Today, many small business owners are engaged in knowledge commerce, selling their expertise on a topic to students or businesses who want to learn. These “infopreneurs” are a growing class of small business owners and freelancers, that seek to teach students anything from cooking to accounting. Becoming an infopreneur isn’t easy, but here are some tips to guide your way.
Step 1: Become an Expert
Chances are you’re already an expert in something, but brushing up on your skills is a great first step. Take a few online classes before you get started to make sure your knowledge is up-to-date and your skills are on point. You don’t have to be perfect to be considered an expert, but you should be good enough to impress and teach a beginner.
Step 2: Find Students
Once you’ve honed your expertise, it’s time to build a following. Start with a blog or website, and create content and freebies related to your field. Widen your reach by posting videos to YouTube, reaching out on social media, and guesting on podcasts or other blogs. Eventually, your followers will become your customer base.
Step 3: Building Revenue
As soon as possible, start offering one-on-one teaching and exclusive content on your website. Sell courses through memberships or subscriptions, offer special deals to attract new students, and sell downloadable content. Advertise related products on your site, or use affiliate links to add to your revenue stream. You may decide to design and sell branded merchandise to promote your website.
Step 4: Expand Your Reach
Once your business is up and running, it’s time to think about marketing. Run special campaigns to attract and incentivize new customers. Reach out to companies who might sponsor your YouTube content, and offer to promote their products in return. Or build your social media following to become an influencer and sell sponsored posts.
Key to Success: Personal Branding
Whatever the focus of your new business, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd. With 57 million freelancers in the United States, there’s probably someone else offering the same expertise to potential customers. Your personal brand will show followers your authenticity, expertise, and what makes you unique.
Finding work as a freelancer is easier than ever, and most freelancers agree that work is becoming more plentiful. If your looking to branch out into freelancing or start your own business, check out this infographic to learn more about becoming an infopreneur:
Please include attribution to kajabi.com with this graphic.
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