Is there decent money in personal development?

12 years ago

Hey Fin,

Sounds like you've found something you're passionate about and have knowledge in - that's half the battle right there!

I'm not in the PD niche myself, but I had an interesting experience this past summer that I'll share with you. I attended JP Maroney's JVExpo in Orlando this past July. Instead of a typical expo where you just listen to presenter after presenter, this event focused on activities that forced you to interact with the other attendees - which obviously made it a deal making opportunity.

I was amazed at the number of people at that event who were in the Personal Development niche. I'll bet 1 out of every 3 people I met was either a speaker, coach, product developer or in some way tied to the PD niche. It got to a point where I started saying to people, "you're the nth person I've met who does personal development, is there really that much business out there?" - Every person I posed that question to said "oh, yeah". And many of these people were doing this as a full time job, not as a hobby.

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sethczerepak 12 years ago

Good stuff Rusty, as someone who makes a full time living in this niche, I agree. Although, three articles a week isn't really going to make a big wave. I started out writing 6 a day, turning one into a powerpoint and posting them only on my own sites.

The most important thing you can do is promise and end result benefit though, something clear. Stuff like "take your life to the next level," barely gets a yawn. The customer has to think they'll get either one (or all of three things):

1) More money
2) More sex
2) A hotter body
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luckystepho

12 years ago

Hi Fin, yep it's a huge niche and if done right could easily generate $2000 plus each month. It's also very competitive though so I would suggest finding a few narrow niches within the personal development niche, such as goal setting, self esteem etc and creating blogs and products around these. You may find it easier to rank for these.

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Ken Somerville

12 years ago

The money is there and it sounds like you are headed in the right direction with your marketing. If you are consitsant with what you do you will have success.

There are a lot more things that you can do to promote your site. PM me for more info.

Ken

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johnchristopher

12 years ago

It has got the worth bro. Nothing wrong in trying. When you have the thought, put it to work, you never know. It's a nice way to earn money in short period of time. First assess your skills and then put it to work over the internet. Make sure you do a thorough research and find out the areas in personal development you are familiar and comfortable with.

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Bill Cousins

12 years ago

I study the stuff everyday, but I would not do WSO's on the subject as the people buying in the WSO section are not looking for that type of product. Outside of the forum yes but inside no.

BC

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TBInternetMarketing

12 years ago

I'd say there definitely is. There is money in almost every niche, you just have to find the right angle.

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Courage

12 years ago

Self help / personal development is a billion dollar industry so of course you can make money.

If you're looking for inspiration check out stevepavlina.com he is probably the most famous personal development blogger, and was rumoured to make 6 figures a year with adsense (before he took his adsense down).

The guy still makes a ton of money from affiliate products he promotes and has even progressed to writing a hard copy book and giving workshops.

So yes there's money.

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clever7

12 years ago

This is a huge field. I’m in this field because I have a specific knowledge. There is a fierce competition online; it’s hard to beat this competition.

I don’t think that you’ll be able to make money from your blog or sell your products so soon. Of course you can, but it takes time and a lot of work.

Everything depends on getting to the front page and attracting a lot of targeted traffic that will easily be converted thanks to great sales letters and good products that can be trusted.

However, you have too many strong competitors in this area, independently of your specific niche.

So, work on it, but don’t put all your eggs in this basket.

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travlinguy

12 years ago

There's a discussion like this going in the Mind Warrior's section though it's specific to selling self help products as WSOs. As someone has already posted, they don't tend to do well. Though there is a way to get such a dog to hunt. Simply relate the product to IM or MMO and you could have a winner. And it's probably not even a good idea to mention it's a personal development or self help program.

Just pound away at what it will do for your online business. For example, do you think a hypnosis product that deals with overcoming procrastination would fly here? Procrastination is probably the #1 enemy of many beginners. I'd bet such a product, properly promoted would kick butt.

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7figs

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Iriss

StevePavlina.com is the personal development blog that shows up for "personal development" in Google search in top 10, if not #1.

He makes about $300,000 - $500,000 per year

Originally Posted by travlinguy

There's a discussion like this going in the Mind Warrior's section though it's specific to selling self help products as WSOs. As someone has already posted, they don't tend to do well. Though there is a way to get such a dog to hunt. Simply relate the product to IM or MMO and you could have a winner. And it's probably not even a good idea to mention it's a personal development or self help program.

Just pound away at what it will do for your online business. For example, do you think a hypnosis product that deals with overcoming procrastination would fly here? Procrastination is probably the #1 enemy of many beginners. I'd bet such a product, properly promoted would kick butt.

Aloha Travlinguy, I like your reply here a lot because you point to a common strategy that many of the WSO Product Creators use. That is, "getting dogs to hunt" by re-spinning/combining two or more ideas into a "new, improved" offer.

Given the choice, most people will choose what they perceive to be the faster, easier way be more successful. And that's why there's a Kazillion +1 "bright, shiny object" offers here continually re-spun and sold.

But as you suggested, "procrastination" is a deep issue down in the root bottom of struggle and failure. I agree that hitting that nerve with a properly structured solution, would seriously kick butt and improve many people's lives.

Cheers

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James-Robson

12 years ago

Tony Robbins has done quite well for himself!

Seriously though, as with any niche with great potential comes great competition (if you can find one without competition, let me know haha), but if you've got the dedication and passion to make it work and you have your own angle on it or USP, then there's no reason why you can't do well.

However, if you're just doing it because it's a big and popular niche and you're not really that interested in it personally, you will struggle to keep that passion and dedication up - I've fallen into that trap before!

Good Luck

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Will Edwards

12 years ago

I make a full time income from personal development, so yes, I can tell you that it's certainly possible. But there is money in any and every niche. I know people here won't necessarily agree, but IMHO, there are no particularly good or bad niches. It's not about the niche; it's about you and how you approach the people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Will

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myob

12 years ago

Personal development is also one of my marketing arenas. As with most such highly competitive markets, I have found the fastest way to break into it is through article syndication. There are at least several thousand relevant ezine publishers to choose from that may be open to receiving quality articles. And for any given related niche or sub-topic, there are perhaps millions of websites and offline publications suitable as potential candidates for your articles. For monetization, my favorite is Amazon, which currently shows tens of thousands of books on this subject. Go for it.

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fin

12 years ago

Originally Posted by myob

Personal development is also one of my marketing arenas. As with most such highly competitive markets, I have found the fastest way to break into it is through article syndication. There are at least several thousand relevant ezine publishers to choose from that may be open to receiving quality articles. And for any given related niche or sub-topic, there are perhaps millions of websites and offline publications suitable as potential candidates for your articles. For monetization, my favorite is Amazon, which currently shows tens of thousands of books on this subject. Go for it.

Good shout on Amazon.

I read quite a lot of books and I'd love to add some reviews in amongst the articles. Amazon will definitely be my number 1 choice.

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igrowyourbiz

12 years ago

It is likely the LARGEST NICHE available...superceding even the BO/MMO genres

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7figs 12 years ago

Originally Posted by igrowyourbiz

It is likely the LARGEST NICHE available...superceding even the BO/MMO genres

Yes, absolutely!

Here's an interesting twist:

In a recent article by Inc. Magazine, they say that the Candy/Confectionery Treats is one of the best industries for starting a business right now. And in particular Chocolate.

Why? The reason is....

Chocolate is a "comfort food". In summary, the article gives examples of classic brands (Tootsie, Snickers, 3 Musketeers) that all started during the dark economic days of the Great Depression, and cites a major chocolate company with a 30% increase in sales during 2011.

According to Inc., historically it's one of the most recession proof businesses to be in.

note: At the grass roots level, if my personal increase of having mocha-chocolate in my coffee over the past year is any indication, I'd have to agree!

So what does all that have to do with Self-help?

Well.....

A) For $1.00 I can swing by the local convenience store and pick up a pack of my favorite "feel good" candy fix. That helps.

Or.....

B) Be a little savvy and get a friend to go 50/50 and share!

Then.....(and this is *the* ultimate Self-Help)

C) Take the remaining $0.50, and invest in a super-sweet WSO during dime sale launch.

Now the BIG Question is.......

Which Warrior is going to create the first-ever-to-market Viral, Chocolate flavored, Self-Help Virtual-Squirt, Mobile App Plugin?
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celente

12 years ago

one of our biggest niches is in the health, wealth prosperity niches.

I think as the economic collapse comes, and peoples mentality changes this industry will only grow. Just a guess there.

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lukedidit

12 years ago

Originally Posted by celente

one of our biggest niches is in the health, wealth prosperity niches.

I think as the economic collapse comes, and peoples mentality changes this industry will only grow. Just a guess there.

With all respect, if we have an economic collapse the last thing people will be spending mega hyper inflated cash on is ebooks - that is unless paypal can start accepting wheelbarrows of cash.

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celente

12 years ago

Originally Posted by lukedidit

With all respect, if we have an economic collapse the last thing people will be spending mega hyper inflated cash on is ebooks - that is unless paypal can start accepting wheelbarrows of cash.

many changes are coming. But we have done extensive research, and society and the way people are thinking is changing. If we are talking about the collapsing economy, then just look at OCCUPY WALL st.

People are waking up. Do not worry about currency issues, that is not a problem, because people will always have money. It is supply and demand that is what you want to worry about. But like I said we have done lots of reserach on this, and changing and a shift in mentality (which is already happening) is only helping. We have a good website in this niche, and its growing rapidly.

I would expect this to grow. But as a generalization, if you stick to the ever greens such as health, wealth and relationships, you will do well. Its all about the niche you are in. That is the most important thing and will be one of the single most important elements to how successful you are. With research you will know.

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Troy_Phillips

12 years ago

Aren't most of us into PD in a way? If I teach you to make a million a year from the comfort of your shopping cart, am I not a personal development coach?

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bodegazine

12 years ago

I believe this niche is highly profitable as well.
You just have to find good products to sell..create a site or blog
where you can turn your passion on this subject and get a target traffic from it.

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yaheem

12 years ago

Yes there is, and tons of it. But I don't know about article marketing in this niche in particular. I do PPC.

This time of the year is the season, so if I were you I wouldn't waste anytime writing articles or waiting for them to be published or picked. Just go straight for PPC.

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bodegazine

12 years ago

I believe this niche is highly profitable as well.
You just have to find good products to sell..create a site or blog
where you can turn your passion on this subject and get a target traffic from it.

Thanks

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Mitchell1122

Banned 12 years ago

[DELETED]

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Iriss 12 years ago

StevePavlina.com is the personal development blog that shows up for "personal development" in Google search in top 10, if not #1.

He makes about $300,000 - $500,000 per year
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