The Autonomous Creative From designer to course creator (without a huge audience): Marie Poulin's journey to Notion Mastery
Jul 29, 2025
Join Marie Poulin, a designer and systems thinker who transitioned from freelancing to creating Notion Mastery, as she dives into her journey of unexpected success. She shares how her obsession with systems led to a thriving course, reveals the 'living room strategy' that pre-sold her work, and discusses the risks of building a business around third-party software. Marie also highlights the benefits of being multi-passionate and how principles from permaculture can inform effective business systems.
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Discovery Through Forum Screenshots
- Marie Poulin first discovered demand when forum users saw her Notion screenshots and offered to pay for a course.
- A friend called it a "lightning in a bottle" and urged her to start a YouTube channel, which she reluctantly did.
Validate With A Pre-Sale Page
- Validate demand before building by offering a simple announcement page or beta and collecting pre-sales.
- Use pre-sales as motivation and a financial buffer to actually create the course content.
Build Curriculum From Live Client Work
- Document real client projects and offer reduced rates in exchange for using them as teaching case studies.
- Let students be a "fly on the wall" to build authentic curriculum efficiently.