Your Muse - I have built it for you already [Archive] - The 4-Hour Work Week and Timothy Ferriss

View Full Version : Your Muse - I have built it for you already

shanerbock

01-06-2008, 02:19 AM

Hi,

For the past several months I have been working on a new product (a downloadable, installable, software product). I have designed it to be generic in order to re-use it over and over again in as many niches as possible.

Here's the deal...

In the very near future (probably early next month), I will begin a new 3 month, hands-on, biz-start, step-by-step, coaching, course.

There will be 5 masterminds. Each mastermind will have 5 people in it. I will introduce you to the product I have created, coach you on selecting a niche and filling the content gap.

Each mastermind will select a different niche and if you can't come up with one yourself, I already have many in mind.

Who is interested so far?

This course will include:
* A private forum for the whole class
* A private sub-forum for each mastermind
* Weekly teleseminars
* Resource and Coaching materials (Powerpoints, PDFs, etc)
* A ready to use website for each mastermind to market and sell the product
* You will MAKE MONEY during this class... real money!
* A product customization budget
* A product advertising budget (most marketing I teach will be free, though)
*.... MORE!!!!

You will learn in this class:
* How to select a niche
* How to build a product that can be repurposed over and over again
* How to find someone to build the products
* How to market products on the internet
* How to market products offline
* How to build a BUSINESS, not a JOB
*.... MORE!!!!

The above information is not my official sales copy... its just a start. I was too excited about it to wait for me to finish fine-tuning the "flyer" above.

I will provide more information on this thread shortly.

This class will NOT be free...
* This product took time and money to create.
* The advertising budget will be included in the price.
* The product customization will be included in the price.
* I am a business coach... I coach people on building businesses (muses) and this is what I do... My time is very valuable and I WILL be spending a great deal of time on this course.

Will there be a money back guarentee... I am not sure... My first thought is No, but I may change my mind... but SERIOUSLY, IF YOU DON'T MAKE ALL OF YOUR MONEY BACK BEFORE THE COURSE IS OVER... You either didn't try, or you are an Idiot.

If you are interested... Please PM me. I will fill you in on more later... as I said, I was just so excited to get this on here I haven't put up the sign up page yet... Actually, I haven't even set the price yet... more on that soon.

Let me know what you think!

By the way... TOMORROW IS HERE!!!! Stop waiting on something to happen, and make it happen!

Make it a great day!
Shane

Sven

01-06-2008, 07:14 AM

shanerbock

01-06-2008, 09:37 AM

I don't like the sound of this a single bit... Seems like you are selling a way to rake in money, rather than a solution to a customers problem. It seems to me that this will only attract lazy, unimaginative and devious people.

But if you have your website up and running I'll gladly take a look and
change my mind...

Not sure what you mean... but I appreciate any feedback, thats for sure. Everyone here wants to create a muse... they want to learn more about building a muse (business).... they want to learn how to come up with the idea, how to select a niche, how to outsource the product creation (or not), how to market and advertise, how to test the ideas... etc... thats all this course is about... only we are actually going to make money while doing it.

If you'd prefer to go it alone... thats fine... but I have found that mastermind groups can be very, very effective. And that is the idea behind it all... I enjoy teaching and coaching. I also enjoy creating products and ideas... This product has a great deal of potential and, 1. I cannot decide which niche to target first, and 2. I cannot create all the content or manage all of it alone... so I want to create a win-win situation. I provide the framework, education, and coaching... the participants provide the help in selecting the niche, brainstorming the market and advertising, etc... I truly want everyone to win. Thats the goal.

Now, do I want to make money ("rake it in")??? OF COURSE!!! Don't you? But I want all of us to succeed.... if we dont all succeed, then the whole thing fails... because with the model I describe below... if you dont make money... neither do I. In fact, after this is all said and done... 80% of every sale generated by one of the participants in this class will go to that participant! Where does the other 20% go? to me... but I have to pay for hosting, support, upgrades and maintence, etc.... so that seems pretty fair to me, what about you?

Here's the deal...

I didn't want to give a way too much info on this... but since I know that you could give a million dollar idea and the exact working recipe to 100 people and chances are, not even 1 person, will even attempt to make it happen... I guess I am not afraid of someone taking the idea(s).

Anyway... here goes... hopefully this helps.

I have created a product, a real application. A person would download it (on purpose after paying for it), and then at intervals (set by the user in the settings of the app) the application displays a message. This message comes up on the bottom right of your screen from an icon on your systray (next to your clock).

This message has a title, and a few lines of text. It can also be a link.

So, for instance you might use this as a study tool for a certification... every hour, a new study lesson pops up on the bottom of your screen. You can click on it, go to the website, and have a short mini-lesson. (or if you dont like it hourly, change the settings to every 3 hours or 4 or or daily or whatever). You can also advance or go back through the messages as you wish.

In this example, a person might be studying for a Microsoft Certification... as a suppliment to their reading books, etc... this application would allow them a method to study periodically, for short periods of time throughout the day.

That is just one use of this application.

BUT, you see..... what is missing from this application so far???? The content.... in the case above, whats missing is the study lessons.

So, what I want to do... is teach people how to come up with a niche.... in this case, a niche to target with the above application. What about daily golf lessons for six months.... or, whatever... I dont want to give away all the niche ideas I have so I wont list them here.

Then after selecting a niche, each mastermind will work toward building the content... either by outsourcing its creation (part of my course is how to find outsource resources, how to know who to trust, etc), or it could be created by the mastermind group itself. As part of the class tuition, there will be a budget to pay someone to create the content. This way, this is paid for upfront and you dont have to worry about it unless you want to spend more than what is alloted for.

Then, I will have lessons on marketing the product... again, with a built in budget for marketing... even though I will teach mostly free ways of getting traffic to the website.

I will have lessons on finding people to market the product for you... and you only pay them when they sell it (affilliate marketing). Not only will the persons in this course make money by selling the poduct themselves, but also make money everytime one of their affilliates make a sell.

This course will be about taking action! About doing, not just learning or studying... but about making a real product, from the idea, to the niche selection, the marketing, the sales, and finally... making money.

It will take effort... it will take cooperation... it will take real people... and in the end, it will make everyone money... not just me, but also you, and potentially affiliate marketers (paid commision only when they sell).

I hope this helps... please feel free to ask more questions, provide feedback, etc...

I truly hope you see what this is about... I absolutely think this could be a great opportunity for some like minded folks that have read 4hour work week.

Make it a great day!
Shane

Sven

01-06-2008, 11:01 AM

Hi Shane,

This makes a lot more sense now.

Let me check if I grasp all of it:
You provide a framework that is sort of a mix between a diary (Popups that move you to do something at timed intervals), rss feeds (content comming from somewhere else) and a course (the content) in bite size chuncks.
You make money from providing the framework. The content providers sell their content through your frame work.

This is interesting!

The way you write about it suggests to me that the product is a bit to complicated as it is not just the application but also training by you. Am I correct in that you also want to make money through the content? This would put me off. But if I had content to sell to people I'd be interested in using your framework. Thinking this trough, I think I do....

This kind of application is probably also growing in someone elses mind. I think you need to get it out there quickly! So make it simple to understand and forget about anyone else then YOUR customer.

shanerbock

01-06-2008, 06:26 PM

Hi Sven, and everyone,

I think you almost have it. But the training, etc... is not about using or developing the application... that part is easy... its web-based and form driven... its no big deal at all.

Here it is in a nutshell...

The course includes:
* Coaching for 3 months (thinking about extending, but haven't decide yet)
* Course materials
* A private forum
* Weekly teleconference calls
* A niche enabling application (its actually very easy!)
* A website powered by Wordpress, for every mastermind
* A budget for advertising
* A budget for outsourcing the content creation
* A budget for customizing the app
* An affiliate program through which you will sell your products
* An affiliate program through which you will recruit other marketers
* Simple training on Wordpress to help fill the site with content
* Training on marketing a product (Internet Marketing)
* ... probably more... I hope I haven't forgotten anything

What is the MUSE (Business) you will create?
* The business you create as part of the mastermind will be the selling of the end product (the marketing). You will build an Internet Marketing business. This is the money making part. And part of the lesson is that even though we are building a product together, you don't really even need a product of your own to make money!
* You will not own the downloadable product, you will not own the content on the website, you will not own the main website that the mastermind creates.

Why will you not own the actual product or website at the end?
* How do you split it between 5 people that worked together to build it? You can't... not easily anyway.
* You do NOT need to own it... its not the money making part of it. Without the marketing and the sales you would not make money... and thats the part you will own (the marketing), and I will teach you how.

How will you make money during and after this course?
* You will be provided an affiliate link which you will use to market the product.
* Every time someone uses one of your links, you make 80% of the sale!
* Every time you sign someone up to sell your products for you, they get their own affilliate link (there are tons of people willing to do this!)... and every time they sell the product, they get 30% and you get 30%.
* I don't know for sure if this will work out yet or not, so don't hold me to it... but what I want to do is make it so that every person that visits the site to purchase the product, and does NOT use an affilliate link, I will assign one of the original course members that sale (just going through the list giving everyone the same amount of sales)... thereby giving 20% of that sale, even though you did absolutely nothing to get that person to buy on that particular transaction.

Can you buy the enabling application? Sure... I don't know the price yet, but sure... why not? I am sure we can work out a deal where I give you the source code if you want.

Will I continue to make money on the content... absolutely... but only if everyone else succeeds as well. AND you dont pay me directly, I just get a cut of every sale made... just like you! Why do I deserve this? I built the product, I built the system, I provided you with training, and I have to keep the website going and the application up to date. I have been making been doing business online, and helping others do the same for over 9 years now.... my knowledge and experience that I hope to pass along is, I think, very worth it! If the app needs to be updated, or content added... will you pay for it? No, I will... as long as its profitable (for all of us!).

I hope this makes sense to everyone now.

I am really hopeful that some of you will get excited about this and see that it truely is an opportunity to not only learn to build your own product, learn how to market, but also a chance to make real money!

Make it a great day!
Shane

James Grey

01-06-2008, 07:38 PM

Hi Shane, If I could just take a second of your time

I was curious about a few things concerning your coaching and i was wondering if you would mind clarifying them for me? Your copy is pretty good and that makes me think that you already sell information products.

--How many successful Businesses have you started (both on and off-line)?

--How many Muse’s do you have?

--How many profitable products have you developed and brought to market?

--On average how much do you spend on outsourcing per year?

Thanks!

~James Grey

Sven

01-06-2008, 07:49 PM

shanerbock

01-06-2008, 11:00 PM

Hi James,

Thank you for the note. I appreciate your feedback and your questions greatly! I will try to answer your questions below:

...wondering if you would mind clarifying them for me?

No problem! I love to talk, love to teach, and love to brainstorm ideas with like-minded people. While I do not like to divulge everything about myself I am an honest person and will share everything I am comfortable sharing (and if I'm not comfortable, I'll just say so).

...copy is pretty good and that makes me think that you already sell information products.

I guess it shows ;) ... when you market products, you tend to develop a cerain recognizable style. Yes, I have been selling information products since about 2000. Although most of the time it has been sporadic periods of experimentation (more about that in a minute ).

--How many successful Businesses have you started (both on and off-line)?

I think this really depends on your definition of success doesn't it ;)
* I have a single LLC that I do all of my offline and online business under.
* The main categories of my business experience lie in three places,
1. Off-line web development services,
2. Online marketing of information and physical products,
3. Coaching business starters (in person, by phone, and over chat/email).
* Even though I have marketed different products over the years, I would not have ever considered any one of them a different business...
Nor would I consider any of them a real failure, because when you learn from your challenges, its never a failure in my mind.
* More on this in a minute, when I tell you a little bio on myself.

--How many Muse’s do you have?
Currently, I only have 3 things going on...
* Occasional marketing of products (affiliate marketing)
* A small amount of coaching I am doing (I might start taking clients again soon because this is probably my favorite)
* Hmmm, what do I call this one... I have a little consulting company that provides application and web development (mostly web dev). All I do is manage the work (all recieved through word of mouth), and outsource the work to 2 different teams I work with (one is in India, and the other is in the Philipines, which I use most often).

I also have a few projects under development...
* I am building 2 niche social networking sites... but I have just started these and I do not have any members yet as I am still customizing the site and features.
* My Philipines team and I have been developing a simple CMS that is almost done... This is NOT new, many have done similar things... but we get so many requests to build simple websites we figured we might as well systemize it :)
* The application that I started this thread about is the other product.

I am once again switching gears to move back toward coaching and marketing. I miss coaching because I just love to learn and teach more than I enjoy actually creating products. For me, product creation is more about experimentation so that I can pass along the findings to like-minded folks (on forums, or in my coaching sessions)

--How many profitable products have you developed and brought to market?

I actually have never created my own products (other than the ones I mentioned above. I market products and help others create products through coaching/brainstorming/etc... There are so many other products you can market out there, its unnecessary to develop your own products if that isn't your thing. The products I am creating have very specific reasons for being created, but my desire to build products is not the reason.

I have a book full of ideas that I jot down new things in all the time... But I'd rather share those ideas with others that want to either learn about creating products, starting a business, or enjoy creating products... and then coach them throughout the process and watch as it unfolds.

--On average how much do you spend on outsourcing per year?

Hmmm... Interesting question. What is the basis of the dollar amount here? The amount I spend, or the amount its worth when I sell it?

Off the top of my head, from August through November ( I didn't do anything in December), I paid out about $1000-$1500 and made about $9,000 - $10,000. During this period, I mostly outsourced web development and design, as well as some SEO Analysis and Reporting. Its also important to note that this is, of course, just one part-time thing I was doing... In fact, I probably spent only about 30-40 hours total on this... Is $225 per hour good enough for you guys? (and thats a very conservative guess... I probably worked less to be honest).

Have I rambled enough?!?! I am sure you are bored by now... Like I said, I love to talk, and I love to share what I have learned through books, seminiars, and experiences. Sorry if you are bored now.

A little BIO, hopefully the short version :

For a long, long time (like forever) I have known I wanted to own my own business. I kept studying entrepreneurship, business in general, marketing, business models, etc, etc... I kept starting small businesses, and sometimes just create elaborate plans... but usually never followed through with them because I would get distracted by some other idea or something else to study.

I finally realized that what I enjoy is learning and then sharing/teaching that back to other people. It has taken a long time to realize this... At first I kept thinking something was wrong with me, that I couldn't ever follow through... but what I was really doing was following through with my studying/experimenting (how's that for positive spin?).

I would just ramble on about things about business models, startups, marketing, different resources for software and business tools, etc, etc... and people kept saying to me, "why don't you charge money for all this crap you spurt out all the time? You obviously enjoy it and have so much stuff in your head, just make a business of that". Hmmm... what an Idea.... ever heard of Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, etc, etc... thats exactly that they do... Learn, experiment, teach, Learn, experiment, teach, Learn Experiment, Teach... you get the picture.

So, this is where I am today. I am ready to start combining my coaching with product creation. Thats why I am holding this class... to teach people about building a business, marketing that business, resources, tools, gaining offshore help, etc, etc, etc.... while we all build a business (MUSE).

I read 4-hour work week and was like, hey... these little Muses are exactly what I have been helping others build all along. I am a firm believer that you dont have to be big, to be big ;).... think Seth Godin (and if you don't know who that is go read "Small is the New Big", "Free Prize Inside", "Purple Cow", his blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/)... also think "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson... think Robert Kiosaki - "Rich Dad" books... think Michael Gerber - "The E-Myth Revisited".

My mission is to help others create financial freedom for themselves by building businesses, NOT jobs. Too many entreprenuers say they want their own business, go out do a lot of work, build a business... that really turns out to be a crappy JOB, that they cannot let go of. I know a lady that has an antique store... she works 12-14 hours every day. She used to love antiques, do you think she does now? I say to her, "why dont you hire someone to be at the store?"... Her answer: "I would have to pay her that money instead of me making it." My answer to her... "SO WHAT?!?!" Pay someone else to do that, and work ON your business to expand it, and make up for that money in other ways (online, trade shows, and additional shop, write a book, offer classes on antiques, etc, etc). Most people just never get it, and to me thats frustrating. I really want to help these people!

WOW! Did I get carried away or what? Well, thats enough rambling. I apologize for being so long winded!

Make it a great day!
Shane

shanerbock

01-06-2008, 11:48 PM

Mmm, I'm sorry, I don't understand it. It could be that I have a lack in understanding it in English but I always say that if it can not be made understood, it is not a product... I look forward to reading it on your site.

Sven

Sorry Sven. Maybe you are stuck on "what is a business?"

Do you have to own the product, the download location, for it to be a business? The answer is No, Absolutely not.

Go to Clickbank.com and look at all the products you can promote for a commission. All you do is get people to come buy the product, and someone else created the product, handles the payments and fullfilment, etc. You just collect the money. Same thing with amazon, commissionjunction, ebay, etc, etc, etc...

Or maybe you enjoy creating products... thats cool too... but in this case, this course, you will learn what it takes to select a niche, outsource the content development, market the product, join and manage an affilliate account, etc, etc... ALL of wich is useful if you want to start a Muse...

OR, maybe you just market this product we build... that's one of your Muses... done deal, you are making money before its all over... One muse created, ... now do it again and decide which part you liked best... the product creation, or maybe the marketing? After this course, you have learned all facets of creating a Muse...

AND YOU CREATED A MUSE AT THE SAME TIME!

Thats the important part... lots of people offer ebooks, training manuals, coaching, step by step programs, turnkey sites, etc... but not many people out there offer you an opportunity to Learn and actually build a muse at the same time.

I know that probably didn't help... I wish I could help you understand. Maybe once I get my website up, you can read it over... I would definitely appreciate the feedback and will let you know when its up.

Make it a great day!
Shane

TimW

01-08-2008, 06:46 AM

shanerbock

01-08-2008, 01:59 PM

The difference that I see here between your idea and Clickbank, etc., is that the person involved with you actually has a hand in the product's creation (i.e. the content you indicate you can't/won't/don't have time to create).

And after creating the information content for your framework, they don't own that product? Am I understanding this correctly?

Hi Tim,

Yes, thats mostly it. BUT, again, 5 people will be helping to build each product, plus me. Also, its not like the people in the course will actually be creating the content either... the group would outsource that work (as part of the course about outsourcing).

The VERY positive side to this, is not only do you get to learn more about marketing, outsourcing, product creation, niche selection, etc.... but you also get the opportunity to have input into the product. In other words, if you are going to go sell something, wouldn't you like to know more about it, and help decide what you think will sell and what will not? What adds vlaue and what doesn't? When you sell a product from clickbank, do you get the opportunity to change the parts you don't like? No.... but in this case you can.

ALSO, if anyone can tell me how you think a group of 5 people that collectively, along with me, creates a product can have ownership let me know... I personally think that they do have ownership... they get to make huge commissions on their own sales, their direct affiliates, AND also randomly on people that come to the site without an affiliate sponser. If we split it up and let each person have the product to sell on their own..... we don't get the synergy that we get from only having one main product site, etc.

Maybe I judged this group wrongly... I thought people here would appreciat a learning opportunity that would also make them money not only now, but in the future on an ongoing, passive way.... I am starting to think I was wrong... but then again, I already have 8 people interested in this class and have told me they are ready to sign up when I set the formal dates, etc.

Thanks again for the questions and feedback. It helps me figure out how to structure it all and communicate all of it better.

Make it a great day!
Shane