Make Money Online & Screw The Middleman
June 30, 2008
Would you like to make money online and save people from scammers at the same time? When I say scammers, I’m talking about middlemen. More often than not, they’ll charge you an absolute fortune, for doing very little, just because they have a little bit of knowledge that you don’t have. The good news is, not only can you get hold of that information and save a fortune, you can also profit from it.
I recently saved thousands by doing a bit of legwork myself and cutting out the middleman. And this was in a personal matter, not a business one. Of course I was warned that “many things could go wrong”, “it involved a lot of work” and it was “too complicated” for the average person to understand. What a load of tosh - few things are that complicated. I needed to do very little work myself and when the process was over, I discovered that I could have been paying a huge heap of cash to some con artist for simply passing the bulk of the work on to someone else.
Well, I figured that if I could save a fortune doing this, others could benefit too, so I’m putting together a simple information package, which will enable people with the same problems to do it themselves. And instead of paying thousands to some ambulance chasing middleman - it will cost them less than $50.
And you can do this too. Think about the times you’ve spent a lot of money on a service that simply wasn’t worth it. Or maybe you’ve done as I did and saved yourself a fortune by doing your own research instead of paying for costly services.
Doing your own research and putting together an easy to follow package is fairly straightforward. So don’t be put off by the middleman’s claims that it’s too complicated for the average person to do themselves. Or that things could go drastically wrong if you don’t engage their specialist help.
Now, I’m not going to share the info product that I’m bringing out before it’s even completed. And you don’t need me to. There’s plenty of niches you could fill if you brainstorm a little.
Think about the areas the middlemen hang out in. They usually target people who desperately need help and those who really can’t afford to squander a fortune. They’ll also go after people who are in desperate need to do something important and try to convince them that they can’t do it without them.
I bet there’s at least one problem out there that you can provide a solution to and you could save a lot of people from being scammed at the same time.
If you’ve got some great ideas but you’re not sure how to put it all together and reach the right people, check out the following resources:
Write Your Own Ebook In 7 Days
The Dirty Little Secrets of An Informer
Dirty Little Secrets 2 - The Investigation
Dirty Little Secrets 3 - The Rule
27 Ways To Fuel Your Imagination & Come Up With Great Ideas
* This post has caused quite a bit of debate. When I refer to the term middleman - I mean someone who offers a service which involves little skill, or work and charges an astronomical figure for doing so - usually, someone else is doing the bulk of the work at a fraction of the price.
This is not to be confused with a project manager who would charge a mark-up for organising subcontractors, or a business who subcontracts some of the work to other providers and adds a mark up.
The middleman would usually charge thousands for something that would take very little time and they would make sales by taking advantage of customers who are desperate, or vulnerable.
The project manager or subcontractor would be providing a good service to the customer - eg. organising and managing the whole project on their behalf, for maybe 10 - 25%. That could still be a large sum, if it is a big project - but if it is done properly - it is well deserved.
You Can Profit From Something You Suck At
June 26, 2008
If you’ve gone through all your hobbies and interests and you still can’t come up with a business idea - maybe it’s time to look at the things you suck at.
Now, notice I’m saying the things you suck at - not the things you hate. Or maybe things that you don’t necessarily suck at - you just haven’t got really good at them yet.
My first website (in the nineties) was a travel site. I would like to say that the site came about because of my amazing passion and knowledge on all things travel. But that would be a huge lie. The truth was, I was hopeless at planning travel. Whenever I decided to go somewhere, it was completely random. And I never did any research at all.
As you can imagine, I picked some really bad areas to vacation. And the final straw was Crete. As usual, I picked a hotel at random from the brochure. And just before we boarded the plane, I noticed a book about the island, so I decided to buy it for something to read.
So, I’m on the plane, flicking through the book and I find a section on the area of Crete we’ll be staying in. And I’m reading through the description, hoping to find at least one positive thing about the part of Crete we’re staying in. But its all bad - the biggest dump on the island - a place to avoid at all costs.
The travel guide turned out to be accurate. But we made the best of it, as you do in this sort of situation. But that was when the penny finally dropped for me. The truth was, I always picked the least desirable places to travel to because I made more effort deciding what to make for dinner on an evening than I put into researching where we were going to go.
And when I started doing a fair bit of research, not only did we end up visiting nicer places, but I also discovered that I enjoyed research and planning. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I decided to build my own niche travel website and start my first small business.
It could happen to you too. Are there areas of your life that you do badly in? Could they be improved upon, if you increased your knowledge a little? You never know, you may enjoy doing it so much that it helps you come up with a great business idea.
Dirty Little Secrets 3 - The Rule
May 6, 2008
In the third part of this series on writing an ebook or information product, I think it is important to mention “the rule”. And if you’re serious about writing an information product, this is the one rule you should never break. And it’s a simple one: Never ever write an information product that doesn’t work.
If you are promoting a “how to guide” it has to do what it says on the packet. And it should work for anyone who is willing to put your advice into practise. This may seem like common sense, but not everyone follows the rule, which is why there’s so many crummy information products on the Internet.
If There’s So Much Crap Out There, Why Do People Buy Electronic Information Products?
Despite the crap - there’s also some good info products. And they’re often far more up to date than what you’d find in a real book, simply because of the length of time that it takes to get a traditionally published book on the shelves.
Also, you can keep an information product shorter and give the reader only the information they’re actually looking for.
For example, in The Dirty Little Secrets Of An Informer, I explained how I wrote and sold a guide on how to save money on niche travel. The guide showed specific ways to save hundreds of dollars on hotel rooms within Walt Disney World (Disney owned property).
It was short but there was a huge market for the information. And it worked - I’d tested every single method myself. But just in case the information failed for anyone who bought it, I included a guarantee which entitled readers to their money back.
So How Do You Know That Other People Will Like What Your Product?
This is tough part. Just because you think your information product is great and it really worked for you, doesn’t mean that other people are going to like it. So you need to test it before you try to sell it to the masses. You could send it out to those who have websites in your niche, or ask friends or family to read it. I don’t recommend doing this - they may tell you it’s good so they don’t hurt your feelings. You really need to test it on people who would be willing to buy it.
To test the product mentioned above, I sold a handful of copies on Ebay and another auction site. And I didn’t wait for buyers to leave feedback, I emailed them straight after the transaction to ensure they were happy with the product and remind them that there was a money back guarantee. Their positive feedback gave me the confidence to market my product to a wider audience.
If The Product Is Short - Will People Actually Want It?
They will, so long as you tell them how short the product is up front and exactly what it will do for them. My product saved readers hundreds of dollars and they seemed happy enough with that. I could have padded it out with lots of additional information, but they weren’t buying it for extra info, they were buying it to save money. Besides, I gave additional info away for free to help me sell the product. If you’d like to know how to do this, click here to subscribe in a reader (it’s free), so you don’t miss the next article in this series.
If you’re interested in writing and selling an ebook or information product, check out The Dirty Little Secrets of an Informer and Dirty Little Secrets 2 - The Investigation also.
The Pros And Cons Of Outsourcing Your Life
May 2, 2008
Outsourcing isn’t just for business. In fact, outsourcing many areas of your personal life is going to become increasingly popular over the next decade, because thousands of people are tired of working long hours, only to waste even more time doing personal chores when they get home.
Gift Buying
To me, shopping has to be one of the most mind numbing chores. And even shopping on the Internet still wastes a heap of time. If you feel the same way, you could outsource the purchasing of gifts for friends and loved ones - especially at Christmas. Personally, I would go a step further and outsource the gift wrapping too.
Pros: Saves time.
Saves forgetting and upsetting loved ones.
Cons: Your shopper may buy something that sucks, offends, or causes an allergic reaction.
You could be in trouble if a recipient asks questions about the gift.
Means entrusting your credit/debit card details to your shopper.
Learning
You can spend hours researching something you want to learn, only to find a couple of pieces of useful information among piles of crap. Why not save yourself some time, by outsourcing some of your learning?
Pros: Saves time.
You can get the researcher to make notes of the key points, meaning you don’t need to read the rest.
Cons: Could be costly if the researcher struggles to find what they’re looking for.
The information may not be accurate, depending upon what sources they use.
Vacation Planning
Some people spend more time researching their vacation than they spend planning any other aspect of their life. This is fine if you enjoy it and you have the time. If not, you could outsource all the planning and booking of your vacation.
Pros:Saves time - you just need to turn up.
Cons: You’re relying on the tastes of someone else to choose what is best for you.
They may not necessarily get you a great deal.
Vacations aren’t always as enjoyable if you don’t get involved in the planning process.
Cooking and Shopping
Cooking and shopping can easily eat into several hours of your life per week. Plus, if you finish work late, your family could be passing out with hunger by the time you’ve prepared the evening meal. So it may be worth outsourcing it.
Pros: Saves time.
You can relax when you finish work.
Cons: Expense.
Unless you’re not fussy about what you eat, you’ll still spend time putting shopping lists and menus together.
Your shopper may not be as fussy as you would be about freshness and quality of food.
Housework/Laundry
Housework and laundry can be a pain - especially if you’ve been working all day and you have kids. Outsourcing could be a big time saver.
Pros: Heaps of time saved.
Your house is always tidy.
Cons: Losing things. Cleaners have a habit of putting things back in the wrong place.
Trust is a big issue - not just with regard to theft, but confidentiality too.
It’s difficult and noisy to have someone cleaning and hoovering your house if you work from home.
Do you outsource any of these areas of your life, or do you plan to in the future? Can you think of any other things you could outsource to free up your time and make your life more enjoyable?
Related Stuff
The Pros and Cons Of Outsourcing
Money For Nothing: Tim Ferriss Guardian Article.
49 Decent Virtual Assistant and Personal Outsourcing Resources
