Seven Cruel Myths that Keep You Product-Less!
Bottom line. You need to have at least one product, preferably five, in any given niche. I would prefer ten but let's not get carried away.
Even if you're an affiliate promoter... guess what, you have a bribe to get people to opt-in or even a bonus if people buy from your link: info-product.
If you are strictly a freelancer... the best possible way to get lots of people banging down your door to pay you money for services is to publish a product to PROVE you know what you're talking about: info-product.
If you're a public speaker it's just about REQUIRED that you have some kind of book before presenting on stage.
And even if you already have a product, or a few... more can't hurt, can they?
So allow me to share with you the first myth that keeps you without a product, so you and I can overcome it.
Myth #7: You Need To Be Authoritative In That Niche To Have A Book
False. Dr. Phil (a 245 pound overweight man) sells weight loss products. Kim Cattrall (from Sex and the City) wrote a book on how to have endless orgasms and then divorced her husband because he wanted too much sex. Take your pick. You don't have to prove you can do something, or even that you follow that advice, only that you can get others to follow that advice.
I have a problem with personal and group coaching if you aren't the expert, but when that situation comes up, you can interview guest experts to host webinars for you or even write your book for you. Plenty of people use pen names or partner with real experts in a niche.
Want infoproduct creation myth number six? Great... all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me you want it... do that right now. I need 10 people to tell me they want it.
Filed in: Seven Things
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Heck yeah I want the next tip. Had no idea about Kim Catrall. That is pretty funny.
Robert,
I loved this post. I definitely want to see the other six!
Bring it on Robert!
Count me in for the other 6!
As usual… Great Stuff! Yes I want #6
And you don’t have to be a doctor to invent a “cold-preventative” supplement. You can be a school teacher 🙂 via Robert Plank at Action Seminar in Dallas.
Creating, then marketing, information products is challenging. Good to get your tips. It helps spur me on.
I will be watching for #6
I’m anxious to see the other six.
@David: Yep that seminar was a lot of fun. Especially when the guy tried to prove me wrong and ended up proving my REAL point! 🙂
Hi Robert! Great first tip!
BTW: you havent created new PHP products recently!
Luiggi
gimme, gimme, gimme!
Luiggi,
I know… I had one coming out soon but I’m trying out bigger and longer launches instead of quickly launching one product after another.
Hey Robert good point
If you can learn from a few experts – you should already know more than like 90% of the people interested in the subject – that’s good enough for me!
I need a book, How to sell a weight-loss product when I am myself overweight.
When the people find out that I’m fat, they won’t buy my product. Agree, or not agree.
Bring on #6.
It looks like you are providing some interesting tips and I am very curious.
Interesting and informative post–Yes I want to read the other 6.
What’s the layout or template of this blog? I like it.
Hermann,
You just need to prove your system worked on one guy. If you have more than one testimonial or case studies, even better.
If you can join venture with an expert in the field who can use his credibility to sell it, or if you have an educational background in that field, even better. You just need to prove it works, you being fat isn’t an issue.
Excellent mythbuster. This is one that has kept me out of the game at times.
Great examples, you are right onto it.
Gavin
Robert – I totally agree! Most people are already an expert, but they’re waiting for a credential, a certificate – some outside authority to tell them they are an expert. A case of great marketing by our educational system – whose answer is always “you need more education.”
Like you I believe we need more Action – and creating products is a great way to get into Action.
And hey, if you’re waiting for permission to be the expert that you already are – let me be the first to GIVE you permission! You are now an expert. Go and create products!
Jeanette
I know this is so true; all I need do now is write the book!
Always enjoy your viewpoints, and once again you are giving me a much needed kick in the backside!
Robert,
I’m definitely intrigued by this first tip. I’m sure the other six are gonna rock.
I must say that this is an important idea and I’m glad you said it. Being THE expert isn’t key…just HAVING an expert is required.
Cheers,
Brad Spencer
you mean, I can write become an authority figure of how to best cook a ham??
😀
Izzy
Well Robert,
What a great point. I have felt bad about “pretending” to be an expert when I have not been successful (yet) in the field in which I am teaching – in one of my niches.
But you are right – as long as I can teach others to have success, and get their testimonials, then what I have to say has great value – so I MUST be an expert…
Now, let’s see Myth #6 – you promised…
Cheers,
Trevor
Just like you say in Time Management on Crack, we (me too)think too much or talk our ideas out as a substitute for doing. Now for the other myths please and thanks again
Robert,
Thanks for the post! Thanks for the post! It’s great that you discussed about this topic… you don’t need to be authoritative to have a book in a specific topic, although you should be interested in it and “part of the market†in order to be able to communicate with it and the specialists that you might interview to gain expert information.
@Herman about selling weight loss products when you are overweight… why not to make your book about what you have tried and seen others to use, what results did you and they get (lost weight a bit, then bounced back, gained weight instead). Assuming that you are trying to lose weight (like at least hundred of thousands of other people), you could create a step-by-step educational/informational/emotional journey book. In addition, there are so few of these good quality “product reviews†that actually base on the real user experience, openly discussing the struggle, the wins and losses and so on. At the same time soft promote all these methods (they have worked for some one if not you) or your own solution. You could also have fantastic info products about the mental part of physical transformation, the mind set mixed with the emotional site of losing weight.
Robert, looking forward to your next post!
I like it! I’m finding this to be a slight obstacle with my current (and first) product.
It’s a mental block that I just don’t want to admit, well, ah, just admitted it, so let’s move on! 🙂
Bring on the Rest, Robert!
I like your style Robert. What more can be said. You Rock!
Sure, Robert, hit me up with the other 6!
As always, your insight and advice is inspirational! JM
Very interesting tip and one, I suspect, that a lot of people will be hampered by.
The need for outside validation of your skills is actually a real problem for most people. It’s a mental block like the “I’m too young/old fat/thin clever/stupid white/black tall/short” kind of thinking.
@Herman, I sell a weight loss product (subliminal audio) that works. I stopped using my own product on myself when I took up internet marketing a few years ago and my weight has ballooned because I sit down all day and have time to eat too much!
My product works and it still sells, I just don’t use it myself anymore because I don’t care about the extra weight. I should care, but I don’t.
Does that make my technique any less successful for other people? Of course not – it still works.
Think of it like this: how many of the best coaches do you think could go out and win a sports event? Yet they are paid big money to tell other people how to do it. We have universities with professors teaching people about business – most of them never ran a business in their lives! There are childcare experts on tv and some of them don’t even have children!
I’m constantly amazed at how little the “general” public seem to know about particular subjects. That means anyone with even a small amount of knowledge is in a position to pass the information on. There are plenty of people who would be grateful for simple primers on many topics.
Of course there are limits to how far you can stretch Robert’s tip #7 and it’s not fair to offer people information if you know absolutely nothing about a subject.
But that’s where the second half of his tip comes in: you can ask someone who does know something about the subject. In my email this morning I think there were about 5 pitches for ‘my great interview with….’
That’s like saying “I don’t know enough to talk about this subject so I’ll let someone else tell you instead”. And people buy that kind of thing all the time.
Good tip to start with, Robert!
Amin
Very interesting tip and one, I suspect, that a lot of people will be hampered by.
The need for outside validation of your skills is actually a real problem for most people. It’s a mental block like the “I’m too young/old fat/thin clever/stupid white/black tall/short” kind of thinking.
@Herman, I sell a weight loss product (subliminal audio) that works. I stopped using my own product on myself when I took up internet marketing a few years ago and my weight has ballooned because I sit down all day and have time to eat too much!
My product works and it still sells, I just don’t use it myself anymore because I don’t care about the extra weight. I should care, but I don’t.
Does that make my technique any less successful for other people? Of course not – it still works.
Think of it like this: how many of the best coaches do you think could go out and win a sports event? Yet they are paid big money to tell other people how to do it. We have universities with professors teaching people about business – most of them never ran a business in their lives! There are childcare experts on tv and some of them don’t even have children!
I’m constantly amazed at how little the “general” public seem to know about particular subjects. That means anyone with even a small amount of knowledge is in a position to pass the information on. There are plenty of people who would be grateful for simple primers on many topics.
Of course there are limits to how far you can stretch Robert’s tip #7 and it’s not fair to offer people information if you know absolutely nothing about a subject.
But that’s where the second half of his tip comes in: you can ask someone who does know something about the subject. In my email this morning I think there were about 5 pitches for ‘my great interview with….’
That’s like saying “I don’t know enough to talk about this subject so I’ll let someone else tell you instead”. And people buy that kind of thing all the time.
Good tip to start with, Robert!
Amin
Sorry, forgot to add great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!
bring them on Robert.
how about spiritual teachers who live wretched lives disconnected from the Divine?
Before my wife and I had our first baby, we took labour classes from a a Mid-Wife in her 40s. She never had kids. You would never guess it…
Robert, bring on the other 6.
Great post and thought Robert, you are the man 😉 That’s so true though, they are alot of people in a TON of different fields that does this, they might not be a actual expert, but still, it’s simple to get free information or from experience and turn it into your own product.
You might say, nobody is going to buy what I am selling, they aren’t going to beleive in it, but one thing you have to remember is not everyone knows what you know, if I wanted to I could write a ebook on how to use your cellphone as a wireless card for your laptop, which I have done, so it’s endless, go get gem.
If you have an idea for a book that is of interest to you and you are not as knowledgeable as you need to be to feel comfortable`writing it, get a ghost writer expert. And put your name on it. Bob Bly does it all the time and freely admits it.