That’s why you must focus on projects that are quick and easy to develop. Instead of writing an encyclopedia of a 300 page ebook, put together a 40 page ebook report. You may respond, “But I can’t cover everything in that amount of space!”
Good. You’re not supposed to cover everything. Your goal as a product developer is to help your customers get to their desired result (the solution of their problem) in the quickest and most direct route.
Do an outline of the steps it takes to reach the end goal. Then sit down and write.
Don’t edit.
Don’t answer the phone.
Don’t surf the web.
Don’t check your email.
Block off time to just write. I’ve created many of my ebook products over a weekend where I just blocked off to write during that period. You write for 30 to 60 minutes. Then take a 5 to 10 minute break. Do this writing and break cycle over and over again until finished.
Take a few days out as a break to rest your mind before coming back to edit what you’ve written. The reason so many new writers (and old ones as well) take so long to write is because they allow themselves to be interrupted or they try to edit while writing. Eliminate these distractions and watch your productivity soar.
But writing an information product is only ONE way to create your product quickly. Often it’s not even the best way. Let’s cover 7 quick product creation methods to help you become a prolific product developer.
1. Write It
If you’re going to write, follow the model above. Write the outline. Then block off time to just write like a madman (or woman). Later come back and edit your work. Then for absolute best results, read it out loud or have someone else read it out loud to you.
While video is quickly becoming the most powerful way to share your message online, there still are a number of potential customers who prefer written material. So while you see me focusing more and more on video, you’ll still see some written products coming out.
2. Use Voice Recognition
Are you a slow typist? Or do you have trouble writing in a natural voice without sounding like a college text book? If either of those are the case, you can use voice recognition software to speak your product into a written form. I’ve helped quite a few business owners who couldn’t get into writing create fantastic ebooks through voice recognition (and the best part is you can use it for your rough drafts of emails and sales letters as well).
The program I recommend for this is Dragon Naturally Speaking. Pick up the newest version which I think is number 9 at the time of this writing. You’ll go through a training process for the program to recognize your voice, but you’ll quickly get up to speed with speaking out your product. You could call this type of software the great equalizer.
You’ll do some major editing on what you write this way, but that’s true irregardless of how you get your thoughts out into written form. Write first. Then edit. If that rule from above is one you never seem to follow, that’s another reason to try out this software.
3. Public Domain
Instead of creating your product completely from scratch, use public domain materials or even private label materials as a launch pad. For example, I created an extremely profitable ebook called Scientific Internet Advertising. The foundation of the material was Claude Hopkins, “Scientific Advertising.” That’s one of the classics highly recommended by top marketing experts such as Jay Abraham.
The copyright on the original book had long expired which meant you could give it away, sell it, or do whatever with it. I took all the original text and simply wrote an add-on for each chapter about how to apply what he taught to the Internet. While anyone could give away the original book freely, my modified version is protected by copyright laws.
Go spend a little time at http://www.gutenberg.org looking through all the materials they have available. Not everything there is public domain, so be careful to read any of the licenses included. Another great source for public domain materials are items produced by the US government.
For example, need some photos for your project? Check through all the links the US government provides here: http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml
Not everything is completely royalty free, but the majority of these photos are.
What about private label products? Do a search on private label products and you’ll find thousands of products sold with these rights. You can then take those products, modify them, and produce a new product out of them. The big concern here is that most private label materials are next to worthless.
hey’re low cost productions with poor writing and even worse information. So be careful when buying anything that comes with private label rights, but they can be a good starting point for your own project.
4. Do an Interview
What if you can’t write and you’re not even an expert on the subject you want to cover? Find an expert and interview them. In the real estate field they talk about using other people’s money. In the information business, you can even use other people’s information by interviewing them.
Find several top experts on your topic and contact them.
Create a series of 8 to 12 questions your research has said your market wants to hear. If you’ve never done this before, you’re about to be surprised at just how easy it is to secure interviews with some individuals. Book authors are often the most open by the way as they’re used to doing interviews to promote their books.
How do you record the interview? Just go down to your local Radio Shack or another electronics dealer. Ask for a phone recording set-up. This will give you the basic tool you need to get started.
Or you can go fully digital like I have on my recent interviews. I’m now using http://www.skype.com software combined with http://www.powergramo.com to do my phone call and recording. This way it’s all recorded digitally on my computer.
5. Teleseminar or Webinar
If you set-up a teleseminar or webinar, you can get paid BEFORE you create your product. I’ve done both one time calls and a series of calls. The beauty of both models is you get paid…and you create a product to sell. For example, I’ve done single calls for free…and for as low as $19.95. I’ve also done a call where we charged $37 and gave all the money from the call to charity.
I’ve also done longer series combined in with weekly assignments and personal feedback for $397 to $1,997 depending on how many calls were involved and the subject (4 to 12 calls).
You’ll have your full outline ready before you sell the series, but you can create and expand on the material each week before the call (or webinar). In addition, doing a question and answer session at the end of each call will add even more value to your finished product.
Another advantage I’ve found to this method is now I’m actually required to get my product done on time. It’s very easy to let life get in the way when your product needs to be done. That’s not possible when you’ve scheduled and sold a teleseminar. Now you have to have the information done by that date. No more procrastination allowed…
6. Record a Camtasia Video
How did we even run an internet business before Camtasia? If you haven’t tried out this software, do so now. You can download a free trial here:http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
If what you’re teaching can be demonstrated on the computer, this software is perfect. OR you can also use it to create a video of any Powerpoint presentation.
They even have a complete learning center to show you how to get the most from your Camtasia videos, including such tactics as running a live quiz inside your presentation. Check out their training here:http://www.techsmith.com/learn/default.asp
7. Follow an Expert With a Camcorder
Camtasia allows you to record what you’re doing on screen, but what if you want to teach something that isn’t done on a computer? Buy a camcorder and microphone. I definitely don’t want to cover specific types to buy here, because the way technology is moving my recommendation could be out of date by next week.
Now take your little camcorder, separate mic, and tripod to follow around an expert for the day. Maybe you’re doing a DVD on gardening. Show exactly what they do in each step. Or it could be basketball. Show close-ups of the shot process. If it’s a real estate investor, just follow them around with your camcorder all day.
It could be a “Day in the Life of a _______.” What would people pay to get behind the scenes of a successful real estate investor, day trader, or professional speaker? You’ll end up recording more than you can use, but you can edit all the boring parts out later.
Bonus Method: Notice what I didn’t talk about here? I didn’t even mention that you could outsource the product creation as one of the possibilities. ANY of the methods above could be outsourced by hiring someone else to do it for you. Spend a little time exploring over at http://www.elance.com to see all the different projects being posted.
