Interview with Amy Harrop — Creating Products Quickly

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amy-harrop-headshotIn this interview, Amy Harrop explains how she helps her customers create products fast using resources and tools that were, until fairly recently, not easily available.

Watch the 10-minute video interview to discover what you can do to bring in more income by creating more products. You’ll also get tips for reducing overwhelm and finally getting started.

 

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by Ellen Finkelstein

You only need these 3 things for an online business yet many miss out

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onlinep-business-3-things-online-business-needs-1An online business isn’t that complicated. You only need to accomplish 3 things, yet I see many people not able to keep up. Here are the 3 things you need — and I’ll explain each in more detail:

  1. An audience
  2. A relationship with your audience
  3. Offers to put in front of your audience

 

It doesn’t sound so hard, does it? But I see online entrepreneurs having problems with all 3 areas. This is important because if you miss the mark in any one area, you won’t have a thriving business.

Look for the links in each section, because I’ll give you resources to help you throughout.

Problem #1: Not building your audience

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by Ellen Finkelstein

Authors! The Quick Book to Business Method

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I once read that 80% of Americans would like to write a book. But for those that complete that goal, the results are often not what they hoped. John Kremer, one of the top experts on marketing books and author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, says, “The average writer in my experience probably makes less than $100 a year in ebook sales.” And even at $1 per book, that’s only 100 books! He also says you should write lots of books.

Yes, with a lot of promotion, you can do better, but to make serious money, you need to turn your book into a business. Each book you write can become a new stream of income.

How do you do that? By making a free offer in the book and creating a funnel of offers so that readers turn into customers for your products and services.

Authors! The Quick Book to Business ModelI’ve co-written a book with Connie Ragen Green, a wildly successful online entrepreneur and author, that we named Authors! The Quick Book to Business Method: Turning Your Book into an Ongoing Revenue Stream.

In this book we explain: Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Steps to starting a business

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Starting a new online business? Many people don’t realize that the steps to starting an online business are similar to the steps to starting any business.

Write up a business plan

online-business-steps-to-start-a-business-1One reason people start an online business is that you can do it inexpensively. But just because you won’t need to go to a bank for a loan doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be clear about how your business will function — and a business plan can help you with that. You can keep it simple. Include the following:

  • Target market
  • Problem that the target market has that you will solve/mission statement — in the image, you can see a template for a mission statement that you can use–it’s from a talk I gave recently.
  • Your solution–products and services
  • Why people in your target market should buy from you (Unique Selling Proposition or USP), including a discussion of the current market & competitors
  • Projected income for the first 3 years (yes, it will be something of a guess–or hope)
  • Timeline for creating services and products to that you can meet your projected income
  • Plans for marketing
  • Plans for human resources/outsourcing

Come up with a name

These days, your business name is often inextricably related to your website domain name. While some online entrepreneurs create multiple websites — even one for each product or event — you won’t start out that way. Try to think long term.

In my blog post, “How to choose a domain name,” I offer some ideas that will help you find your domain name.

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Consider legal and insurance issues

online-business-steps-to-start-a-businessAt the same time, you should think about whether you want to be a sole proprietor, partnership or corporation. Most people start out as sole proprietors. It’s pretty easy to register a trade name locally, at least in the United States. I registered my first trade name, Rainbow Resources, in 1991 and it was a thrilling experience! Although I don’t use that name anymore, I still have the document.

While most solo entrepreneurs don’t start out with insurance, you should definitely consider it as you grow. Especially if you provide a service, such as coaching, Errors and Omissions insurance can be important. Worker’s compensation is generally required–check out the law where you live.

Understand the 13 steps for online success

If you don’t understand how an online business functions and you haven’t already received my list, “13 Steps to Create a Successful Internet Business,” register for it — and my newsletter — here.

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What steps did you take when you started your business? What steps did you wish you had taken? Share your experience with others who are just starting out by leaving a comment!

And if you think this post is helpful, please share it using the Share buttons below so that others can benefit, too.

by Ellen Finkelstein