Raymond Hou (Raymond) made a decision spanning several years about online-course distribution: move the center of revenue and effort away from the third-party course platform Hahow and back to his own website, lifehacker.tw. This was not a one-time “unlist and move” operation, but a phased process of bringing learner relationships, pricing power, and learner data back under his own control. Understanding the decision requires looking at what Raymond was evaluating: not which platform brought the most people, but which model would let him maintain long-term control over his relationships with learners.
Starting Point: Platforms Bring Reach; Self-Hosting Builds Relationships
In 2021, Raymond and his partner Kevin launched Notion Practical Course on Hahow. It became one of the platform’s most popular courses that year, raising funds from more than two thousand people in thirty days and doubling to over four thousand three months later. By 2023 it had accumulated more than ten thousand learners.1 The trade-off at the time was clear: self-hosting through SaaS would let them control more learner data and keep a larger revenue share—at least ninety percent—but the platform could buy ads for a first-time author and put the course in front of complete strangers. The cost was that the revenue share was cut roughly in half, to around fifty percent. Raymond chose Hahow not to maximize revenue, but to treat the course as a “high-specification first connection,” using the platform’s reach to connect with more people.
At the same time, he built lifehacker.tw himself and positioned it as “his own home.” Raymond borrowed a word that instructor Wang Yongfu used to describe the attraction of self-hosted platforms: “doing things on your own terms.” On his own platform, he could add a lesson directly, edit copy immediately, or give a course to a student with financial need without asking the platform for approval. For him, the platform offered audience reach; self-hosting offered direct control over the learning experience and learner relationships.
The Shift: Committing Effort to Digital Products on “His Own Home”
Between 2023 and 2024, Raymond gradually moved product development and revenue toward his self-hosted platform. He released multiple self-produced courses on lifehacker.tw covering AI work methods, automation, learning methods, review, Notion basics, and AI. Digital products therefore became the main source of revenue, while royalties from Hahow declined as he had expected.
The criterion behind this shift was a line he repeated: in terms of buyer numbers, a three-person team cannot beat a large platform like Hahow. But direct sales from his own site brought a sense of control, avoided giving roughly half the revenue to a large platform, gave him direct access to learner data to improve the experience, and allowed him to return money otherwise spent on marketing to learners. The cost was taking responsibility for marketing, customer support, sales pages, and all other operational work; audience growth was also more gradual. Raymond treated this as normal for a company of one and invoked a philosophy of operating “within limits”: question infinite growth and pursue better rather than bigger.
Looking Back at the Platform: Keep the Channel, Protect the Home Base
In early 2025, Raymond made a decision that seemed to go against the direction above but was actually consistent with it: he put remade introductory and advanced Notion courses back on Hahow. Hahow had made progress over the previous two years in schools and government organizations, giving him access to schools and institutions he could not reach alone. The decision also reflected his desire to give back to his former student self, who could not afford courses and had to attend free talks instead.
The key was that this return to the platform clearly defined the division of roles. Hahow was an entry point for people who had never heard of him; his own platform remained the home base. He publicly recommended that learners who wanted to support the brand long-term buy directly from his own site, citing reasons including avoiding platform revenue sharing and access to an exclusive learner community.2 In other words, the platform handled “new audience reach,” while control of learner relationships, the community, and ongoing value remained with his self-hosted site.
Why It Matters
This decision demonstrates Raymond’s underlying preference when evaluating distribution channels: audience size and reach can be outsourced to a platform, but he prefers to retain control of three things himself—the long-term trust of learners, pricing freedom, and learner data. In 2022, he publicly criticized the “e-commerce-ization” of online courses: platforms effectively encouraged instructors to compete on packaging, speed of launching courses, and number of channels rather than on sustained refinement and learning outcomes. Bringing courses back to a self-hosted platform was a structural response rather than a slogan. With the home base in his own hands, he could focus on refining products and serving learners. This also aligns with his belief that a course’s value lies in the “service process” after the lesson: a course is not done once it is listed; it should guide learners through a complete service process and an effective learning experience.
Sources
Footnotes
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Raymond Hou, “Not Just an Online Course, but the Beginning of a New Online Learning Model,” WordPress article, 2021-09-29. View original ↩
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Raymond Hou, “Raymond’s Notion Online Series Courses on Hahow: What Was I Considering?” WordPress article, 2025-01-21. View original ↩