Hi,
Do you like a bit of curtain twitching?
You know what I mean, having a sneaky look out of your window to see what your neighbours are up to . . .
Is that a new car they've got next door?
Who is that mysterious woman who turns up at No23 every Tuesday afternoon at 4pm?
Is that a new flat screen TV the Browns have just had delivered?
On a more serious and community spirited note, we all know that having a local Neighbourhood Watch can help reduce crime. I've lost count the number of times I've had to stand in a darkened room peering through the curtains to make sure the local hoodies aren't planning to:
A - Break into my beloved German muscle car
B - Pull wheelies on their mopeds at 50mph up and down the street
C - Crack open cans of Tennants Super, smoke super skunk and intimidate passersby.
Yes, I'm turning into a grump old man, but what if you could take the nosey parker in all of us and make a bit of money out of it?
Seriously, there's now a way - allegedly - to get paid for monitoring feeds from CCTV cameras. If you spot and report a crime (think vandalism, anti-social behaviour, burglary and shoplifting) then you can earn points that can be translated into cold hard cash!
Each month the top viewer receives £1,000!
I guess it's not the most riveting way to spend a night in. What's more, it's probably not ideal if you're worried about 'Big Brother Britain' or civil liberties! But hey, if there's money to be made and you don't mind staring at an empty industrial estate car park for hours on end, it might be for you!
Check out: http://interneteyes.co.uk/
Now, this may not all stack up as a workable opportunity right now, but my guess is that this kind of collaborative, remote working will become big news over the next few years.
In the meantime, if you're not watching the local hoodies on CCTV, make sure you watch ITV this Friday at 8:00pm . . .
Could the Internet make you rich?
Just heard that ITV have a prime time show this Friday night covering 'ordinary people making money online' . . . the Tonight programme is interviewing entrepreneurs who are using "the latest technology to forge new careers and create new opportunities".
Wow! Only 10 years behind the trend, but at least they are getting there!
For more details go to http://www.itv.com/tonight/
They're also looking for people to contribute:
'Tonight is investigating the profits and pitfalls of making a living from the internet. We're looking for people who are recently unemployed and have a winning idea to start a new business on the internet, or who already run a fledgling online business, or who have a sorry story to tell following their attempts to start an internet business. If you'd like to contribute please email dave.raddings@granadamedia.com'
Now for something a bit more serious . . .
Here's something that's been bothering me for quite some time.
I've never really mentioned it before, but my guess is it affects hundreds, if not thousands of people who read my emails. Maybe you are one of them. And I think it's about time I said something . . .
I'm talking about info product licensing.
Over the past few years there's been a huge increase in info product license opportunities. You know the kind of thing. You get the rights to a whole bunch of reports, DVDs, courses ebooks and all the rest. They are usually combined with some kind of marketing plan that aims to fast track your licensing success.
Licenses come in all forms including resell and master resell rights, as well as private label and rebranding rights. Prices vary wildly - you can often pick up rights from a couple of quid on eBay to tens of thousands of pounds for master resell rights.
It's an attractive proposition. You get to cut out all the hassle, cost and effort of creating your own products and instead concentrate on the marketing and brokering deals with list owners.
Look, I'm not knocking the sellers of these licenses - I know many of the big names will be reading this email right now - it's totally legitimate and as long as the products are up to date and of good quality I have no problem.
However, as with so many other business opportunities, some info licensing offers tend to make it sound easy . . . you just bundle products together, write some copy, do a JV with a list owner and voila - you have rivers of money flowing up to your front door.
If only it was that easy!
I've lost count of the number of new resale offers launched with a great fanfare . . . then a few weeks later I'm bombarded by people all with the same product and the same copy wanting to do a JV with me.
Worse, they often use exactly the same wording in their email proposal!
Is this attractive to a prospective list owner? Nope. I want to see high quality products that are unique - or at very least are not going to be replicated in exactly the same way by others.
And whenever someone makes an approach I want to see that they have done a bit of research about me and my company - it's all well and good making a great offer, but if people could just try to figure out what I would find attractive in a JV proposal it would make me much more likely to consider the pitch.
Another beef of mine is weak marketing copy . . .
OK, some licenses come with pre-exisiting marketing copy that can be adapted to suit the particular market. Sadly, most new license holders will make minimal changes and end up competing with other licensees with the same copy!
Many licenses don't come with marketing copy at all. So then you're faced with the challenge of either writing it yourself or paying someone else to do it for you.
So what do you do? Copywriting is a very special skill and can take years to get it right. Ok, some people are natural and pick it up quickly, but that is an exception. So the alternative is to find a good copywriter, brief them and offer constructive feedback. Now that's not easy. I've got 15 years experience as both copywriter and publisher and I still find it incredibly difficult.
And here's the worse news of all . . .
In my experience, I'd guesstimate 99% of people who buy a license never make any money. In fact, most lose money. Further they will lose confidence and ultimately may give up the dream of ever making money from a resale license.
And that's a shame because info product licensing really is a great way to make money . . . if you get it right. So what's the difference between someone who makes it and everyone else who fails?
I think I know and I'd like to share my findings with you . . .
First, to help me out could you do me a favour?
If you have negative (or positive) experience of licenses I want to know. You see, I want to do something to help. I've been talking to a successful licensee and I realise that making a few tweaks to the way your format and promote a licensed product can make the difference between zero sales and a 6 or even 7 figure annual income.
I'm putting together an article for the November WRMM issue and I want to get as much first hand reports as I can. In the article I'm going to throw down as many of the tricks and approaches I know that could help resurrect a failed info product license into something altogether more profitable.
To make this nice and easy I've created a mini survey. Just click on this link
It will take less than a minute to complete, so if you have experience of licensed products or simply are curious, please complete the survey
Cheers
Nick