by Donna Toothaker
Business a little slow this summer? You might wish you had some passive income right about now. The good news is – now you have a little extra time to create some, and it may be easier than you think.
What is passive income? It is a source of profit that occurs with little or no effort on your part to maintain.
An excellent source of passive income is an information product, also known as “knowledge-based goods” or “digital goods,” to be distributed online. You create a product – a special report, an audio file, or an e-book, for example, then set up a shopping cart on your website (if you don’t already have one), put online marketing in motion, and over time sales will start coming in, even while you sleep.
The advantages to creating an information product for passive income are many:
• Low, or no cost. Information products require little or no overhead. Since you are already in business for yourself, you probably already have a website, a copy of Adobe Acrobat, and a shopping cart to sell your services. You can sell your product right from your website, but, for marketing purposes, you may want to consider purchasing an additional URL with a catchy name, for a dedicated landing page to attract customers to your information product.
• Mass production in an instant. Information products are infinitely duplicatable – there are no production costs, such as printing and binding, CD or DVD burning, no matter how many you sell.
• No boxes! Information products require no inventory, nor any warehouse space to store it. You will never have to estimate sales to order your product in bulk, and you will never have boxes of product sitting around unsold.
• Feed the need for instant gratification. Information products satisfy the consumer’s desire for real-time answers to their questions. A simple, convenient download allows consumers to begin using your product instantly, without shipping cost, shipping time, or shipping headaches.
• Build your reputation. Information products do more than just sell information. They sell YOU as an expert in your field. People will seek you out because they see you as a source of valuable information they want and need. This can lead to more page hits, media opportunities, and business.
• Sell your knowledge. You’re in the industry of helping people, but two things get in the way of helping them in great numbers: a.) not everyone can afford to sign up to work with you directly, and b.) you can only work so many hours in a day or one-on-one with clients. Selling your Info Product will allow you to share your knowledge with an unlimited market, so you can help more people, and get your name out there at the same time.
• Use what you already have. You do not even need to create brand new content for an information product. A special report, for example, might contain content from articles or blog posts you have already written. Audio files might be versions of your reports or e-books that you sell for folks on the go to listen to in their spare time.
Want more income next summer when client work slows down? Begin working on your information products now, and build the passive income you will need later!
Donna Toothaker is CEO, founder and coach of Step It Up VA Coaching. These highly sought-after VA coaching programs have been created for established, successful VAs who wish to create the 6-figure business of their dreams. Visit http://www.stepitupva.com to receive the free report, Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid in Creating a 6-Figure VA Business.
