DB: Dave buck is here.

TJL: ….and….

SA: Susan Austin.

TJL: The 3 of us are going to be guiding a discussion on passive revenue for coaches, and by that, we don't mean rental property! (laugh) None of that stuff! We're going to be talking about things like writing a book or e-book, selling audio tapes, and so on. We also have 7 or 8 coaches with us, and they'll be asking questions throughout the presentation today. Ready?

On thing I want to start off with - as coaches, we often think of ourselves as having to coach one-on-one, or maybe one to a group of others, whether it's on the phone or via email. One thing you have to get your arms around is that it's going to be one to many. Coaching really means you're making a difference with someone and it doesn't have to occur one-on-one. As you listen to the conversation today, realize you can coach a million people while you're sleeping because they've taking a program in some massive format, and you're making a difference in someone's lives.

First, the question - why bother? Dave, why would anyone bother with learning the process and skills required to create passive revenue?

DB: There are a lot of great reasons - the first, along the line of branding. Passive revenue products are typically less expensive than traditional coaching. It can give possible prospects an inexpensive way of getting to know you, and can be a great lead-in to them hiring you as a coach.

TJL: So those virtual or regular products, like a book or a tape, can act as a brochure. My friend Dean Jackson did a e-book called "Stop your Divorce" and recorded some interviews with a known family therapist and marriage counselor. The e-book sells a several thousand copies a month, and a certain percentage call Homer (the therapist) for one-on-one work - and he charges huge amounts of money - because they're already huge fans from reading the book.

DB: Yes, it's called 'paying to prospect' which is a very smart thing and good way to expand your revenue. It's such a great thing, as you said; they already know you when they call. You don't have to go through the interview or trial process.

TJL: Most coaches will tell you that they have to take a certain percentage of time to talk with prospective clients, and that is very expensive time when you're talking about getting hired by 1 of 3 prospects.

DB: Or even 1 of 5 or 1 of 10.

TJL: Yes, and it's better to spend the time creating products rather than fielding calls.

DB: Yes! And while there's a lot of freedom to it, you're still trading time for money. As an example, I wasn't feeling real well in January and I thought about what would happen to my revenue for the month if I got any sicker and couldn't coach - then where would my revenue come from? Passive revenue is a great security blanket, and a great way to give you comfort so you know that even if you're sick, you're still bringing in revenue. That sense of security is an important feeling for coaches to have.

TJL: And for long-term planning - there aren't many pension plans for coaches out there! It may take a couple of years to get ramped up, but when you get your first sale online, it's a real thrill! You have some new skills to learn, and some time to invest, but it's worth it. Just don't think of yourself as a one-on-one coach; you have expertise from your current clients that you can package.

DB: That's the important message here - there is a way of packaging your uniqueness, your ideas, and your values are of interest to others. With the Internet, you're not limited by geographic area. You can sell anything to anyone anywhere in the world.

TJL: Like Coachville - we have 9,000 members in 70 countries, and as long as they can read English and have a credit card, we have customers. Susan, how about you?

SA: For those who think the secret to success is about working harder and faster, this is worth it!

TJL: Yes - there's a bit of a learning curve, but just take your time and ease your way into it over 6-12 months if you feel it's intimidating.

DB: Yes, and when you settle into creating products, it's a tremendous creative outlet. Sometimes you get the feeling of wanting to do great things when you get inspired by your clients, and it's great to have that thrill for yourself.

TJL: By having a passive revenue product you can leverage that, and actually be a model for your clients. The skills you learn will help your clients turn to you for as well. There are a couple of steps. The 1st step is to start looking at yourself as a provider of solutions. The 2nd step is to discover and articulate what you want to focus on, what you're passionate about. The way you can start is to ask yourself what are the 3 most important or compelling things I want a million people to know about life or business? That can be the beginning of a terrific way to profit from it. Choose a couple topics that you could target to a particular group.

DB: They want to feel special.

TJL: Yes; the other thing you want to add is your special twist. For example, is it for women who are first-time business owners? You want to segment it so the person, when reading your brochure, knows it just for them. Again, don't be afraid to weave in what happened to you in your life; that can be the best part! When I did the attraction principles program, I made sure to give some real-life examples on - for example - eliminating delay in your life. We tried to weave in situational examples so they can see the relevance.

DB: It's such an exciting thing to weave in success stories because your clients will see the information and get inspired.

SA: Yes, and it's a thrill for them to be highlighted in your product!

TJL: Once you've done that, the 3rd step is to test it out. You can spend 6 months putting it together and making sure it's right, but the best thing to do is to test it along the way. There are a certain segment of people that just love to be part of the design or R&D process, and those are definitely people you want to have help you. You're actually building it in collaboration, rather than teach them about the topic.

DB: It's really fun!

TJL: Susan, any final comments for you?

SA: No, but I think a great way to get other people to work on your idea is put together a group to ferret out all the great topics.

TJL: Yes, if you're working with the group currently, you can come up with several ideas, and have the group help you tweak them a bit.

DB: When you're thinking about products, think beyond books, tapes, and videos - expand your thinking when you're designing your product.

TJL: Look at Coachville for example - it's not an e-course, or book, it's a membership. Those are situations or sites that people will pay access to for by the month or for a lifetime fee. It's great if you want to create a portal full of information and products that people can pay to access.

Thank you Dave and Susan for the introduction; study group hosts, you can turn off the real audio at this point and continue with the exercise.

(moment of silence)

TJL: At this point, we'd like you to ask questions about what you've heard; we'll be interacting with you and taping this for use by the study group hosts, in conjunction with a transcript of this.

Rob: Do I hear correctly that the most important things about starting in the passive income arena is to get the created and get them to the beta-testing phase?

DB: Yes, the fastest to market wins. We recommend someone develop 2 or 3 products simultaneously and see which ones the market responds to.

Delores:
How do you go about marketing what you have? Do you do press releases, online advertising, or what?

TJL: Usually, you would want to give it away in some format - like an e-course or e-zine; you might do a free teleclass. You want to get people interested in the topic in for free in the beginning to become your R&D team. Ultimately, they'll purchase this from you for themselves, or will want to buy a license to teach it themselves. You can certainly do press releases, promotions, or other things, but we've found it's better to build a network of 500 or 1000 people interested in the topic, rather than trying to educate the overall market. Dave, your thoughts?

DB: I think you're 100 percent right. The best thing to do is get started right away, and start building a network of people interested in your topic, however you find them. That will end up being your greatest asset - those people who are willing to share, tease out an idea with you and all those things, that's where you want to get started.

TJL: If you're not getting much interest, you might find it's not properly phrased or perhaps not formed yet, so you might then want to try something else. You're going to want to have passion to carry you through the learning process. I found that I knew more than most people did, but until I really got out there, I didn't know how much I really didn't know in that area. You have to have a wide body of knowledge for people to pay for your expertise.

XXX: I have a small network of 20 people - what are some good ways to expand that within 6 months?

TJL: I personally believe in the e-zine and e-course approach. It may seem odd that people will forward around things you write, but that's what happens. You'll have people subscribing to your e-zine directly, and that's how you expand your network.

DB: I think one of the tricks where people hold back - when people have a great e-zine, they've got to be willing to share some of their most compelling ideas. If you put your best stuff out there, that's what'll get passed around.

XXX: So you're saying don't hold any of your best ideas back?

TJL: That's exactly right. I've found what's helpful is rather than getting wedded to my ideas - I care for people to take my program and focus on them, their lives, their problems and opportunities, and as long as I keep my focus there, it's quite clean and I can really learn from them. That's a way to stay focused on the 'who' rather than the 'what'. If you do that, you can continually expand your ideas and principles and prove that they work for a wide audience.

XXX: Do you find that when you ask your R&D team directly for that kind of information that they're able to articulate that?

TJL: Great question. I kind of have a sense about that - if you're not quite sure what to do about it, but think you can articulate the 10 spots they're in…. I look at where they're at with a topic. That's how I am. What do you do, Dave?

DB: I think you're right. If you just put an email out to people and ask about their concerns, you're not going to get much useful back, but if you put out an email with a theory or a couple of ideas and ask them to comment, their real thoughts and concerns will come through.

TJL: Yeah, give them sourdough starter, rather than just flour and water. Give them something to go with and think about and to respond to.

Laura: What's a fast way to develop a list of people for your e-zine?

TJL: Well, you can buy them! (laugh) We have 20,000 people in Today's Coach, but it took years to build them up. If the topic is interesting and compelling enough, folks will often pass it on. Another way is to offer them some sort of free premium. Also, if you add to your email signature a link to where they can subscribe to your newsletter.

DB: I think the key on this one is if you think about the bigger the database, the more successful you can be. Make adding names to your database your first priority. Mention it every chance you can get. Everything you do that generates visibility, you want to always invite people, and you will add people over time.

TJL: Yes, and give them a reason to want to join. Invite them to join your R&D team, offer them some free product, and so on. It's tricky because you have a year or 2 where you're giving a ton of stuff away, but as long as you're willing to invest in that, it'll pay off. Again, if you're passionate and people can sense that, you're going to start bonding and telling their friends.

SA: Yes, and that goes back to the point of being willing to share your best stuff all the time - that's going to make you fun to hang out with.

TJL: Think in terms of network - how can you get 1000 people who believe in you?

XXX: To clarify your earlier point about offering something - can you give an example of how you've done that, and can you talk about the cost to buy an subscriber list?

TJL: Sure; I'll talk about the 2nd thing first. There are opt-in lists, which are a little dicey because you can be accused of spam, but we've used them at various times to. The quality of the folks you buy isn't going to be as good as the people who've chosen to subscribe, but if you're really looking for numbers to start with, it's a good option. We've used worldwidelists.com and others; I think the cost is anywhere from 10 cents to 20 cents a person when they subscribe, so you're not paying to rent the list, but you're paying the company whenever they send you that person's email address. We get 300-400 new subscribers a month for Today's Coach just from that.

To answer your first question - say you're targeting HR executives. You could say, "When you join my e-zine, you will get the following three things; you will get a report on the top 12 challenges or mistakes HR managers are making, or the top trends." You can research these yourself and write a report. You can also offer free membership in an HR executives club, or you can offer access to a website with information or free teleclasses.

DB: Like an example - let's say you were specializing in HR executives. You might want to have a free call on a technical topic that HR executives might be interested in. You could invite them to be on a call with you on a topic that a lot of people would be interested in. Then, that 30-minute recorded real audio could be your hook to sign up for an e-zine. Something like that….

TJL: Great example. Did that answer your question?

XXX: It did; thank you.

TJL: Great; anyone else?

XXX: Just a quick question about what's involved with licensing?

TJL: That's where you want to talk with your attorney. In the passive revenue course we offer, there are 6 lessons on things to take care of. There are a number of issues and that's where the attorney comes in handy. You can get a standard agreement that you can adapt for each course with minimal cost. We have a site teachinglicenses.com that have some licenses you can look at so you can get a feel for the issues involved in licensing your own information.

XXX: Thank you.

TJL: Good luck. We have a couple minutes left - anyone else have a question?

XXX: Are you suggesting that anything else you put out there you should check with a lawyer first?

TJL: No, but when it's a program you want to let someone else teach. I'd like to take a couple minutes and debrief. What's been interesting to you?

XXX: One thing I learned is letting go of my best ideas first to be attractive.

TJL: It's an act of faith! (laugh)

XXX: I'm very excited about he possibility of an e-book or product like that. I couldn't see how to get the info out to people, but now I can see how to do that, and it's quite do-able.

XXX: Focusing on the 'who' made a big hit with me.

TJL: Yes, it was a big win for me when I figured that out! Who else?

XXX: I learned that it doesn't have to be this long dramatic process!

TJL: Yes, we've all been that route and want to protect you from that if we can. Great. Dave, any comments?

DB: I just appreciate everyone's comments and questions. It's been a really interesting conversation!

TJL: Yes, we really appreciate that. Susan, any comment from you?

SA: Sometimes we look at a project like this, but when you do something you're really attracted to, it makes the process much more fun.

TJL: Thank you all and have a great day.