Focusing on Leverage

I would say that at least once a week (if not more) I hear someone talking about some job or money related thing that just points out the fact that most of us don't really focus on building leverage.  The other day, I heard some people talking about how the latest round of promotions in their office were pretty thin since funds for the organization were cut.  Therefore, fewer people got promoted…better luck next year.  Comments like, "Well, that's life" were all that was offered as the passed-over employees went back to the grind.

Instead of worrying so much about being "given" a promotion, most people would be better off if they used their natural skills and talents to go out and "generate" additional income (or, horror of horrors, develop new skills that allows them to do so). 

It doesn't matter if it's done via affiliate marketing, an infoproduct business, making/selling crafts from home or providing some sort of service (though I obviously have my own criteria for choosing among those options).  To some extent, the vehicle used doesn't really matter.  What's important is to have some sort of additional income stream that can help you bridge the gap between how much you make now and how much you'd like to be making. 

Ideally that income stream will grow to the point that it can replace what you make from your current employer but will also be systemized so it requires little to none of your time to keep running (so YOU don't have to be part of the equation).

Why is that?  Is it because of laziness or wanting to take advantage of the work done by others?  Hardly! 

The hard, cold fact is that at some point, you're not going to be able to do whatever the "thing" is that you do now (or you just flat out won't WANT to do).  Why not guard against that by setting up that additional income streams now?  Not "multiple streams of income"…just ONE thing.  The former is just an excuse for lack of focus.

This whole trading time for money thing is a bit ridiculous sometimes.  I heard a guy that's about to "retire" talking about moving to New Mexico.  I guess they pay nearly the same amount there as they do in Washington, DC for his particular job but the cost of living there is much less.  So he commented that maybe he'd work there once he moved, doing the same sort of thing he does now but after he "retired"…presumably because the pay was so great. 

But my question is why would you want to CHOOSE to spend your golden years slogging off to some job, trading even more of your "more-precious-than-ever" time for money, rather than enjoying yourself?  Instead, why not use all that you've learned over the last 30-something years and find a way to make that experience work for you, perhaps in the form of coaching, consulting, creating an informational how-to guide or some other "thing" that gives you freedom of time and freedom of location?

Oh well, to each his own I guess…

Popularity: 33% [?]

Six "Einstein Woulda' Done This" Reasons for Starting an Online Business

No intro on this article…let's just get right to it.  If you're thinking about starting an online business or are wondering if this "Internet stuff" is the right path for you, here are some killer reasons why you should rest at ease and know you've chosen the right business.

1.  Low Overhead

An online business is one of the few businesses with incredibly low overhead.  You don't need to hire a huge number of employees, you don't need to rent office space or stock inventory.  Instead, your online business can run nice and lean, with only web hosting and a few other expenses that are absolutely required.  Anything more is optional.

2.  Run From Anywhere in the World

As long as you have an Internet connection, you can operate your business from anywhere in the world.  There are some huge advantages of this, not the least of which is the freedom of location that this type of business gives you.  Why build a business that forces you to be stuck in one location or that makes it difficult to move to a new area because you'd have to start from scratch finding new customers all over again?  You won't be dealing with any of these issues as you build your online business.

3.  Allows You to Leverage Your Skills, Talents and Interests

This relates mostly to information products, but affiliate marketing and other online business strategies can come into play here too.  When building your online business, you can focus on markets that you're interested or have experience and use that know-how to create tons of great content.  That can include your own information products, articles, videos, podcasts, special reports and so on.  The whole web is based on content and if you're able to tap into something you enjoy and create great content around that topic, you'll be setting yourself up for success.

4.  Earn Additional Income or Full-Time Income

Of course, this is what we're all looking for, right?  A way to earn additional income or even a full-time income via the Internet…to get out of the Rat Race and so on.  Having an online business is clearly one of the best strategies for reaching this goal, for many of the reasons mentioned above.  And by building an online business that brings in additional income, you're able to hedge yourself against uncertain financial changes, market trends and other curve balls life tends to throw our way from time to time.

5.  Can Be Started Part-Time

This is one of the best things about an online business, especially for the "Average Joe"…it can be started part-time.  In fact, it SHOULD be started part-time.  And once it's up and running, it really shouldn't be a full-time effort.  Otherwise, that's just another JOB.  An online business doesn't require you to "man the fort" for certain hours during the day, to answer phones, or to be instantly accessible.  Sure, you need to provide customer support for your buyers, reply to emails, take care of the occasional return and so on.  But online, there's not the same expectation that you'll be instantly accessible as in the case of an offline business (where you might be "leashed" to a cell phone…UGH!).  This allows you to batch your support tasks to take care of them all at once or outsource those tasks altogether.  Product creation and content creation can also be done relatively quickly and during times that are most convenient and productive for you.  This is perfect if you're still working a job and have limited time to devote to your business.

6.  Plenty of Income Strategies to Choose From

Online business is such a broad term and it's important to realize that there are several income models that make up the whole "online business" arena.  Here are just a few off the top of my head:

• You can create information products based on your own knowledge
  (or info you learn through a little bit of research)
• You can recommend other people's products and earn a referral fee as an affiliate
• You can create content sites and add ways for those sites to make money
  (affiliate offers, contextual advertising, paid ads, etc)
• You can create a paid membership site or other recurring income stream
• You can offer coaching or consulting to your target market

For any of these options, I suggest creating a blog to serve as the hub for your products, the basis for your content site, or the place where you add content to go along with your affiliate offers.  There are tons of resources available for learning how to get a blog up and running and you can even use free services like Wordpress.com or Blogger.com.  But if you're serious about building a REAL business, you'll want to have that blog on your own domain, not hosted on one of these free services.

If you'd like to learn the fastest, easiest way to get your blog setup on your own domain, watch me take you through the process step-by-step in my Business Blog Mastery video tutorial.  In fact, if you order by Sunday, 6PM EST (GMT -5), you can get it during a weekend special I'm starting a day early…just $27 vs. the usual $55.00.  Here's the link:

Click Here to Order "Business Blog Mastery" CD-ROM

And while we're at it…if you're interested getting a crash course in online business strategies, how to get started and why this is, without a doubt, the best business to start, you'll want to check out my brand new Online Business Overview Audio CD.  On that CD, I go over a lot of the information above in more detail (and then some) and give you my own personal insights into which online business models are most effective and REALLY worth pursuing.  Check out the back of the CD for details using the link below.

I'm offering an introductory special on that audio CD also.  Regular price will be $35.00 after the special, but you can get it for a measly 15 bucks if you order by
Sunday, 6pm EST (GMT -5).  Here's the link:

Click Here to Order the Online Business Overview (Audio CD)

~Kenton Newby

Popularity: 32% [?]

Benefits of Being in the Physical Information Product Business

I was talking with a friend of mine about some of the upsides to being in the infoproduct business, specifically selling PHYSICAL infoproducts.  If you're not already selling information products, then perhaps this list will help highlight some of the reasons why it's such a powerful (and profitable) business model.

Zero Inventory
You don't have to hold any inventory in your home office, basement or wherever you work out of.  Using print-on-demand services or other means for product fulfillment means that's one less step in the process that you have to be involved with.  And more and more companies are popping up that offer print-on-demand services, making it easier than ever to use that sort of streamlined delivery method while taking yourself out of the equation (if you choose to).

Low Overhead
Sure, you can build a business with tons of employees, staff, a huge building and tons of equipment.  But wouldn't it be better to not have all that overhead?  That's just more things to manage, more things to go wrong and much more cost.  There are hardly any overhead costs with an infoproduct business.

Speed to Market
With the right tools, you can have a product created and out to market relatively quickly.  Instead of needing thousands of dollars of equipment, like what might have been the case in the past, now you can just use off-the-shelf software and readily available consumer electronics to create fantastic, profitable products.

Higher Perceived Value
You can typically charge more for a physical info product thanks to the higher perceived value.  I know I'd rather have a DVD that I can refer to later if I need to rather than wondering if that website with the online tutorial is still going to be up and running 2 years from now.  There's a place for online info products, but in general, it's just as easy to deliver a finished product to your customers and take advantage of the higher perceived value that comes with that.

High Margins
There are HUGE profits to be made in the infoproduct business.  You've seen how much a typical product sells for.  And you know that the actual "hard costs" aren't anywhere close to that (in most cases).  If you have a bunch of great info that you've packaged into a DVD that sells for $50, you're keeping something like 90% - 95% of that as profit.  That's tough to find in any business.

Repeat Customers
While not something that's unique to an infoproduct business, you can certainly foster repeat purchases from your customers.  That's especially true if you produce quality products in a market that's information intensive.

Leveraging What You Know and Replacing Manual Labor
Creating infoproducts allows you to leverage what you know and generate income from that know-how.  Rather than "doing" the thing, you can show people "how to do" the thing.  That means you're also replacing manual labor by having a product, freeing more of your time.  You're also able to work once and get paid multiple times for your product.  You can also easily scale this model up by adding additional products.

It's FUN!
Would you rather be creating a new, profitable DVD (or other product) on a topic you enjoy or stuck in some meeting for 4 hours with no one getting anything done?  Easy choice.

 

Popularity: 64% [?]