Deciding to spread your wisdom is wonderful.
It can feel exciting to decide to create online learning tools to share what you know and help your tribe.
‘I’m going to create an eBook to show people how to do this!’ ‘There’s a whole online course in this topic. I can help so many people’.
Of course creating products that can be relaunched and automated (income from all over the world, even when you’re asleep or on holidays) is AMAZING! Thank you internet.
But how do you decide what to cover? How do you decide what’s in and what’s out? How do you decide if it’s a viable business idea?
What is your passion/gift/message?
You may be pretty clear on this already. If so, yeh for you. You’ve got this bit covered.
For those of you who are just starting out… here are some points to ponder….
Use the Product sweet spot worksheet to write a list. Just write them all down. Don’t edit yourself.
What is it that lights you up? That thing that you get lost in, you find your flow and lose track of time. What are you really good at? What do people ask you about? What do people thank you for? What do you feel really passionate about?
It might be knitting, reading to your children, coaching a basketball team, listening to your friends, watching movies, reading great books, designing your renovation/dress/landscaping, painting, sculpting, writing, watching your students blossom, that moment when people really understand your message, watching children discover a new park. You might really enjoy helping people understand a new language or apply for jobs, or consider their future careers. You might know a whole lot about ….. and love to share it (fill in the blank).
…. So many things can make you feel light of heart and fully engaged in that moment.
Perhaps you’ve built your business around something you are passionate about. I hope so, because being in business for yourself is hard, hard work and it helps if you love your work.
Who is your ideal customer and what’s keeping her up at night?
Do you feel most at home when you work with women, men, children, older people, artists, scientists, business owners, young couples, new parents, teens with learning disabilities, people at a crossroad in their career, senior managers, retirees…. The list is endless, but call it out.
It is vital that you know who you are talking to. ‘Everyone’ is the same as no-one. Generic products/services just don’t work.
Let me tell you a quick story. My husband and I renovate houses for fun and profit. We look for the unloved and neglected homes, with great bones, in a good location. We pay a great price because the bathrooms and kitchens are tired and/or broken, the floor coverings are … well gross usually, the yards are unloved and the whole place needs a paint. What we’ve learned is that people either can’t see the potential or don’t want to do the work. They won’t even snap it up at a great price and spend a little to get the house they want (paying someone else to do the work). Awesome. That spells bargain and opportunity for us. But for us, this is fun and exciting. We do the work. We love to see the homes unfold, become glossy and then a new family moves in. Love it.
Why is this relevant? For us, the fixing is the passion but most people just see a house that doesn’t suit their needs or meet their standards. People don’t want to spend time working it out. Similarly, I’ve found that people don’t want to take a generic product or service and work out how it can work for them.
Your ideal client wants to buy something that is tailor made for her and ready to go right now.
Think back to some training or development session you went to with high hopes. You walked away thinking it was amazing or a bit of a waste of time? Why?
Your response probably involved relevance and immediate usefulness. You either walked away feeling like the session talked to you and you were clear about what to do next, or you felt disappointed or somehow underwhelmed.
Who do you want to work with? Call them out with a clear identifier. Tailor everything you do to that person. This is your Ideal Customer (IC). You need to be crystal clear about your IC so that you make it completely clear that she NEEDS your product/service right now because it addresses her need/desire.
What does she need right now?
- More of….
- Less of ….
- I’m worried about ….
- I can’t figure out …
- Right now my biggest frustration is ….
- If I had one wish right now it would be …..
- I can’t wait until …..
- My deepest desire is to …..
This is starting to build a list of potential ‘useful needs’ to be addressed. Stay focused on their problem or their need – NOT what you know. The aim is to create products and marketing that give voice to her (your IC) concerns/needs/aspirations/desires.
What is your ideal customer buying and what can you monetize?
Go where your ideal customer goes.
Write your observations in the worksheet. Look at the blogs, magazines, businesses, holidays, restaurants, authorities that they go to. Who else is serving this market and what is out there right now? Maybe you’ve identified a need/desire that no-one else is serving. Just make sure it is a need they will pay to have served.
Some of your passions just won’t make you money. I love having family dinners on a Monday night, but no-one’s going to pay me to attend (although they are hysterical and the food is fabulous).
Useful and unique versus innovative
There are very few new ideas. The thing that will make you stand out above others is to always remain ‘useful’ and true to your voice. Your solution needs to be better than and different from the others in the market.
The difference can be just YOU. Your uniqueness. Your language, message, delivery, connection, and attraction to the ‘right’ people for you.
How many hairdressers are there in you town/suburb/city? How do you decide which one to go to? How often do you change hairdressers? Just because there a 1000’s of hairdressers out there, shouldn’t stop someone from being a hairdresser if that’s what lights her/him up. They will find their ‘people’ (assuming they are also good at their craft).
So don’t be deterred if there are already people doing what you want to do. That’s actually great, because it means people are willing to pay for it. WHOOHHOOO.
Just do it your way. Be unique and useful.
What is your business about?
What is the nature of your business? What are you known for, or what do you want to be known for? What do people thank you for?
What’s your response when someone asks you ‘what do you do for a living?’ What’s your 10 second elevator answer? Don’t have one. Create one. Be clear. Specific. Outcomes focused and make sure your ideal client is obvious in your answer. You might be talking to one of your tribe and you don’t even know it.
Make sure that your passive income strategy works within your current business. For example, if your business involves coaching young professionals entering the human resource field, I’m not sure you should be providing an online course promising ‘Passion and bliss – make your first year of marriage happier and more satisfying than you ever imagined.’
Your online offering needs to sit within your business identity. It can’t feel like an add on. Your authority in the discipline and your authenticity may be questioned if you start creating offerings that don’t align with your brand and business. If you really love the idea (and I get it but multi-passionate and super creatives can seem a bit ‘flaky’ to those with less imagination) – it might be worth creating another business to support the new idea.
So where is your sweet spot?
SO you are looking for the crossover. What lights you up? Who are your people? What do they pay for? How does the idea fit into my business?
Use the worksheet to identify the cross overs.
Sweet spot
Now you can start to think about a suit of products, or as we like to say, a product funnel. But that’s another blog.
8 Steps to create client focused eCourses that sell and change lives
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