Monetizing content -- should I get a partner?

14 replies
I'm going insane lately from all the business stuff that needs to be done to make any money online.

My strength, and the only thing I want to do, is to write. Specifically about health.

I just finished a product for the acne market, but I really don't see myself making any money from it the way things are. It's a top-notch product, converted to PDF, which should have big potential, but it's just gathering dust on my hard drive.

I cannot bring myself to do all the business things. There are a million technical things to do, and even if you hire someone for them it just becomes another job to manage it all. I really only want to write, and not for someone else either -- I want to create my own articles and products.

The only thing I can think of is getting a business partner, who can help me monetize the content. Someone who could do the marketing and business building, copywriting, handling affiliates, split testing, tech stuff etc. Or hiring people to do those tasks as needed, of course.

Anyone else been in a similar (or reverse) situation, where you only wanted to focus on content creation (or marketing)? How did you resolve it?

Is there another way I can monetize my writing? I'm not going the freelance route, I want to write for "my own brand".
#content #monetizing #partner
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by marmalade View Post

    My strength, and the only thing I want to do, is to write.
    Yes, indeed. Well, it's possible to do just that. But if one adopts that route, one has to deal with the reality that other parts of the equation that add up to "success" can be the better paid parts. Not always, but "can be".

    Originally Posted by marmalade View Post

    There are a million technical things to do, and even if you hire someone for them it just becomes another job to manage it all.
    Agreed. It's often difficult (though many people don't realize it!) to outsource things you don't know how to do yourself and have experience of successfully doing yourself.

    Originally Posted by marmalade View Post

    Anyone else been in a similar (or reverse) situation, where you only wanted to focus on content creation (or marketing)?
    Yes - similar: I wanted to focus on the writing. That was the only skill I had, when I started.

    Originally Posted by marmalade View Post

    How did you resolve it?
    By changing my mind, and developing marketing and business management skills and judgement, as well. I won't say that it's the only way, in the long run, but for me it was the most reliable and reasonable way. By far. I don't think hiring a VA is an answer to any of the sorts of issues you describe (though it can be for other things, clearly - and I'm trying to hire a full-time VA now, in fact, but that's having acquired, developed, practised and honed all the relevant skills myself, first).

    Originally Posted by marmalade View Post

    should I get a partner?
    I never seriously considered this - and wouldn't again, now. That doesn't make that right for you, though: I just don't work well with others.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I'm trying to hire a full-time VA now, in fact, but that's having acquired, developed, practised and honed all the relevant skills myself, first).
      This made me curious: what would a VA do in this case, as I suppose an article marketer would never, ever outsource the "syndication" part. (I find it hard to tell my friends about my websites, let along hire someone to send emails on my behalf to publishers.) And to me, at least for now, technical stuff seems very easy to handle.

      Sorry OP for derailing the thread.

      Edit:

      OP, what else do you find hard to do (and so appalling that you even hate)? can you give us some examples, perhaps we can help. My own perspective is that you sell yourself short. You can learn all the other things related to running a business, and even if there's a learning curve, it pays off in the end, because even when you want to outsource, you'll find it easier.

      Congrats Alexa on hitting the 20k post mark. How come you didn't do any of those "wisdom" type of threads to celebrate it? I've seen they are very popular on this forum.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

        This made me curious: what would a VA do in this case, as I suppose an article marketer would never, ever outsource the "syndication" part.
        Yes; I must say I would never outsource the syndication part, myself. There are people who outsource the writing, though - I used to do some myself, as an outsourcee, about 4 years ago. And I suppose people outsource niche research, keyword research (I don't do very much of that one, myself - not enough to outsource!), website design, techie stuff like setting everything up, and so on? :confused:

        Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

        Congrats Alexa on hitting the 20k post mark. How come you didn't do any of those "wisdom" type of threads to celebrate it? I've seen they are very popular on this forum.
        I didn't notice my post-count, but am probably not really well enough at the moment to feel any great originality striking me, and am content simply to heckle, be facetious and worsen people's indigestion
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        • Profile picture of the author fin
          I'll tell you how I'm setting up my business as someone who likes to write.

          Add content to blog (write)
          Add content to autoresponder series (write)
          Content bloggers and offer guest posts (write + write)
          Add a sales page (write and you just have to do it the once)
          Speak in specialist forums (write)
          Post to social media (write)

          You can set up the whole thing doing nothing by writing if you really want to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Greedy
    Should I get a partner?
    If you have to ask, you probably don't need one.

    Keep grinding and expand your skill-set.

    Anything anyone else knows, you can learn.

    And if it is fundamental part of your business, it is worth learning.
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  • Profile picture of the author joaquin112
    I agree with the others. You should learn how to do it before you even consider a partner to hiring someone to do it for you.

    It's very easy for someone with technical skills to rip you off. There are a million ways to do it. Just learn to do it yourself and decide whether you want a partner or not later. There are many good books out there to help you with this.
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    • Profile picture of the author madcaptravels
      you sound a bit like me! former journo/writer here (still a writer really)....I would say that its not that hard to do all the marketing stuff....especially to market an ebook...focus on affiliates and supporting them...they do the work for you!
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      • Profile picture of the author marmalade
        Thanks for the replies.

        I almost feel like putting all the content of my ebook online for free on a blog and ask for donations. That will work... NOT. At least it's simple.

        But it's not that the business side is so difficult necessarily. It's just tedious to me, and it takes away from my strength and enjoyment. I did not start a business to do things I hate all day long.
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      • Profile picture of the author RanD
        If you get a partner, you will be splitting the profits with them. Is that what you really want? You might be better off outsourcing the initial setup, and then outsourcing further work on a one-off basis. I know there are concerns about managing the outsourcing, but you would have to be on top of what your partner is doing, just as much, or how would you know what you need done is getting done, and done correctly?

        Ideally, you need to learn various aspects of the business, if for no other reason than you need to be able to determine that people are doing exactly what you need/want them to do.

        From the sounds of it, you don't need a full time partner. Outsource what you need to get started. Try to learn as much or the rest as you can. You might find it far less overwhelming once you have a solid structure under you. Then outsource any remaining on an individual basis, when needed.
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        • Profile picture of the author RanD
          I just thought of some other things.

          If you only like writing, and you are planning on writing ebooks, you don't really need more than a sales page. You can put the book on CJ or Clickbank, and let them deal with the affiliates.

          You can also go the Amazon route and get your books published for kindle and let Amazon sell them for you. And you can do the Amazon print-on-demand thing, using their Createspace self publishing tool, for people that want hard copy versions.

          I don't know a lot about those options myself, but many people are making a good living doing that, and there are books/courses to teach you how to get the best results.

          **Neither of the links are affiliate**
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  • Profile picture of the author NewRiseDigital
    I did not start a business to do things I hate all day long.
    Don't take this personally, but this is a great example to use generally for the creative industries of the mindset shift that's needed to move from creative artist to creative entrepreneur (there is a difference, the first doesn't constitute a business, the second one does. That's one of the biggest reasons that a lot of creative people drop out of entrepreneurship and go back to working for an employer. When you're working the 9-5 then someone else is taking care of the sales, marketing, payroll, finances, which is why you earn a paltry salary in the 9-5. When you're running a business, and especially in the early stages then you're the captain of the ship, you're the leader, you're the one doing the most work, but you're also the one who gets paid the biggest piece of the pie.

    Paring it down to the bone, business is about input and output, and the net financial gain. Sure that's very simplistic, but it's unrealistic to think that you create something and the rest takes care of itself. That's actually the reason I left the music industry because 98% of musicians think their music will just sell itself (there's a reason that they're called starving musicians, and most, although not all, do actually want to starve, it's part of the art). The savvy ones (2%) take the bull by the horns and work at earning from their creative work. Nearly everyone in the music industry wanted a record producer to 'discover' them and take away all the pain, but get all the gain. Business and the aquisition of any wealth isn't like that, being an entrepreneur involves taking away someone elses pain, in exchange for getting paid, working hard, and taking risks.

    As for getting a partner, unless its someone you know and trust and have done so for a long time, and someone who complements what you do, it's unlikely to bear fruit. You almost have to know as much about the work your partner does (tip: never just leave the finances in someone elses hands unchecked, don't be an ostrich).

    If you are in any business, creative or otherwise you have to sell, unless of course you can afford to put food on the table without selling, in which case it's not a business and you must be already financially free.

    The way to distinguish an artist from a business is whether you know how to fill in your tax return every year, and whether you keep a profit and loss account. If you do it's a business, if you don't it's a hobby. It's very important to know the difference, since it will impact on your goals and your expected outcome.

    If you haven't read Robert Kayosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad and Cashflow Quadrant, then these would be recommended reading.

    I wish you every success, and know how hard it is to move your mindset from creative to business, and balance the left brain right brain thinking, I've made the journey and it was worth it, but it's not for every one with a creative streak. At the end of the day it all comes to personal choice.
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    • Profile picture of the author marmalade
      Thanks again for all the replies.

      I was admittedly more than a little frustrated when I wrote the original post yesterday.

      I had been spending a full work day just trying to format my ebook for Amazon Kindle, failing miserably in the end due to some tables not displaying correctly. An entire day wasted. I think we can all agree that an entrepreneur should not be spending time on tasks like this.

      InternetBusinessKickStart's criticism notwithstanding, it's not exactly a business-building skill to format my own GD ebooks for Kindle, and do many such mundane tasks. Someone else should do it for me, so I can focus on my strengths. Also, I didn't really mean that I want to do 100% writing; I just meant that I want to focus the majority of my time on that because it's my strength. I realize there will be other tasks to do as well to be successful.

      Regarding a partner, I think I've reconsidered for the moment and, while I do think I need some kind of help such as a VA, I don't think a partner is appropriate right now. Second, I do know most of the things that need to get done to make it selling info products. I've made a living as a Clickbank affiliate. But I want to delegate more; tell others to fix a lot of the technical setup etc. It should be quite doable.

      Hiring/outsourcing is something I'm quite apprehensive about, though. For example, right now I'd really need someone to format my ebook for me for Kindle, but I'm afraid of sending off the manuscript in case it gets stolen. (Anyone know a GOOD, RELIABLE Kindle formatting service, btw?)

      At the same time, I see the irony of what I'm saying: If I'm scared of outsourcing a little task, how is it going to work out with a partner who has a much larger responsibility?

      Thanks for the feedback so far, and do let me know about any good Kindle formatting service.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheInfoMarket
        Originally Posted by marmalade View Post


        Hiring/outsourcing is something I'm quite apprehensive about, though. For example, right now I'd really need someone to format my ebook for me for Kindle, but I'm afraid of sending off the manuscript in case it gets stolen. (Anyone know a GOOD, RELIABLE Kindle formatting service, btw?)
        If you read through the Kindle guidelines you could probably easily format the ebook yourself. But if you want to make the process easier and sell your ebook on all the major eBook stores, you could consider Smashwords. The major downside is making less money since you pay fees to Smashwords. But to avoid messing around with all the different stores and just spending your time on writing, it is an ok option.

        You can have them format your ebook for around $40, if you don't want to do it yourself. You wouldn't need to worry about them stealing your ebook.
        Here's the link on how their publishing system works:

        Smashwords — How to Publish on Smashwords

        I personally haven't used the service, but it seems fairly popular. Maybe any Warriors who have used Smashwords could let us know their experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author Abrar Tariq
    YOu should have some basics know how, like jack of all trades stuff, so that you can make a good decision when partnering with someone, or hiring someone, because when you won't know anything, one can simply take benefit of that, and fool you and take money out of you.
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