It's a Shame for You Not to Have Your Own Infoproduct - When These Tools Make It So Easy

It still amazes me how inexpensive it is to get going with an information product business.  I'd say the biggest expense is probably the time it takes to go from idea to product, assuming you tie a dollar amount to your time.  Other than that, it doesn't really take all that much, whether you want to create DVDs, CDs, printed materials or some combination of the three.  And I'm talking about quality products, not just some dinky ebook.  Looking at my own "product creation toolbox", here's what I came up with as must-have (or at least near-must-have) items:

• Camtasia Studio - Probably one of the most expensive items you'll need but well worth it since it's likely to be one of the most used items too.  Great for creating online/downloadable video products or retail-ready DVD products if you have a few other things mentioned below.  Demonstrate nearly anything that can be done on the computer or create and record yourself giving a presentation using PowerPoint or something similar if your market isn't specifically computer-related (meaning this works for just about any market)
• Audacity / Sony Acid Music Studio - If you want to create audio CDs, podcasts or other content in purely audio format, you'll need a way to record and edit audio.  Audacity is open-source and is sufficient for most uses.  I'm playing around with a trial version of Sony's Acid Music Studio which is more robust, but I'm not convinced that it's not overkill for what I need…same goes for most product developers.  Audacity is probably sufficient and is another one of those programs I can't believe is free.
• USB Headset - For recording audio/video with Camtasia or just plain audio with Audacity, you'll need a good headset.  Go with a quality USB headset but be sure to keep your receipt.  I had to try a couple before finding one that worked well with minimal noise on the recording.  Don't go cheap here.  Sound quality is critical for producing a decent product.  Go with a headset versus a desktop microphone to avoid changes in sound quality or volume.  With a desktop mic, your distance from the microphone can change and make the sound inconsistent.  A headset is definitely the way to go so get one that's comfortable.
• Office Suite (MS Office, Open Office, Google Docs) - For printed materials like newsletters, checklists, resource guides, special reports and the like, you can't beat free.  Like many of you, I have a copy of Microsoft Office on my computers but there's absolutely NO NEED to purchase it for what we need.  Instead, pick up a free copy of OpenOffice which is open-source software that mimics MS Office.  Or, just sign up for an account with Google (if you don't already have a GMail, AdWords, or AdSense account).  Then use their Google Docs online application.  I've been surprisingly impressed with what Google's put together with this. (Or did they just buy out some company to acquire this like they did with YouTube?)
• Photoshop Elements - For basic photo editing and other "image stuff", I like Photoshop Elements.  I have an older version that I bought on Amazon for about $35.  You could use something like GIMP which is another open-source software tool, but I found that most of the freely available online instructions showing how to edit photos and other tasks were based on Photoshop.  Photoshop Elements has nearly the same layout and baseline set of features for what most of us will need.  For me, it was easier to use that piece of software rather than try to figure out how to do something using GIMP based on instructions not specifically designed for GIMP.  I use this along with a template to create DVD case covers and other artwork.  This barely makes this list since it could be outsourced, but sometimes it's just quicker to do it in-house.
• Quick 3D Cover Creator - Might not be required but it makes for a nice added touch and isn't too expensive.  This software allows you to take images created in something like Photoshop Elements and add them to templates for DVD case covers, CD covers, software boxes and other layouts.  It's pretty neat software, easy to use and not that expensive, though not absolutely essential since this too can be outsourced.  If you're interested, just Google the term "quick 3d cover" without the quotes and it should be the first result.
• Sony Vegas Movie Studio (with DVD Architect) / DVDFlick - If you want to create a DVD, you'll need a way to take that raw footage and put it in DVD format, then burn it to a disc.  If that's the case, you can use DVDFlick which is another open-source software tool.  I had hit-or-miss results with DVDFlick (mostly "banging-my-head-against-a-wall misses") and also decided I wanted to be able to create DVD navigation menus that appear when the disc starts up.  I figured I might also want to be able to edit live-action video for some other projects I'm working on.  For those reasons, I'm currently using Sony Movie Studio which is the mid-range option out of Sony's line of three video editing packages.  It allows you to do the video editing piece and comes with DVD Architect which allows you to create DVD navigation menus.  Amazingly affordable for what it does.
• Kunaki (with PaypalKunaki script) - Once everything is created and ready for sale, I use Kunaki to handle fulfillment.  You just upload your data to them using their free downloadable software and you're all set.  They can even take payments if you want.  However, I decided to use the Paypal-Kunaki Integration Script created by Steven Lohrenz as an alternative.  This allows me to incorporate Kunaki into my own sales pages…works great too.  There's also a version for WorldPay that was just released.  See Steven's site for more info.

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