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Davy Russell 8 February 2016 6 Comments on Why Becoming An “Infopreneur” Is The Best Business Strategy For You
During my quest for self employment, I followed the traditional route of creating a business. I started up a website design company, tried to get a magazine published (the paper kind!), and I worked as a freelance cameraman. Each of these were expensive, difficult to get started and slow to grow.
These businesses were basically self-created jobs with no chance of scalability or lifestyle freedom. In the four years that I did freelance videography professionally, I took no vacations. When you are self employed, taking a vacation means no paycheck!
Then I stopped trying to turn my skills into a job and finally found the income and lifestyle that I always wanted as an infopreneur.
An infopreneur is somebody who makes a living selling information. Infopreneurs used to sell physical books, video DVDs or audio CDs, and some still do. But most infopreneurs today sell “non-tangible” products in the form of e-books, video files and podcasts through a website or blog.
The Benefits Of Infopreneurism
The major benefits of selling information online through a website or blog is that the initial investment and overhead is extremely low. Web hosting fees routinely cost less than $5 per month and an information product such as an e-book only costs time to write. (Although I highly recommend hiring a professional proofreader or editor before launching your information product.)
Unlike traditional businesses, there is no expensive storefront or multi-year lease to sign. There’s no expensive equipment beyond a cheap laptop. You don’t have to worry about stocking inventory, shipping (if your products are digital) or requiring tens of thousands of dollars to design and manufacture a new invention.
An infopreneur can launch a website with an initial investment of only a few hundred dollars and can still make a substantial income within two to three years. It’s a realistic way to start a profitable business on a shoestring budget.
I can’t think of any other legitimate business model that would allow somebody to make a six-figure income within three years with an initial investment of only time and a few hundred dollars.
Selling information from a website or blog provides many lifestyle benefits as well. You can live practically anywhere. You can work from home (or a cafe, or a beach). You have absolute control over your schedule so you’ll never have to miss family events. Being an infopreneur not only offers the potential to make good money, but it gives you the most freedom over your lifestyle while you do it.
Turning Your Knowledge And Experience Into Income
Many people tell me that they aren’t experts in anything that would earn them money. You might think that you do not have enough knowledge or life experience to earn a six figure income from a website or blog. My guess is that you probably do, and there are plenty of people out there who would gladly pay to gain access to your expertise and life experience.
All you need is to have solved a problem in your own life that others also struggle to solve. Whether it’s losing weight, raising a child with special needs, learning how to draw, play an instrument, or how to beautifully decorate (or fix up) a home on a shoestring budget, there is something that you’ve likely accomplished that you can share with others.
Three years ago, I would never ever have thought that a green smoothie website would earn a six figure income. About 85% of our website income comes strictly from our information products. The information that Tracy and I provide on our website and in our premium information products have helped thousands of people lose weight and dramatically improve their health. Our knowledge and experience is valuable, and people are happy to pay for it because they get so much in value in return.
When Tracy and I launched Incredible Smoothies, we were not world class chefs. We had never stepped foot into a Jamba Juice, let alone run one. We were not known professionals in the weight loss or fitness industry. What we did was devote our lives to become experts on green smoothies and whole foods and we shared what we learned along the way.
We then packaged our knowledge and experience into an information product that showed people exactly how Tracy lost 40 pounds, lowered her high cholesterol by 50 points and experienced a host of health benefits from green smoothies and whole foods.
The information products we create are valuable because anybody who purchases them can immediately benefit from over eight years of combined experience and avoid many of the trials and errors that we went through. They can learn in a few days what it took us several years to learn on our own.
The cost of our information product gives our customers instant access to our knowledge and experience so that they can fast track their own health goals with green smoothies and whole foods. Our information products saves our customers a tremendous amount of time while providing guidance based on our first-hand experiences. Our overwhelmingly positive feedback tells us that the information products we create helps people in many ways.
This is exactly the sort of information product you should aim to make. It doesn’t have to be health related, either. Share your knowledge and expertise about a topic that people want to know more about. Then create an information product that saves your customers a lot of time while solving a problem they have and they will beat down your door with credit card in hand.
How Can You Help Others?
The key to making a living online as an infopreneur is to share your knowledge and experience, and create an information product that provides tremendous value. Don’t just create a “made for AdSense” blog stuffed with keywords. Forget all of the “get rich quick” schemes that are out there on the web because they will not work.
Instead, put yourself out there and share your story, inspire others, and help people reach their own goals. Solve problems and be helpful. If you do this consistently, you will be wildly successful (and profitable) as a purveyor of information.
Stop focusing on making money. Instead, focus on helping people by creating value. That is the path to a healthy income on the Internet!
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