Far too often I face clients with this plaintive wail. They've sweated and toiled to create what they think is the 'killer' ebook or fantastic course - but no one will buy it.

They think it is because they haven't marketed it well enough, and want some guidance. It's hard to tell them the truth - but doing it is better (and fairer) than letting them live on in a fool's paradise. So I tell them the bitter truth:

"No one is buying because no one WANTS it"

And that's the crux of the problem. You see, as an infopreneur your role is to first identify the problems your target market wants to have solved - and then sell them the solution.

In one single short sentence, this is the kernel of every successful infopreneur. They tapped into a market's wants and desires, then provided a solution that eased their pain, fostered their dreams, allayed their anxiety, fuelled their happiness, heightened their enjoyment.

The first 'secret' is to identify problems. You can either ask people (or a random sample of your target market) through surveys, questionnaires, quizzes and market research forms. If you have a list of subscribers, clients or members, you can ask them for feedback. You could even arrange to have a friend poll his list for you, or pay to run your survey in front of a suitable audience.

Even if it costs you money, even if it takes up time, even if it means putting in the effort to do it - it is worthwhile. Because the alternative is to take a stab in the dark, and gamble your time and energy creating a product without even having a faint idea if anyone needs or wants it.

That's NOT being a smart infopreneur.

But simply having the right data is not enough. You have to provide a solution that fits the market demand - and does it in a way that overwhelms and delights your buyers. It should make them stop and say: "Wow". That's the way you will effortlessly grow your infopreneur business - by happy buyers spreading the word about your solution to their friends and later coming back to buy something more from you.

It is not always easy to provide that valuable solution. Indeed, you may not even be the best person to do it. As an honest, ethical, customer-oriented infopreneur, you should not try to teach or preach about things you do not know enough.

Instead, become the 'compiler', the 'researcher', the 'interviewer', who seeks out the best solution and then makes it available to a hungry crowd of potential buyers. You could collect and organize information from multiple sources, saving your buyers time and effort doing it on their own. You could do the hard work of seeking out the truth, by carrying out your own research from available sources. Or you could locate a real expert and pick his brains.

No matter how you go about it, your focus should be on providing high quality information that a prospective buyer will find valuable, will associate with a helpful vendor, and will use as the basis to come back to you and buy over and over again.

Being a successful infopreneur is easy - as long as you don't forget these 2 rules of finding what your market wants, and then providing it.