$9000 A Month From A Board Game?
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As someone who writes about the Internet marketing industry, who presents articles to help people make money online here at this blog and runs a membership site to teach people to blog for profit, it’s pretty clear I make a living by helping others make a living online too.
That, for obvious reasons, tends to bother some people and I’m questioned whether you can indeed make money from the Internet if you don’t sell people products on how to make money. It does seem rather incestuous in some way doesn’t it.
Well some of you will be surprised to know that yes, you can in fact build an Internet business that is not focused on Internet marketing or anything related to making money and be very successful and in fact I expect significantly more people make a living online selling stuff in niches that have nothing to do with money, marketing, or business…
And here’s some interesting proof of just that -
A Board Game About Herbs?
If you ever had doubts about the potential to succeed online by finding a niche and creating a business around it, then Jeff Walker has a video you have to watch.
Jeff is the guy behind Product Launch Formula, a course I purchased over a year ago that is no longer available. Jeff’s tactics are great and in my opinion, mandatory study for any person who intends to sell something online.
Jeff’s about to release a new version of his program, titled Product Launch Formula 2.0, and in anticipation of the release, he’s put out this awesome video from one his clients who used the launch formula in a very obscure niche – herbs – and one of the products he sells is a board game.
I don’t know about you, but a board game based on herbs is not something I would ever expect could be the basis of a six figure business.
Watch The Video
Jeff explains how our herb entrepreneur pulled off this amazing feat and breaks down the exact process he went through to launch his board game in a free video you can watch here -
Note – you only get the first half of the video if you don’t opt-in. I suggest you opt-in first, then watch the full version of the video that you can access after signing up (it’s free). If you don’t you will have to wait for it to load twice and skip the first half after you opt-in, which is a pain – it’s a big video!
Lessons From The Video
There’s some great content in the video and I recommend you take 45 minutes from you day today to watch it from start to finish.
Here’s just some of the notes I took while watching it -
- Conducting teleseminars with experts as part of your launch process is a VERY powerful technique, especially in non-Internet marketing niches. Experts you interview will help build your list because they want to promote their interview and thus will send traffic to it, this in turn helps you sell more product.
- Using a limited bonus package for the first X buyers creates scarcity, which ramps up sales big time.
- Having a list of buyers is 10 or 20 times more valuable than having a list of prospects. This is the core reason people can run very successful businesses with tiny email lists – because they have a list with people who actually are interested enough in what you offer to spend money, they are not just freebie seekers.
- Create a sense of community before the release of your product. One of the suggested methods for doing this is through blog comments and there’s some awesome examples of how John (the herb guy) did this in his launch in the video.
The core strategy presented in the video is what Jeff calls the Horizontal Helix, which sounds scientific to me, but it’s not. Put simply, it’s about using each launch as a springboard for bigger launches in the future. What’s cool about this case study, is that John was able to automate this process using email autoresponders so you don’t have to do a massive launch (and invest all that time and energy) each time.
I’ve only touched on a few of the ideas from the video, so as you can tell this is one value packed resource. It’s worth watching regardless of whether you intend to join Jeff’s program or not. Here’s that link again -
The Horizontal Helix case study video
Remember – opt-in first to get the full version so you don’t have wait for it to load twice. You can unsubscribe after opting in if the emails bug you, but I expect they won’t. Jeff’s one of the few Internet marketers I remain subscribed to because he doesn’t abuse his list. Plus I like the guy, he’s pretty down to earth, yet smart.
Remember what I said in my recent article – Why Do So Few Bloggers Sell Their Own Products? – treat this video as inspiration to make the change and begin the process of selling your product online.
Yaro Starak
Horizontal Helixing
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[...] $9,000 a month from a board game [...]
Product launches can be hard, especially the first one. So much uncertainty. I have just launched a product of my own, we used the high value give away as the springboard to start a list. It is a pretty small niche which is hard to communicate with, but so far so good. My intention is to leverage this list for future launches, and to push my other sites in this niche.
I watched the Jeff Walker video yesterday and all along i couldn’t believe somebody was doing so well with such a niche… but when you think about it… it’s a lot easier to reach credible “expert status” in a niche like herbs than in a saturated market like making money on the Internet where everybody and their dog call themselves experts.
Hello Yaro,
You did release this post at a very good time for my little blogging journey. Thank you. I look forward to checking out the video.
I do realize that a product of my own will be the best approach for a fitness niche. I’m working with some ideas and your course has given me the ability to more confidently explore the blogosphere.
I opted into this on March 1st and like you said, Jeff does not abuse his list. I’ve received only 3 emails since then and they have been been useful and easy to read. And how he started out is even more amazing. It says that ANY of us can be successful, not matter what business we’re in, if we are persistent and focused.
I wrote a post on Friday which talks about ways to find product ideas in the real world that are nothing to do with marketing, making money or even computers in any way. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are making money in niches like that but I suspect that few of those people actually teach others about it – they don’t have blogs.
The people who tend to teach the “make money online” stuff, like you and me and so many others tend to also release their own products about making money online. So what happens is that a newbie comes along wanting to learn and he find one of these blogs and they seem to be making money with products about making money! So of course it then makes it look as though that is the only way to make money!
It presents a skewed view of the industry I think. One thing I do on my blog that I haven’t seen many other people do, is actually document my ‘projects’ that I am working on to make money. So far though, the only ones that have made money have been about making money! Oh the irony…
Hi Yaro – thanks for the heads up on this video. I watched it this afternoon and scribbled lots of notes. It’s really inspiring to see someone being successful in a niche other than the ‘make money’ one. Whilst the ‘make money’ niche is of course useful to those of us who do actuallly want to make a living with our blogs/creativity we don’t all want to write about making money. Seeing this guy be so successful in a very small niche gives the rest of us a much needed boost.
There is a book called The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing by George Silverman.
He talks about using it off line. And it is written in that hypey American tone – I felt I was being shouted at the whole time.
He lays out a campaign strategy and launch formula including getting experts on side.
It’s pretty much the same approach as the herb man’s I think. Well worth a read.
P.S. I think it’s available on Amazon.
This has got me fired up. I have recently launched a media company with a business partner. We have some products coming out in the next few weeks, and I’m fired up to learn more about this method. I’m confident we will definitely be applying some of the tips outlined in the video.
Here’s my summary
1st seven minutes: Use my system. I’m not about hype (but it’s the closest thing to free money that you’ll ever see: I kid you not). It takes work.
Minutes seven to ten. Introducing the niche and the products.
[He spent $20K on getting the product manufactured.]
Minutes ten to twelve. John used the product launch formula successfully.
What he did.
Minutes 12 to 17.
1. Turned the launch into an event using experts in tele-seminars. In most niches experts are happy to talk to get exposure. Get them to promote the free tele-seminar. To attend the free tele-seminar people had to opt in to a list. (Tele-seminars are rare and so attention grabbing in most niches.) He promoted his product in the final tele-seminar.
The offer included a bonus package (not often used in niches), a limited time offer to build scarcity for an abundant product.
Minutes 18-20
He does a product launch every month. Uses AWeber and mostly the launches are automated.
Minute 21
Talking about his life.
Minutes 22 -
He built list of prospects and customers, incoming links, links with experts, his own expert status.
Each monthly lists builds these. Each monthly launch has built in scarcity. Raises his price over time.
A list of buyers is 10-20 times more valuable than a list of prospects.
Shall summarise the rest when the confirmation email arrives.
My advice: skip the first twelve minutes. This person already had an active website and put in time to develop the product, had expert niche contacts and put in money to manufacture the product. So for those of us just starting out we may need to adapt the approach. It does seem solid and sensible to me.
Here’s my summary of the second half.
Once you sign up you get the whole video. The second part starts at 23 minutes.
Minutes 23-
Creating community through product launch. Give away your most valuable asset.
Launched a new product. Did a soft launch to his best prospects for a membership site. Put up all his content – esp. using video. Provides communication among members too.
Minutes 27 -
More about using the launch formula.
Identify your prospects objections before the launch. Give them a feeling of what it would be like to be part of the community. Did videos that were on topic and fun. Led to comments which gave a feeling of what the community would be like before the membership site was launched. Pointed to the benefits of the site in his newsletter.
Provided lots of content – that also addressed objections.
Minute 31-
Creating scarcity at a membership site launch.
Discounted price for first X number of members, can only join in one week this month. Otherwise you have to wait to next month.
Had a list of 700 who had bought his products previously. 360 eventually signed up to the membership site. Few drop offs after the first three months.
Minutes 36-
He has plans another bigger launch using the best of the content he will have accumulated on his site – DVD set.
Launches are about building relationships. For the early launch he didn’t use a sales letter [internet marketers take note]. In the world where anyone can comment hype will destroy your reputation.
The workshop for this approach to launches costs $5K.
Minute 42 -
The fun of doing product launches.
Minute 44 – 47
Key Points
Promo – this is part of his launch formula.
Hope this saves you time. If you think it worthwhile you can sign up.
It’s certainly better than the average hype about believing you can do it and motivation blah blah blah. There is actually useful advice here.
P.S. It’s not a helix it’s a step graph.
I like the idea of playing with some product sales for your niche just another way to bring income in thanks yaro
$9,000 a month seems almost unbelievable, I wish I had that kind of marketing talent. My own personal business, although doing well, could do so much better.
Nice recommend, Yaro, and interesting comments. I’ve been making money online for more thna three years (in a small way). Virtually _none_ of it has been in the ‘make money online’ niche. In fact the only reason I have a blog in that niche is to help me stay in touch with movers and shakers and learn the techniques that work to sell _outside_ that niche.
A board game about herbs may sound fantastic, but there are a million ideas like that that can be put to use, once you lose that Make Money Online Mindset and think about selling things the rest of the world wants.
Evan – Great Summary. Thanks for taking the time to evaluate the video, then present it here. Now I can print this puppy out and carefully absorb it all and mull it over for a few days.
You saved me a lot of time. Thanks again!
Have a wonderful day!
Thanks to you Yaro for bringing this to our attention. I’ve learned a great deal, and it has strengthened other things I have learned from other experts.
-Mark
The “making money online” niche is extremely saturated. You have to have a weird niche like that to make it anymore.
I agree, Evan’s summary is very helpful. I’ll still watch it all, but it’s nice to know up front that I’ll probably enjoy all of it. I work in marketing for a company that produces and markets a variety of products, so it will be nice to see someone else’s thoughts on the stuff I work at every day.
wooh… thats too much.
I dont think anybody can make that much from a board game alone.
$9,000 is obviously just a big number they threw out to attract attention. Would you buy it it’s it said $500 or $9,000?
I think $9,000…
-Adam
It must have been an awfully good board game about herbs to round up $9,000.
Either that or someone really enjoys both herbs and board games.
$9,000 from a herb niche sounds incredible. That alone is a lesson for me. I guess I have to take a second look at some ideas I had abandoned because I thought nothing good can come from them.
That just shows again that nearly in every niche you can generate a nice income. I think it’s important to build a good network which is gonna help you with the launch and building a list.
Daniel
Niche marketing is getting harder and harder on todays internet. All the best niche products are snapped up and I feel the only things left are wierd things that no-one is into at the moment! or maybe I have drunk too much!!!
I think NICHE is the KEY word for future success on the web as proven by this board game.
I’d like to think there was more appotunities in other online saturated products/services however, you will require lots of funds and muscle to compete.
I am currently working on a unique online marketing system which has a proven method in vertical markets with obvious potential and this concept has brought some fresh ideas.
Great Work.
That is incredibly awesome. I remember reading about that a while back. It simply proves that out of the billion or so people that one can reach, there’s no telling how much you can make selling, well, anything. It just takes good –great– marketing.
This guy is amazing, Jeff Walker. I got to know him from Rich Refren’s blog. He seems to be able to turn a stone into a nugget.
Great article Yaro
I think that your points about establishing pre-eminence are very important for anyone just starting out.
Keep it up!
Incredible how quickly this person became successful. He seems to be able to do the impossible. Impressed at how he made sure he had complete control of a niche so to be seen as an ‘expert’
John
PLF is a great product. It is information that everyone online marketing needs to take a peek at for sure. Even the tips you gave in this post are super valuable to some readers. They have probably never heard of some of the topics you mentioned. Anyway, great post.
This has got me fired up. I have recently launched a media company with a business partner. We have some products coming out in the next few weeks, and I’m fired up to learn more about this method. I’m confident we will definitely be applying some of the tips outlined in the video.
$9,000 a month seems almost unbelievable, I wish I had that kind of marketing talent. My own personal business, although doing well, could do so much better.
Great comment about how having a list of buyers is 10X more powerful than having a list of prospects. I couldn’t agree more with that, especially nowadays. Thanks for the great post!
Product launches are frightening for most people. Moving idea to reality to market takes a lot of skill and knowledge. That statement doesn’t mean most people can’t do it but it does recognize the difficulties associated with branding, packaging, marketing and finding the initial investment funds to do the branding, packaging and marketing. Then there’s distribution…
Will check out first half of video. thanks
Great Marketing strategy! This is one of those brilliant techniques that will be copied over and over until it’s ineffective.
Hi Yaro – thanks for the heads up on this video.
Wow, that’s incredible. There are so many talented people out there with brilliant ideas!