Archive for May, 2007
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Boy! You think from my most recent few posts I was ready to take this blog and venture to another level. Well that bubble has certainly popped. :-)
I’ve had a change of heart after some serious thinking about my future direction and I’ve come to some certain conclusions.
I love the information products business … if done right! I loved it so much that I created this blog to cover the industry. But over time it has been dragging me down as much as I want to be up and passionate about it.
To be honest with you all, I just see so much crap and hype in the industry - it’s more prevalent than I thought and it far outshines the good products.
These following two quotes pretty much speaks for me…
a large part of the bad reputation the internet marketing field gets is due to marketers working harder at marketing than at creating a relevant useful products in the changing marketplace and following through with quality customer service. - Aaron Wall
and another quote that hit home…
The line between an emotionally compelling offer and misleading people with hype can be a fine one at times - Yaro Starak
I receive so much rubbish emails and requests and offers (and even bribes) that it has slowly mentally dragged me down - and not that I’m a generally down guy but this was just too much.
I’m still in the information products business but my model is a little bit different: it’s a about quality. It’s about producing the best product, taking the time to design it with some thought as to the reader. I’ll also stay away from the marketing hype and tricks being used - once again, it’s that fine line thing.
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The new direction for me (and that will include producing quality information products) is SmallOfficeAustralia.
Update 27/5: The link above should now take you to the right blog … thank you Des for letting me know of my ’sophisticated’ mix up … errr , yeah I’m sticking to that sophisticated bit. :-)
Over at my other blog, TheBlogColumnist, I explain it in more passionate terms.
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Further to that this blog is now officially for sale. No fancy announcement or hype and if it sells it sells, if it doesn’t then it’s no skin of my bones. I don’t necessarily need the money thus the no fuss sale.
It’ll be a private sale with no time limit. I’ll provide some specs to the sale for those interested.
If you’re interested drop me a line at: [email protected].
Thank you for your time and patience and keep on producing quality infoproducts that the industry an be proud of.
Cheers,
Martin Neumann
Posted in information products | 3 Comments »
Saturday, May 12th, 2007
Another week has come and gone and I can easily say it’s been the most productive week here at ePublishingDaily.
I’ve finally got my act together, I’m laser focused and it’s only going to get better (and bigger).
So enjoy your weekend and here are some choice readings I’ve come across that you might enjoy…
PS. All the best to Liz and friends with their SOBcon07 being held this weekend in the Windy City.
Posted in information products | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007
Getting into the spirit of another group writing project is an awesome way to meet news people and blogs - and no one does a group writing project better that fellow Aussie, Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger.
His latest group writing project is simple. Top 5. Top 5 anything! I like it. The submissions for Day One were so varied I just didn’t know where to begin. :-)
And so joining in I give you … the Top 5 Reasons Why Information Products is the Ultimate Business:
- The Barriers to Entry are Close to Zero
A computer, internet access, a website, a PayPal account and an idea. That’s all you need. The information products industry is booming and it’s all because people want information and are willing to pay for it. For the information entrepreneur starting up is so easy - almost too easy.
- Worldwide Market … 365/24/7
The beauty of the internet is that it pretty much levels the playing field for all businesses - big and small. You can be the smallest of small businesses working from a corner of your garage and you can compete with the big guys … and win! It also opens up your market beyond you geographic location and into a market of millions.
- Automation is the Key
The key to a successful Information products business is automation. In fact, over my years, I have never seen a business that uses automation as much as this industry does to achieve super revenue. Taken the time ti set up a system up front and just watch it work its magic. From autoresponders to instant payment and instant delivery. Gratification all round.
- Passive Income
Spend a weeks writing your information product, package and get it to market. Good. The major work is done. And now you can watch it sell for years to come (obviously, how you market it comes into play). Can you imagine something that took you a free hours to create in 2007 is still selling in 2009 - that’s passive income. And while you’re getting that passive income you’ve now moved onto your latest infoproduct - eg. rinse and repeat.
- Six Figures is Not as Far Away as You May Think
Imagine having 4 information products selling at $49.95 each. You’ve marketed it well. Now imagine is each product sells 500 units a year. Now do the maths. You have a six figure business. And in 3-5 years time, if you leverage off all your products and continue the “rinse and repeat” a seven figure business does not seem too far-fetched.
Posted in information products | 30 Comments »
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
Does classifieds, job boards (still iffy on that one) and a PR service mean anything to you? What about a forum down the road? A virtual expo! A premium quarterly CD Magazine … a podcast???
And that’s all the hints I’m giving … for now. :-)
Posted in information products | No Comments »
Monday, May 7th, 2007
If you’ve read my last post you’d realize I’ve spent some time away from blogging and the internet.
Coming back to it recently and something has changed … within me.
It all started when one night I was zipping around the ’sphere thanks to a beauty of a meme I came across started by Ben Yoskovitz - it’s about productivity, something that I have always tried to get on top of.
Reading all the wonderful posts I have realized that I need clarity in what I’m doing.
To have clarity, one must have a vision but even before that - it’s your message (the sum of who you are - your values - your contribution to the world). What is your purpose?
And then it all clicked. I’m here for one thing and one thing only - and so chuck out the rest.
I know what my message, my contribution is - what I want to achieve.
Understanding that message I can then focus on a vision - which gives me focus, drive and a love for my work.
That passion is ePublishingDaily and the information products industry. And the contribution I want to make to it (what I want to be known for) is make it a credible, viable and a bona-fide business.
I love information. I love publishing. And I love that we can merge it together and today’s technology can make it all happen.
And I want to be a part of that. I want to cover the industry, weed out the shonks and make information publishing as reputable as it can be (and I know from trawling the forums and blogs that infoproducts have a reputation problem).
And that’s why ePublishingDaily is alive and kicking and will be for a long time to come.
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I’d like to thank one particular blogger and post that really grabbed me - Adam Kayce’s Monk at Work and his post How Productivity Comes From Clarity.
Posted in information products | 4 Comments »
Friday, May 4th, 2007
Okay, lets try this again.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been extremely busy with offline activities - moving house, completing a business course, some personal issues and so on …
During this period, I went through a lot of soul searching (thanks to a rather intense business course). That soul searching focused on wait for it … getting focused.
To be successful in business one must have a burning passion for it and be totally focused to it.
One must develop a business plan (a fluid one is best) and follow it through, tweaking it as you go along and all that business mumbo-jumbo. But guess what! That business mumbo-jumbo hit me and hit me very hard.
Now I have websites and blogs scattered all over the place - I’ve over-committed myself and haven’t really made the jump from a start-up to a genuine income-producing business in any of them. Yes, most of them are semi-successful but nothing earth-shattering. Well … it’s time for some earth-shattering action.
So fellow travelers, that’s all about to change.
I’ve committed myself to ePublishingDaily and ePublishingMag (I’ll reveal that one later on down the road) for the next three years at least. That’s it! Nothing else. My total focus will be on developing ePublishingDaily as THE place to go for information publishers.
I have a decent business and marketing plan, some financial backing and a burning passion for success.
As you can see, I’m tweaking the design around - it’s an ongoing process but it’s molding all together into what I want. Next comes the content and the daily coverage of the information products industry.
Wish me luck and enjoy the ride.
Martin Neumann
Publisher
ePublishingDaily
Any suggestions, feel free to email me at [email protected]
Posted in information products | 4 Comments »