4 weeks with 1-hour each day during a brief parental leave period nearly a decade ago changed my life FOREVER!
Starting with the desire to write a book, I ended up with a digital ebook that became my first online digital course – these two products became the foundation for a lifestyle and financial change FAR beyond expected…now dozens of digital products later across 4 niche markets and THOUSANDS of students…it’s been a incredible journey with many lives impacted along the way.
What’s been the MOST interesting thing for me and all of those we have helped through our online content, membership programs and online coaching is how doing this ONCE (that initiate few weeks investment) provide you with the skill, knowledge and confidence to take this as FAR and as BIG as you want it.
That is to say…
This is all because of one simple and repeatable process.
It is a very simple 4 part business.
- Step 1: Research and Identifying Your Market & BIG Idea
- Step 2: Create and sell your initial digital product (ebook, report or course are good ways to start)
- Step 3: Build a SIMPLE funnel to turn traffic into leads and sales
- Step 4: Mine your customers for more product and sales opportunities while making them ecstatic!
For Real…That’s IT!
There are so many ways to make this process more complicated than it REALLY is…that’s why so many people either never get started or get stuck before they earn their first dollar
It’s really as clear as this…
If you follow this system and put the couple of weeks worth of effort in…one of two things will happen (and either way YOU WIN!)
- Your partners/influencers and market will TELL you why they want something different (in which case you HAVE the answer) – OR
- Your customers buy like crazy and you’re off to the races…
OK… So let’s see JUST how to do this then…
The Recipe
I have online businesses across 4 niches with dozens of products in each – but they all started like this…
First: Create and launch a “Minimum Viable Product” (report, short ebook, intro course, webinar)
Second: Build a simple lead funnel that results in leads that grow daily
Third: You offer your first product PLUS related affiliate products, services AND eventually create others
Before we share HOW, let’s get into the WHY
There are several reasons to sell your own digital information product, and once you are convinced that this path is the right one for you – you have won the battle.
- You get paid RIGHT away…and you control all aspects of pricing, partner portion, bundling, etc…
- Your leads become a lifelong source of ideas and profit
- These are digital products – marketed and delivered totally online
- MASSIVE leverage: You create once and sell over and over again (one of my products I’ve been selling for over 15-years!)
- Endless opportunity for upsells and cross-sells as you mine a “privileged” relationship with your leads and customers
- Work from anywhere, work according to your idea schedule – YOU are in control
- Feed influencers and affiliates who are HUNGRY to sell your products
- Best of BOTH worlds…unlimited profit potential AND you brand yourself so you can command higher prices (profits) with each month that passes
NEVER underestimate the importance of building a business you 100% control, that you can take in any direction you want and that NOBODY can pull out from under you!
So now – let’s get to the HOW
Step 1: How Do You Find Your Perfect Market & Idea?
Nearly everyone gets this wrong…mainly because they try and copy what worked for someone else…but really you need what will work for you!
Try This…
- What is ONE interest, hobby or skill you have now that doesn’t seem like work to you?
- What do you find yourself doing, reading about, following/learning about just out of interest?
- When you are with other people, what do you enjoy talking about most?
You don’t even have to think about it, you know what that thing is.
Promise me though, don’t edit this or drop from consideration something just because you don’t THINK there is any money in it…we’ll get there – and I think you’ll like what you see when we do
This Is Your Market…From Here – We’ll Do Some Quick Research And Find Your Niche
Here’s another thing everyone gets confused with…a MARKET and AREA OF INTEREST are simply that…areas you are drawn into learning, experiencing, talking, sharing and helping.
That’s NOT a niche…at least in terms of a niche that is useful when filling a desire, demand or selling products
See the NICHE is simply going one level deeper into problems, frustrations, desires to uncover pockets of demand that exist in every market or area of interest out there…
THIS…is your valuable lesson in what turns PASSION for a market or area of interest into a HIGH-PROFIT potential business.
If you’ve read this far then I know you are serious, that you at LEAST are intrigued by the lifestyle and financial potential in having your own top selling digital courses and products…and so I wanted to share with you a resource where we go FAR deeper into preparing, teaching, guiding and helping you to get your product launched faster, with less pain AND as a repeatable skill that you can use over and over again to generate profit so you’ll never have financial worries again…the ONLY CATCH is that we only take a small number at a time as there is a private member support aspect to this course.
You can see if we are currently taking members here…but even if we aren’t you can leave your contact information and when we have an opening again, we’ll make sure to contact you.
The key is simply finding whats in demand in your niche. If you’re ready to get started and want to Fast Track your journey to digital product entrepreneur – we’ll see you over there.
Armed with the perfect Niche Market for YOU…you’re ready for the next step.
Moving onward…
Step 2: How To Create “Minimum Viable Products” That Sell Quickly In Your Niche Market
So there’s really two parts to this:
– Creating your step-by-step system
– Outlining and creating your written product or video digital course
The key to a Minimum Viable Product is to pick a problem or desire that is straightforward and relatively simple to solve – trying to boil the ocean and solve every complex problem your target market has is a surefire way to fail from the get-go
It all starts with finding a common frustration or desire within your market, and offer a solution
One of my neighbor’s is s fitness trainer who wanted to get started packaging what he knows into digital products.
I asked, what is the #1 question, frustration or desire you get from your clients?
“How do I get rid of muffin tops, saggy arms or inner thigh fat”
So, we focused on the inner thigh fat and put together a mini-program – 4-steps to eliminate inner thigh fat…first came a 30-page guide, then a longer course with coaching and eventually a complete online business including a membership program
Let’s say you don’t know what that #1 question is for your target market, then head to Amazon, blogs, top social media accounts and Reddit discussion groups and soon you will begin to see patterns that emerge (raised by multiple people across a variety of platforms with lots of engagement…surefire way to find your focus niche and BIG idea)
Ok, but how about getting the product written or recorded?
It’s actually really SIMPLE!
You START with an outline…and that outline begins with the 3, 4 or 5 steps you need to teach people to take to address their frustration and achieve their desired outcome.
Taking the example above of getting rid of inner thigh fat…it could be:
- Understand why fat stores on your inner thighs
- 3 Exercises that best target inner thigh fat burning
- Walk Your Fat Off
- Weight routines that melt inner thigh fat
- 2 other daily activities that are crucial to elimination inner thigh fat
Now you have the main components of YOUR solution system…when you sit down to present, talk about or speak to write (my term for writing via recording yourself “talking” your digital product”, it’s just like having a simple conversation with a friend instead of a painful exercise of trying to figure out product development
You can outline in Microsoft Word, Google Docs – I’ve even started outlines for my digital products on my Apple iPhone using Notes!
You can either break down each of these 5 major steps into a subset of 3-5 sub-steps (say the exercises themselves, other definitions of actual, practical steps) and finally throw in some tips or actual examples (if you have them) that will help explain, entertain or frame expectations
When you outline properly, you can literally write or record (video using your mobile phone or a DSLR camera that won’t break the bank) each section (chapter, module or series of lessons in a digital course) in about 1-hour making overall product development on your MVP a 4-5 hour exercise…
Done
Step 3: Simple Funnel and Lead Acquisition
Where oh where do I get traffic, generate leads and convert those leads into customers?
The GREAT news is that if you have followed the instructions properly around #1 & #2 – it will be MUCH easier to target, attract and convert leads for your digital product business
Here are 3 ways to get traffic FAST:
- Affiliates/influencers: Our system has always been to find early partners with influence EARLY on in our MVP creation…getting them on-board with input, reviews, testimonials and yes…eventually partner promotions
- Organic content: This takes a little longer to build momentum but is something you must START doing right from the beginning…the good news is that the one out of 10 pieces of organic content that HITS not only gets you ongoing traffic and leads, it tells you MORE about what your market wants and how to message properly
- Paid Ads: This one depends on your budget and on your affinity for technology (ad platforms) as well as numbers (track and revise is critical to successful paid advertising campaigns). The great news is that even with $20-$50 of ad budget (along with some coupons for free ad dollars to get you started) you can get a kick-start on some early sales + improve your ad Return On Investment before deciding if you will continue/expand
Ideally you start with 5-10 affiliates promoting for you…you will find some HIT and some don’t, that has more to do with how well your exact niche and digital product match with their audience.
The great news is that just one or two hits can result in a FLOOD of traffic, a crush of leads and lots of sales – a GOOD thing for all involved!
Where Do You Find Affiliates and Influencers?
The great news is – all around you!
Some of the places we use include social media platforms (Facebook pages, Facebook groups, Instagram, Twitter, Pintrest, YouTube, Snapchat…any platform where you you see activity around your market)
You want to find the people that are (or have) built a significant following, have a great deal of engagement – not the very largest in the beginning, but certainly with some track record of leading in your market
In the majority of cases, influencers become affiliates as they need to monetize their following – that’s where you can come in and form some very strong and profitable relationships
The key is knowing when and how to approach these influencers in a way that will both capture their attention and make them more likely to cooperate with you…it involves engaging early, focusing on relationship and exchanging value for advice, review and finally – promotion.
More about that method inside 30 Day Product Profit Program for those of you who want to take your Marketing to the next level
Step 4: Mine Your Customers For Growth & Make Them Ecstatic
People always ask me if there is a secret to turning a few sales of your digital product into a MAJOR venture – 6-7 figures…here it is.
Your customer relationships ARE your primary differentiation…as you sign up your customer, deliver your digital course or digital products, support your customers and follow-up once they have worked through your program you have an incredibly privilege to stay close with your customers where you will find ways to improve your existing digital program AND new areas where you can help either via a new product/service or by recommending affiliate products
This ‘inside’ knowledge of how your customers DO with your products and what they want to do NEXT are unique to YOU…that’s how you stay several steps ahead of your competition.
There are a few things you should be doing as you grow and scale your business to ensure you build this relationship building and feedback into your digital program:
- Survey your list (leads) and customers
Ask them short pointed questions like:
- What is preventing you from achieving outcome xyz?
- What have you NOT seen covered in the research you have done so far?
- Who has been most helpful SO FAR in helping you get where you want to go?
- What are you hoping to achieve by seeking our information or help?
- What is your ideal timeframe for achieving your main outcome?
You will be surprised how many answer and give you some insights you may not have had previously
2. Add Coaching to collect primary feedback
Look, making a living ONLY from coaching limits your scale, but using it strategically helps you scale x100
One of the most beneficial aspects to coaching is that you get to know your customer VERY well, VERY fast…and you work mainly on implementing your system, formula or strategy in order to deliver their desired outcome.
I like to offer 20-30 FIRST MOVER licenses to my digital products that include a bonus coaching element which serves a few different purposes:
- Test the material and improve on the fly
- Create some early product champions who will endorse you, provide case studies and even, potentially, promote your product to their wider circle
- Develop early social proof – one of the leading factors into persuading others – at launch – to invest in your digital program
- Breakthroughs: Many of our biggest breakthroughs have come via personal touch…working with our clients we find amazing new opportunities that grow profit and improve lives
- It’s FUN and it’s FULFILLING…in the end, you business is a major part of your life and should provide satisfaction and fulfillment for you to give 110%
How Do I Make It All Work? (Technical Stuff)
Platforms, hosting, taking payment, delivering or making your digital courses available to customers can scare most early online entrepreneurs
Don’t worry…there are some very good platforms and services that make this entire technical ramp simple, fast and quite cost effective
To make it REALLY easy, here’s the basics of what you will need:
- A few web pages (Landing Page to capture leads, sales page to sell your digital course or program, page(s) to deliver your products) and eventually a blog or content page where you can host or link back to content you produce in the coming weeks
- Autoresponder to capture, manage and profit from your leads
- A payment processor
- An affiliate management capability
For website hosting, we have used a few different providers, but the majority of our sites have been on Hostgator for the longest, and they have some great startup plans with awesome features and very good support.
We highly recommend New Zenler as your one-step platform for hosting courses (multimedia), selling digital PDF’s either as one-time purchases or ongoing membership subscriptions. They include templates for all of the pages you will need, course management (including surveys, quizzes, course tracking, Live Webinar support via Zoom, etc…)
One of your unique differentiators as a digital course or product entrepreneur is how simple, clear and professional your website and course delivery system is – New Zenler makes selling and hosting digital courses SIMPLE for a fraction of the cost of other learning management systems or funnel builders out there.
You can take payments via Paypal and/or Stripe – all integrated with their platform
The investment in this platform saves many hours of work integrating separate systems, lets you get started immediately AND scale as well as saving you money and downtime in the long run
Wrapping Up!
You have the framework to go out and change your life in the next 30-days OR LESS…
It’s now up to you to jump in and get started, ask questions if you get stuck and above all else, persist until you get your first (or next) digital course or product to market…I am not kidding when I say that complete lives have been changed in mere weeks for people who have worked this plan and made it happen
Want more help, more depth explanations and case studies, more assistance with tools and templates and access to private mentorship to get your questions answered…head over to 30 Day Product Profit Formula NOW!
We’ll talk soon!
Jeff
