How Marie Asselin Shared Her Cooking Skills and Earned $3300

Food blogger Marie Asselin earned $3300 sharing her cooking skills on Skillshare.

Marie Asselin is a graphic designer and translator who turned her passion for food into a full-time freelance career. “I got into cooking first because food magazines were my inspiration when I was a graphic design student, and then the food itself became my passion."

Her successful food blog, Food Nouveau, started out as a student project she created back in 2000. Through the years, she transformed a simple recipe website into a food blog, allowing her to build a daily writing habit and refine her recipe development skills. Marie describes her food blog as her “portfolio of sorts.”

Before Marie began teaching on Skillshare, she was nervous to get started, as she had never filmed herself before. But Marie's first class – How to Make French Macarons – was a big success. Reflecting on the experience of sharing her culinary skills, Marie noted “the platform gave me confidence to give it a try, and since teaching my first Skillshare class, I’ve started teaching in-person classes too, and I’ve kept on doing video both for Skillshare and on my blog. I’m grateful Skillshare helped me to step out of my comfort zone!”

Marie found that the success of her first cooking class on Skillshare strengthened her credibility as a blogger and culinary expert online, which led her to publish her second class, How to Make Gelato. “I've been working with more and more clients, and receiving more and more offers for collaborations since January, and I feel like adding video to my portfolio of activities contributed to that.”

Her Skillshare classes also helped her land an award nomination for Food Nouveau. “I was a finalist at the 2016 Saveur Awards in the "Best How-To Food Blog" category--and I'm convinced the fact that I teach on video helped me get noticed. All in all, the experience helped me define myself as a blogger and culinary expert, and I'm really grateful for that.”

Teaching has not only brought Marie more credibility in culinary communities, but she has also earned $3,296 a following of 1,400 students. Marie’s used her popular food blog as a way to continue growing her following and increasing her earnings. “I made sure I chose a sure-shot topic for my first class (French Macarons), one I knew was already extremely popular on my blog, so I could drive traffic from my blog to my class. As a result, my student enrollment numbers swelled up quickly, which contributed to getting good earnings from the get go.”

What made her cooking classes on Skillshare stand out so much? Marie believes her choice of class topics was a crucial part of her success. “For your first class, pick a topic you know inside and out. Choosing a topic you’re comfortable with makes talking about it on camera much easier! Choosing something you’re already recognized as an expert at also makes it much easier and quicker to build your audience on Skillshare. You can bring traffic to your class, and Skillshare will drive traffic back to you.”

Marie plans to continue teaching culinary classes on Skillshare, with a few ideas up her sleeve just in time for the holidays. “It seems to me that once you get the hang of teaching and doing video, you just want to keep on going!”

Teach On Skillshare