Trev

Create a top-notch eBook and give it away for free in exchange for prospect emails. Hustle to promote on social media. The eBook can be as small as 20 pages as long as it provides tremendous value. You’re trying to build credibility before you can start charging. If you can’t write, grab a ghost writer on Fiverr and ask them to write your idea. Cost is about $60 to do this.

As your email list grows, keep producing quality blog content resources to help people in your niche. Podcasts, how-to’s, long-form articles, webinars and guest posting are all great ideas.

Follow-up with a freemium product, something people can try before they buy the full version. Charge approx. $19-$49 for the full version, depending on how you perceive the value and how others will perceive it. Material can be in the form of online courses, exclusive videos, apps, you name it. You should be producing something of even higher value than your eBook in this instance.

Build a mastery training program or course in your niche and sell that for even more, say $199. Convince your following of the value by communicating how it will solve their problems.

Offer coaching and consulting services. These can range in hourly amounts, depending on your experience at this point. Some people charge $60/hour, others can get away with $5,000/hour. Determine what you think you’re worth and own it.

Get into speaking engagements. This can bring you $1,000-$100,000 for each venue, once again depending on your experience. Start with high schools and universities to build street cred. Publish your speaking events on YouTube – someone might eventually notice you.

With no money in pocket, you have to be in the “give” mindset right now. Give value first, then wealth will come later. If you follow this Sales funnel approach described, where you’re offering free value up front, you will get there. Best of luck.

My answer to What are some disasters that happen when amateurs build a business logo?

Answer by Trevor Carss:

I can list a ton of disasters, but I’ll start with a few:

• Too many colours (unless it is Google)
• Too many fancy fonts
• Too many iconic elements
• Too many words
• Too many design concept choices (they should only present you with three of their top choices to avoid analysis paralysis)
• No cohesiveness (does it work on mobile, desktop, print? Can it be one-inch square?)

I’ve included the proper way to design a logo in a blog post here.

I think the best way in this situation is to start.

Ideas are worthless if they live in our heads. Your plan should be very basic, and mostly focused on how you’ll market the idea.

I’ve built a one-page strategy plan based on the concept of marketing a new business idea. I give it away for free to help people who want to launch quickly. It took me 10 years to really fine-tune and develop based on corporate experiences:

As far as who you need to approach – no one. It starts with you. There are plenty of free resources to launch an idea quickly, all it takes is your sole execution.

Best of luck!