The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job (7 page)

again, some readers of this book wil think: “
That’s
nice, but
I haven’t
been the victim
of

a
home invasion. My situation’s different, so I can’t benefit from that
story
.” See what I

mean when I said earlier that the “my situation’s different” mentality is so pervasive?

You don’t need to be a victim to benefit from this story. You could scour the web and

put together tips that were printed in various newspapers and magazines over time.

You’d put them in your own words, of course. Imagine the dramatic product you could

create by going to a county jail and interviewing a few burglars about what they look for

and how homeowners can protect themselves. That’s been done before, but so what

—it’s a timeless angle and most readers would want to hear what today’s burglars look

for, and not the bad-guy techniques from years ago.

Besides, if you or a loved one were a victim of a crime, don’t you suppose that you

would become an absolutely voracious col ector of al available information to prevent it

from happening again? Because that sort of crime happens al over the world, you’d also

have a worldwide audience of potential buyers.

How Do Things Fit Together?

There’s a type of software that I would not particularly recommend, but that’s cal ed

Joomla. It creates web sites for you, but before you go out and research Joomla, I’l tel

you later how to get web sites created even easier.

At one point I thought Joomla would be a great tool to build sites. I quickly became

frustrated because it involved a lot of nit-picky, detailed instal ation instructions for it to

work just right.

Because I knew that Joomla was reasonably popular I figured there must be

information online about how to make the instal ation go more smoothly. Sure enough a

marketer had posted a video about it. He was a Joomla fan and simply did a screen

capture of his screen as he buzzed through the instal ation process on his computer

desktop while verbal y describing the process. Later you’l discover exactly what

software to use so you can do the same thing.

He wrote a quick web page to describe how frustrating it is to instal Joomla if you

don’t know a handful of tricks. When I read that description I knew his video was for me.

In this case he didn’t even go to the bother of creating a DVD for me to buy on Amazon.

Instead, he had a video I could download after paying $59.

This man spent a couple of hours recording the video and then probably three more

hours creating a web page and hooking it up to a payment system. He therefore had

perhaps five hours invested in this info product. I bought it without much hesitation

because his video was the shortest route between where I was and having this Joomla

thing figured out. Besides, he gave a solid money-back guarantee if I was not satisfied.

We’l talk in much more detail later about the dos and don’ts of effective guarantees.

I was indeed able to instal Joomla quickly after watching his video. With the popularity

of that software it would not surprise me if he’s sold hundreds of copies of that video at

$59 a pop. That’s thousands of dol ars of pure profit from being frustrated, figuring out a

solution, and then documenting the steps to that solution for others to fol ow.

Expand your mind to the thousands of products out there. Now everything seems to

have a computer inside and manufacturers compete with each other to add lots of

features. That spel s confusion for many people.

An enterprising person could record a whole series of videos or audios on just

Brother® sewing machines, for example. If I buy the Brother CS-6000i sewing machine I

may be wil ing to drop another 15 bucks to have the computer console explained and

demonstrated.

But here’s the fantastic part: If I own any other Brother sewing machine—never mind a

different brand—I’m only going to want a guide to my exact model. In this case the “my

situation’s different” phenomenon works in your favor as a marketer! You can create

videos for each of the Brother sewing machines. Maybe a few models are way different

from the rest, but I’l bet that most of them have many features in common.

After you made al the Brother videos, you could move on to each of the other sewing

machine manufacturers. The news gets even better: Because you have such a specific,

laser-focused product like Video setup guide for the Brother
CS-6000i
Sewing Machine,

you’l shoot to the top of the Google rankings whenever someone types in “Brother CS-

6000i sewing machine.” You’re not trying to make a one-size-fits-al type of video, but a

highly specific one. Owners of that machine want highly specific answers. It’s a match

made in heaven and one that wil compensate you wel .

You may wonder: Why wouldn’t the manufacturers make these videos? It’s possible

that a few of them have videos but it’s also possible that they’re made by sewing

machine experts or engineers who live and breathe sewing machines. It’s kind of like a

doctor offering only a limited spectrum of harsh remedies for kidney stones.

Sometimes consumers want to hear from other consumers. They hunger for realistic

commentary like—and I’m making this up—“The owner’s manual for the CS-6000i wil

give you a long and complicated way to set the thread tension, but I’ve found a better

way. . . .”

I’ve spent a while describing the easy profit potential for just sewing machine videos.

Of course the same holds true for bass boat motors, bread machines, bandsaws for

wood or metal, greenhouses, and countless other products. In a sense this entire book is

one big guide that answers the question: “How does this whole money-making concept

fit together?”

EXPLORE OTHER VARIATIONS ON A PROVEN THEME

Let’s say you are expert at some topic like growing tomatoes. Of course you could come

out with a guide to growing them, despite the fact that when I just typed in growing

tomatoes in Amazon’s book section, 289 results came back.

Such a statistic should not depress you into thinking: “
There’s
nothing I could possibly

add to the topic of growing tomatoes if there are already 289 books on Amazon about

them
.” Instead you should conclude: “
Wow
, there seems to be an inexhaustible
appetite

for
anything relating to the growing of
tomatoes!
”

Besides, you simply need to find a slight twist or variation on the topic. For instance,

some of the titles relate to heirloom varieties of tomatoes. Others have to do with

organic cultivation, indoor cultivation, how kids can grow them, and even how to grow

them upside-down. You could sit over a beer or coffee and think of many other angles,

I’m sure:

• Tomato Gardening in New England

• How to Grow a Multicolored Garden of Tomatoes

• How to Grow the Smal est Tomatoes You’ve Ever Seen

• Tomato Remedies for a Variety of Il nesses

• A Student’s Guide to Growing Tomatoes in a Dorm Room

Are you getting the idea of how you can take a central concept and spin an unlimited

number of narrow and separate products from it? It’s even realistic to imagine that one

person—albeit a tomato lover—could do a dozen of these info products over the course

of the off-season for tomatoes and have them al for sale the fol owing spring.

Another great set of variations would be myths, pitfal s, and shortcuts. People are

impatient, as you know. That’s why many software programs these days ship with a

quick-start guide. In that same vein, you can think about shortcuts to getting something

done. Perhaps it’s how to grow tomatoes better indoors using the new LED lights so you

get a jump on the outdoor growing season.

I (Dave) have been extremely successful with a special report in my real estate

investing business. It’s cal ed: 23 Mistakes Real Estate Investors Make, and How To

Avoid Them. I’ve had thousands of people request that report. It was my first contact with

those people from whom I’ve generated many mil ions of dol ars in sales.

It’s worth thinking hard about that angle of mistakes, pitfal s, or myths—beginners wil

want to read the report because they know they’re starting out and want to avoid as

many problems as possible. However, the same report wil be tantalizing to novices and

experts, too—they become curious and wonder, “Hey, what if this guy knows a thing or

two I don’t . . . might that save me time and
money?
”

Therefore, most people are curious enough to download and even pay for a report that

helps them to avoid mistakes, pitfal s, or myths.

You know how useful some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections are on the

web? You could even create a report that had a more comprehensive set of questions

and answers. It could be: 100 Questions and Answers about Dutch Porcelain.

What Have You Tested?

Consumer Reports made a big name for itself by running tests on al sorts of products.

Stil , that company can only cover a handful of products each year. What about the other

mil ions of products and services offered each year, not to mention what’s already on the

market?

Recently, I was looking for a reel push mower. You know the kind that has a cylindrical,

spiral set of blades that cut grass, rather than the flat mowers that shred the grass? Reel

mowers are making a comeback because some of them have no engines, so they don’t

belch fumes and are in keeping with the Green Movement. Besides, they’re quiet so you

can mow pretty much any time of the day without disturbing anyone.

When I was researching the best one to buy, just about al the information I could find

was from the manufacturers themselves. That’s semi-helpful and better than nothing,

especial y when the manufacturers tel me factual y how their mowers are the best

instead of just showering me with meaningless adjectives like revolutionary, user-friendly,

and unique.

I never did find someone who sold a $10 to $15 report that compared the five or so

top-sel ing mowers. He could have gone to mower repair shops and asked the

mechanics which mowers have the fewest repair cal s. He could have interviewed a few

salespeople and maybe even found owners of the various models. With a weekend of

work he could have compiled a useful and valuable report that compared the mowers in

terms of cost, warranty, weight, compactness, ease of use, number of blades, number of

accessories, repair locations, how long the companies have been in business, sources

for online videos of the products, and so on.

If I was contemplating the expenditure of $300 or so for a mower, I just might spend 10

bucks to help ensure I made the right decision.

APPEAL TO RABID HOBBYISTS

In the last chapter I talked about how most people are col ectors, whether they realize it

or not. There are the conventional col ectors of things like bottles and fine porcelain. But

other col ectors are less visible, like people who col ect old software, typewriters, wine

labels, airline barf bags (I kid you not), anything with a dog/cat/bird/monkey on it, movie

stars who col ect husbands—the list is endless.

Most definitely, if you determine what you’re a col ector of, you can be sure there are

other people with your same interest. You can go to www.meetup.com and see for

yourself. The web site lists groups al over creation. In fact, it claims that the site covers

28,000 topics in 45,000 cities around the world. It’s a great place to get ideas for groups

you can join, or simply for people you could interview about whatever you’re researching.

Here’s a real y great idea for you: As you know from our earlier example, there are

plenty of guides on how to grow tomatoes and I encourage you to add to the vast

col ection. But very few marketers tap into the concept of sel ing a special report to

tomato enthusiasts along the lines of How to Make Money with Your Tomato Gardening

Hobby.

Think about that for a minute. These people already are rabid col ectors of anything

tomato, right? Probably to the chagrin of their spouses, who think they’re nuts, no doubt

—that is, unless they met at a tomato convention. So what would be better than to sel

them a guide about their passion in life—tomatoes—but one that explains how they can

make money with their passion?

As you probably know, many people decide to buy things based upon their emotions,

but they want to justify their decisions on rational grounds. For instance, a guy wants to

buy a Mercedes because deep down he’s always wanted one and thinks he’l look cool

in it. However, he says, “Honey, just think how much safer we’l be in the Mercedes—after

al that’s what they drive on the German Autobahn, plus it’s German-engineered, and we

al know how good German products are, and . . .”

He just wants the car, but he’l list his best rational reasons for it, and he’s keeping his