Legit Muse #1: Information Product. A Diary.

[Mr RC]

Guys,

I'm going to keep this thread going as somewhat of a diary on the build up towards the launch of my first muse - an information product.

First, a little background:

Came up with the idea whilst Freelancing and surrounding myself with business books
Practiced what I preached and built a decent enough roster to keep myself busy
Shared what I'd learned with other friends that I'd met along the way. They and strangers have paid me to do a webinar on this before.


I consider that proven. However, after a burn-out experience with service, I want to focus more on product than service (I know, slow learner.)

So here's where I'm at now:

Content created based on feedback from webinar
Launch page set up to get information
Enlisted members of status in industry to promote the launch page
Started building mailing list (10 people joined while I slept, happy with that to start)
Product is sitting there, ready to go. It's digital and helped me synthesize a lot of what I'd learned
Aiming for a mid to late Nov launch with a list of at least 100 severely interested people.


Next steps are to build up the list, develop an affiliate program for launch and carry out the launch plan. I want to start off with a bang and a little bit of hype to get the most out of this possible.

Any questions, thoughts? Hit me.

[Musetester]

Mr R.C.,

By all means, I'd scale distribution for your product. You took the time to develop it, so leverage that time to cash in.

I'd go with Clickbank as its trusted, has a large base of affiliates looking for new products to market, and takes the hassle out of accounting.

You'll have to kick up a vig to Clickbank, but that's the price you'll pay for hassle free affiliate management and a large distribution network.

Congratulations on the progress so far,

Lane

[Mr RC]

Thanks for the feedback Lane.

I've been looking into Affiliates, mainly e-junkie and clickbank. Torn between who the resellers will be - other designers/freelancers vs internet marketers. What's a VIG (excuse my ignorance?)

[Mr RC]

Cheeky Update - Building and fostering connections

In the last 24 hours I've managed to have a few surprise people jump onto the mailing list I'm building - some who are quite experienced in the field, but interested in what I'm doing. I've already lined up one of them to talk to about their advice so that I can use it as a promotional piece.

On top of that, I've been talking to active friends in the industry.

NB: Realised I didn't put much detail into what I'm actually doing into the first post, so next one will outline it a little more.

[Mr RC]

CHU'KNO'ME. GET KNOWN. GET PAID.

First, the problem
designers want to start freelancing and end up dealing with clients from hell (hence the tumblr of the same name), poor business management skills and a lack of clients/cash.

Amplifiers
Few, if any, universities or courses actually teach the foundational business skills required to have a small creative business up and running once you've graduated. This adds to burn out/lack of confidence about 'pulling the trigger'.

Solution for customer
A step by step guide to setting up your freelance practice, based on personal experience. It includes four simple to digest modules, an email course and worksheets. The full details can be found here (http://www.chuknome.com/more.html)

Business Expansion
If this goes as planned, it leads itself to further information products.

Strengths
I've got endorsement from a few well known designers and illustrators who I happen to be friends with, each of whom have pretty impressive client lists. I've got experience in the industry as well as face to face sales, running a business and (obviously) design.

Challenges
Building a list! I've got a fair bit of offline marketing skill, but unfortunately most of it is based in face to face and events. Transferring these skills is definitely the biggest challenge I'll have. Also, the target demographic I'm aiming at are pretty tech savvy - that means that content and aesthetics are equally important (shitty vs pretty debate does not count) for the first impact.

Would love to hear thoughts and feedback, especially in the online arena!

[Musetester]

Mr RC, vig is slang for the commission you'll send Clickbank's or any affiliate network's way.

As for your other issues here's my 2 cents. Adam may agree with me here. You ought to stay in your lane. You're the subject matter expert on your product and its content.

That being said, don't be afraid to spend the money and hire a professional copywriter to build your sales page (home page). You must understand that you can have a sales page (offering your product) or a squeeze page (offering your mailing list opt in) but you can't have both.

Don't give your customers the opportunity to bail out of a sale by opting into your mailing list. Also, don't give your customers any other option on your home (sales) page other than to purchase your product. A lot of newbies create these 5-7 page sites attempting to dazzle the users. They end up frustrated, with crap for sales conversions, and back to square one with hiring a professional copywriter.

You also need to look at your entire sales funnel. By that I mean, how are you driving traffic (advertising), identifying qualified leads, and converting leads into sales.

The point I'm trying to make is find a pro-Internet Marketer and do a joint-venture. Identify what you're not a pro at and identify ONE person who is.

[Mr RC]

Good point. Got any thoughts on finding such a person, or would it be worth hitting up the warrior forum (or elsewhere)?

[Musetester]

You'll find some excellent copywriters who specialize in Muse style web pages/sales letter writing over there. Expect to pay between $297 and $497 depending on the writer's reputation and work portfolio.

[Mr RC]

Awesome, thanks for the insight.

Today, I reviewed the content I've put together... and I basically shat myself. This collection of information is the wet dream product I would've killed for when I first tried freelancing. I wrote it all a little while ago and have just discovered some of the stuff I've put into it.

I'm actually jealous of the people who will buy this as they break into freelancing. They'll have a serious edge, even over people who've been doing it for a few years.

Is anyone else this excited about what they're doing?