• What do you most need help with right now?
• What tools and resources do you currently have/use?
• What types of websites do you have live right now?
• What marketing methods are you currently using?
• What Social Media sites do you currently use in your marketing?
• What training products/programs have you purchased that you need help implementing?
• What else would you like to share to enable me to better help you?

WOW, was I surprised by the results!  Here's a quick summary:

• People most need help with focusing on one thing, avoiding shiny new object syndrome, getting organized, and taking action.  Not a single person said they needed help with how to use the multitude of marketing strategies and tactics out there.  Not SEO, not social media, not advertising, not video marketing, not product creation - nothing.  I was shocked!
• Most of our subscribers have most of the tools they need to run their businesses.  The only holes reported consistently were a graphics editor that they know how to use, a webinar service, and a CRM tool.
• Everyone who responded has at least one website alive and kicking right now.
• Everyone who responded is using multiple marketing tactics to get their message out there.
• Most people who participated in the survey are using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  A few also use Google +.  I was VERY surprised that no one reported social bookmarking sites or using Youtube's social features.

All of this information has given me a much clearer picture of what my readers say they need.  The main concern I have is that less than 1% of my subscribers responded to the survey, and I don't think everyone is in the same place. So...

This site and my main mailing list will continue to be a mix of beginning, intermediate, and advanced topics to help you grow your business.  This will include things like being strategic, improving daily habits and finding out about cutting edge concepts as they're discovered as well as straightforward marketing how-to information.

And, as always, your feedback is invaluable.  If there's something you need to learn about, post a comment here and let me know!  If there's a tool you need, ask me about it, and I'll tell you which one(s) I like.

In fact, let me share one with you right now that everyone needs, no matter where you are in your information marketing journey.  It's free, and it will help you.  Here's the link ==> http://thebreakthroughmarketer.com/bmt/imiorganizer/

Get it, use it, and share it with everyone you know in the IM universe.  You will be very happy .

I stopped holding these classes because I was under the (mistaken as I've found out) impression that most of my subscribers were more interested in tools and advanced tactics than in how to handle the core functions and foundational strategies of building their businesses.

Now I know better. And I apologize if I've let you down.

So take advantage of the training. Sign up, participate, and let's earn huge income by sharing our valuable knowledge with the people who need what we know.

This week, we're going to talk about using webinars to increase your profits. It constantly amazes me how many people are intimidated by the thought of conducting a webinar. If you follow a few simple steps, you can do it! And I'm going to give you those steps.

Sign up at ==>  Faster Profits With Webinars

I look forward to seeing you there!

The first thing I want to clear up is "What the heck is a niche?"

The word "niche" is defined as: "A special area of demand for a product or service."  So in marketing to a specific niche, you're offering your products and services to the people who are most interested in that particular product or service and not to the world in general.

A lot of big businesses use niche marketing. For example, a company that makes computers and computer accessories might advertise all-in-one copy/printer/scanners to the home computer user while at the same time advertising single function machines to large businesses.

One of the things that make niche marketing so attractive is that you can have a smaller advertising budget. It costs less to advertise to a specific group of people than it does to advertise to a broad market.

The key, of course, is to promote products and services that the market wants or needs the most.  And that requires you to do a little bit of research.  Look at your market and find out:

- What kind of trade articles or books do they read?
- Do they have clubs or are members of particular organizations?
- Does the group have an insane passion for their hobby or topic
of interest?
- Do they eat, sleep, and breathe their hobby?
- Do they actively seek more information related to their subject?

And most importantly, does the market have the money to spend?

To find out the best way to find the right niche for you, check out my guide, Finding A Profitable Niche here==>http://saritarecommends.com/findaniche.htm

I hate to tell you this, but sometimes, if you don't have the drive to succeed, no program, system, e-book, or anything else will help you, no matter how good they are. These tools cannot make you rich. It's applying the information within them that has the potential to make you wealthy. Information products don’t just come to life and work to make money for their owners.

If you've been burned by illegal programs or the ones that pull you in with ads like as "no selling required", "no work required", "easy money", etc., it is time you learn how to build a business that works.

It may not be easy. It takes work to become successful in your business. Truthfully, your success depends on your work ethic, attitude, resources, and passion to succeed.

There are several great products you can profit from, but, of course, I can't guarantee how you'll do. You need to put in the effort and time, and get out of your business what you put into it.

And of course, I'll have to repeat my favorite statement: The only way to achieve lasting success is to take action. So do it now. Do something. Anything. Don't wait around for a magic pill.

The most successful Information Marketing companies are built on the foundation of multiple streams of income.  Often, when someone says “multiple streams of income,” they’re referring to having several different business interests in a variety of markets – they might, for example, earn money from a gift shop, real estate investments, and part-time work as a CPA.  In your Information Marketing company, on the other hand, you will have multiple profit-generating streams that are tightly focused on one market.  Let’s take a closer look.

Packaged Products

The Packaged Products leg of your Information Marketing business generates income by developing, marketing, and selling stand-alone information products.  These products can be in the form of ebooks, audio presentations, DVDs, multimedia training courses, physical books, software, and so on.  Packaged Products account for income-producing activities that do not require personal interaction of a coach, consultant or trainer.

Interactive Programs and Services

Interactive Programs and Services income is earned by the delivery of interactive training systems.  This leg of your Information Marketing company encompasses coaching programs, consulting packages, seminars, workshops, boot camps, and the like.  When income is generated by someone in your organization delivering content to a live audience, that income is attributed to the Interactive Programs and Services unit.

Product Rights

Product Rights income is all money that is earned for your Information Products company by other companies paying you for the right to sell or use your product.  If you sell an information product and include Resell Rights to that product, or if you charge a company a fee to use your training materials to train their employees, or even if a company pays you so that they can use your brand, you are in a Product Rights situation.  Product Rights income streams allow you to earn profit from your products above and beyond the revenue generated by the sale of the products themselves.

Media

Media income streams are typically separate from your Information Product sales.  Media revenue comes from things like payment for a syndicated newspaper column, fees paid to you to advertise a company on your radio show, payments to your company for your appearance in an infomercial, etc.  The Media unit of your Information Marketing company is often only profitable after the other units have generated significant income and you have become a recognized expert in your field.

These are just a few of the ideas for building a highly-profitable Information Marketing business.  The beauty of Information Marketing is that you are not limited to a single product or single type of product.  The most successful Information Products companies actually have multiple units that generate income.

What does that mean?

Imagine for a moment that you’re a master craftsman.  You build beautiful furniture and sell it for a hefty profit.  Now let’s say that you’ve won a major contract to build a new bedroom set for a wealthy investor.  You get a check for $100,000, go out and purchase the materials, and build a gorgeous roomful of furniture.  You deliver on time, the customer is thrilled, and you’ve made a nice profit of $90,000.

Now what?
In order to earn more money, you will need to go find another customer, convince them that your furniture is the best thing since sliced bread, make the sale, build the furniture, deliver the furniture and deposit your money.

You have to do the work over and over and over again.  Every time you need more income, you do more work creating, marketing, and selling.

What happens then if your customer is less than pleased by what you deliver?  You refund their money because you’re an honest business person, and you’re out the cost of the materials plus the time it took to create the product.  Not only that, what are you going to do with that great piece of furniture you just built?

After a few years of this constant work, you realize that there are other people who can build gorgeous furniture, and you’re swamped doing everything, so you decide to find other people to do the work of building while you focus on marketing and selling.

That’s a much smarter thing to do.  This arrangement works well for a time, but then the factory you work with goes out of business.  Now what are you going to offer your clients?

The main problem with marketing and selling hard products is that you have to continuously produce them in order to have something to sell.

On the other hand, information marketing is evergreen – if it’s done correctly.  Let’s walk through that example again, only this time we’ll use information products.

You’re a master craftsman who makes beautiful furniture.  You decide to teach other craftsmen how to do what you do.

You create a series of pattern books with detailed instructions.  You set the price at $27 per book.  You did the work once, now you can sell those information products forever.

You create a training class that costs $5000 per attendee.  You teach 10 people and make $50000 for the class.  One of your students is a shining star, so you teach that student how to do the training for you.  You pay him or her a percentage for each class, and you make money on that information product forever.

You do a series of instructional videos and charge $200 for the set.  Again, you do the work once, and the profits continue as long as you are marketing your information product effectively.

You can build your company around your product, or you can build it around your expertise.  Only you can decide which is right for you.

I just entered the term "home based business" in Google’s search engine, and I got back 526,000,000 results.  That means there are 526,000,000 pages on the web that have that phrase.  More and more people are discovering that making money from home is a viable option.

There are many ways to start a business and make a nice income without starting a traditional brick-and-mortar enterprise.  The very best business system I know is Information Marketing.  Here’s why:
1.    Information products are evergreen.  That means you create them once, and you can sell them over and over and over again.  You don’t have to start from scratch every time you want to sell a product.  You can simply market and sell the work you’ve already done.

2.    You can repurpose information products for multiple streams of focused income.  It is very simple and easy to use your content in multiple ways.  For example, you can write a series of articles and publish them on article directory sites.  Then you can create a video using the content of those articles and sell that video as a product on your website.

3.    Information products can be created VERY quickly.  You can, for example, interview an expert in your market, record that interview, upload it to your site, and you have a digital product ready to sell in under 2 hours.

4.    Information products can be packaged in multiple ways for maximum price flexibility.  One packaging idea is to record a 1-hour audio and burn it to CD to sell on your website.  You can then offer a discounted price to your customers if they purchase the digital download version of the recording since you don’t have production and shipping costs.

5.    You can be paid to create information products.  There are many ways to do this, but the most powerful technique is to create a training product by recording yourself teaching it live.  What that means is clients pay you to teach them the material, you record yourself teaching them, and then your recording is available to sell to future clients.

6.    Information products can be created from thin air.  If you want to make a pair of shoes, you need leather, pins, glue, tools, etc.  If you want to make a table, you need wood, nails, tools, stain, etc.  If you want to make an information product, you need access to a computer and your own knowledge (or even someone else’s knowledge).

7.    An Information Marketing company is ideally suited to multiple niches.  Earlier, I mentioned repurposing your information products for multiple streams of focused income.  However, information marketing gives you even more flexibility than that.  Once you have your marketing and management systems in place in a specific, focused niche, you can duplicate your efforts and have income-generating entities in a broad range of niche markets.

If you’re ready to start a profitable business and want to stay away from the get rich quick schemes, do your research, and explore the benefits of an information products business.  Find out what’s working in the marketplace, and follow successful systems.  Applied education is the key to being able to start a business and not just jump around from business opportunity to business opportunity trying to make money.