Today what we’re going to talk about is how to create your first passive income product.
It’s a bit of a loaded question that people ask me, and I have a very comprehensive answer for you.
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Let’s dive in!
Why is the question “How do I create my first passive income product?” such a loaded question?
Well, there are quite a few reasons for it…
I do understand that the idea of “passive income” is a super sexy idea. You create something, you set up automated funnels, and things just work on their own and you don’t have to be involved in the delivery.
It just keeps selling and selling and selling.
BUT to create great passive income products takes a really specific and very good strategy as well as marketing them consistently.
Most people out there these days now acknowledge that there’s no such thing as completely passive income because you need to continuously sell it, refine your marketing strategy, and invest (in some way) in advertising.
There’s a lot more to it than just create something and stick it on the internet and it will magically sell.
What we’re going to do today is talk about what I use passive income products for and how you can get started in creating passive income products.
Just a side note here: When it comes to passive income in my business, there really isn’t a lot of stuff that I do that’s particularly passive.
I do have my books so they’re probably the most passive of my products because they just get posted out and there’s no extra stuff in delivery.
I also have things like the Heart and Soul Planner that I sell every year, but it comes with group coaching sessions so it’s really a leveraged product. It’s not necessarily passive because I do stay around for delivery.
One of the reasons why I do that is because I really want to make sure that I do have conversations with people, how they apply it and make sure that they get great value from it.
That lights me up.
Also, for me, a lot of the stuff that I teach requires that extra handholding. I don’t want people getting stuck somewhere and not being able to move forward.
What I tend to do is charge a little bit more for those things that would normally be considered as passive, but I add a connecting element to it.
That way, I have the opportunity to really stay around in that delivery and help people move forward and make sure that everything makes sense and they’re getting the result.
That’s what I’m really concerned with.
When I do use passive income products, it’s usually as a lead generation tool.
For example, my book sales are not a particularly profitable part of my business in and of themselves.
However, my book comes with book bonuses and we also have a follow-up sequence that helps people to work out how I might be able to support them further.
Similarly, with the 50 Pages of Colour progress art workbook, there’s a follow-up sequence for that as well.
They get a free manifesting training that comes with it.
If people sign up for that manifesting training, there’s a little bit of follow-up to help people work out how I might be able to support them further.
Same with the planner. Same with all of my products under $100.
It’s actually a way for me to either generate leads for other parts of my business, or it’s also a list-nurturing process.
For example, I’ve put out masterclasses and sometimes I’d release a module of the Academy. I’ll do it at a really, really cheap price and it will just be passive.
There’s no connection in the delivery process.
However, for a lot of people, that’s their opportunity to get a taste of what it’s like inside the Academy or achieve a particular outcome.
It’s a way for me to nurture my list at a really low price for them.
A lot of people aren’t yet at the space where they’re able to invest in working with me, so this is a little something that they can do in the meantime, and I make sure that it’s very outcome-oriented.
One last thing before I talk about HOW to create that first passive income product is to give you some numbers.
The other thing that I see people do is that they try and use this more leveraged than passive income products as a way of getting away from making sales conversations.
They think that it would be easier to sell 100 really cheap things than to try and sell a one-on-one VIP session.
But when I look at my income breakdown, most of my income actually comes from my higher-priced products.
I say this all the time: It’s much easier to sell one thing that’s highly connected and VIP at a higher price point than to sell 100 things that are passive products at a cheaper price point.
For most of us, it’s actually easier to sell the VIP stuff.
I had a look at my numbers from last year that I want to dive into.
In 2017, I made just over $400,000 in my business.
Only $17,500 of that came from products/services/offers under $100 (most of that was book sales). It made just over 4% of my income for the year but there were over 400 sales.
I made $200,000 from products and services that were over $1,000 as their price point. That was less than 100 sales.
Over 50% of my income came from less than 10% of my total clients for the year.
You can see that the bulk of my income comes from those higher price point items. Those smaller price point items are paid lead magnets, list nurturing and warming people up rather than the core of my income in my business.
For a lot of people, I see them jump to these low priced passive income products way too quickly.
What you end up doing is sabotaging your short-term business income.
In the start-up phase of a business, if you can focus mostly on your VIP stuff, then you’re going to create that short-term income much faster, you’re going to create faster growth, and it’s actually a lot less work.
Surprisingly (but it’s true), it’s a lot less work.
If you are ready to create a passive income product, here are my five steps to do that…
1. Work out what you’re going to be selling
Work out what offer is going to be really juicy for your tribe.
The best place to do that is to look at what’s already working. Look at your one-on-one clients, your offers that you’ve been selling, webinars that you’ve promoted.
Which ones were really highly sought-after by people? What comes up consistently as an issue or question?
You can look at your blog post for the year. Which ones got the most traction?
You might have clients who consistently ask you this one questions and you find that you’re repeating yourself because you’re teaching them something in that particular space.
That’s a great place to start with a passive income product.
2. Make it the EASY way first
If you decide you want to create a mini-course or a one-hour training, create it the easy way first.
Run it live and charge a no-brainer price point for it.
Get out there and test it.
You can always re-record it when you decide to turn it passive.
Usually, the easiest way to create it is the simplest, most straightforward way – often it could be live delivery for that first time around.
Then you can refine it and turn it into something that’s actually passive and go out there and sell it.
This is particularly relevant if you’re the kind of person who needs the perfect videos, the perfect PDF with the perfect branding with the exact perfect words, and the perfect sales page before you release anything.
You need to let go of that perfectionism when it comes to creating new passive income products.
Create it the easy way first.
Even if it’s just a template that you put together in Canva yourself the first time around (it doesn’t look anything spectacular), you have got to get out there and test it first.
Maybe you want to get professionally recorded videos for this thing – sell enough to pay for the professionally recorded videos first.
Just record it sitting at your desk the way that I’m recording this today.
3. Get out there and launch it
Do a short launch of it. Do a long launch of it.
Test it. Market it.
Throw it into as many Facebook Groups as you can.
Sell it to your list.
Share it on your Facebook Page consistently for a good two to three weeks.
Share it and see what:
- Marketing messages work
- Promotions work.
- Traction it’s getting and how much
- Questions you get from people who have purchased it
4. Refine. Refine. Refine.
Make sure that you give it time.
If you’ve got some automated email sequences, look into the number of what works and what doesn’t.
Which one are people:
- Opening?
- Not opening?
- Clicking on?
- Not clicking on?
Then refine as you go.
It takes time to do this, so give yourself the time and space to do that.
Refine that messaging. Refine the sales page.
5. Systemise that marketing and automate as much as possible
For my books, for example, I actually have posts about my books that are automatically scheduled on my page consistently by my team.
They do that all for me.
I have posts that are going to my group consistently about my books. My team do that for me as well.
Every now and then, in my newsletter, there’ll be a banner promoting my books as well.
Books for courses and launch how to make passive income
I have it on my website, and I have it on the follow-up emails for some of my freebies.
If I go and share the #ladyposse library (for example), in the follow-up email sequence for that free library, there are some offers for people scattered through those emails and my books are one of them.
There are different ways that I’m promoting those passive income products in a very automated and systemised way.
If you create the product and you don’t go to the effort of marketing it and setting it up effectively, you’re putting in a lot of effort in creation for very little return on investment.
As I said, I brought in $17,000 from these low-cost things in my year last year.
That came from a very specific, very targeted, very focused marketing effort.
That $17,000 all went into my marketing budget and helping me to fund other ways to grow my business.
I don’t sneeze at that income at all, but I know how much effort it took me to make that amount of sales.
You really need to make sure you’re giving them marketing time, space and energy if you’re going to go to the effort of creating them.
They are the five steps to passive income.
Hopefully, that has helped you if you’re looking into creating passive income products in your business.
If you’ve had an aha moment as a result of this episode, come on over to the Heart-centred, soul-driven entrepreneurs Facebook Group, use #podcastaha, let us know you’ve been reading episode 151 and share what’s coming up for you.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
