How,Create,Your,Own,High-Octan DIY How to Create Your Own High-Octane Info Products

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

Like most things in life, there are 'secrets' to beingsuccessful. Creating info products is no different. Andlike most things, the 'secrets' are there for all tosee.The first problem that most people face when startingout as an 'info-producer' is in coming up with ideas towrite about.Initially, you have to be a thought recorder. Writedown every crazy (or not so crazy) idea that fleetinglycrosses your mind. Carry a notebook. This not only letsyou capture the brilliant ideas that have a habit ofdisappearing, but also starts to train your mind intoan opportunity state.Opportunities are like cosmic rays: they areeverywhere, but most of the time we can't see them.With the right training, our brains can easily becomevery sensitive opportunity detectors.At some point you will start to notice that many ofyour brilliant ideas are rubbish. Don't worry. Keep onwriting them down. Even a bad idea can sometimes beadapted later.You will notice that a lot of your ideas fall intopatterns. This is your subconscious mind's way ofpointing you in the right direction. If it keeps onreturning to a theme, the chances are that somewhere,buried deep inside you, is gold. Now go digging.When your notebook is growing, start thinking aboutyour ideas bank. Be objective and ask yourself, "Ifthis was the only project that I could ever do, would Ibe happy?"Take all your top scoring ideas. Take a little time andexpand each one. Write a broad synopsis of each so thatyou have a concrete idea of what the final product willlook like. Don't try to write it - just outline it.What do you put in your outline?Remember the old adage: 'I take advice from five wisemen: Mr Who, Mr Where, Mr What, Mr Why and Mr When.'Add to those two more: How and How Much.Make every section or chapter answer one of these sevenquestions (and you can ask each of them in differentways) and you have the outline of your book.Now you should have a shortlist of realistic, doableprojects - any one of which you would be happy to runwith.Next comes the most important step of all: do yourhomework. The best product in the world is worthlessunless there is a market for it. So how do you findthat out?1. Take your shortlist and talk to 5 good friends. Seewhat they have to say. Do they all favor one over theothers? Why? What is it about it that captures theirimagination? Would they buy it? Who do they think wouldbuy it?2. Pay attention to their advice, but don't even thinkof acting on it. Even if they all think every one ofyour ideas stinks, it could easily be them that iswrong: they may simply be the wrong audience.3. Write a very detailed description for yourself ofexactly who you think will buy your products. Reallytry to get inside the mind of someone who could usewhat you have to say.4. Write down at least ten words (or 2 word phrases)that most sum up each of your possible products. Defineyour keywords, in other words.5. Get yourself online and search every search engineyou know for every one of those key words or phrases.Check out as many sites as you can that the enginesthrow up (and don't just look at the first page oflistings either). Get a feel for the market. What youare doing here is trying to find out if there isalready a market for your product, and what the peoplesearching for it are being offered.6. Be brutally honest with yourself. If google onlycomes up with 10 sites for one of your keywords, andnone of the sites are particularly relevant, then youcan bet that right now, there isn't much of a market.If this is the case, ask yourself honestly if you havethe staying power and specialized knowledge to carve acompletely new niche. And where would you go to reachthem?7. Find newsgroups and forums that are relevant andlurk. Are people asking questions that your productwill answer? Can you discern a need?8. If you can, you may have the next super-nicheproduct all ready to be written. Congratulations!9. If you can't, move on to the next project on yourlist and repeat.This might all sound rather long-winded - and itcertainly flies in the face of the proponents of'create a product fast' philosophy, but it needn't takeall that long.At the end of the day, you will have achieved threethings. You will KNOW which project to work on, andwhy. You will KNOW who to target. You will KNOW whatyour future projects (and backend sales) will be.And, as a by-product, you will have become a super-powered opportunity magnet in the process.As you can see, the real secret is taking action. Butif you are like 99.9% of people, you will find excusesfor not taking action.Every single excuse is 'getaroundable.' For example:"I don't know if anyone will be interested."It certainly helps to write about your passions - ifonly because your time spent in research will beminimized. But it isn't strictly necessary. Do youreally think that people who write fascinating fact-filled articles in magazines are all passionate abouttheir subjects? No, they are just writers who are givenan assignment.If you can't find a subject that YOU are passionateabout, find one that SOMEONE ELSE is passionate about.Maybe that someone else is a friend or family member -great! Start a joint project.Or maybe you don't have friends who are passionateabout anything (hard to believe, but possible). Then goand find a subject that a lot of people are trying tofind out about. Do a search on the most popularkeywords. I just did that and these seven all came inthe top 50:Weight LossJobsProm DressesTravelRecipesDogsBaby namesNow, I'm not passionate about any of those, but I canclearly see how any one of them could be turned into aninformation-packed special report that would sell for10 bucks or more. Can you?Weight Loss: What are the most popular diets in Americatoday? Go to newsgroups, find out what people aresaying about them. Find two or three people who havesucceeded in losing serious weight on each diet.Interview them. Package the whole thing up as an'insiders guide to today's diet plans.'Jobs: How about a state-by state analysis ofunemployment figures. A regional plan for optimizingyour chances to find a new job. A directory of job-seekers resources. A book on 101 thing you can do ifyou are laid off. A report on 'home workers guide tosurviving the recession.'Prom Dresses: Now I know nothing about dresses, andI've never been to a prom, but this subject is not onlyhighly important to those involved, it is alsoemotionally charged, and perennial. What more does abusiness need? Subjects that could be included: thisyears styles and colors. How much should you pay? Thebest suppliers. It is highly researchable and I'd bet,very much in demand. This search term came 28th out of500 so the market is pretty big!Travel: Where do you live? Folks come there. They wantto know the best places to go. You can tell them. I'mnot going to labor this one, the scope is so huge, butyou could do a lot worse than visiting Mike McGroarty'sboard atwww.homemadebooklets.com/boards/webbbs_config.cgi tosee what he has in mind for the future of travelbooklets. Very exciting!Recipes: This is a big field, but you can narrow itdown. Everybody loves cook books. Take a look in anybookstore. And there is a world-wide market. The secrethere is to link it with something else that peoplewant. So, to use our example above, you could produce aseries of recipe books for each of the top diet plans.See where I'm going?Dogs: Dog lovers are obsessed. If you own a dog you'llunderstand. If you don't, you will be baffled. Yetcanine = cash. You can write about breeds, training,behavior, exercise. Just go to the library, or searchon google and facts will fall at your feet. Pick themup and put them in your book.Baby names: Okay, there are books in the stores withlists of names. SO WHY ARE PEOPLE SEARCHING ONLINE?There is a market. People want the answers NOW. Notnext Saturday when they can get to a bookshop. What canyou do that is different? How about a list of all thenames celebrities have called their kids in the last 5years? What about a list of names with all themeanings, plus the numerology forecast for each one?See what I mean? You may not be passionate about any ofthese things, but if I told you that when you havefinished writing your book 1000 people will pay you $10each to read it - will that spark a little passion inyour belly? It does in mine!"I can't write that well."That is really just an excuse for not doing it.It doesn't matter one little bit if you can't spell -the software will sort most of it out for you.So what if you don't understand grammar? Most ebooksare written in a very conversational style. Can youtalk to your friends? Write like that. Totally correctgrammar is often a disadvantage online.When your book is written, give it to a few friends toread over for you. Listen to their suggestions becauseno matter how good at writing you are, other peoplewill always spot your mistakes. You can even post onforums for people to review/critique your work."It's not that easy. I have been trying for six monthsor better to find something to develop and cannot seemto find that one big hit-that home run."The problem here is that you have paralyzed yourself bywanting to see the end result before you have put pento paper (or finger to keyboard). That is where youhave gone wrong. If you tell yourself that you can't doit, then GUESS WHAT? You CAN'T!The only way to finish a project is to start it.To summarize:# Create your own ideas bank.# Find out what people are interested in.# Find a subject that you like (passion is optional).# Write your 7-question outline.# Research until your eyes hurt - looking especiallyfor facts that are not easily accessible.# Write, write, write. Don't even think about if itsounds good, or reads right. Just get words on paper.# When it is done, read it over and then put it asidefor a week or two.# When you come back to it, re-read it and then startto rewrite it.# At the point that you feel you can't do any more, askother people to chip in.# Then, if you have done a little each day, you willhave a product to sell.There is an old writer's mnemonic: WRITERWriteReadIgnoreTrashEditRewriteDo you want to have an information product of your ownto sell? Then congratulations, it is right there foryou to take.Or do you want to find more excuses for not doinganything? It is your choice.Go and get you book started. You know you can. Article Tags: Info Products