The 4-Hour Workweek - Step 3: Automation
Testing the Muse
Step 3: Microtest your products
Invest or divest
Rollout and automation
Test the advertisement
Drive traffic with Google PPC and track results
Use real websie to offer free downloadable material
Dry test with one-page site advertisement
Test eBay auction
Best the competition
Create a one-page advertisement emphasizing differentiators and product benefits
Use search term suggestion tools to find related/derivative terms for respective products
Figure out how to differentiate
Free or faster shipping?
Offer better selection?
Create a better guarantee?
Use more credibility indicators?
MBA - Management By Absense
Look like a bigger company
Do not provide home addresses
Set up interactive voice response (IVR) remote receptionist
Put multiple email and phone contacts on website for different departments
Give yourself mid-level title instead of Founder/CEO
Not all customers are created equal
Do not accept orders from common fraud countries
Offer a lose-win guarantee instead of free trials
Offer low-priced products instead of free products
Refer all potential resellers to an online order form that must be printed and faxed in
Raise wholesale minimums and require tax ID number to qualify resellers
Do not accept money orders or checks
Fewer options=more revenue
Do not offer international shipments
Eliminate phone orders completely and direct all prospects to online ordering
Do not offer overnight or expedited shipping
Do not offer multiple shipping options
Offer one or two purchase options
Replace yourself with scalable infrastructure
Phase III: Use bigger, more sophisicated outsourcers such as end-to-end fulfillment houses
Phase II: Add extensive FAQ and use local fulfillment company
Phase I: Do it all yourself
Remove the human element
Place yourself out of the information flow
Ensure that all outsourcers are willing to communicate among themselves to solve problems
Contract outsourcing companies that specialize in one function instead of freelancers
Outsourcing Life
Avoid common complaints
Send one task at a time, no more than two, and always prioritize
Tasks should be completed in no more than 72 hours (Parkinson's Law)
Request regualr status updates on tasks
Give precise directions
Make special request for type of VA you want at the outset
Aviod misuse of your information
Create unique login for VA for your websites
Never give them debit cards
Which VA to hire
Use a VA firm instead of solo operator
Get a trial first
Determined by cost per completed task, not cost per hour
Eliminate before you delegate
Refine the rules and processes before adding people
Unless something is well-defined and important, no on should do it.
Build a system to replace yourself
Get a remote personal assistant
Don't limit yourself, just ask if something is possible
Goal is to free your time to focus on bigger and better things
Finding the Muse
Step 2: Branstorm (do not invest in) products
Option three: create a product
Information products
You don't have to be an expert
Join ProfNet to be a quotable expert for articles
Offer to write 1-2 articles for trade magazines
Give one free 1-3 hour seminar at a nearby university, then at 2 large companies
Join two or three related trade organizations
Read 3 top selling books on your topic and summarize on one page
Do you have a failure-to-success story that could be turned into a how-to product for others?
What experts could you interview and record to create a sellable audio CD?
What skills are you interested in that you--and others in your markets--would pay to learn?
How can you tailor a general skill for your market ("niching down")?
License content or compensate an expert to help create content
Repurpose content that is in the public domain
Paraphrase and combine points from several books
Time consuming to replicate
20-50x markup
Sell only through one outlet (to avoid price wars)
Find a generic product that can be repurposed for a special market
Create new product prototype
Option two: license a product
Dealmaking intensive but high profit margin
Option one: resell a product
Easiest but least profitable
Pick two markets you are most familiar with that have their own magazines
It should be fully explainable in a good online FAQ
It should take no more than 3-4 weeks to manufacture
It should cost customer $50-200
The main benefit should be encapsulated in one sentence
Step 1: Pick an affordably reachable niche market
Be a member of your target market
Which of the groups have their own magazines?
Which social, industry or professional groups do you belong to?
Find a market, then develop a product for them
Goal: to create an automated vehicle for generating cash without consuming time
