Plan To Succeed With Information Product Creation: Why You Need To Split Your Process Up

One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

A Guide on Successful Product Creation and Internet Marketing

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.

Should You Open A Franchise Or Start A Home Based Business? Why Home Business Is A Better Option

Before I got into the home-based business industry I weighed in heavily on the option of opening a franchise. I signed up for newsletters and got daily updates for franchise opportunities that were available. What I found was much like the home business industry, there are many, many opportunities to choose from. I knew it would be tough to decipher the good ones from the bad and spent a lot of time doing so. In the end, I came to the conclusion that none of them would be a good option for me and chose home business instead.Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking on franchises. There are plenty of success stories out there for that type of business, and for many it’s a great option. They just weren’t conducive to my goals and the lifestyle I wanted to live. I’m simply going to show the similarities and differences between home-based business and franchising to give a better understanding why home-based business can be a better option.The similarities between the two are abundant. They both offer an array of different opportunities to meet your budget guidelines. I’ve seen franchise options out there that require start up capital as low as $10,000. Some even offer in-house financing. With a home business you can start with an investment as low as $1000-$2000.They both offer a proven business model to help ensure your success. This includes things like training that are based off of what has worked, and hasn’t worked for others out there. With a franchise you can get in contact with other franchisees for advice on how to run your business more efficiently much like you can contact successful leaders in the home-based business industry.The biggest similarity of all is that they’re both going to require a lot of dedication and hard work. You can’t buy into a franchise and expected to make money the next day. The time and effort you put into it will ultimately dictate your success. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world and get rich quick just doesn’t exist. You have to be passionate about what you’re doing and do it every day to reach your goals. Both of these businesses have a failure rate that can be caused by a number of things. It could be because of a bad business model, or someone just didn’t work hard enough for it to be successful.Though some of the similarities we mentioned may sound great, it’s the differences that can make you second guess whether or not franchising is the path you want to take. With franchises you have a lot of overhead and operating costs. You’re going to have to pay rent for the space you lease, on top of additional things like electric, water, and sewer.In most cases you’re going to need to have employees and the payroll that goes along with them. You’ll have to go through the trouble of finding people you can trust. You want to make sure they aren’t people who will steal from you. If you don’t want to be there all the time you’re going need to hire a store manager on top of that.There’ll also be things like equipment or inventory that will be required to operate successfully. Not to mention the franchise and royalty fees that have to be paid in order for you to stay a franchise and use the franchise name. Normally this is a hefty flat fee and a percentage of sales. Add that to the money you spent to buy into the franchise and you can see how quickly your costs can rise. For a more popular franchise you’re going to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and be required to have a set amount of cash and assets to even be considered.It could be years before you ever even turn a profit and you’re going to have to work 60 to 80 hours a week. Even when you do turn a profit it could be a very small margin. All of those long hours you put in could be for very little pay.With a home-based business you eliminate all those variables. You have a low start up cost and can work at a pace that best suits your current situation. Like me, most people got started while they still had jobs. There are no additional overhead costs other than what you already have at home and there’s no need to hire any employees. You won’t have to worry about traveling to a brick-and-mortar store every day or what you’ll do if you find the time to go on vacation. With a home-based business you can work wherever you have Internet access.You won’t have to pay any franchise fees and you can turn a profit much quicker. Your profits will be higher and you won’t have to work those 60 to 80 hours a week. The differences are tremendous and the risk is much, much lower.With that said, it’s important to do your research. As we’ve outlined here it’s easy to see why starting a home-based business can be a much better option. I’m not saying franchising is a bad thing. If you’re thinking about opening a store make sure you’re ready for the challenge that lies ahead. The same goes for home business to. Remember to weigh the pros and cons and get educated. Making an informed decision and working hard will add to your success.