|
|
Dear Coach...
I wanted to take just a moment and share with you about the evolution
of CoachVille from its original plan of being a portal to its
now fairly successful membership format.
I am sharing this with you because I want you to understand the
significant revenue streams  and
sources that are possible and how to get your thinking around
the scope, and potential, involved as you create and market it
intellectual property of your own.
Here are 3 of the many things that I've learned about eproducts,
passive revenue streams since I launched CoachVille in June
2001. I'll be sharing more of these with you during the
course, but these 3 provide a good base of understanding about
the notion of ecommunities and developing revenue streams.
 1.
People want to be part of something, not just to be a customer
of yours.
So, whatever you're creating IP wise, ask yourself if there is a
way to make them a member of some time. You can create a
online community of folks with a common interest or turn your
customers into your clients where you offer them access to you
via live TeleClasses or other non passive experiences. For
example, say that you wrote an ebook on How to Start Your Life
Over From Scratch. In addition to selling the ebook, you
could offer folks a free member in the Starting Over Club or
something and give them access to RealAudio clips of courses you
led or connection with others in your network, or email access
to you, or whatever.
Key point: You can
take any ebook and use that as the beginning of an ecommunity.
Because people want to belong; and to be closer to you and each
other.
2.
Recurring revenue is a wonderful thing. And...
Most personal development and training websites charge a monthly
access fee of $20 to $99, which makes it an easy buy and given
the subsequent months are charged to the member's credit card,
those monthly fees are a breeze to handle. We thought long
and hard about this approach for CoachVille and opted instead
for a pay one price one time fee of $79 for lifetime
membership. Why? Several reasons. 1. I
wanted to make CoachVille the largest coaching
school/association quickly so I made the price point a no
brainer. If I had gone for the monthly fee, fewer folks
would have signed up and 10 to 50% of them would not have
renewed after a year, so my net member numbers would fall.
So, instead, and going in the face of conventional wisdom, I
went with the one time fee of $79 and decided to come up with
about 200 tools, trainings, licensing rights, eproducts, CDs,
gifts, etc. that are available at member only pricing, which now
provides (thank goodness) 85% of our revenue. We continue
to add to our collection of 'free with membership'
resources. The plan is 200 free items and 200 pay/add
on/upgrade items. And, we may offer a premium membership
at $79 per month for our Advanced Coach Training program or
other special packages. Recurring revenue gives you the
funds you need to create/invest in your intellectual property,
and in our case our systems, software, programming and
staffing. And profit.
Key point: There is no
one right way to price and package your eproducts and
services. The best thing to do is to experiment until the
revenue starts flowing at 2x the rate it has been.
3.
People want coaching. People want coaching. People
want coaching.
True, they may not use that word because what they really want
is support, or solutions, or strategies or a tap on the
butt. But they do want it. And they'll pay for
it. Part of you provide as a developer of intellectual
property is the opportunity to coach people through what you
write, how you package and deliver it and how you provide
opportunities for people to get what THEY want in life, via your
work.
Key point: Your
intellectual property and eproducts IS a valid form of coaching;
it's not just 'information.' Write/create/package your
work so that people are coached as a result of it; not just
informed.
This is the final pre course warm up letter.
The next issue you receive will be lesson #1 of the Passive
Revenue eCourse.
Best,
Thomas
|
|
|
|
with
thomas leonard
|
|
