You may have heard this term thrown around recently and asked yourself, what is an infopreneur? It seems these days everyone is modifying the word entrepreneur to suit their particular needs. In this case, an infopreneur is an entrepreneur who earns money by selling information or as I like to think of it, selling zeroes and ones. Today, this generally involves an entrepreneur selling information on the Internet.
That does not mean that this type of transaction did not occur in the past. Infopreneurs did not suddenly appear with the advent of the Internet, they were around long before but with different names. Anyone selling information in one form or another is considered an infopreneur. Examples include authors, singers, actors and motivational speakers. They were all selling information in various forms such as text, audio, and video.
“Applied knowledge = power.
Shared knowledge = profits.” – Regina from byRegina.com
Benefits of selling information
- Weightless – therefore can be “shipped” anywhere in the world instantly
- Access to a worldwide marketplace – shipping can sometimes be a limitation to where physical products can be sold as the shipping cost can be extremely high. With information, that restriction is eliminated and access to the entire world market is opened up
- Mass distribution – distribution costs are effectively zero. Whether you sell 10 copies of an information product (e.g. eBook) or 100,000 copies the cost is essentially the same
- 24/7 availability – with a website and an automated order process, information products can be sold 24/7 without the need for human intervention or 9-5 store hours
- Always in stock – no more back orders. Information products are always in stock since digital duplication is effortless
Advantages of being an infopreneur
Adding value to the world by sharing your knowledge and information
But you say “I’m not an expert on anything”. The good news is that you don’t have to be! As long as there is a knowledge gap between yourself and someone else you can share information. Think of knowledge as a staircase with 10 steps. An expert might be at level 10 and you may be at level 2. There are a large number of people at level 1 who would love to learn how to reach level 2. It’s that simple. A practical example is a child who has just learned how to ride a bicycle and can now teach their younger sibling how to do the same thing.
Opportunity to constantly learn and keep up to date with a topic you enjoy, while benefiting financially
Many people graduate university and enter the workforce without ever pursuing additional studies. This can lead to mental stagnation and obsolete job skills which at best limits career options within the company or at worst leads to termination. For those who pursue continuing education within their career field, promotions and pay raises can be expected. This is a better option than the first, but is there a third option which leverages the increased knowledge for a greater financial return? Yes, for example, an infopreneur can start by selling a basic product, gain additional knowledge and create a second, advanced product which is 2X-3X the price of the basic one. The financial return on increased knowledge can be significantly higher when producing your own information products.
Opportunity to start your own low risk, location independent business
Unlike traditional brick and mortar businesses that can involve high risk and are tied to a particular geographical area, an information selling business is low risk and is not constrained to one location. There is learning involved which requires some time investment but the money invested is low. An infopreneur who decides to create an eBook and sell online has risked very little but could potentially grow it into a sizable income stream.
Help make a direct positive impact in peoples’ lives
By sharing your unique experience and knowledge you can help people reach their goals, learn something of interest, save time, save money, or solve a problem. A fan base or audience will begin to form around you who will view you as their go-to person for information on a particular topic. Sharing your information and seeing the direct positive impact you have in the lives of others is very fulfilling.
Two main types of infopreneur
Infopreneurs falls into two broad categories, those who create their own content (content creators) and those who promote other peoples’ content (affiliate marketers).
Content creator
A content creator creates their own information products or services as a result of their own knowledge or by researching and gathering information. A content creator can be the expert or can gather information from experts. For example, a nutritionist can write an eBook about healthy smoothies for people on the move. You don’t have to be the expert, or have any knowledge in the area, to create an information product. How can that be? That’s what I thought until I heard about this brilliant interview technique in a podcast.
A mother was watching her son play baseball and heard some of the other parents complain about how they wanted their children to perform better in the sport. She asked what specific areas they were referring to e.g. pitching, base running, batting etc and made a note of them. She then reached out to a number of coaches and interviewed them about their best advice and techniques to improve in these areas. The interviews were then complied into specific DVDs which she then sold to the other parents. I love that story. She wasn’t a baseball coach herself, she just saw a problem (information deficiency), sought out the experts who had that knowledge, and created the information products.
Affiliate marketer
An affiliate marketer promotes the information products and services of others. We are all promoting various products or services in the offline world without realizing it. When we go to a nice restaurant and recommend it to our friends; when we rave about the new blockbuster movie; or talk about the latest NY Times best seller, we are marketing. The important difference with affiliate marketing is that you are compensated for that marketing and spreading the word.
For example, if you write a review for a book and recommend it to others they can purchase though an Amazon Affiliate link on your blog. They purchase the book, based on your review and you get compensated in the form of a commission. The same thing applies for other items such as online services you may use and online training courses.
Content creators have a higher income earning potential than affiliate marketers however for someone who is just beginning, it is best to start with being an affiliate marketer and gradually move towards content creation. The way I look at it is this, it is a good idea to learn the ropes and learn how to sell someone else’s products first. Then once you are proficient in the area of marketing, you can create your own products and use those developed marketing skills to sell your products.
The best training I’ve seen so far for someone beginning affiliate marketing is Wealthy Affiliate. It is an internet marketing university and also an online business community. They have a free course full of excellent video lessons which teach the basics of setting up an online business: how to build a site, how to begin generating high-quality content, and how to begin optimizing your website’s content for rankings. You can try Wealthy Affiliate 100% risk-free with their free starter account (yes, it’s really free, no credit card required!)
