by Cara Lumen
Or are you stuck on the old homestead doing the same ol’, same ol’? Maybe you like it there but there sure are a whole lot of interesting activities taking place a little further down the road. Life is different today than it was even a few years ago. The opportunities that present themselves are not what we have come to expect. That means it is a good time to reexamine the reality of our world, become aware of what has changed and determine how we fit in and where we can best serve. And it won’t be about doing it the way we’ve been doing it. It will be about seeking a new frontier and exploring it.
What has changed?
The primary change in today’s world is the economy and how people spend or don’t spend money. That affects our business as well as our personal life style. If we are selling something we have to be certain that what we offer is relevant, needed and wanted.
The other major change that I am currently exploring is the inundation of information that bombards us and how we gather and sort that information. Newspapers are struggling. Time magazine is really skinny. Ebooks are outselling print books on Amazon. Information is wanted and needed but we are all faced with overwhelm at its abundance.
There are more changes of course, but these two are the frontiers I’m currently exploring.
Here’s what I figured out – people will buy knowledge in any economy. They may want to know how to do something. They may want to strengthen a skill, or identify an option, or find new resources. Knowledge never wears out – it simply gets better and more valuable. So, the frontier I am exploring is how to better help people get and give knowledge. And I think it is one that would work for your business too.
How we get our knowledge
We are surrounded by information – almost to the point of being unable to figure out where to even start to learn something. And the information is free. It’s on the internet; it’s given away as opt in bonuses and free teleclasses. So how is that going to help you make money?
Sure you could go take a lot of courses, listen to a lot of teleclasses, read a lot of books, and do a lot of research, but what if someone did all that for you and offered you a modestly priced ebook that synthesizes, condenses and simplifies what you want to know? You would buy it in a minute and consider yourself lucky to have had all that work done for you. See where I’m going with this?
Your job as teacher
So here you are, looking for ways to expand your business and this is s sure-fire way to create passive income. And it is basically free to create.
Think about what you know. Think about all those courses you took. Think about all your experience. How can you organize that wisdom into products that other people will buy? You create information products – your own signature products that identify you as an expert in your field, are delivered digitally day or night, and can be spread virally around the world via the internet. How does that sound?
Where do start?
First you look at what you know and what you are passionate about sharing and secondly look at what is needed in your target community. Then you put the two together. Whatever you create has to answer a need, or solve a problem for those you wish to serve.
Answer these questions for yourself.
1. What am I passionate about? In my case I love to learn and the best way to learn is to teach.
2. What is my gift? My gift is the ability to focus and organize ideas into clearly communicated information
3. What does my chosen community need and want? I believe that people will pay for information that is well-targeted to their needs and clearly presented for their understanding.
4. Looking at your passion, your gift and the needs of your community, what will you offer? The focus of my business is to help thoughtful leaders effectively focus and organize their ideas so they can educate and inspire their chosen community. I find that incredibly exciting. I will get to work with knowledgeable people who are full of vital information wrapped in their own unique wisdom and help them create signature information products that will be a lasting part of their legacy.
5. What specifically will that look like? I have worked with entrepreneurs for a long time and I am one myself so I know how our minds work – we are filled with ideas – so many in fact that we find ourselves either leaping around following one bring shiny idea after another or standing frozen in place because we don’t know which to choose. But my gift is the ability to bring the complex into the simple, That’s why I created my Passionately On Purpose Product Producer Program. It’s how I help you capture your ideas, chose the most relevant concepts for your community, help you decide what form that information is to take, chunk it into consumable pieces, and help you create your own signature product.
I’ve taken my years of experience in teaching how to create ebooks, teleclasses, book proposals, audio books, and home study courses and turned them into an easy-to-follow system with exercises that help you focus your ideas and templates that turn them into a product. And as Your Idea Optimizer, I coach you through the process and help you keep focused, accountable and productive.
That’s where my exploration of a new frontier has taken me. A small tweak on what I’ve been doing that more readily addresses the needs of my chosen community today.
Work with variations of these questions to determine what you can offer your chosen community.
What is your new frontier?
So you see how to do this. Look at your passion and area of expertise, examine the needs of your target community and see how you need to change your business. What do you need to offer? Do you need smaller, less expensive packages? Do you need to offer your information to groups so you can offer a lower fee? How can you create value that keeps on giving and will be so valuable that those who have it will share it with others? You can’t beat referral viral marketing when it comes to reaching others.
Give some thought to this idea of discovering a new frontier. Get out your coonskin cap and go exploring. Look for the tiny niches where you are needed, the unexplored territory that needs your special expertise. Don’t try to do it the way it has been done. Remember, we are in a changed era with free flowing information, the ability to contact people all over the world and exchange ideas and cultures. And for those that are creative and brave and love to try out new ideas, the new frontiers will welcome you.
©2010 Cara Lumen
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