Create Your Product

To create a recurring stream of revenue, you need to have a product or a service to offer to others. A product can be

  1. an electronic book (e-book),
  2. a “how to” video,
  3. a “cheat sheet” on how to do something that most people think of as hard to do…

The whole idea behind How To Monetize You is that you can use your creativity and know-how to make something cool, then take that cool thing and make it a product – a product that you sell as is OR use to promote and enhance your services.

Most of you reading this will recognise yourself in one of these situations:

  • You want to create a product to complement an existing product you sell,
  • You have decided on the topic but just not sure how to go about creating a product and selling it,
  • You don’t have a product at all but are intrigued by the prospect,
  • You want to create a product you can use as a list builder.

Creating a Complementary Product

If you are a business owner with an existing product, do you realise how you could benefit from creating extra products to use as backends and upsells, or even front-end sales-leaders? You need up-sells. You need things to cross-sell. You want to be able to re-sell your customers. You want to figure out how to create continuity for them. And each of those is going to take a different “thing”, if we call a product or a service a thing.

Another benefit to business owners of creating a complementary product, is the product can be used to grow your prospect list. In this scenario, the product we are going to create will be given away (or close to free) to help you find people who will want to buy your main product or service.

If you are a chiropractor, perhaps you create a free guide called “How To Ensure Your Desk, Chair and Computer are placed in Optimal Positions for your Back Health”. Once a prospect raises his hand to say he wants the guide, you now can market your chiropractor services to this prospect. (Getting your guide in front of the prospect is a topic for another day.)

You are a Recognized Expert

You know what you want to do but not quite sure how to go about it. You might already know what product you want to create, and you only need advice on the process, on the mechanics. Perhaps you have a topic you have long thought about trying to make money from but need some guidance to get started. I’ll show you how to flesh out your idea and see if there is a market for it.

You don’t have an idea at all but are intrigued by the prospect

Cast your net wide. What is it that you know how to do? Is there something your friends are always calling you about? “Say Ed, I can’t get my lawnmower to start, what do you think could be wrong with it?”

Several years ago it seemed I was running into people weekly who were doing their first triathlon and asking for my advice.(I had done a couple of Ironman triathlons and won one so everyone thought I knew what I was doing.) As I found myself “coaching” three friends to their first race, I decided to write a little book on “How to do your first triathlon”. Mind you I am not a pro, not a sponsored athlete, in my social circle I am just a regular, average participant. But.. and here is the key… my experience still put me in a small circle of people on the planet who have completed an Ironman.

You want to create a product to use as a list builder

Similar to the first situation, you want to create a product to use to grow a list. Perhaps you have an idea for a BIG product you intend to create later and first you want to develop the idea and make sure there is a market for it.

For example, you intend to have a charity fund raiser in 6 months and you would like to begin to build a list of people who might attend. If your fund raiser is for the Humane Society, maybe you could find interested people by writing a report about the pros and cons of organic dog food.

Has the light bulb gone off? Do you see how creating an information product can create revenue for you? Stay tuned to find out exactly how to make the product a reality.

So what did you think? Is this information useful? Did you agree with it? Let me know!