Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The value of time.


Your goal as an entrepreneur isn't to work forever - it's to create a business that will generate the money you need. You need to be thinking about HOW to replace yourself. 
The first thing you need to replace is your customer support. Then follow it with website design, 
writing, research... anything and everything else you can until your business can run without you. 
That should be the end goal of your business. 

Replace yourself by either outsourcing the tasks you currently do - or hire employees.

Outsourcing is the practice of contracting out certain business functions or processes to external service providers. This can include tasks ranging from customer support and information technology to manufacturing and back-office operations. Outsourcing is commonly used by businesses to access specialized skills, reduce costs, and focus on core competencies.

Benefits of Outsourcing:
Cost Savings: Outsourcing can often be more cost-effective than handling certain functions in-house, 
especially when labor costs are lower in the outsourcing destination.

Access to Specialized Skills: Companies can tap into the expertise of external professionals, 
accessing specialized skills and knowledge.

Focus on Core Competencies: Outsourcing allows businesses to concentrate on their core activities and 
strategic objectives while external partners handle non-core functions.

Flexibility and Scalability: Outsourcing provides flexibility to scale up or down based on business needs without the challenges of hiring or downsizing internal teams.

Global Reach: Outsourcing allows businesses to leverage a global talent pool and expand their reach beyond geographic boundaries.

Finally.

Charge for your time. You should not be giving away your most valuable asset for free. Every second that you are spending with a client, you are not able to spend with your family.
... how much is your time worth? 
As you grow in your niche, people will start trying to get your time for free.
Beware of this - because it will quickly kill your productivity and your business.

Every time you start into a project, you are interrupted by email, phone calls, instant messages....
Learn to cluster your time - take 60 minutes at the end of your workday when you are less productive... and then (and only then) answer your emails - and make phone calls back.

I wish You Success.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Ways to Create a Product

Creating a new product involves a series of steps from conceptualization to market launch. 
Understand the market and identify a need or problem that your product can solve.
Engage in creative brainstorming sessions to generate and refine product ideas.

A few product ideas:

1- Software Creation - Creating software is one of the easiest ways to create a product fast. 
You can create something for almost any niche. I have one client who had a public domain book about dream interpretation - so he had someone create a software program for under $100 where the user could type in a word, and if found that interpretation in the book and displayed it. 
for the end user.

2- Public Domain - These are "works" where the copyrights have expired. You are able to take these and re-package them and sell them as your own products!

3- Interviews - interview an expert in ANY field and sell the recordings and/or the transcripts. 
This is the best way to become an expert in any field - just interview the experts and people will see you as one of them.

4- Seminar Videos - put on your own seminar, record it with a video camera and sell the footage.

5- Re-niche content - if you're selling a product (or bought rights to a product) - you can re-niche 
it for a different audience. Example would be if you sell a book about speed reading, re-niche it to "speed reading for students."

6- Book on CD - record yourself reading your book and sell it on cd.

7- Resource CD - compile a list of resources for a specific niche and sell the directory. I've 
personally bought resources on supplements directories and also one on "spy" stuff. (I know - I'm a geek)

8- Recycle content - take products or content you've created in the past and re-use it. I'm using this blog post as a newsletter, an article, probably a chapter in a future book... Recycle what you're doing now.

9- Camtasia Video - this is one of the most powerful tools online marketers have. Create screen capture videos of anything you can do on your computer. Demos of software - PowerPoint slides, how to... 
anything computer related. Think how much moolah the "computer professor" makes by making "how to" videos for different Microsoft products.

10- Idea collection - Combine a list of ideas and sell those. I've got friends who sell list of ideas on how to make money quickly, how to clean your carpets, how to take care of lawns, etc...

11- Other experts submit content - get others to submit articles, or audios, or videos, and compile 
them into a product. I had people submit their best stories, pictures and poems and compiled them into a product.

12- Podcasts - like an online radio show that you can download. Have paid podcasts - or record a bunch,
 then take the recordings and put them onto CD's.

13- Membership sites - have residual income coming in when people pay you over and over again for 
access to your membership site. You can provide content in your membership sites - or create software programs that people have to pay monthly to use.

14- Teleseminars - just record yourself interviewing someone or teaching on a subject that you know 
a lot about. The majority of my products were created with some type of teleseminar.

15- Ghostwriters - hire someone (think outsourcing again) to write a book on the subject that you 
want to sell (guru.com).

16- Free coaching calls - do free coaching calls for your members, track their progress, then
 compile the recordings into a product.

17- Mastermind roundtables - get a group of experts together and have them discuss the subject - 
record the full thing and you've got an instant product!

18- Private Label - similar to public domain, but usually created with the intent to sell without a 
copyright. A million ways to use private label stuff. Most people fail at this because they try to sell the content "as is." Be sure to make it your own and you'll have a ton of success with 
these. 

19- Case studies - People teaching the course compiled hundreds of case studies for the subject we were learning about, and then explained how they all worked.

Ensure that your product complies with relevant regulations and standards in your industry.
Create a strong brand identity for your product and design packaging that is attractive, functional, 
and aligned with your brand.

I wish You Success.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Innovative Ways To Use Your Autoresponder

An autoresponder is a tool or feature used in email marketing that automatically sends predefined messages to individuals on your email list in response to specific triggers or actions. 
These triggers can include subscribing to a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a resource. Autoresponders are valuable for building and maintaining relationships with your audience, nurturing leads, and delivering timely and relevant information.

A few ideas:

1. Collect leads with your autoresponder. You will get an e-mail digest of everyone's e-mail addresses who requests information from your autoresponder.

2. Publish a price list of all the products and services that you offer. You could also include order forms,
product descriptions, and other sales material.

3. Publish free reports in autoresponder format. The reports should be related to your business or web site. Giving away free stuff will quickly increase your traffic.

4. Collect vital customer satisfaction information by publishing a survey in autoresponder format. This type of information will help you serve them better.

5. Instead of answering every customer question that's e-mailed to you, publish " Frequently Ask Questions" in autoresponder format. This will save time and money.

6. You could publish your testimonials or endorsements in autoresponder format if you don't have the room in your ad copy. It's more effective to include all of them.

7. Provide back issues of your e-zine archives in auto-responder format. This will give your subscribers and web site visitors easy access to them.

8. Publish your entire web site in autoresponder format. Sometimes visitors don't have enough time read your entire site. They could print it out and read it offline.

9. You could offer your eBook in autoresponder format. Your visitors won't have to download it or have the software to read it right away.

10. You could publish the terms and conditions to any business transactions in autoresponder format. This could include return policies, purchases, refunds etc.

Using autoresponders strategically can save time, nurture leads, and enhance the overall effectiveness of your email marketing efforts. Be sure to regularly review and optimize your autoresponder sequences based on performance metrics and subscriber feedback.

I wish You Success.