Making money and living large - Income autopilot Notes - Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

Income autopilot Notes -  Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
 
Some people ask why this blog, and also why this format and the short answer is actually pretty simple, this is where I put notes on processes and interesting people that I find so that I can refer to them where ever I may be via the internet. I decided to leave as a open blog so that may be someone else might be interested, and my notes, which are sometimes cryptic, may help someone out.

I find Tim Ferriss interesting in that his book, although a mix of several ideas from other books, does show his way of thinking, and he has a knack of looking at things in a slightly new way.

His website is good and worth reading. http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Notes;

Finding a product ( ignore service businesses for now, products will require less upkeep and get you to your monetary goal much quicker.)

the man who grasps principles can successfully select his methods. the man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble. - Emerson

The plan is to do smart testing, smart positioning, and equally smart distribution.

MRI before selling their product created a book on the subject and sold through an ad in a men's health magazine to see demand, and once understood through the book orders, the priced high and sold through only one channel to insure there was no competition from other distributors to drive the prices down.

1. The more competing resellers, the faster you lose pricing.
2. If you offer a manufacturer or distributor exclusive rights, you can negotiate better margins.
3. The more middlemen, the higher the margins must be to maintain profitability for all the links in the supply chain.

Don't create a product and then find out if there is a market or a demand - Find a market - define your customers - and then find or develop a product for them.

Look for niche markets, small but not too small that will have lower media costs and less competition.

Pick two markets that you know and review the magazines for that group, and insure there are more than 15,000 readers.

The main benefit should be explainable in one sentence or phrase.

The product should cost the customer $50 to $200 - look for a 8 to 10 x markup.

The product should take no more than 3 to 4 weeks to manufacture, and ideal time line is one to two weeks

Look at costs, talk to contract manufacturers to see costing to see if markup is feasible and then work up production cost per unit for 100, 1000, and 5000 units.

You could resell a product, it is the easiest and fastest way to start but also by far the least profitable unless you have exclusive rights.

You can license a product but it is difficult and intensive to work up deals.

The ideal route is to create a product, which is not complicated. If you can find a generic stock product from a contract manufacturer that can be repurposed for a new market, that is a easy route.

Keep setup costs, per unit costs, and order minimums in mind.

Best kind of product to create is a Information Product, which is a low cost, fast to manufacture, and hard for others to duplicate.

Create content yourself by paraphrasing several books on a subject
Repurpose content that is in the public domain and is not subject to copyright law
License content or compensate an expert

Aim for a combination of formats that will lend itself to $50 to $200 pricing, such as two CD's, a 40 page transcript, and a quick start guide.

To find out whether people will buy your product, don't ask them if the would, ask them to buy.

Do micro testing by using small and inexpensive ads to see response before manufacture.
( Google adwords)

Look at competition and try and improve on their web site and marketing

Test offer with Google adwords campaigns

Run with the winners and cut losses

Create a 1 page ( 300 to 600 words) website with testimonials and pictures

Look for specific terms that have higher conversion rates and lower cost per click

Use Google analytical to check responses.

You can use ads to check guarantees, product names, and domain names

Start with automation as your goal and start with an end in mind, and make sure the architecture is scalable

Do most the of the work yourself initially to document so that you can create a FAQ

The more options you offer customers, the more indecision you cause, and the fewer orders you get.

Offer one or two purchase options

Do not offer multiple shipping options, choose one

No expedited shipping

Eliminate phone orders and have them all do online ordering

No International shipments

Offer a lose- win guarantees instead of trials