Turn Your Ideas into Money… Fast !Turn Your Ideas into Money… Fast !Turn Your Ideas into Money… Fast !Turn Your Ideas into Money… Fast !Turn Your Ideas into Money… Fast !
Matt Lee is the owner of The Record Depot located in Roanoke, Virginia.
He’s been the owner for over a year and specializes in Bluegrass, folk, Americana, Old-time, Blues, Jazz and Indy music distribution to retailers across the country. He serves an interesting niche market in the music industry and should have better results with his web sites… his retail site is www.TracksOfMusic.com.
He hired me to come in and help him update his web sites. Since I wasn’t sure what I would be up against when gaining access to his content management system, I took my business partner and tech consultant Keith with me to help trouble shoot any road blocks.
What we found was that Matt has limited admin access to his sites. This means that he can add new product to the inventory database but he can’t change other content… like getting rid of the former owner’s name and updating contact info. Until he gets higher level access, he won’t even be able to add album cover images to the shopping section of the site.
Matt’s idea is to create a web presence where retailers can get news and updates on new releases in the various genres he covers. He wants to be able to quickly and easily post weekly updates like his personal reviews and comments in an informal but professional setting. He also wants a way for retailers to more easily communicate with him about the music he has in stock, orders, back-orders, etc.
I offered to create a solution that would allow Matt to achieve these goals. First, we decided on keywords that his target audience would use to search. Bluegrass was the biggie according to Overture’s keyword tool. So then it came down to finding an available domain with this keyword. We could have used TheRecordDepotBlog.com to tie in with his wholesale site but since he wants to boost traffic I recommended that we go with: www.BluegrassMusicDepot.com.
His blog is set-up with some content already loaded. I’ll be customizing the look and feel to more closely match his other sites over the next few days. I also need to build a front page so that I can tie the blog and the forum together under the primary domain.
Geoffrey Zimmerman has been busy working on his trilogy called Love Never Dies.
The challenge is to get readers interested in his first book so that we can build a market interested in buying books II and III. The approach that we are going with first is to offer the first few chapters online to draw the readers into the story.
Then we offer the reader the chance to subscribe to the novel in a twice per week e-mail where they continue getting the next 29 chapters as downloadable PDF files.
That’s nearly half of the book.
The first few paragraphs of each chapter are included in the body of each e-mail as a short teaser to draw the reader into the story. Then they can choose to download the entire chapter to finish reading until they get the next installment.
Geoffrey is currently working on gathering photos to include with each chapter as a visual element to enhance the reader’s experience. One photo is to be included at the beginning of each chapter to help set the mood or tone.
A word of caution here. Do NOT include photos in the actual e-mail as this will bog down servers and wreck your deliverability. We are including the photos in the PDF download file and simply e-mailing the link to the download.
The rain was pouring down and had been for two solid days after three months of severe drought.
George called to reschedule the video shoot. We met this past Monday at a beautiful horse ranch in Forest, Virginia to spend the entire day shooting videos for his new web site www.TrainingMyHorse.com.
We managed to get plenty of video for his free “Horsemanship Tip of the Week” subscription content. I have been spending the week editing, formatting and uploading the videos as well as posting his content to the new site. Check out his free samples posted on the front page to get an idea of the type of tips he’s offering for FREE in order to build his subscription list.
Once we get a list going, we’ll poll the subscribers about their most burning questions and work to create a great product for sale.
You might be wondering how we settled on “Training My Horse” as a domain name instead of something like “Natural Horsemanship.” The answer is RESEARCH.
I spent hours looking for available domains that use top searched keywords. Here are the results:
Natural Horsemanship - 1,328 searches per day… not bad.
Horse Training - 23,458 searches per day… Much BETTER.
The competition is also much bigger with these two words which means that the most likely combinations are already registered to other owners. We managed to acquire Training My Horse dot com. It’s short, easy to remember, straight to the point, focuses on the mind of the customer, and uses to the two biggest key words. Perfect.
I spent Wednesday morning shooting quick tips videos for the FitClub4.com web site with Pam Turman. Then I spent the afternoon editing and uploading the videos to her web site.
Today, I spent editing and uploading content for the Geoffrey Zimmerman web site to promote his new romantic adventure novel “Love Never Dies.” His auto-responder is set-up with chapter one ready to download when you subscribe. Then you’ll get a new chapter or two each week.
Once that was taken care of, I started editing my own testimonial video from Pam Turman of FitClub4.com about why she chose to work with Joint Venture Lightning instead of some other company. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. I love doing testimonial videos and capturing why people love the companies they use. You can see the finished video here:
Then to finish off the business day I met with the owner of Downtown Music to discuss a joint venture deal with him to promote his line of custom-built banjos and electric guitars. I’ll keep you posted on that case if we decide to work together.
And then just to prove that I really do like to have fun, I met with Ian Piefer of Windsor, Ontario to go ride our Dirtsurfer inline boards on Callaway Road. Man, I love that sport. What a RUSH!
I’m always pushing to get to product creation and launch within the first 30 days. That’s why it’s called Joint Venture LIGHTNING. If you want to talk to me about possibly working with you on your project then you need to make your best pitch ASAP because my schedule is filling up fast for the year and I am becoming increasingly selective.
Stay tuned for the latest on these real businesses. You can see step by step exactly how I do it and what the real results are… good or bad… I hold nothing back.
Have you ever seen or heard of the movie “The Horse Whisperer”?
It’s inspired by a real life horse trainer who uses a gentle and natural technique called Natural Horsemanship. So instead of forcing a horse to comply with your wishes, it requires you to understand the horse’s natural tendencies and communicate with the animal in a way that has the horse wanting to do what you want.
The first time you see it in action, you might be inclined to believe that it’s some sort of magic or that the horse is specially trained to respond to secret hand signals. But it really does work.
How do I know? Because my wife and I had natural horsemanship expert George Schaefer come to our home to conduct a training clinic for us and a few of our friends who own horses, too.
That’s how I met George and saw first-hand how good of an instructor he really is. That’s also what got me thinking about doing a joint venture with him to help him create and launch his own downloadable video programs and e-course.
So, I called George last week to schedule an appointment to discuss the details with him and his wife at their horse ranch over in Gretna, Virginia. We met last night around his dinner table where he explained that he had been thinking of doing something like this for years but never really knew how to get it all started. Friends had told him he should write a book. He knew that all of the big-shot famous horse trainers each had web sites and had written books but it was all a bit overwhelming.
I just smiled and listened.
Then it was my turn to share what I was doing with other entrepreneurs just like him and how we could team up in a joint venture to make all of his goals a reality. We asked each other questions, I showed him some examples of my clients’ web sites, then I gave him his first homework assignment… to clearly define who his best customer is… their age, income level, experience level, and so on. This will help us target the right audience.
Then he has to come up with 26 topic points that we can cover in 1 to 2 minutes of video to give away to subscribers through his auto-responder campaign.
And finally, he has to set-up a time when I can video record some client testimonials. By the time our meeting was over, he was already listing satisfied clients who would be willing to do testimonials for him… including my wife. His only up-front expense to start the project was $10.61 for me to register his new web site domain with GoDaddy.com.
He’s conducting a training clinic in Lovingston, Virginia this Friday so I might be able to get some good footage of his class and shoot some Quick Tips content right away.
Remember, my goal here at Joint Venture Lightning is to launch a new site and begin product creation within the first thirty days. I’ll continue to post updates on George’s horse training joint venture as we progress.
How do you help a new author get his first book published and in the hands of readers around the world?
Geoffrey Zimmerman is an experienced world traveler and writer. He’s written for television, including the hit show Miami Vice. He’s a poet, novelist, and self-described romantic. He’s also trying to break into the publishing world with his first book… a romantic adventure set in Europe and New York.
He explained to me that he has been floating the transcript around to agents but no takers so far. So, he has been looking into self-publishing his book but wasn’t sure how to begin and he didn’t want to pay a ton of money to get a few hundred copies printed.
I recommended that he consider e-publishing and offer sample chapters to subscribers. Since his new book is part one of a trilogy, he has ample opportunity to build a fan base to whom he can sell his future books.
Since this was a new market niche for me, I had to do some research to see if this was an area worth getting into. Why do I sound so picky? Because if I get bogged down in an unproductive niche market, then I can’t be working with clients who are in highly productive and profitable niches. So, I have to research the potential before I invest my time and resources as a joint venture partner.
I have decided to take on this new challenge with Geoff and have started his web site with www.geoffreyzimmerman.com.
This case has some unique challenges.
Fiction is a luxury so there are few pain points to drive customer response
Geoff is located in another city far from my location, so video / photography must be sub-contracted
We are starting totally from scratch which means we need to get some reader testimonials
We’re exploring how to tap the power of video for a book / text based niche product
These are the biggest challenges at the moment. There are others but we’ll address those as we come to them.
For now, I am in the process of editing and loading his content and waiting on his new photos so that I can customize his site. Our plan is to load chapters from his book into the iContact auto-responder so when visitors subscribe, they immediately begin getting his book. Every couple of days they will get new chapter. Along the way, we will include updates on the development of book two in the series.
Also, visitors will have the chance to read some of his other works like short stories and poems that Geoff has written. The graphic elements of the site will include photos Geoff has taken during some of his travels and story research trips.
But what about the video? Good question. We are planning to load short video clips of Geoff telling about how came up with the story idea, what inspired him, various scenes in the book, the history behind the story and so on. Geoff also knows a professional reader whom we are hoping to get to read some of the book as an mp3 audio file listeners can download.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this interesting case study as it develops.
The video and photo shoot at Fit Club 4 in Rocky Mount went well on Saturday.
We shot four client testimonials immediately following Pam’s fitness class. Then we shot some introductory video of Pam explaining how she got started in the business and why she started FitClub4.com. You can see the results for yourself on her web site.
I chose Vimeo and Vod:Pod for my video hosting for several reasons.
But it doesn’t have that obnoxious YouTube logo in the corner of your video.
It displays the title, the author and the next video when the video is done playing.
I like the clean video control better than the other free services.
Vod:Pod has a real cool widget for Wordpress templates that is handy for displaying testimonial videos in the sidebar.
Pam completed her homework assignments and has e-mailed me a bunch of content that I’ll be editing and posting into the auto-responder system and using to create e-zine articles for distribution. Our next step is to begin shooting Pam’s free content videos that tie into the auto-responder campaign and articles.
I’m also working on creating some fitness themed header banners for her web site using Adobe Photoshop software.
In the meantime, Pam has been a real dynamo in referring new business to me. Thanks to Pam I have also been working on www.GailDaVall.com and a proposal for Geoff Zimmerman, a romance novelist looking to promote his new trilogy. Next week I’ll be meeting with George Schaeffer and his wife to discuss how Joint Venture Lightning can help him launch his natural horsemanship video programs.
We’ll see just how busy this new business gets and I’ll share each case study every step along the way so you can see first hand how my system works and how fast we get real results.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at brian at jointventurelightning.com
Pam has been busy working on her homework assignments and lining up customers willing to appear on video giving testimonials. Our video shoot will be held on Saturday at 11:00 am at Mary Elizabeth Park in Rocky Mount, within walking distance of Pam’s business. The weather forecast is for mostly sunny skies and 85 degrees… perfect for an outdoor video shoot.
In the meantime, I went ahead and registered her domain www.fitclub4.com and put up a basic web site fast using Wordpress templates. I also set-up a free Google Calendar so Pam can post her training and class schedules and where clients can check her availability or book appointments.
Then I added a sample Videos page where we will post video clips from Pam’s Free Fitness Tips. The nice thing about all of these site features is that they are Free and the code is produced for you so you don’t have to do any coding. Simply copy and paste the code into the web page. It’s quick, easy and adds cool interactivity to your basic web site.
I also added a Testimonials page for Pam so we can go ahead and post those videos we’re going to shoot on Saturday.
The next step for me is to get Pam’s auto-responder set up at iContact. I got hooked on this awesome service when I was working for Dirtsurfer.com. This powerful auto-responder / e-mail service was recommended by Buck Rizvi and Brock Feldt of Pipeline Profits fame. These guys are masters of co-registration and use iContact to supercharge their list building.
I also highly recommend iContact for a number of reasons including price, features, power, ease of use and more. The real biggie is that when we decide to go do some co-registration to drive traffic, iContact has real-time delivery that most other top e-mail providers do not allow. I even recommend it over Aweber, one of the biggest auto-responder services out there.
So, do yourself a favor and add iContact to your Million Dollar Rolodex.
O.k., enough of that. I have two more case studies to introduce.
Gail DaVall - professional Life Coach and certified Hypnotherapist
Brian G. Duvall - professional Joint Venture Partner and Business Developer (this is my personal project)
I’ll cover Gail’s project in the next post, so stay tuned.
So, you have a business idea that you think can make some money online?
Here is an actual business that I am working with right now that you can follow along, look over my shoulder and see exactly what I do and what the real results are.
Business Name: Fit Club Type: Fitness Center
Owner: Pam T. is a personal trainer who has been in the fitness industry since 1982. She started Fit Club in 2006 and opened her first fitness center location soon after.
Day 1 (09/25/07): I met with Pam to propose the idea that she develop an e-commerce side to her thriving business. Turns out she had been thinking of doing that for quite awhile but never really got much beyond registering a domain because she’s not a web marketer and doesn’t know how to do that sort of thing. She’s also very busy doing personal training which is what she loves and is an expert at. So, that’s where she focuses her time… rightfully so.
I asked Pam if she would like to significantly increase her income with almost no additional work. Her response? “Well, Duh! Of course I want to do that,” she said.
“Great. Here is how I propose we do that. Are you familiar with e-books, blogging, or info marketing,” I asked. She had heard of it but didn’t really get how it all worked. So, I proposed that we form a Joint Venture where I do all of the set-up, marketing and product creation for her and all she has to do is be the fitness expert. Then we set an appointment to meet the next day to discuss more of the details of her ideas and how we can turn them into info products.
That evening, I researched her ideas to see if there was a market niche with a demand and to gauge the possibilities for business expansion, sales, profitability, competition, etc. Once I felt like this joint venture had a good chance for success I set up a sample website so Pam could see what it might look like.
Then I designed a logo and color scheme based on her existing business brand, searched for some sample fitness related images to illustrate the site design and published it to the web. I sent her an e-mail with the link so she could look it over before our meeting the next day.
Day 2 (09/26/07): We met in one of the very nice meeting rooms of the Franklin County Public Library in Rocky Mount, Virginia. The Library is right behind Pam’s Fit Club location so it’s very convenient for her. Session #2 is where I interview the client to learn more about their business, their vision for the future, what they like best about their business, what they don’t want to do, what role they see themselves moving into as the business grows, etc.
Some of the most important questions I ask are:
Describe your ideal customer
What do you do that makes you different from your competition?
Why is your business more successful than your competition?
What do your customers say about you?
How much time can you put into making your dream a reality?
These questions are very revealing. It’s this interview process that draws out the details, hopes, desires, passion, etc. that will help carry the business forward. This is the same process I use to help non-writers create their content, their sales and marketing info, their website, their squeeze page, their seminars, and more.
As the meeting drew to a close, I reviewed the scope of my services and outlined the nature of our joint venture. Then I gave Pam here first homework assignment:
Contact her clients to arrange a video testimonial shoot and find a good, quiet, well lit location to shoot the videos.
Focus in on the one aspect of her business that she feels will have the broadest appeal and the greatest chance for success.
Get a debit or credit card for her business. (This lets us buy her domain, set-up her web hosting and take her new website live.)
My homework is to write out the list of interview questions so that I can begin creating her e-mail auto-responder campaign and e-zine articles.
Why is this important? Because this is how we are going to build her client / subscriber list by offering valuable FREE content before we even have an e-product created to sell. I’ll get into more of how this works in an upcoming post.
Day 3 (09/27/07): I’m posting this write-up and registering Pam’s web site domain. I’ll set-up her web hosting as soon as she has her business debit card. Also, I’ll be working on the interviews described above, fleshing out the jv agreement between Fit Club and Joint Venture Lightning and spending part of the day with my three new foster boys who just joined my family last night. A busy day indeed.
Matt Lee is the owner of The Record Depot located in Roanoke, Virginia.
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