Video Transcript
David: There are of course other other forms of information product. We’ve talked mainly about ebooks and you mentioned apps, but then there’s video – and video training is huge, or skype teaching courses.
Alex: Sure, sure.
David: Those things are huge. A lot of people could be doing much more with that.
Alex: I’ve actually done some of that in my English school.
David: Skype classes?
Alex: Skype classes, yes. Not a whole lot yet, but I think that’s actually more a function of Japan, because I’m teaching Japanese students, than the medium. I think a little more… less cluttered personal routine, personal daily routine. A country that had a little more free time, I think it would work quite well.
David: Yes, well actually thereis a market here among the retired Japanese gentlemen for English teaching services which the canny Philippines have moved into.
Alex: Yeah, and they’re charging, what, like two dollars for an hour…
David: Yes, yes.
Alex: So, again, it’s the price point.
David: Yes, yeah, which is much cheaper than we charge as English teachers, it should be said. So they they get rather attractive Filipina, young Filipina women, as their teachers through Skype, and in one case – or in a couple of cases – I know, a couple of retired guys who I used to teach at a community center, they then go on holidays to the Philippines and they’re taken around. Those teachers become their tour guides and show them the sights of the Philippines. So that is another way to turn the Internet into cash.
Alex: Sure, sure. There’s unlimited potential
David: Yes, there is, but the key point that runs through all this is knowing who your market is. In that model the Filipino business is pointing at theJapanese retired, mainly male, market.
Alex: Right, right.
David: So, know your market. And, once you’ve got your products out, one way I think of boosting that income beyond a thousand a month is affiliate marketing, having affiliate add-ons to the product. So my own niche – if it is a niche, because it’s massive – is business advice to people who want to start and online business, which is why I got involved with this book here.
Alex: And it was a good fit.
David: And it was a very good fit. And it leads straight into… then there’s the set up services that you can offer, so I mentioned blogging. There’s autoresponder services, there’s basic design services, there’s lots of things you can do, but they can be really very simple things. You can use Fiverr.com, so you can go there and set up, become a sort of online geek business, as it’s called. So there’s a lot of things you can do. But the thing is, is to have the confidence to put yourself out there.
So I started with an e-book which was about a specific online business, well, it was SFI, one of the biggest free-to-join affiliate marketing programs on the internet, and I just became a specialist in SFI, and that ebook – I don’t how many copies I’ve sold now – that was at a low price point. I still haven’t raised that price point it’s now $3.77 I think. Actually I have – it was originally $2.95 or something. But, on the back of the ebook offering expertise about how to use that particular affiliate program, I then offered some basic set-up services.
Alex: Sure, sure. you’re upsells.
David: Yes, so you can – you know don’t think you can’t do this as well. You could offer, if you get a skill like in how a specific autoresponder works, that skill is not only for your own use, it could also be marketed to help, because there are hundreds of thousands, probably millions of people, who would love to make progress with their internet business, but they don’t have the basic skills, and so – or they don’t have the confidence to put those skills into action if they have them, and so that’s where you can step in.
Alex: And I think that it’s a good point, and in fact I would say you don’t even really need a product because if you, you know, let’s… my nephew for example really like skateboarding and he knows more about skateboarding that I know about tendons, so he doesn’t have a product, it’s not like he’s manufacturing skateboards, it’s not like he’s written a book about how to become a good skateboarder but he could make money off the internet I’m pretty sure just by starting a blog about skateboards and he’s in a position – a lot of his friendshave the skateboards – he’s used you know different manufacturers’ boards, different areas, he knows about for example wheel polymer composition, you know there’s all kinds of stuff, you know, frankly just puts me to sleep but to him it is really interesting.
David: It would fire up the skateboarding community.
Alex: It would fired up – exactly it’s just what I was gonna say. Not only does he find it interesting, more to the point all his friends also find it interesting and he’s become sort of the local guru they cometo him if they can’t fix their wheels or if something’s wrong or if they can’t do a trick, so he could actually do a blog and not sell anything except his opinion.
David: Yes.
Alex: Okay, on the skateboards and then just become like an Amazon affiliate for example, and just have links to, you know, Amazon and become an affiliate and he can make 4 to 8% I think.
David: It’s 6% I think. It depends where you are with them.
Alex: So you don’t even need a you don’t even need a product.
David: In that model, he is the product.
Alex: His opinion is the product.
David: That’s right, yes. So, I mean, I tend to think of it as “he is the product,” or “I am the product” because you are… you might be in a crowded field, I mean, probably there are other skateboard gurus around, I bet if we checked on YouTube…
Alex: Sure.
David: However his style, the way he does it, that is the product.
Alex: In his location too, you know, I mean there may be 100 other skateboard gurus out there in America, but that’s only two per state.
David: Right, yes.
Alex: And so, if he’s in, you know, he’s in Arizona, and he could be the local guy, and if he gets famous on YouTube, or only moderately famous, you know, people who are in the area gonna start coming to him and then he could start charging, you know, which he doesn’t do right now, but he could, so it’s possible to just from the knowledge that he’s picked up basically just being a kid, you could turn that into an income.
David: Yes. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, you could turn that into an income.
Alex: Sure.
David: Or you can also turn that the other way around, because I’ve heard some criticism of that approach, even though it’s something which is I think worth thinking of; if you’ve got a passion, pursue that passion turn it into something that earns you money, and what could be a better way to to make a living than doing what you love? But you can also reverse it. You can say, “Well, what’s this thing here I don’t know much about?” and, “Let me investigate it,” and you may discover that you enjoy doing that, and so that becomes the thing you love doing. You don’t actually have to start with an existing passion. You can go out, be open-minded and discover a new passion which is also a money-making passion.
Alex: Yeah, you can do it either way. Personally, I think that if you’re going at something that you’re not passionate about, probably after a while you’re gonna sort of lose interest.
David: Oh, definitely, yeah!
Alex: And then, once that happens you might as well, you know, just forget it. Shut down the blog, shut down the web page whatever happens.
David: That’s right, yeah, if you’re not enjoying it, stop doing it!
Alex: Because you’re not gonna be, frankly you’re not gonna be as good at it as somebody who does enjoy it.
David: Yes, yes.
Alex: That’s the key thing. But certainly, yeah, you can do it. I mean if you just want to get started and try something you can use a market that is proven, that you know people are buying from, that you know people are interested in, and then see if you can get, you know, cut yourself a little slice of that pie.
David: That’s the important point because a lot of people look at a proven market and see that it’s crowded with sellers, which it’s going to be because it’s a lucrative market, and that stops them. It shouldn’t stop you. You should, as you say, cut out your slice, which comes back again to the personality you’re putting across. It’s a unique personality. It’s you. There’s nobody else like you, and you can push that. Push that angle. Now some people in that crowded market won’t like you, and so they’ll go to someone of the other people, but there will be a group of people who will like what you have to offer, will like your style, and will be drawn to you if you have the confidence to put “you” out there as the promoter or the recommender…