Today we have fantastic guest post by Greg Rollett.  For those of you that have been following along for sometime, I did an interview with Greg back in 2009.  Since then, he’s been up to all kinds of new stuff.  He’s found some amazing ways to increase his brand by using products, and create more personal freedom by sharing knowledge with others.  Find out the best tips by reading his post below…

Online business models are a dime a dozen.

You can…

• Be an affiliate
• Create an eCommerce store
• Dropship products
• Build a brand to promote your coaching or consulting
• Get paid to blog about products
• Get massive traffic and get paid through advertising
• Create your own products
• And the list goes on and on

Some of the business models listed above are short term wins, something to do to create some income, but ultimately not something to build a long term business out of.

Affiliate products come and go, advertising rates change and blogging, SEO and social media will continue to evolve and profiting off of them will change over time.

The model that I enjoy talking about and helping others with, is through the creation of your own informational products. For many of you reading Brooke’s site, you are looking to create opportunities in your life to not only provide value to others, but to create a lifestyle that revolves around seeing the world, creating experiences and moments and looking back at a fulfilling life.

Adding products into your online marketing approach can help you achieve those things. For one, they can be sold and scaled far beyond coaching and consulting.

Face it, you only have the same 24 hours in a day that I do, and even if you took on clients for 20 of those hours, that is really the highest volume you can intake (and let’s not forget that you probably won’t be having the fun and fulfillment out of life in this model).

With products you create a framework and a system that allows your business to grow and thrive even when you are not present. Think about an eBook. Someone comes to your site, sees the eBook and purchases it. Then they are sent the PDF file through email or a thank you page.

What work did you have to do at the time of the sale? You got it, none. That transaction could have happened at 9 in the morning or 11 at night and the system takes care of everything. And this can happen 1 or 1,000 times everyday and it really won’t affect the way you live your life (but never sacrifice customer support).

Obstacles In Product Creation

So this all sounds nice, and you see others with this same type of approach. But you are facing many internal obstacles towards creating your own products and that is keeping you from taking action. Well it’s time to break those barriers right now!

Let’s go through a few that you might be facing.

Lack Of Expertise Or Knowledge To Create A Product

This is very common among those just getting started in the online world. They feel as if they need to catch up, or they only see money being made in the “how to make money online” market. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

We are all good at something and a fine piece of advice is that you don’t have to be a 10 to teach a 1. You only have to be a 2.

I come from a background in the music marketing niche. We have created products to help musicians build their brands online and create businesses to sustain a musician lifestyle. Others in this niche are the how to play guitar niche. These teachers are not the next coming of Jimmi Hendrix, but they are great at expressing the knowledge they have to others that have less knowledge.

Your goal is to be a teacher to someone that wants to be led. I’m sure there are many things that you help your friends and social groups out with on a daily basis. Start taking note of them and see how you can apply that to a product that helps everyone.

Will People Actually Pay For This, Can’t They Just Google It?

This is a HUGE obstacle for many people when it comes to creating how-to and information based products. Let’s face it, there are hundreds, if not thousands of blogs on nearly every topic online. The amount of information available is sooo immense they have created a term for this called “paralysis of analysis“.

Here’s the little secret about this. People are lazier than you think. But not in a bad way. It’s because we all want to save time, energy and effort. Why go through millions of blog posts to see if something works when I can pay someone $50 for information that is proven to get results?

And that is the golden answer as to why information products are so popular (and the fact that the authors enjoy high margins).

Your goal as a product creator is to do a few things:

• Find an audience where you have a solution to their problem (I want to play guitar to write a song for my girlfriend, etc)
• Provide a system that solves a problem for the customer (I have a 4 week course that will help you write your first girlfriend loving song)
• Create trust and rapport with the customer that shows you CAN solve their problem (social proof, sales letter, testimonials)
• Follow through on that value and solution (create a killer product)

But Doesn’t Creating A Value Driven Product Seem Like Hard Work?

Well, let’s be honest here. It is not a walk in the park, but it also doesn’t have to be rocket science either. Let’s put it into perspective and help you create your first product in the following steps.

The first is to determine the marketplace you can provide a solution for. Check.

Next you need to figure out a way to systematize the results. This is typically done through creating modules, chapters, weekly trainings or sections to your product.

Just like this blog post is broken down into subheadlines, your product needs to do the same. This is called creating a framework. Check out a few highly successful books and educational courses below:

• The 7 Habits Of Highly Successful People (7 habits, 7 lessons, seems fair enough)
• The 4 Hour Workweek (a framework teaching you how to make better use of your time)
• Product Launch Formula (highly successful Internet Marketing product created around an 8 week program to help you launch a product)
• Even Brooke has a free eBook and followup multi part eCourse that helps you get closer to breaking free

How can you position your own frame work to create a successful product and give your marketplace the desired results?

Once you have this pinpointed you can start looking into:

• The format of your materials (eBook, audio, video, live, DVD, CD, etc)
• Your sales sequence (pre-launch, sales page, sales copy)
• The price range for your products (start by looking at competitors)
• The technology (payment processors, data collection, content delivery, affiliates)
• The marketing and promotion (you do want to sell your product, right?)

In order to break free from whatever is holding you back, you cannot let things get in the way of creating your ideal lifestyle. Building a product is a lot of work, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun when you see people getting results from it (and your bank account growing). Let’s not make this sound easy and push button, because its not. But once you set it up, overcome adversity and find something where you can truly add value into, it can be the income driving factor that finally allows you to escape and create the experiences you want for your life.

What barriers are stopping you from creating your first project?

Let’s talk and help each other out in the comments below.

This post was written by Greg Rollett from Radically Ambitious, an Internet Marketing and Lifestyle Creation company. Greg just released his new DVD, the 3 Internet Marketing Secrets of the New Rich and blogs at Rock Star Lifestyle Design.

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As part of the inspiring force to help you ‘take the leap of faith’, we will be conducting mini interviews featuring global entrepreneurs who have designed the life of their dreams. Because we are all busy traveling, working, and having loads of fun, it is a short list of questions that will hopefully give you a quick glimpse of others “Living the Life”.

Our third  mini-view comes from lifestyle designer Greg Rollett, who is running several cool projects at a time: Rock Star Lifestyle Design, Rock For Hunger , and Gen-Y Rock Stars.  Greg lives in Orlando, Florida and helps to inspire a variety of people to find a mission they are passionate about and share it with others.  He challenges you to “begin doing something that you not only love, but that makes a difference in the world.”

How did you know you didn’t fit in to conventional society?

I actually started my first business my senior year of high school and they let me out of school 2 hours early to do it. That first business, a record label, was really the first step towards doing something different. After high school I wanted to go to a music engineering trade school, but didn’t have the money. After 2 semesters of watching my friends in school I decided to give it a kick.

From there I got into Internet Marketing, SEO and all that good stuff that none of my friends or family understood a word of. I knew from there that I had found something fun and exciting that I could immerse myself in. Now a few years later I found my way into the Internet Business to let me work on Social Change stuff. I guess its a fun time to be someone like this!

What do you currently do & please describe a brief roadmap of the haphazard leaps of faith that got you here today…

I currently have way too much on my plate, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My main sources of income come from social media consulting and 2 membership websites, one for young professionals and one for indie musicians. These sites allow me to do some of the things that I enjoy most in life which is teaching and helping others live the rock star lifestyle! It has also allowed me to be a part of an amazing group called Rock For Hunger, where I work the Homeless Lifestyle Design Program to help local homeless find a mindset and get back on their feet.

My roadmap keeps getting new stops, detours and fun rest stops along the way. Being married with a mortgage meant that I had to keep my day job until a replacement income came in. That part was tough to juggle, between long nights, no personal/family time and really just a burnout, I needed to start working smarter. I started turning down consulting gigs that were no longer fun and disassociated myself with some people that didn’t share my same vision.

Business plans were changed, business models were changed and ultimately I needed to create something that could run while I was out saving the world! I still don’t have everything figured out and I still have many business goals and ideas to continue my own rock star path.

Your most life changing travel place & why?

I am definitely not as cool as you and Cody and some of the LIP’s that I read about everyday. I mostly stay here in Orlando, helping my local community grow. When I do get out I love adventure sports and am planning a trip to Costa Rica for a week of volunteering and a week of surf camp.

The biggest life changing travel I have done would have to be my honeymoon trip to St. Lucia. Being on an island, seeing the cultures and having a chance to do things with no technology was just mind blowing. I honestly couldn’t see myself not checking my iPhone every 10 minutes, but the feeling of not having to rely on these devices and actually have personal conversations is a heartwarming feeling.

Encouraging words you would pass on to readers: If you could have had someone there when you took the leap of faith, what would you have needed to hear the most?

Through reading sites, books and talking to people over the last year or 2, I really changed my outlook and my life. When I was playing in a band I was always waiting for the weekend, for the next show. When I had a 9-5 it was the same way. That is not really living life. I work really hard, sometimes 60-70 hours a week, but they are for things that I care about, that I am using to make a difference and wouldn’t trade for the world.

Some other advice is that the lifestyle change wasn’t just mental. For me it took changing eating habits, getting back into fitness and working on my business that really aligned everything in the right direction. Most things can be taken in steps, as long as there is action and a desire to see the results of those actions.

Contact Greg!

Rock Star Lifestyle Design – http://www.rockstarlifestyledesign.com
Gen-Y Rock Stars – http://www.genyrockstars.com
Rock For Hunger – http://www.rockforhunger.org

& Keep on Rockin’ Your Lifestyle!!