Posts by David Wood

FEATURE: Why you need a product

Taken from my book ‘Get Paid For Who You Are‘

Why you need a product

If you want to earn passive income, free up your time and serve more people, you absolutely must have a product to sell. I’ll focus on information products because the profit margins are so high, because they cost close to nothing to produce. But the principles apply to any product.

Let’s take a look at why product is so important to your online business:

1.  Serve more people

Instead of serving, say, 20 people face to face, you can serve tens of thousands through your products.

For example, when I was group coaching or leading seminars, I found myself saying the same things over and over again. I started to lose interest.  I decided to write everything down in a product called “CoachStart Manual,” which teaches everything a coach needs to know to launch their business.

The CoachStart Manual (www.CoachStart.com) has now sold more than 6,000 copies in 52 countries.

By creating an information product, I automated my service to the world.

2. Paid auditions

When people buy your product, they are paying you to audition for them. Suppose you have a consulting or other service you’d like to sell to your web visitors. For example, if you’re a dentist and a site visitor is thinking of switching to your practice, how will you help them make that decision? Many businesses rely on special offers and hope. But in our example, if the site visitor buys your CD explaining the Top Ten Tips for Oral Hygiene, it’s like they are paying you to audition for them.

3. Be the expert

Have you noticed how when you know someone has written a book you assume they are an expert on that topic? As we read the book, assuming it’s good, the perception strengthens. There’s a similar effect when we listen to an MP3, read an ebook, or watch a video of someone. So in a way, creating a product on a topic positions you as an expert.

4. Personal satisfaction

One of the most rewarding aspects of creating your own products is people telling you how much it means to them. Recently, when I was at Harbin Hot Springs in Middletown, California, a man approached me.

“Are you SolutionBox?” he asked.

“Well, that’s my company, yes,” I said.

The guy was really excited: “Man, I got the first speech that you ever did – “First 50 Clients” on CD – and it really inspired me.  I’ve been using that to build my practice. It’s awesome. Thank you so much.”

I’ve also had people write and tell me my relationship ebooks (I know, versatile, huh? See www.TruthAboutWomen.net) changed their life. It feels so good to hear from people whose lives have shifted for the better because of your product.

5. Move customers through your product funnel

Finally, the big picture reason to have a product is to help move your customers through your Product Funnel. Remember “flowers before sex in the Bahamas”? You don’t try to sell someone your professional service, such as coaching or even dental work, up front. You cannot expect people visiting your website for the first time to make a significant purchase, because they don’t even know you. That first meeting, just as in a social setting, comes off best when it is a low-pressure opportunity to be introduced and bond.

In order for people to buy from you, they must first like and trust you. You achieve that by doing what’s called “relationship marketing” – building a relationship with your customer. You start by giving away a freebie such as a newsletter or a special report. In return, they give you their name and e-mail address; they are now in your marketing “funnel.” As people read your newsletters and get to know you, they may start buying small products, then bigger and bigger products. 

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Take Action

1) What types of products can you create for your business? Share at the blog.

2) How many elements can you add to your funnel? Share at the blog.

Love and gratitude,

P.S. If you have any comments on this newsletter, we’d love you to share them here.

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2. FEATURE: Busting Through Your Myth Ceiling – Part Two

Taken from my book ‘Get Paid For Who You Are‘

In our last newsletter we started looking at the most common limiting beliefs or myths of starting your own business. Here are a couple more myths to counteract.

Myth #3:  I don’t have time to start a business.

If you want to start a new business, you’ll need to invest time. At a minimum I suggest 7 hours a week, or one hour a night. That won’t threaten your day job or require you to quit.

If seven hours feels like too much for you, given your current schedule, scale back other activities. What are you willing to drop? If you say, “Nothing” ask yourself: Is a lifestyle of freedom important to me? If it is, get up early, stay up late, or say “No” to some activities that don’t fulfill you anyway. You can also consider:

• Take time off work, either paid or unpaid, to get your business rolling
• Negotiate with your boss to work four days a week, perhaps doing a trial period first and being open to taking a 20 percent cut in pay
• If your boss won’t entertain a reduction in your hours, find an employer who will
• Work weekends
• Partner with someone who has more time to devote to the business
• Give up T.V.

In other words, there are many solutions, if your desire for a lifestyle of freedom is strong enough.

If I was starting again, I would work each night of the week and take a day a week — Saturday or Sunday — called “Internet Day,” on which I turned off my phones, asked friends and family to respect the time I’m investing in the business, and then, when the day is up, showed my appreciation by taking them to dinner and celebrating the fact that I’m one step closer to achieving my dream.

Myth #4:  I need business or technical skills

Let’s tackle business skills first.

You may be asking yourself, “If I start a business, don’t I need to be naturally good at business?”

The answer is No. But it’s a really good question, and here’s why.

There are many people who go into business for themselves without help. They think they can do everything — including balancing the books, making sales calls and hiring employees — even if these were previously their weak spots. They may reach out for help by hiring cheap, inexperienced staff, but if the business owner doesn’t know what he or she is doing, training the staff creates whole new problems.

There are two ways to get around this. The first is to train yourself in business.  One quick way to do that is to read The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. It’s simply the bible of internet business, hands down, and it showed me what a business really is, in language that anyone can understand.

The second is to partner with someone who does know business. This tip is worth thousands of dollars and may save you years of pain, but it’s not really rocket science is it? If you’re short on business experience, get someone long on business experience to balance you out.

“But if they run the business, what am I doing?” you may ask.

Perhaps you’re the talent. You’re the person creating the solutions for people facing divorce, or bankruptcy, or having a child, or a thousand other possible life challenges. You’re the inspiration, the driving force, the person who remembers the vision when things get tough. Maybe you’re the people person who can get that new employee to stay, or the one who can land the alliance with a big mailing list because you just plain enjoy developing partnerships with people.  Or maybe you’re the one who’s good at massage, hairdressing, tennis, or raising children.

Now that I’ve laid all of that out on the table, let me take the pressure off a bit.  You’ll be relieved to know that an information/Internet driven business requires far less time, energy and knowledge to succeed than a traditional bricks-and-mortar business.

Now let’s talk about technical skills.

Just as with business skills and practices, many of us do not naturally gel with computers and other electronic tools. While some people find e-mail, Facebook and blogging easy to learn, others are more comfortable away from the computer.

Fortunately, as odd as it might seem, you don’t need to be web-savvy to run a successful Internet-based business. You have two options:

Partner with someone who is technical-minded, or

Invest the time to learn the important computer skills

I’ll bet that you already have at least 50 percent of the computer skills you’ll need to run a successful Internet business —- including the ability to start up and shut down a computer, send and receive e-mail and attachments and conduct searches using Google. There are many free and public resources that will help you beef up your computer expertise.

But aren’t there other skills I’ll need?

Sure. Again, you’ll learn them or outsource them. For example, one important skill is writing. If that doesn’t come naturally to you, draft a list of questions people often ask you and write down your answers. You’ll find that within a very short time, you’ll naturally come up with enough content to populate your website and newsletters. You will be amazed at what flows out of you and how good it feels to share it.

If you’re still skeptical or hesitant to write, you can hire someone to write for you, ask a friend to interview you and transcribe the interview, or borrow content from someone else’s website with a promise to provide attribution. Remember: “perfect” writing and speaking skills are not a prerequisite for sharing your gifts with the world.

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Take Action

1) What are you willing to do, to find more time for your business? Share at the blog.

2) How do you deal with skills that you don’t have? Share at the blog.

Love and gratitude,

P.S. If you have any comments on this newsletter, we’d love you to share them here.

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2. FEATURE: Busting Through Your Myth Ceiling – Part One

Taken from my book ‘Get Paid For Who You Are‘

Most of the reasons we aren’t doing what we say we want to, are because we are getting in our own way. Let’s look at the most common limiting beliefs or myths of starting your own business and bust them wide open so that you’re free to get a powerful start.

Myth #1:  I’m not an expert—who will listen to me?

Doubting your qualifications, the value of your ideas, or the level of your expertise is common — so common that it keeps thousands of people paralyzed in dead-end jobs. If you can move past this one obstacle, you’ll be far ahead of the pack in terms of what you can achieve.

“What if I lack credibility?”
Your life experiences – both positive and negative – are valuable, so you don’t need to pretend to be more than who you are. If you’re starting a new business, be honest with clients and let them know that you’re not coming to them with 50 years of experience. Consider whether they really care. You can even invite one or two people to be your first clients, let them know what you have to offer and ask them to try your services for free in exchange for testimonials. Soon, you and they will experience the value of the knowledge within you.

If you’re hanging on to the idea that you need to be perfect before you help others, consider that there will always be a group of people who are at least one step behind you, who will pay you for what you know. If you wait until you “have it all together” you might be dead before you’ve helped anybody.

Another way to get over fears about your credibility is to realize that you don’t have to come up with everything yourself. Your job may be to take other people’s expertise, package it and bring it to your clients. Think of Tina Marie, who started out knowing nothing about how to deal with her husband’s allergy, but soon found she was gathering enough information to help others. Or Chris Lehner, who just loved fishing. You can share what you care about and the value you offer has nothing to do with how long you’ve been in business.

Myth #2:  I don’t have the money to start a business.

Twenty years ago starting a business required a physical store front that in turn required thousands of dollars for a security deposit, monthly rent and cash to invest in inventory. So, it’s natural to associate starting a business with large up-front costs.

Those who didn’t have the money to set up a store front might start a mail-order business advertising in magazines and shipping from home, or from a drop-shipper. However, it often took weeks or months of trial and error to find the right advertisement or magazine to reach your customers.

Now, with millions of customers surfing the Internet, buying and downloading information at the click of a mouse, the landscape has changed. The Internet is a viable—and cheap—store front and to get started, you need very little investment.

To get started with an Internet-based company, you need:

• Internet access ($30/month)
• A computer (secondhand laptops sell for as little as $200)
• Phone (you probably have one already, or you can now make calls over the internet very cheaply)

As you can see, these costs are super low, and, if you already have a computer, phone, and Internet access, your start-up costs would be zero. Even if you don’t have these tools and you don’t have the little needed to get started, you could go to your local library and use their computers for free!

Another option would be to drop other expenses. You might think, “But I need those things.” Well, do you really want freedom? Then drop the car and take a bus. Carpool. Get rid of your mobile phone. Drop your gym membership and go jogging. I bet you could find at least one thing that you could drop in exchange for greater freedom.

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Take Action

1) What excuses are you making for not getting paid for who you are? Share at the blog.

2) What is one thing you are willing to do to counter one of the myths above? Share at the blog.

Love and gratitude,

P.S. Two more myths are coming in the next newsletter.

P.P.S. If you have any comments on this newsletter, we’d love you to share them here.

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3. About the ‘Mentor Monthly’ Newsletter

TO SUBSCRIBE, and for free information packs on coaching, visit: http://www.solutionbox.com/freedownload.htm.

2. FEATURE: How Can a Newsletter Skyrocket My Business?

Taken from my book ‘Get Paid For Who You Are‘

The number one goal of your website, if you wish your contacts to grow robustly, is to capture your visitor’s email address—like getting the phone number of a girl or guy you like, or the card of someone you meet at a conference. Then, through your newsletter, they can get to know you. You might even include personal snippets in addition to the value and advice you offer. Over time, every two weeks, 26 times a year, you can visit their inbox and earn their trust — a much stronger connection than can be achieved in one website visit. This way, you can use your newsletter to turn a 30 second website visit into a life-time relationship.

Your newsletter will help you to:

Be there when people need you

When some people visit your website, they’ll be curious but not ready to buy. If all you have is a website, they’ll satisfy their curiosity and move on. But if they subscribe to your newsletter, chances are your name will be on top of their mind, or your newsletter will hit their Inbox, just when they need you and are ready to take the next step.

Increase referrals

When you send out newsletters, your customers do some of your marketing for you by forwarding your newsletters to friends. It’s a referral system that requires no extra effort from you.

Free up your time

One of the big benefits of having a newsletter is that it works while you sleep. When a customer comes to your website and subscribes to your newsletter you won’t even know about it. The same goes for payment. If you charge for your newsletter, payment happens automatically.- you won’t know about it until you see the deposit to your bank account. You can also automate the delivery of your newsletter. If you’re using an “auto responder” you won’t even know your newsletter has gone out except for the influx of sales and money rolling into your bank account.

Cut your costs

Imagine how much it would cost me to mail postcards to 70,000 people in 90 countries or — even crazier — call all of them. I’d have to pay thousands of dollars in printing and shipping, not to mention the “cost” to the trees. But how much does it cost me to send an ezine (internet magazine) to 70,000 people this afternoon? Zero (given I pay a fixed annual cost for the service).

Create an instant market for new products or services

A newsletter database gives you a built-in market for any new product or service you develop. I built my newsletter for three years without having a product to sell. When I developed my first MP3 (a format for compressing audio) product, I told my newsletter subscribers and received $5,000 in sales in 48 hours. It was very exciting!

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Take Action

1) Which reason most resonates with you?

2) If you have a newsletter, what’s it called? Share it with us at the blog.

3) If you don’t have a newsletter, what would be one or two possible topics for your newsletter if you had one? Tell us at the blog.

Love and gratitude,

P.S. You can find ideas on how to set up your own newsletter in 7 days in my book, “Get Paid For Who You Are.”

P.P.S. If you have any comments on this newsletter, we’d love you to share them here.

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