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Casual Articles - Making Money With Information Products
Who Comes First: The Customer or the Customer?I was waiting for my fast-food breakfast while my cohort of four little girls scurried over the indoor Big Toy."They're sure taking their time today," grumbled the man next to me. He wasn't talking about my granddaughters.He was wearing a purple tee-shirt over his middle-aged paunch. A baseball cap and jeans completed the outfit. He could have been there with his grandchildren, but he was alone.I nodded my head. I hate standing in line and really hate waiting, but I hadn't reached my annoyance threshold, yet. Obviously, my fellow breakfaster had passed that bar."They wait on the drive-through customers first and make the people inside wait," he said to me while maintaining a watchful eye behind the counter and into the kitchen area.I nodded again and followed his gaze. The young woman, who seemed about four-foot-five, behind the counter was taking orders and was doing a good job with a friendly smile. The prep people were cooking and delivering, and yet . . . on the counter were five food trays. Each had a cash register receipt. In addition, between the trays were another two or three receipts. The young woman would take orders, fill them as best she could, and then wait for food from the kitchen, while she continued to take even more order.A tray of goodies was handed out to someone who had been behind us. "I was here before him. This has happened to me before," my hungry friend commented. "I was waiting for about fifteen minutes once and I complained to the waitress. She said she didn't realize there was a problem and offered me a fr ieve their desired goal/s.
When you’re ready to go, shut off the phones and start recording (it’s also a good idea to have a script in front of you). Record your tape in less than 60 minutes. Play it to your friends, make any changes you think might be worthwhile based on their advice. When you’re happy with the final product, create some duplicates (or get someone to do it for you) and then start selling your product on the Internet – It’s that easy!
Making your own DVD information product
If you think your idea is an exceptional one, or something that could work better visually, then you might consider producing your own DVD of Special Interest Video (SIV’s). This type of information product (often referred to as Guerilla Video) is becoming more popular as the required production technology becomes more accessible. Anyone with a DVC, a computer and some editing software can now make fairly professional looking DVD’s.
Hey, Billy Goat Gruff! Are Ya' Sayin' What Yur Sayin'?
From the Eye of the Potato: Train the people that deal with your customers.I called a support number the other day—I got the message! A recorded female voice said that I must call during a certain time period and "goodby."My first impression was: My this lady hates working for a living—and me!Then I thought: She can't be that bad—just not properly trained.Maybe she should listen to the telephone message systems of big corporations:"Thank you for calling Big Corporation. Your call is very important to us. If you speak English, press one. Si usted habla espa?ol, toca dos"This may go on for French, Italian, German, Japanese and Chinese. In fact, you could swim to China by the time you get to a live person. But still, your call is important to them so you sit there listening to music you hate, waiting, waiting…I Called the Lady Back to See What She Was Really LikeFinally, I got the person who made the recording. Her name was Mildred. She was 75 years old and as sweet as a President Reagan Jelly Belly®.Mildred was not a rude person that intentionally turns customers away. Yet I'm sure that some get her telephone message and never call back. I'm sure that some drop their affiliation with the company.The problem was not with Mildred, but with the message. She gave the facts about the hours and the fax machine, but she didn't say it like the "Big Boys." She could have said:Thank you for calling. Your call is very important to us. However, we offer telephone service only between 1.00 AM and 3:00 PM Pacific Tim I actually know a few people who are making millions a year through home-based operations (and a few others who have been able to subsidize their incomes from low risk business ideas). In most cases, all it took was some good market research and the get up and go to actually put the information product together.
Believe it or not, the biggest obstacle to overcome when putting together an ebook or DVD product is actually having the motivation to get started - it’s not as hard as it sounds!
The most common, and usually the most successful information products are e-books, audio cd / tapes and increasingly, DVD’s. We’ll take a look at each of these categories in more detail below:
Writing a successful ebook
You really have 2 options here. You can develop the content of the e-book yourself, or you can get someone to do it for you. There’s a few other ways you can go about creating an e-book, for instance, obtaining the rights to an out of print book, but these methods and considerably more complex and don’t offer any guarantees.
If you’re a semi-confident writer, my advice would be to try and write the book yourself. A good way to start is to write about something that you are interested in – spend 15 minutes a day putting down your ideas, if you find you are struggling, do your best to outline your ideas and then investigate the possibility of hiring a writer to research and draft the remainder of your ebook.
There are loads of good writers around who will put together polished and concise copy for around 10 cents per word. Take a look at http://www.profitpuppy.com/freelance-sites.htm for more information about finding a freelance writer.
Some writers expect up to $175 US an hour for their services, although thanks to the internet, it’s not impossible to find a reasonably talented scribe for around 10 cents per word. It’s important that you are clear in what you want to achieve when advertising a project so that you attract someone who is well suited. If you don’t have any luck with Elance or Freelance Writers, you could also try posting to Yahoo Groups or approaching people at your local uni.
It’s important to remember that your reader probably won’t be too concerned about your command of the English language - just make sure you clearly explain your concepts and ideas (especially if you are writing a “how-to” style ebook). For more information about writing and marketing e-books, visit http://www.profitpuppy.com/writing-and-selling-ebooks.htm where you will find a number of valuable resources.
Audio CD’s and Tapes
If you don’t fancy yourself as a writer whatsoever, another option you have is to create and audio tape or CD. It’s not as expensive as you might think, and audio products still have great appeal for buyers.
While DVD’s and Videos have become easier to create, tapes and CD’s are still the mainstay of the information product world. The reason of this is that media savvy buyers aren’t enticed by the often amateurish production qualities of video or DVD info products. Another advantage of tapes and CD’s is that you can listen to them anywhere, for example in your car on the way to work.
To produce a CD or Tape of reasonable quality, you are going to need to purchase (or hire) the necessary equipment. If you can afford to buy some studio time, it’s worthwhile, but if you just starting out, it’s an undue expense that you can avoid. Your local electronics store should be able to arm you with a noise reducing microphone and some high quality audio tapes (another option is to record to your computer first). You can expect to pay around $50 - $80 all up. You don’t need expensive equipment to get started, although you may have to upgrade if as you go along…
Assuming that you’ve researched your topic (and target market properly), you can begin working on your information product which should give some step-by-step advice on how to overcome a particular problem or achieve a particular goal (there’s more about picking your topic below). Just remember that when you start recording you deliver the essence of your experience (or research) in an entertaining and concise way. If you are producing an instructional CD or tape, a simplified and bare bones approach is often best. Come up with steps that will help your customers achieve their desired goal/s.
When you’re ready to go, shut off the phones and start recording (it’s also a good idea to have a script in front of you). Record your tape in less than 60 minutes. Play it to your friends, make any changes you think might be worthwhile based on their advice. When you’re happy with the final product, create some duplicates (or get someone to do it for you) and then start selling your product on the Internet – It’s that easy!
Making your own DVD information product
If you think your idea is an exceptional one, or something that could work better visually, then you might consider producing your own DVD of Special Interest Video (SIV’s). This type of information product (often referred to as Guerilla Video) is becoming more popular as the required production technology becomes more accessible. Anyone with a DVC, a computer and some editing software can now make fairly professional looking DVD’s.
Save Your Energy - Use Online Printing
A lot of printing companies already offer online printing services. You just need to upload your project on their website, talk to their customer service representatives, talk about the price, and then if they deliver as well, you would only be waiting for that project of yours right at your doorstep. And while all of these might sound very easy, it is not.Online printing have a lot more advantages to think about. But in trusting the correct printing company to handle your project would take a little more research.Choosing the best online printing company would take a lot of time but it would all be worth it. The first step you would need to make in order to help you decide on which online printing company you would be trusting you project to would be to limit your list to companies that specializes on the project that you have.If you are producing a book, find a highly regarded book printing company that specializes in book printing. If you want to make postcards, find a decent postcard printing company. In this way you would be sure that they would really know how to handle that project of yours because it is their specialty.After you have toned down your list to these companies that specializes on your project, ask for a quote. Most printing companies already offer easy online printing quote to help you determine how much it would cost you to have your project printed.Asking for a quote would also help you decide which companies provide low prices for small printing jobs and which gives discount on big volume printing. If you only have a lie="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">If you’re a semi-confident writer, my advice would be to try and write the book yourself. A good way to start is to write about something that you are interested in – spend 15 minutes a day putting down your ideas, if you find you are struggling, do your best to outline your ideas and then investigate the possibility of hiring a writer to research and draft the remainder of your ebook.
There are loads of good writers around who will put together polished and concise copy for around 10 cents per word. Take a look at http://www.profitpuppy.com/freelance-sites.htm for more information about finding a freelance writer.
Some writers expect up to $175 US an hour for their services, although thanks to the internet, it’s not impossible to find a reasonably talented scribe for around 10 cents per word. It’s important that you are clear in what you want to achieve when advertising a project so that you attract someone who is well suited. If you don’t have any luck with Elance or Freelance Writers, you could also try posting to Yahoo Groups or approaching people at your local uni.
It’s important to remember that your reader probably won’t be too concerned about your command of the English language - just make sure you clearly explain your concepts and ideas (especially if you are writing a “how-to” style ebook). For more information about writing and marketing e-books, visit http://www.profitpuppy.com/writing-and-selling-ebooks.htm where you will find a number of valuable resources.
Audio CD’s and Tapes
If you don’t fancy yourself as a writer whatsoever, another option you have is to create and audio tape or CD. It’s not as expensive as you might think, and audio products still have great appeal for buyers.
While DVD’s and Videos have become easier to create, tapes and CD’s are still the mainstay of the information product world. The reason of this is that media savvy buyers aren’t enticed by the often amateurish production qualities of video or DVD info products. Another advantage of tapes and CD’s is that you can listen to them anywhere, for example in your car on the way to work.
To produce a CD or Tape of reasonable quality, you are going to need to purchase (or hire) the necessary equipment. If you can afford to buy some studio time, it’s worthwhile, but if you just starting out, it’s an undue expense that you can avoid. Your local electronics store should be able to arm you with a noise reducing microphone and some high quality audio tapes (another option is to record to your computer first). You can expect to pay around $50 - $80 all up. You don’t need expensive equipment to get started, although you may have to upgrade if as you go along…
Assuming that you’ve researched your topic (and target market properly), you can begin working on your information product which should give some step-by-step advice on how to overcome a particular problem or achieve a particular goal (there’s more about picking your topic below). Just remember that when you start recording you deliver the essence of your experience (or research) in an entertaining and concise way. If you are producing an instructional CD or tape, a simplified and bare bones approach is often best. Come up with steps that will help your customers achieve their desired goal/s.
When you’re ready to go, shut off the phones and start recording (it’s also a good idea to have a script in front of you). Record your tape in less than 60 minutes. Play it to your friends, make any changes you think might be worthwhile based on their advice. When you’re happy with the final product, create some duplicates (or get someone to do it for you) and then start selling your product on the Internet – It’s that easy!
Making your own DVD information product
If you think your idea is an exceptional one, or something that could work better visually, then you might consider producing your own DVD of Special Interest Video (SIV’s). This type of information product (often referred to as Guerilla Video) is becoming more popular as the required production technology becomes more accessible. Anyone with a DVC, a computer and some editing software can now make fairly professional looking DVD’s.
Cookbook Fundraising
Cookbook fundraising, also called a fundraising cookout is a widely-used method of fundraising especially in religious and charitable circles. A cookbook fundraiser is great not only because it is effective in raising funds, but more importantly because it gets everyone involved.Members of the organization and volunteers can all contribute family recipes for compilation. The theme, book size, fonts, and other details are all decided on by the team and a designated editor. Some organizations put together a committee that is responsible for schedules, recipe organization and testing, and even cover design and layout. The groups must meet regularly to report the progress of the cookbook and guide each subcommittee through the stages.For the cookbook to be completely professional, a prototype manuscript must first be printed. Everything is proofread and edited at least three times, and a final draft must be printed and circulated for peer and editorial evaluation. When the cookbook is ready, it must be forwarded to a printer that hopefully charges reasonable rates, and the copies are distributed to interested buyers. The proceeds from the sales of the cookbooks go into the fundraising pot.All the members of the organization and all volunteers can sell the finished cookbooks, even those who were not involved in writing and compiling them. The cookbooks can be displayed within the organization’s premises, or advertised in newspapers or through flyers.You can also talk to local merchants (bookstore owners or even convenience store owners) they just mightRGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">
It’s important to remember that your reader probably won’t be too concerned about your command of the English language - just make sure you clearly explain your concepts and ideas (especially if you are writing a “how-to” style ebook). For more information about writing and marketing e-books, visit http://www.profitpuppy.com/writing-and-selling-ebooks.htm where you will find a number of valuable resources.
Audio CD’s and Tapes
If you don’t fancy yourself as a writer whatsoever, another option you have is to create and audio tape or CD. It’s not as expensive as you might think, and audio products still have great appeal for buyers.
While DVD’s and Videos have become easier to create, tapes and CD’s are still the mainstay of the information product world. The reason of this is that media savvy buyers aren’t enticed by the often amateurish production qualities of video or DVD info products. Another advantage of tapes and CD’s is that you can listen to them anywhere, for example in your car on the way to work.
To produce a CD or Tape of reasonable quality, you are going to need to purchase (or hire) the necessary equipment. If you can afford to buy some studio time, it’s worthwhile, but if you just starting out, it’s an undue expense that you can avoid. Your local electronics store should be able to arm you with a noise reducing microphone and some high quality audio tapes (another option is to record to your computer first). You can expect to pay around $50 - $80 all up. You don’t need expensive equipment to get started, although you may have to upgrade if as you go along…
Assuming that you’ve researched your topic (and target market properly), you can begin working on your information product which should give some step-by-step advice on how to overcome a particular problem or achieve a particular goal (there’s more about picking your topic below). Just remember that when you start recording you deliver the essence of your experience (or research) in an entertaining and concise way. If you are producing an instructional CD or tape, a simplified and bare bones approach is often best. Come up with steps that will help your customers achieve their desired goal/s.
When you’re ready to go, shut off the phones and start recording (it’s also a good idea to have a script in front of you). Record your tape in less than 60 minutes. Play it to your friends, make any changes you think might be worthwhile based on their advice. When you’re happy with the final product, create some duplicates (or get someone to do it for you) and then start selling your product on the Internet – It’s that easy!
Making your own DVD information product
If you think your idea is an exceptional one, or something that could work better visually, then you might consider producing your own DVD of Special Interest Video (SIV’s). This type of information product (often referred to as Guerilla Video) is becoming more popular as the required production technology becomes more accessible. Anyone with a DVC, a computer and some editing software can now make fairly professional looking DVD’s.
Crucial Team Building Activities
If you are in need of a way to get your employees to work together, you should contact a professional team building company. These companies are available all over the world, and have many years of experience in the field. They have helped to improve the team building skills of companies in many different ways. One of the nice things about a team building company is that they will have many different activities that your employees can choose from. The team building activities that are available will differ from company to company, but rest assured that you will be able to find one that suits your needs because there are many to choose from.One of the most popular team building activities is one that takes place on a boat. In this activity your team will be drilled on how well they work together. They will learn that working together to achieve a goal is much easier than trying to accomplish it on your own. Employees will be in charge of all aspects of the ship, and the activities that they have to complete will all help to make them better team players. When you have team players, productivity goes up and that means more to the bottom line. In management, we concentrate on the bottom line much of the time. With team work, the bottom line will reflect the work involved.Another popular event is a team obstacle course. These types of team building activities will build the problem solving and decision making skills of the employees. Employees will be pressed to work together to solve both physical and mental tasks. The fact that you have to use your mind and body to n the way to work.
To produce a CD or Tape of reasonable quality, you are going to need to purchase (or hire) the necessary equipment. If you can afford to buy some studio time, it’s worthwhile, but if you just starting out, it’s an undue expense that you can avoid. Your local electronics store should be able to arm you with a noise reducing microphone and some high quality audio tapes (another option is to record to your computer first). You can expect to pay around $50 - $80 all up. You don’t need expensive equipment to get started, although you may have to upgrade if as you go along…
Assuming that you’ve researched your topic (and target market properly), you can begin working on your information product which should give some step-by-step advice on how to overcome a particular problem or achieve a particular goal (there’s more about picking your topic below). Just remember that when you start recording you deliver the essence of your experience (or research) in an entertaining and concise way. If you are producing an instructional CD or tape, a simplified and bare bones approach is often best. Come up with steps that will help your customers achieve their desired goal/s.
When you’re ready to go, shut off the phones and start recording (it’s also a good idea to have a script in front of you). Record your tape in less than 60 minutes. Play it to your friends, make any changes you think might be worthwhile based on their advice. When you’re happy with the final product, create some duplicates (or get someone to do it for you) and then start selling your product on the Internet – It’s that easy!
Making your own DVD information product
If you think your idea is an exceptional one, or something that could work better visually, then you might consider producing your own DVD of Special Interest Video (SIV’s). This type of information product (often referred to as Guerilla Video) is becoming more popular as the required production technology becomes more accessible. Anyone with a DVC, a computer and some editing software can now make fairly professional looking DVD’s.
Entrepreneur Speaks on Brand Extension in the Franchise Cleaning Business
On question I have been asked over and over again from prospective franchisees of our companies has been one in which I am very adamant about it; do we require prior experience? No, like many franchise companies we actually frown upon it and think it is such a detriment that we usually disqualify the franchise candidate if they do have prior experience. And we always ask the prospective franchise buyer what sort of experience they have in our industry. When people find out we specifically do not want to sell franchises to those in our industry we are often ask; “Why Not,” as it would appear that a franchisee with prior experience has a leg up on the world and would have a better chance of instant success in our business models.Generally it is like Ray Kroc found, I would rather take someone with no experience than one with experience. What he was saying in "Grinding It Out," his autobiography, which I recommend was someone with restaurant experience comes with preconceived notions, and since he was re-inventing the restaurant business, that would only hinder his progress. I agree. So I do not want people in my industry as
franchisees, only to join the Founders Round Table (my master mind group). Mostly people I met by chance at places like Starbucks: Venti Mocha Power frappachino please...no whip." Need to go where people's neurons are transmitting fastest otherwise I get board and have to leave. Our business is customer driven; we cannot stop it if we had too. They want service and they want it now, and they demand that it be us, we are in the cleaning businessieve their desired goal/s.
When you’re ready to go, shut off the phones and start recording (it’s also a good idea to have a script in front of you). Record your tape in less than 60 minutes. Play it to your friends, make any changes you think might be worthwhile based on their advice. When you’re happy with the final product, create some duplicates (or get someone to do it for you) and then start selling your product on the Internet – It’s that easy!
Making your own DVD information product
If you think your idea is an exceptional one, or something that could work better visually, then you might consider producing your own DVD of Special Interest Video (SIV’s). This type of information product (often referred to as Guerilla Video) is becoming more popular as the required production technology becomes more accessible. Anyone with a DVC, a computer and some editing software can now make fairly professional looking DVD’s.
DVD’s like tapes and CD’s are also more valuable in terms of what your customer might pay for them; although they are more expensive to produce, people are more likely to pay extra money to watch a DVD (especially if it can show them how to do something instead of having to listen or read about it). For example, showing someone how to dance or swing a golf club would be much more valuable then telling them how to do it.
Remember that the ‘if you can’t do it, get someone else to’ principle applies for DVD’s and audio information products as well. It will cost you a little extra, but will usually be worth it in the long run.
Regardless of your current level of video expertise, if you have the basic equipment, you can produce your own SIV. The first time around, you should consult with a sound and lighting technician and hire a video editor who can help you assemble your masterpiece.
Picking a topic and selling it
I probably should have covered this at the beginning? Anyway, by now you’ve probably got 3-4 ideas for your own e-book? If not, you’d better get brainstorming!
Have you ever trained an animal? There’s a product right there. Do you have a fantastic way to save money? There’s another product. Do you know how to build anything? That’s definitely a product. There’s potential for information products all around you. The most important thing is that you research you target market properly and find out what they are interested in. A great way to do this is to post a short online questionnaire which you can advertise through pay per click Google Adwords. You could offer to give away a free copy of your product to anyone who helps you out with your market research.
Before marketing your product, decide how much it’s worth: as a rough guide, you can sell an audio tape for at least $10 - $30 or a series of tapes for a lot more (depending on the subject) and you should be able to double that price for a CD or DVD product. At the end of the day you really have to test your price -you need to understand how much the market values your information. If your product can help other people earn money, you should be able to sell it for $97 per unit or more. If you’re trying to market a dog grooming manual you may find it more difficult to generate good returns – you must pick your topic carefully.
Some killer website copy, targeted ads and packaging can all help add value to your product. You will also need a merchant account so you can accept payment for your information product.
Visit http://www.profitpuppy.com/accepting-payment.htm to learn more about merchant accounts.
E-books, tapes and SIV information Products can be the ideal business to start - they are easy to produce, simple to ship, and enjoy high returns because people aren’t paying for the physical form the product is delivered in. Remember, that after you’ve completed your product, you’ll be making nearly 100% profit (that’s if people are interested enough to buy it). For example, if you produced just 1 DVD and can sell 500 copies at $50 a piece, you stand to make $25,000…
Regards, Rob Rawson
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