Better Blogging Chronicles 6 - Monetization?

After copious and exhausting research, I think I may have finally done it. I think I have finally figured out EXACTLY how I can, perhaps, make some dough.

My long term goal was always to build up my readership, by providing increasingly better content, and then, I presumed, good things would flow from there: advertising, writing gigs, female groupies, etc.

But that's a plateau that requires not only a lot of work to get to, much of which I've already done, it requires a lot of everyday upkeep. Even the most highly paid opinion-heads, fools like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Simon Cowell, work their tails off on a daily basis. (Though maybe not Simon!)

So with even the dreamy end-game being sub-optimal I've never really been too optimistic about my prospects.

Today the thing to do is, somehow, sell a self-authored *informational product*. Why? That's a silly question - because of high margins and wide (web) distribution.

Taking stock of what I have to offer....

I can't teach anyone to trade because there's no proof ($$$$) that I really know how-to myself.

I can't sell an instructional golf video, again, because I'm not good enough myself.  Plus, like trading this is a very crowded AND narrow market.

I could easily write and (try to) sell an eBook on something like *mind liberation*, but again I don't have expert standing - I can't bundle it with a how-to-get-rich-from-not-working guide a la the ultra-successful Tim Ferriss.

Hmmmm....So what could I do? What are my genuine, stand-out-from-the-crowd strengths?

Well, there's no one else out there with my ability to teach math. And my wife has been saying for a while that since we're putting so much time into educating our own kids, that we may as well try to make some money off it.  She's 100% correct.

I've always felt like I could use my math-advanced son to this end.  I mean exactly how many five year-olds are out there solving equations and using the Pythagorean Theorem?  He's what internet marketers would call the *social proof* of my credentials.  All I have to do now is collect all my insights, write up my theories and methodologies, and perhaps takes some videos.  I've got to bring it all together into an infomercial-type spiel.

This is going to take some real work, and some time away from this blog.  I have no clue yet on what kind of product to sell: instructional DVDs, just an eBook,, how long to make it, what price point,  should I create my own worksheets, should I bundle in consulting access to me, or should I grant customers access to a new private forum?

I strongly believe that there is a market for my wares out there.  I mean look how much money parents spend on SAT test prep, tutors, private schools, and college for their poorly educated brats.  Why spend all that money at the end when a little bit of money and time invested upfront could have your kid acing the SAT before they're ten years old?  Yeah, that'll be somehow incorporated in my marketing pitch!

I do want to thank Paul Mitchell (but only if this works out!) because I'd been frozen with *idea overload* until an email he sent me the other day clarified my thoughts on how exactly I should proceed.  This post here  acknowledges that he is henceforth duly entitled to .001 % of this endeavor's profits!

My back-up plan is to pimp myself out as an ultra-high-priced tutor to a billionaire or two here in Nassau County. And so I'm also trying to figure out effective, technologically-advanced ways (e.g. *ringing doorbells*) to break into that closed society.

So while this post isn't precisely about *better blogging*, it's still, clearly, very much related.

See also - Better Blogging Chronicles 5 - Learning From Masters.