A Pricey Muse

[jdlk]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking for a while and am glad to see that things are active here. I look forward to reading everyone's journey. My journey is only beggining and am in the selection process of a muse.

My idea revolves around two ideas, exclusivity and membership. This sets the price point much higher than is being suggested in the 4HWW, more like 1500-2000/yr.

I'm interested in getting opinions on whether this model would still work within the 4HWW principles, or is it moving into something requiring a physical store front.

Thanking you in advance!

[Drewkerr]

It is very possible. I use to be a member of a resouce website for my industry and the membership fee was $1,500 a year.

The whole reason I joined was they had a backlog of conference calls you could download, template flyers & emails. And they constantly updated the site and added more information.

Drew

[jdlk]

That is a serious membership fee for a resource website! Did they provide much in the way of "real people" support or was it completely automated (ie: did you subscribe online or over the phone?)

[RichB]

It's certainly within the principles. The prosoundeffects example he used in the book had products exceeding 1K.

[Drewkerr]

There was live support if you were trying to download an audio lesson or something.

The main information was templates for flyers, letters, marketing material that had been tested and proven to get results. Also the main partners of the company were leading "experts" in my industry, so they did conference calls on lessons and recorded them for later download from the site.

Overall there was quite a bit of information on the site. In my industry you can make $1,500 off of one sale. So that was there whole pitch, even if our site helps you close only one exrta deal a year you have come out ahead.

Drew

[phil]

To clarify, you're going to sell a physical product?

$2000 is not a problem as long as the site is professional and informative, ie. great photos, great copy. And of course great usability.

You don't need a physical store, though you'd likely do better with an 800 number (I recommend gotvmail (http://www.alibaba.com/)) prominently displayed.

While I don't know any details, I'd still say this can be done with minimal supervision in the 4hww fashion.

[jdlk]

@phil - Yes it is a physical product and it is certainly priced appropriately for the quality and even has a potential positive return on investment.

Agreed that an 800 number is essential. It will be setup but only to an automated system initially. I'd like at least some cash flow to be established before hiring VAs. I really can see how they reduce/eliminate the "me" bottleneck.

[Mackay]

A high price is not a stumbling block, it just needs a different sales process.

[OneOfEm]

I've found that you just have to do very targeted marketing. I've been able to turn a few average websites (one example) (http://www.singularautos.com) into decent moneymakers.

Remember also that each muse doesn't HAVE to be a home run - as long as the ROI makes it worthwhile, add it to your portfolio. :D

[FrozenCanuck]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking for a while and am glad to see that things are active here. I look forward to reading everyone's journey. My journey is only beggining and am in the selection process of a muse.

My idea revolves around two ideas, exclusivity and membership. This sets the price point much higher than is being suggested in the 4HWW, more like 1500-2000/yr.

I'm interested in getting opinions on whether this model would still work within the 4HWW principles, or is it moving into something requiring a physical store front.

Thanking you in advance!

I have a muse in mind that has a monthly fee rather than an initial sale. I think this is the best kind of business if you can automate it since it generates recurring sales. My concept is an online service that people in a particular industry will likely want to use because it protects THEM and not their employer. It also is something they could probably expense, but my price point will not require this.

[gobytrain]

The only thing about fee based is that it could be quite time consuming. Unless you have something people will continually pay for that you don't have to update with content from multipel, non-feeding sources, but I really can't think of anything like that even as an example.

I'm sure some of the content can be outsourced, but how will you conduct a quality check? Since it's not like a widget, content is tricky to set a single standard for. How do you get high enough caliber content from non-industry VA's?

I'm not totally down on it, I've thought of it myself, but it seems like it could suck you in and not spit you out.

[mannglobal]

There was live support if you were trying to download an audio lesson or something.

The main information was templates for flyers, letters, marketing material that had been tested and proven to get results. Also the main partners of the company were leading "experts" in my industry, so they did conference calls on lessons and recorded them for later download from the site.

Overall there was quite a bit of information on the site. In my industry you can make $1,500 off of one sale. So that was there whole pitch, even if our site helps you close only one exrta deal a year you have come out ahead.

Drew

Are you talking about the Robin Robin's website for managed services companies? I'm a member of that site right now, haha. There are 3 levels of access and they are all expensive, but considering it's basically outsourced marketing it is worth it to me.