How to Monetize Ideas
Very few good ideas are ever monetized. They either drown amongst a lot of other, mostly bad, ideas, or they emerge not fully metamorphosed—crystalline, fragile constructions that blow apart in a light breeze.
Here’s how to can turn a good idea into very good money (or at least know that it’s not such a good idea):
• Assess the size of the audience. Do you have sufficient mass so that even 1 percent of the total constitute significant business? The “world” is never your audience. Who really might have pragmatic applicability for your product?
• Assess the quality of your reach. Do you have a highly popular web site, lists of people who know you and trust you (or, better, who have purchased before), a blog, a newsletter, speaking appearance, alliance partners and so on so that your product can be projected?
• Assess the medium. Are you considering a form and format that is ideal for learning and use? Does the medium add or detract from your value? (Example: “Talking heads” on video rarely constitute popular products.)
• Assess your brand. Are you sufficiently well known that many people will purchase merely on the strength of your name and renown? (Too many unknown people think the easy way to money is with a product. Even good products languish when people don’t trust you and/or have never heard of you.)
• Assess your price point. People believe they get what the pay for. Are you maximizing your price based on perceived value? It’s as much work to make a $10,000 sale as a $1,000 sale, so why not make the former? The key is profit, not numbers of sales.
• Assess whether this is long-term business potential. I believe that any new venture should reach six figures in a maximum of two years. Selling $25,000 the first year probably means much less than that in profit in terms of amortizing development and other costs, and the second year will probably bring even less.
• Assess your ego and motives. Are you doing this because others have done it, or because you want a “book” or a “CD” or just passive income, or are you really providing value to others in varying ways that extends their effectiveness?
• Assess the market. Is this fresh and new, or derivative? Do you really have new intellectual property, or is this the “Seventeen Habits of Teams Pursing Black Swans that Moved Cheese for the Soul”?
© Alan Weiss 2011. All rights reserved.
Rene' Vidal
You gave a spiritual talk recently; missed it unfortunately, please publicize if/when ‘monetized’-made available for purchase, many thanks.
P.S. DNA research tracing Jewish gene to African tribes is pretty amazing.
P.S. II Thrive! flirts with infallibility. Rheostat teaching + that of challenging positive self-beliefs is akin to “Rise-pick up your mat..”
Alan Weiss
I’m not aware of any spiritual speech I’ve made recently, perhaps you can remind me?!
Rene' Vidal
suggestion for web guy and mutual benefit: click on teleconferences and see special offer and/or 2011 offerings, not 2010
Rene' Vidal
It’s teleconference, set up for September. Talk about looking forward to fall!!
Geez. Apologies. Thanks for response and Best.
Kurt Buehlmaier
Alan, do you belive in “Jacks of All Trades?” If someone is good at a variety of things is it ok for them to start out with a broad base and then narrow thier focus as they see: what they are better at, what they enjoy more, and what brings in the most income?
Thanks!
Alan Weiss
I don’t like that dumb phrase, but I advocate being a generalist, which I was for a long time in OD work, because you maximize the number of buyers you have. When you specialize, you tend to be a commodity easily pushed around by those with better brands and larger clients. Plus, specializing is deadly boring.
Alan Weiss
Rene, you seem to talk in puzzles. Exactly what are you referring to? What link? Where? Thanks.
Rene' Vidal
Alan,
On your Summit Consulting website, if you click on Workshops and click on Teleconference, your 2010 agenda pops up. My suggestion is that it be updated to reflect either your latest offer and/or 2011 offerings. Granted, users can scroll over and down to click on special offering, 2011, 2010, etc., but I never did this initially and got the years and offerings mixed up.
Alan Weiss
If you click on workshops and then teleconferences, they appear by year. It doesn’t need updating, 2011 is right there. I’ve never heard of any problem with this unless your browser doesn’t permit you to scroll down and read what’s there for some reason. Thanks for thinking of me, but this is working just fine.