. The audience is not narrow, it is universal. Facebook has enough data on its users that it will surface the ad to people who have visited Microsoft’s website, searched for Excel tutorials on Google, or watched Excel-related YouTube videos. You do not need to build a complicated targeting setup. You run a global campaign and trust the algorithm to find the buyers.

Alston also mentioned running YouTube ads using the same creative. If someone is already watching a video on how to use Excel, showing them an ad for an Excel course is not an interruption. It is a natural next step. The ad creative itself can be modeled directly from TikTok videos that already performed organically: take a video that got strong views, remake it in your own words, and run it as an ad. What works organically tends to work in paid too.

The Free Traffic Strategy: YouTube and TikTok

If $20 per day is not in the budget yet, there is a free path that runs in parallel. Go to YouTube and type “how to do” followed by a letter of the alphabet, then “in Excel.” You will see autofill suggestions showing you exactly what people are searching for right now.

“How to do a QR code in Microsoft Excel.” “How to do data entry jobs in Excel.” “How to do ranking in Excel.” “How to do a roster in Excel.” People are actively searching for help with these specific tasks because they are stuck at work or school and need answers today. You make the video that answers that search. You do it for every letter. Over time you build a library of search-optimized content that drives consistent free traffic.

On TikTok, the approach is slightly different but just as direct. Go to TikTok and sort Excel-related content by view count. Find the videos that already have a large number of views. Study what makes them work: the hook, the specific tip shown, the on-screen text, the length. Then remake that video in your own voice and your own words. Once you hit 1,000 followers on TikTok, you can add a link in your bio pointing directly to the sales page. Alston’s target is one to two TikTok videos per day in this niche, which compounds quickly when you are modeling videos that already have a proven audience response.

Stacking Revenue Streams on Top of the Course

The $19 course is not the ceiling. It is the floor. Once buyers are coming in and a community is forming around Excel education, there are several ways to build monthly recurring revenue on top of the one-time course sale.

The first is a template subscription. Instead of charging a flat fee forever, you could offer a monthly subscription where members receive a new set of done-for-you Excel templates every single month. Budget trackers, project management sheets, invoice templates, small-business dashboards. These are templates that someone already paid to have on their computer and would pay again to get updated versions of. The key detail here: you do not have to build the templates yourself. A quick search on Fiverr shows freelancers who will build custom Microsoft Excel templates for as little as $10 per template. You pay $10, charge $9 to $29 per month for access, and the margin is clear.

The second is a community. A private group where Excel learners can ask questions, share their spreadsheets, and get feedback from each other (and occasionally from you) has real value. Membership communities in the $19 to $49 per month range are common in skill-based niches, and people will pay for the combination of access and accountability.

The third is platform ad revenue. As your YouTube channel grows from the free traffic strategy, the YouTube Partner Program adds ad revenue on top of every video. TikTok has its own creator fund. Neither replaces the course revenue, but both compound the return on every piece of content you create.

Not sure which skill you could turn into a course or template business?

Take the two-minute quiz at finder.platformproof.com and find out which platform and skill match where you are starting from right now.

The Step-by-Step Launch Plan Alston Is Following

Here is the actual sequence Alston laid out in the video, in order:

Step 1 – Build the first 5 to 10 lessons. Do not wait until the full course is done. Launch with enough content to deliver real value, then use sales data to decide whether to build out the rest.
Step 2 – Set the pre-launch price at $19. A lower price lowers the buying decision friction and gets data faster. An upsell for $9 on the confirmation page brings the average order value to $28 for buyers who take it.
Step 3 – Run Facebook ads at $20 per day, global targeting. The goal in week one is one sale per day. Once that is consistent, double the budget and watch whether the return holds.
Step 4 – Start posting on TikTok daily. Find Excel videos with high view counts, reverse-engineer the format, and upload one to two videos per day. Once you hit 1,000 followers, add the course link to your bio.
Step 5 – Build the YouTube channel using search-driven content. Work through the alphabet of “how to do X in Excel” queries and create videos for the most-searched terms. This builds a compounding traffic source over time.
Step 6 – Add a template subscription once buyers are coming in. Outsource template creation on Fiverr, package the templates as a monthly subscription, and layer it into the back end of the existing funnel.
Step 7 – If paid ads do not break even, pivot the ad creative. Take a TikTok or YouTube video that performed well organically, remake it as a short vertical ad, and run that as the new creative. What worked free often works paid.

You Do Not Need to Be an Excel Expert

This is the part people push back on most: “I am not an Excel expert, so I cannot teach Excel.” Alston’s answer is direct. You do not need to be an expert. You need to be one or two steps ahead of the people you are teaching. If someone has never opened Excel and you can show them how to make a basic budget spreadsheet, that is a lesson worth paying for. If you know how to use pivot tables and the person you are teaching does not, you are the expert relative to them.

The principle is the same whether you use Excel, Canva, PowerPoint, Google Sheets, or anything else people use every day without fully understanding. Canva, for example, has a single Udemy course with 50,000 learners. Canva is free. Excel is free. The tool being free does not kill the market for teaching it. In many cases, being free makes the market bigger because more people use the tool. You are not competing with the tool. You are filling the gap between people who have access to it and people who know how to use it well.

The Honest Drawbacks of This Plan

This plan is worth taking seriously, but it is fair to acknowledge the real challenges before you go build a sales page and drop $20 into Facebook ads.

First, paid ads can lose money before they make money. $20 per day is $600 per month. If you do not hit one sale per day in the first two or three weeks, you will have spent real money without recovering it. That is the nature of testing. It is not a flaw in the model, but you should go in with eyes open about the possibility.

Second, organic growth on TikTok and YouTube takes time. Uploading one to two TikTok videos per day and building to 1,000 followers is a weeks-long process even in a strong niche. There is no guarantee the algorithm surfaces your content immediately. The search-based YouTube strategy is slower still. These are long-game moves that pay off with consistency, not shortcuts.

Third, Alston is explicit about the fact that this is a test, not a proven case study. He was planning to start running Facebook ads within a few days of recording this video. He does not yet have 526 buyers per month to point to. What he has is a well-reasoned hypothesis backed by market data and a concrete action plan. That is how new businesses start. If you want the results data, watch the follow-up videos in this series.

Find Your X

The model Alston describes here, pick a skill people already use, build a course around it, drive traffic with paid ads and organic content, stack recurring revenue on the back end, works in more niches than just Excel. The question is which skill is the right starting point for you given where you are now, what you know, and what platform fits your style.

Take two minutes at finder.platformproof.com to find out which platform and starting skill match your current situation. The finder is free and will give you a specific recommendation rather than a list of options to figure out on your own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be certified in Excel to sell an Excel course?

No. There is no certification required to teach Excel online. What you need is enough working knowledge to help someone who knows less than you. If you understand formulas, basic charts, budgeting templates, or data organization in Excel, you have enough to start a beginner-level course. You can always add more advanced modules over time as your own skills grow.

How much money do I need to start this plan?

The paid ads path starts at $20 per day, which is roughly $600 per month. You would also need a platform to host the course, which can range from free (Gumroad, Payhip) to paid (Teachable, Kajabi). If you go the free organic route first via TikTok and YouTube, your cash outlay is close to zero. The free route takes longer to gain traction but has no real financial risk.

What platform should I use to host the Excel course?

For a simple, low-cost setup, Gumroad allows you to sell digital products and simple course content without a monthly fee. Payhip is another free option. If you want more control over the buyer experience and are willing to pay a monthly fee, platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi offer more features. Alston did not name a specific platform in this video but was already testing with a live sales page, suggesting the infrastructure was simple enough to set up quickly.

Why $19 instead of a higher price like $97 or $197?

A lower price point gets more buyers faster, which gives you more data in less time. When you are in test mode, data matters more than margin. Once you know the funnel converts, you can raise the price or add a premium tier. Alston mentioned possibly moving from $17 to $19, so he was already adjusting as he went. The goal early on is to prove people will buy, not to maximize revenue per buyer from day one.

What if Facebook ads do not break even right away?

Alston addressed this directly. If paid ads do not produce results quickly, the plan is to test new ad creative built from organic content that already worked. A TikTok or YouTube video that got strong views without any paid promotion is a proven concept. Remaking it as a short vertical ad and running that version is a rational next step. If that also does not work after a reasonable test period, you pivot to a different niche or product.

Can this model work for tools other than Excel?

Yes. Alston specifically mentioned Canva as an example, noting that one Canva course on Udemy has 50,000 learners. Both Canva and Excel are free tools, which means the potential audience is enormous. The same approach, build a beginner course, drive traffic with ads and organic video, stack templates and community on the back end, applies to Google Sheets, PowerPoint, Notion, Airtable, or any widely-used tool where beginners regularly get stuck.

How many TikTok followers do I need before I can promote the course?

TikTok requires 1,000 followers before you can add a clickable link to your bio. That is the threshold Alston mentioned as the milestone to hit before the organic TikTok traffic becomes directly linkable to the sales page. Getting to 1,000 followers while posting one to two Excel tutorial videos per day is realistic within a few weeks in a niche with clear search demand, though the timeline will vary depending on the quality of your content and how well you model high-performing formats.

Is it okay to start running ads before the full course is built?

Alston’s explicit plan is to build the first 5 to 10 lessons and then start running ads before the full course is finished. This is a common approach in online course businesses. The first students you attract while the course is in early build mode are often the most valuable because their feedback shapes the rest of the content. Calling it a pre-launch with a discounted price is honest and sets buyer expectations correctly. If the market does not respond, you have avoided spending weeks building content nobody wants.

Sources

Google search: “how many people use Microsoft Excel worldwide” – 750 million users as of November 2022
Udemy.com – Microsoft Excel courses search, including a top course with 1.4 million learners
Udemy.com – Canva courses search, including a course with 50,000 learners
Fiverr.com – Microsoft Excel template creation services starting at $10
TikTok – Excel tutorial content analysis for ad creative modeling
YouTube search: “how to do [letter] in Excel” autofill data for organic content planning

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.