The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job (10 page)

video capture tool cal ed Camtasia. You can also get it at www.techsmith.com. If you go

to my site at www.sixfiguresecondincome.com and type “video capture” into the search

box, I’l give you my current recommendation for tools that may be comparable to

Camtasia but cost less. The technology is rapidly changing.

You’re going to need an external microphone to plug into your computer in order to

capture your voice as you do the online demonstration. Do not try to use the built-in mic

on your computer because it won’t sound good enough. I can recommend a good

external mic cal ed the Snowbal by Blue Microphones. They’re at www.bluemic.com or

you can buy it on Amazon or at many other places on the web. It’s not expensive and

plugs right into the USB port on your computer. It does an excel ent job of capturing

voices in crystal-clear fashion.

You may wonder what happens not if but when you mess something up on the video.

Yes, it wil happen that you forget part of what you’re trying to cover or you may garble a

few words. You might also say something confusing and wish you had said it differently.

No sweat. You’l have al the tools that a Hol ywood director would have to fix the problem.

For instance, let’s say you said something confusing. Just say that part over again,

right during the session. After you finish the recording, you’l be able to edit out the

blooper and keep the good part. You can even raise the sound level or chop out the

doorbel ringing in the background. The editing capabilities are so feature-rich that you’l

only use a fraction of them.

You need to know something else. Your goal is not to make a video that rivals what

Steven Spielberg might produce. Of course, it’s true that the complexity of television

productions has skyrocketed along with technology. You might think that means people

would therefore only buy slick productions, but you’d be wrong. In this age when you go

to the movies and cannot be sure if the actor you’re looking at is real or computer

generated, there’s actual y a greater appreciation for authenticity.

You should make sure that you record your video in a quiet place because it’s

distracting to have dogs barking and pots and pans banging in the background. But,

assuming your sound quality is clear, forget the need for slick-ness. Instead just go for

the image of one person talking to and helping another person.

STAGE 2: EDIT THE CONTENT

Now that you have six different methods for capturing content for your info product, it’s

time to edit that content into a coherent piece.

By the way, you should aim for substantial y more content than you expect to use. At

least that’s what I do, because it gives me the confidence that I can pick and choose only

the best stuff to put in the product.

Make sure that your material flows logical y, which again is a reason for creating an

outline. Even if you started the project without knowing much about the topic, by this point

you wil know a lot. You should guard against the expert’s predicament of knowing

something so wel that you skip over details that seem obvious or boring to you.

If you have a clear mental picture of your info product buyers, then keep their skil level

constantly in mind. If they’re beginners then be very explicit about what to do when.

The very fastest way to lose the attention of beginners is by stumping them early with

unclear information. They were getting into your material and everything was going along

smoothly when suddenly you used jargon or referred to something they didn’t

understand. Then, as you continued to refer to it, the beginners again felt lost. Pretty

soon they’l just stop going through your stuff and wil likely ask for a refund.

You cannot be too detailed with beginners. However, if you’ve created a detailed

piece especial y for a relatively knowledgeable audience, you must be careful about

boring them. The information that a beginner might find complicated is the same stuff

that could be boring to the expert. It could appear to be fil er material to them if you’re

marketing the guide as more advanced, and they could stop reading for that reason.

Therefore, match the complexity and detail to what the audience is asking for. If you

did your research before launching the product, you should have a clear idea of that

correct level of detail.

Don’t be surprised to do a lot of cutting and pasting at this stage. What I do is save al

my raw material to an archive document and then make at least one copy of it. I only do

editing to the copy. It’s a terrible feeling to have created some raw content and then

delete that content only to discover later that you want to use it after al but have no

backup copy.

Backup Your Work!

I’m somewhat redundant in the number of copies I keep of anything I’ve created. If you

have never had a computer crash—you wil . It’s inevitable.

Therefore, the first thing you must do to protect yourself in this business is to get a

backup solution for your files. Anything is better than nothing. Start by tel ing your word-

processing system to backup your document automatical y. That’s semi-helpful if the

original document becomes corrupted, which is not uncommon.

The only problem is that sooner or later your hard drive wil die. Sometimes files can

be retrieved from busted hard drives but sometimes not. You’re better off having a

backup solution that is separate from your hard drive. I have two solutions. First, I have a

smal external hard drive that at least daily—and automatical y—wil make copies of

anything I’ve changed on my computer. That external drive is encased in a box that’s fire

and water proof, for al intents and purposes.

Second, I have a web-based backup program that makes regular copies of al

changed files. It’s al encrypted and only I have the password, so al that information

travels to the web-based company in encrypted form, not openly over the Internet. With

that system I’m confident that if anything happened to my whole city I could stil access

my computer documents from any other web-enabled computer—assuming I

remembered the password, of course.

Because these systems are changing and improving so frequently, I hesitate to

recommend anything in this book because it could become outdated quickly; therefore,

if you want to know the current configuration I recommend, go to

www.sixfiguresecondincome.com and type the word “backup” into the search box.

Once you have edited your document, now’s the time to think about showing it to

someone else to make sure it hangs together for fresh eyes.

Just as you may careful y choose your friends, be careful about choosing your

reviewers. You gain nothing from someone who’s unconditional y positive regardless of

what you put in front of him or her. On the other hand, some people get hung up on style

or on nit-picky details. Your reviewer should focus on whether your information is clear or

confusing and whether it’s complete or not.

You also do not need an expert on the subject matter just yet because that person

could get too detailed too quickly. You’l get the expert opinions soon enough so, for now,

simply make sure you’re on the right track.

STAGE 3: DELIVER THE CONTENT

You have the luxury of choosing from an astonishing array of ways to deliver your content.

See Table 3.1.

Wow! Do you see what I mean by “astonishing”? I hope you dog-ear this page and

study it because, practical y by itself, that chart could make you a fortune.

It’s al the rage in our green-focused discussions these days to talk about repurposing

things, like the act of turning old tires into shoes and so on. Wel , you can do a much

more profitable form of repurposing by taking the same content and converting it into

products that are differentiated by their delivery media and also comprehensiveness.

Let’s look at Table 3.1 in more detail. First, I want to point out that its title is a Rough

Guide on purpose. There’s nothing carved in stone about it. For instance, you may see

that a book is valued at up to $40. Wel , I once bought a book and DVD set from a

bril iant fel ow and I gladly paid $5,000 for it. His knowledge and experience was so vast

that it was worth that amount of money to have his limited-edition, privately published

book.

Therefore, do not take anything on the chart to be gospel but simply use it as a starting

point for thinking about what you might offer. Also, please do not get overwhelmed by the

product forms and mental y shut down, thinking, “
There’s
no
way I can
do al this
stuff.
”

You don’t need to do even half of it, ever. You could conceivably stick to only a handful of

product forms and make a six-figure income. Think of it like a menu where you pick and

choose what suits you best.

TABLE 3.1 Rough Guide to Product Formats and Pricing

I’ve numbered the unique items on this chart but did not number every item because

some of the same type of product appears in multiple places. Here are observations

about these product forms.

1. Special Report

This is my al -time favorite. I’m quite confident that more mil ions of dol ars have been

generated from this type of report than from any other. You should consider it to be a

highly effective hook on a fishing line. You hook potential customers by the high-quality

information you give them in your free or low-cost special report, and then you reel them

in with higher-priced offerings.

Most of my students who eventual y pay me $4,000 to attend a three-day live event

were people who first learned about me through a special report.

Why would you ever go to the effort of putting together valuable information only to give

it away in the form of a free special report? Because people are so inundated with

information these days and most of it is garbage. Consumers have developed an

effective BS Radar System that instantly snaps on when they hear: “And wait! There’s

more! When you buy my guide to 35 Advanced Sonar Techniques for Catching Great

Lakes Fish, wel , those prize-winning fish’l be leaping into your boat by themselves! So

order now!!!!”

You know the nonsense I’m talking about because you’re probably a victim of it every

day. Since when does any product ever become an “Out-of-control ATM spewing money

at your feet”? And if for some reason such an opportunity ever existed in nature, why

would you be tel ing me about it? Why wouldn’t you just keep it to yourself and become

richer than Bil Gates?

The most effective way to counteract this radar system is to remember and act on this

principle: Give Before You Get.

The snake-oil salesmen want you to get their stuff right away. They tantalize you with a

hundred different promises in the hope that one of them resonates with you.

Instead, use the free-sample technique of giving before you ask for something. Give

your potential customers something of real obvious value with no strings attached. When