Many believe the Industrial Age is over and that we are in the Information Age. I tend to agree. It is now realistic to make money selling your knowledge and experience online to others who want to learn from you.

If you want to learn about Social Media Advertising, would you rather pay tuition to learn in a University classroom from a professor, or buy a $197 course from someone like Tai Lopez who has profitably spent millions of dollars in online ads for his businesses?

This article is an excerpt from our eBook which is available on Amazon Kindle.

What To Sell

You get to sell your knowledge and expertise. And before you say “but I’m not an expert in anything” realize that you can put information together to help anyone who knows less than you do about a subject. When we think we need to become one of the best in the world before we sell our knowledge, that is called the “imposter syndrome” but do you have experience, real life experience with a trade, a skill, overcoming a challenge, raising kids, etc.? They you are qualified to sell your knowledge to those who’d like it.

A few specific examples include meal planning for vegans, tips and tricks for raising twins or triplets, how to DIY (do it yourself) fix a slow sink, a running toilet, or even a step by step guide to using photoshop. Don’t overlook the obvious. You could teach someone the customs and traditions of your native country, or how to put back spin on a golf shot.

How to Get the Products

For this eBook business model, your product will be a PDF eBook which you can create on your own laptop. You can also upload your eBook to Amazon to be sold on their Kindle platform.

How to Get Customers

Listing your eBook on Amazon is a start, however there are so many eBooks published every year, that it will likely be hard to get a lot of people to find your eBook without advertising. Advertising with Facebook ads, Google AdWords, and YouTube ads to find customers with a low price point of an eBook (~$20) can be challenging. An eBook business model could be combined with building an audience (covered later) or a break even or loss proposition to get awareness and then upsell customers to other offers.

Entrepreneurs selling digital products are often using website or funnel platforms like WordPress, Click Funnels or Sam Cart. These are platforms that help you make professional looking websites with no programming skills required.

Advantages

Selling digital products can be an amazing business model because there is low to no cost to obtain your products. When you are selling information in the form of your expertise, you have an unlimited inventory of eBooks for free on your laptop! And with no cost of goods, generally the profit margins on the eBooks are much higher than physical products.

Disadvantages

Unlike selling physical products where you can research what customers are already buying, and sell similar products, when you “invent” your own digital products, it is very possible that customers don’t want what you have to sell. Therefore, it will be important to do your own research as to what does your intended audience need in the information space and how can you best deliver value to them.

Risks

The biggest risk with this business model, like many others covered, is spending money on advertising products that customers don’t actually buy.

Money Needed to Get Started

$200 for a website platform and initial advertising budget.

Expected Profit (% of sale price)

50%

Resources and Examples

Third-party links and resources. Commissioned links below.

Article: How She Earned $45K Self-Publishing 10 E-Books

Article: How to (Really) Make $1,000,000 Selling E-Books

WordPress Blogs

Click Funnels, Sam Cart

This article is an excerpt from our eBook which is available on Amazon Kindle.

Disclaimers

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Earnings and Legal Disclaimers: The author is a professional 20 year entrepreneur and his results are not typical. His experiences and those of his examples and students are not typical and not a guarantee you will make money. You may make more, less, or the same. There is risk of losing money in every new business. Individual results will always vary and yours will depend entirely on your individual capacity, work ethic, business skills and experience, level of motivation, diligence in applying information, the economy, the normal and unforeseen risks of doing business, and other factors. Additionally, the author is not a lawyer, CPA, or CFP and does NOT offer legal or financial advice. The author is not responsible for your actions. You are solely responsible for your own moves and decisions and the evaluation and use of information should be based on your own due diligence. Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of Pexels attribution free license.