WhiteSpace
Academy
Our in-house learning and talent engine. We turn the team’s expertise into courses for the creative community.
academy.ws.studio
The Concept
WhiteSpace coordinates and packages courses while our own people teach what they’re already great at. Not building from zero: the studio plans, the instructor brings the expertise plus one dedicated prep day.
Anticipating Demand
- Real, untapped appetite for creative upskilling, captured organically.
- No paid ads: interested people share with interested people.
- Comparable half-day creative sessions sell locally for ~$150.
- AI is parked for now so the launch stays creative-focused.
How It Works
A ladder from free short sessions to paid courses to an alumni community. Design a course once, refresh every 1–2 years, re-run it many times.
Course Formats
Short form
~3 hrs: 1 hr theory + 1 hr practical + 30 min Q&A. Prepped in one day.
Long form
Four intensive Saturdays, 5–6 hrs each, tasks between sessions. Saturday mornings (Friday is family day).
Collabs
Co-branded courses through a partner’s network. Pure organic reach; only their people join.
Inside a Session
One standardised 10:00–13:00 template every short-form fits into: theory in 30-minute blocks, doing in between.
Topics By Phase
Roll subjects out in phases: prove the model before widening breadth.
Phase 1 Launch
Phase 2 Widen
Phase 3 Deepen
Who Leads What
Instructors mapped to topics they can deliver now.
Design
Architecture
Business Development
Marketing
Sundus leads Public Speaking and seeds early sessions. Everyone gets public-speaking training; every pilot runs with two co-leads. confirmed to assign
Launch Roadmap
Each topic moves build → free pilot → first paid run.
How a Course Is Built
Train the Trainer
- An internal workshop comes before any public course: it upskills the team on designing and delivering a session.
- First thing built in the next two weeks, led by Peter and Ahmad.
- Teaches the seven-step process, the 1+1+0.5 hr structure, and public-speaking basics.
- Output: each participant leaves with a chosen topic and a draft outline, kicking off the first pilots.
Pilot: Free First
- The first one or two courses are free and staff-run, removing risk while we test instructors and format.
- 2–3 office people seeded to guarantee a crowd.
- Co-leads reduce pressure; once an instructor proves themselves, they earn their own course.
From Interest to Attendance
The motivation form is our filter: it screens for fit and commitment before anyone is accepted.
A Talent-Scouting Net
- Free sessions double as live talent scouting.
- Standouts are flagged in-session, shortlisted, and added to the freelance/hire pool.
- Some become future instructors.
- Collabs surface talent from partner networks we don’t already reach.
Resources, End to End
Pre
Notion wiki with prerequisites and prep, so we don’t re-teach basics.
During
Printed booklet + snacks.
Post
Recap, any recordings, and community access.
One Simple Stack
Everything runs on WhatsApp Communities, not Circle or Discord: people resist extra apps and engagement drops. Notion holds all materials. ~$100/mo.
Why It’s Good for Staff
- Teaching builds motivation, accountability, ownership and craft mastery.
- Their name on the course is the motivation: a tangible outcome with real accountability, so they do the work and come out better at their craft.
- Builds teaching and leadership experience and puts their expertise at the forefront.
| Free course | ~$50 small base |
| Paid course | ~20% of profit (≈$600 on a $3.7k long-form) |
No flat fee just for running a course. Framed as part of HR and professional development.
Every Session Is Content
- One session becomes reels, in-session clips, event teasers and testimonials.
- Instagram drives reach; LinkedIn drives instructor authority: the person running it makes it their own post.
- All organic.
Risks & Mitigation
How We Know It Worked
min attendance (go/no-go), max 15
from end-of-event reviews
conversion down the funnel
flagged for the hire pool
Revenue & Growth
per short form (15 × $50)
per long-form cohort (15 × $250)
instructor share
First course is free and staff-run: zero revenue, full talent + marketing upside.
| 3 mo | 6 mo | 1 yr | 2 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courses run | 3 | 8 | 18 | 36 |
| Attendees | 40 | 110 | 250 | 520 |
| Revenue | $1.5k | $6k | $18k | $45k |
Illustrative scaffold, not a forecast.
Next Steps
Lock the two-week planning sprint now to hit a July 1 build and an August 1 first course.
Weeks 1–2: Peter & Ahmad structure everything (budget, free-course approach, Train-the-Trainer). ~1 month to build. Start July 1 · First course August 1.