Now when I say develop new streams of revenue, I'm not talking about adding one or more network marketing type businesses to your belt so you just have more to sell that may or may not be at all related to the type of business you're already in. Not that there's anything wrong with network marketing models but I just wanted to make that distinction; I'm not talking about that kind of income stream.
I'm talking about leveraging your expertise, knowledge, systems, services, information, etc. into products and services you can create basically one time and then sell over and over again via the internet.
If you're already in an information marketing business you still may want to pay attention because I can almost guarantee that you will be negligent in one, two or even maybe three of the steps I plan to cover. Changing these things in your business could generate 10's of 1,000's of dollars in your pocket if you tweak a few things.
We know millions of people are still spending money. The question is how do you get a piece of that pie?
Well, Step 3 in this process is Figuring Out What to Sell and How to Price It.
Previously in step 2 I talked about choosing the business model that fits the type of lifestyle you want to lead. So after doing that there will be specific types of products, services or programs that fit that model (others will not).
So, what will you sell?
- Will you sell yourself and your time? Will you sell hourly, monthly or annual coaching or consulting services, packages or programs?
o If so, how much will you charge per hour? per month, etc.?
o Will you definitely charge "what you're worth" or will you charge less thinking that people won't pay what you think you are worth? Be careful undercharging or under valuing yourself. I say you charge what you're worth and then find the people who agree and will pay you that fee.
o What is included in your services - call in hours, 1on1 calls, group Q&A calls, in person meetings, emailing, critiquing, resources?
o What can you also offer as a bonus to get people to sign up?
- Will you sell your information and expertise? You can put almost anything you know about into an information marketing product these days. Of course you do want to make sure people want what you're selling so doing surveys and research first is critical.
o You can write an article, read it on a teleclass for a product, then record it too and you have an audio recording or CD. Transcribe the call and edit with the article and maybe beef up a bit and you have the ebook to go with the CD!
o Or record yourself talking about a topic, transcribe it and you create the product - it can be that simple.
o There are numerous other ways to create products to sell - talk to me for more ideas!!
o So, how much is your expertise worth? Well, look around at other similar products, compare price and content then start somewhere and possibly test out different prices or survey an audience to see what they would spend. Typically for an information marketing product you can charge 10 times the amount it actually costs to produce if you're selling a hard copy product. If you're selling a digitally delivered product, you can do it for less and focus on volumn sales.
- Will you hold live events, retreats, workshops, seminars or other in person meeting? You can sell those one by one or in a series and if you record those or videotape those then you have a home study kit!
o Pricing for events is hard to generalize. Some bigger 3+ day events typically go for $3000, others can go for less. It depends on your goals of your event and what else you have to sell at the event too - where else you can make money....
- You can do a combination of these things too; I do them all! But you do typically want to start with ONE thing first, then add to it and so on. Now, granted you can't just plop a webpage up or blog and think people will come and buy right away. You still have to set up systems, your support team, build a responsive list and manage ongoing marketing campaigns for any of these things to sell properly.
I've done this and taught hundreds of my clients how to do this and you can do it too. I'd love to show you how!!
When I changed my entire business model to this information marketing model I immediately got back 50 hours per week that I was spending working on all my client's work or busywork that I now spend on my own business and personal development.
There are 5 more steps to starting your own Online Information Marketing Business and so I will bring you more later.....
Now IS THE TIME to take action in your business. It's time to think bigger, dream bigger, make bigger goals and take bigger leaps of faith in order to truly get the business and life of your dreams.
Online Information Technology Degrees
We know millions of people are still spending money. The question is how do you get a piece of that pie?
Step 4 in this process is All About Logistics.
You see if you figure out what you want to sell and just go out there and try to sell it but you bypass the part about setting up the systems and automation then you're defeating the purpose of doing an information marketing business in the first place. Because you'll be running around trying to manage and process the orders manually wasting a bunch of your time and money if you don't set up the business the right way FIRST.
So, what do you need to set up exactly? - Business Basics
o You really should consider getting a business license even though you're selling online
o You should definitely get a business bank account, don't mix personal and business funds
o You may need business cards if you network out in person
o You must have a website and web presence - professionally designed mind you or at least a blog to get you started (depends on type of business!)
o Start putting everyone you know into a contact database into the computer. Do this right away or pay someone to do it but if you wait it will be way too big of a chore. Start with an Excel spreadsheet if you want, it doesn't matter in the beginning; you don't need any fancy software right off the bat.
- Technology
o Since you'll be selling online, you'll want to get a shopping cart hooked up to your website (I recommend 1ShoppingCart.com) I don't recommend PayPal typically because the customer's information is then stored on their site, not yours and they don't accommodate for recurring charges and billing which you'll need most often.
o You'll need a merchant account company, this can be your bank too but this is the liaison between your shopping cart and your bank account. (I recommend PracticePaySolutions.com as one option, I have others too.)
o I also recommend signing up for an online data backup system because you never know when your computer might freak out and you don't want to rely on backing up yourself or it won't get done! (I recommend Mozy.com)
- Outsourcing
o I do recommend you hire a bookkeeper as soon as possible to manage your sales and Quickbooks, it's much easier starting with one right away so your books don't get out of hand.
o I do recommend you hire a Virtual Assistant to handle any of the technology or shipping aspects of running your business right from the start otherwise you will spend too much time on that stuff (web changes, processing orders, fullfilment, blog updates, some social networking, etc.).
You never want to do anything (even in the beginning stages) that you don't like to do, don't know how to do or that someone else can do much faster or cheaper than you can. Think about what your time is worth?
Now, granted there is way more to set up but these are the basics.
Now IS THE TIME to take action in your business. It's time to think bigger, dream bigger, make bigger goals and take bigger leaps of faith in order to truly get the business and life of your dreams.
Katrina Sawa has sinced written about articles on various topics from Website Traffic, Internet Marketing and Start Online Business. (c) Copyright 2009 K. Sawa Marketing International. Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next level in business, revenues an. Katrina Sawa's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
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