Secrets of Successful InfopreneursAn Interview with Steve McIntyre-Smithby Jennifer Tribe Steve McIntyre-Smith is a consultant who specializes in helping public accountants market themselves and their firms. As you’ll soon read, Steve’s information products generate a healthy income all their own but also help him boost his consulting revenues while traveling the world. ---- Steve, tell us the story of your very first product. What was it, where did you get the idea, how did you develop it, how did you market it? I started in 1990 with a video and added another video in 1991. My hobby at the time was filmmaking and I got the idea for the videos through an ad I saw in a video newsletter. My goal was to create a product that I would have found helpful if I was just starting out as an accountant. And I wanted to do what I saw other information product vendors doing – creating something once and selling it over and over again to create leverage. Then in 1996, I launched a print newsletter. I marketed the newsletter and the videos through classified ads in trade magazines. In 1999, I moved my products to the Internet and have been selling that way ever since. ----- If you could do things over again, would you still start with that product? Why or why not? Yes, although I probably would move to the Internet earlier. I had a fairly steep learning curve starting out and I learned an awful lot in a short period of time. It was a very good training ground for what I’m doing now. ----- How much do your information products generate in revenue for you? Or, how many units do you sell? I sell $30,000 worth of products per year. But the greatest thing is that the information products generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting work for me in a year. People find me online, purchase a product, then move up to my consulting service. ----- Which product formats do you like the best (e-books, teleclasses, videos, etc) and why? I prefer PDF files, such as special reports and e-books, because everyone has Acrobat Reader these days, or virtually everyone. And it’s relatively simple to convert the files into PDF files. They look a lot better than a Word product or...I used to use E-Book Generator. It was easy to use but I found it a little cumbersome as a reader, whereas PDF files – how to use them is second nature to most people. Plus there are no production costs, it’s print on demand, you don’t have to keep an inventory. It’s beautiful from an entrepreneurial aspect. ----- How has selling information products changed your business and your life? I now have a business that bills about $500,000 a year. I work from home and I pick my own hours so I have excellent work-life balance. I have minimal overhead. I can’t tell you how much information products have done for me. Even my free newsletter – I produce a newsletter in PDF format that goes out every month – I started that about three years ago with eight subscribers. I now have about 6,000 subscribers and it goes all over the world. And through that, I just got back from a two-week consulting engagement in Bangladesh. So it takes me all over the world. All this is mainly through information products so it has totally changed my life. ----- What advice would you give to people just starting out, or thinking about getting started, with information products? That’s an easy one. Stop procrastinating and do it! The second point, I would say, is just get it 98% right. Don’t wait until your product is 100% right because it never will be. Get it out when it’s 98% right and follow the three key rules before you release it: Number one: proofread. Number two: proofread. Number three: proofread. ----- What advice would you give to people who are established with information products and want to go to the next level? If you started small, think bigger. I started out with a product selling at $49. I then created a series of smaller ones at $19.95 just to test the market in certain areas, and I now have an electronic product that sells for $1,000 in four installments of $249. ----- So you’ve got a series of increasingly higher price points to lead them down the path, and ultimately to your consulting? Yes. Case in point. While I was away in Bangladesh, I had a client who started with the $19.95 report, then went to the $49 manual, then signed up for the $249 package, Module 1. Then in three months time, he’ll move onto Module 2 for another $249 and so on. So while I was away for 2 weeks, I took someone from zero to $249 plus. ----- What’s the biggest mistake you have made in your information product career? There are a million mistakes we all make. Trying to do too much too soon. Trying to make a product too long or too big or too short. Getting the wrong price point. I’ve done them all. But I think the biggest mistake was not starting sooner because the sooner you get up that learning curve and you find your groove, the easier it becomes. ----- What’s your philosophy, in business or in life? There are three things. First, what goes around comes around, so treat people like you would like to be treated yourself. Second, back up your products with a money-back guarantee and mean it. And third, it’s better to give than receive. In other words, if you give a free sample of the main product, you’ll sell more. Maybe there’s a fourth, and that would be quality over quantity. If you’re starting down the information product path, I’d rather you have one really good product than 12 mediocre ones. ----- What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to information products? Padding. ----- What’s your favorite web site and why? Doteasy.com. I register all my domains with them – they’re a domain registrar – but when you buy through them they host your site for free, and their service is very, very reliable. It’s a great resource for Internet entrepreneurs. ---- Steve’s sites: http://www.MFAGroup.com http://www.MarketingForAccountants.com http://www.AwesomeClientService.com http://www.McIntyre-Smith.com http://www.IFindCAs.com © 2004-2007 Jennifer Tribe Jennifer Tribe is a principal at Highspot Inc. Want to self-publish a book, produce an audio program, launch a seminar? Highspot can help transform your great ideas into lasting knowledge products. You may reproduce this article in your electronic or print newsletter (opt-in publications only), or on your web site, as long as the byline and full credit (paragraph above) are included with the article and all hyperlinks remain intact. A courtesy copy of your publication is appreciated. |