40k in 7 months

[JoshK]

I bounced around a few topics for this post. Like Learning about infoproducts, 40k in 7 months, stuff like that. I decided on this topic because I know the response/view count they tend to give.

I'm going to outline a basic plan of how to build an infoproduct empire. A plan neither has to be perfect and or faultless. You must know your end destination and at least some rough or unpolished components (steps) in which will get you there.

A given, yet unfortunate rule of life, is that most people will fail in their pursuits, for lack of desire, for lack of passion and for the most part, for the lack ofaction.

People get bogged down in trying to develop the perfect plan to achieve perfect success, in order to avoid failure or loss, in order to avoid risk, criticism and or humiliation. In the meantime life passes you by and you achieve nothing. Subsequently people give up, for alls they ever do is ponder the "how to..?" As you put your plan into action (if you ever do) you will figure out the intricacies as you go along.

Remember however that every obstacle and or failure is a success should you let it be. No word of a lie, this is not some cliche inspiring statement, it is a valuable truth worth it's weight in what it is that you hope to achieve.

Raising $40k in 7 months shouldn't be that hard - depending on how much time you're able to invest. You need a credit card and small amounts to cover costs like webhosting etc. If that's hard you'll need to do some ebay trading to raise money, or wash cars or whatever it takes to rasie a few bucks each month.

Here's what I'd do:

Month 1 - set up an autoresponder account (ww.getresponse.com, www.aweber.com, www.constantcontact.com), and a blog (www.blogger.com). Decide on a niche that you are passionate about. Lets take sport cars as an example. Start reading up on sports cars - the web, library books, magazines - anything you can get your hands on. Start keeping notes and ideas about how people can get the best out of their sports cars. Start producing a weekly blog called 'Performance Car Buzz - top tips for savvy drivers'. Write up your notes and ideas each week into your blog so that you start building some history. Don't wory about readers yet - just get used to blogging and writing. Email everyone you know about your new blog and invite them to sign up on your autoresponder. Encourage them to tell all their mates too.

Month 2 - start converting your notes and blogs into short articles - about 500-800 words, with a resource box that includes the link to your autoresponder (check the help files in the responder site to do this) and to your blog. Each article needs to be on a single subject that you've come across. Start submitting the articles to websites about cars, or websites for men. Do this religiously every week. Once you can afford it start using article submission services like www.articlemarketer.com. By now you should be getting regular subscribers to the autoresponder.

Month 3 - carry on with your blogging and articles, but also create a short report about some aspect of sports cars that you think will be of value to most owners/drivers. Create a good quality report in PDF format - if you can't do this find a writer on www.elance.com and pay or suggest a joint venture. Ensure a link back to your autoresponder is included in the PDF. Now get yourself a domain name and small website. Put together a simple squeeze page that captures visitor emails to the autoresponder and a download page for the report. You may not need a download page if the autoresponder will deliver the report as an attachment. Promote this website to everyone you know, everyone on your list, and in your blog. Invite them to download the free report. Invite them to link their blogs and websites to yours. Post the free report on ebay, P2P trackers, anywhere that will take it. Invite people to pass it on to their friends.

Month 4 - keep up the momentum on blogging and articles. If your mailing list isn't growing then your posts are not interesting enough. Keep looking for new ideas that will create interest. You may need to improve your copywriting skills. Set up an account on Clickbank and learn everything you can about affiliate marketing. You will soon be launching your first paid ebook and clickbank will be your marketing vehicle. Now that your efforts are in full swing you need to start thinking about numbers. You need to be adding 1000-2000 subscribers to your autoresponder each month. These will be coming from ARTICLES, the BLOG, your EBOOK and the WEBSITE. You may need to spend time promoting your site and free book to magazines / newspapers / other websites. Also look for other books about cars/sports/male activities on clickbank - offer your free book as a bonus item or giveaway to them. Tell them you'll soon be launching a brand new product that they can profit from.

Month 5 - As well as your writing efforts, you now need to start work on your paid product. This can be another, more extensive ebook, but it could also be audio or video depending on what resources and skills you have. You're looking for content that is going to be widely valued. More than 'top tips' - it needs to have some unique or valuable benefits. Something like 'The Sports Car Pro's guide to maximum performance - what every performance car owner needs to know'. Get the picture? Hopefully in the last 5 months you will have uncovered some great ideas from all your research. If you're still struggling, try talking with sports car owners and dealers about the issues they face. What are their biggest concerns? Now go and find the answers.

Month 6 - This is your pre-launch month. You need to complete your new ebook, audio or video product and create a top-quality squeeze page. You'll also need to create some sales copy to give affiliates. You can use the same site you've been using for the free report - just make the free report a 'bonus' item. Once done, get approval from clickbank and pay the $50 fee. Now contact all the publishers and affiliates you've met along the way and tell them about the site and the earning potential. Set the retail price at $49 and offer 50% commission to any affiliate who is willing to promote it to their list. Urge them to mail their lists as soon as possible so as to get early-bird sales before your big launch.

Month 7 - This is your launch month. By now you should have created:

1. A blog with 6 months of posts on all aspects of sports car ownership. You should have ten of thousands of regular readers
2. An autoresponder in which you should have 5,000-10,000 or more subscribers
3. A high quality PRODUCT with a free GIVEAWAY product. The giveaway has already been widely distributed and read by your target audience
4. A clickbank enabled website featuring your brand new product
5. A small army of publishers and affiliate contacts who you have informed about the new site

Now post a launch announcement on your blog. This months articles should be all about the new site and product. Email your affiliate contacts encouraging them to keep promoting. Broadcast your launch announcement to your mail list via your autoresponder.

If you can generate 500 sales from your own list and blog, you'll have 500 @ $49 per sales = $24,500
If your affiliates create a further 500 sales @ $25 per sale = $12,500
TOTAL INCOME = $37,000 less costs.

Of course the figures are very rough. But the process is proven and will work - it's just about putting the effort in.

There's a lot to learn, but just about everything you need can be taught pretty easily. More importantly you'll need patience and determination. If you can keep at it then you CAN do it.

Cheers,

Josh