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Infopreneurship: How to Scale Quickly with No Extra Cost & No Added Risk

13th Sep 2021
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Tax Cloud is an R&D Tax Credits claim portal.

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What’s the difference between a local accountant and a giant corporation like Apple?

A local accountant can only offer their services to local customers, whereas giant corporations like Apple can offer their products and services to the wider, global market.

For the local accountant to start offering their services on a national, or even global scale, they need a whole heap of time, money and courage to run against the big boys of the accountancy world: They’d need to invest in new offices, employ more staff and take on more risk.

But what if this accountant could find another way to scale? One that requires little initial investment, is risk-free and takes just a fraction of time to set up and run?

This is where infopreneurship comes in…

What does infopreneurship mean & how does it work?

Infopreneurship is, quite simply, an amalgamation of the terms ‘information’ and ‘entrepreneurship.’  It’s where a person or business, with an entrepreneurial focus, collects, organises and sells information to a niche market.

Infopreneurs take information from multiple sources, or use their own life experiences and knowledge, to create valuable content that they can sell to meet their target audience demands and online search intent.

The simplest way to explain what infopreneurship is, is this:

A salesperson sells lemons. An entrepreneur sells lemonade. An infopreneur sells a lemonade recipe.” – Mint

The concept of infopreneurship was invented in the ‘80s by Harold F. Weitzen. He proved that it was possible to set up a business without having to hire staff, invest capital and take on huge financial risks. He paved the way for budding infopreneurs to start selling information through offline materials such as videos, books, audiotapes, CDs and talk shows.

But now, with the arrival of the internet, it’s become even easier and cheaper to source information, produce content and sell it to a global market.

For example, a marketing executive once noticed that eBay’s classified ads were poorly worded. So, they wrote a 5-page report on “How to Write a Perfect eBay Ad” and sold it on eBay for $10 a download. They sold 108 copies and made $1,080 in the first 72 hours.

Anyone with a computer and an internet connection could start a business by issuing valid knowledge and information regarding a particular niche.” – FeedDough

It’s a quick, easy and low-cost revenue stream for experts in specific areas, such as accountancy practices, for example.

But how does infopreneurship actually work?

How does infopreneurship work?

To set up their infopreneurial business or side-revenue stream, infopreneurs only need the following:

  • An in-depth knowledge of, or experience in, a specific area or niche
  • An awareness of what types of content are needed to suit target market needs  
  • An understanding of how people search for information
  • A website and/or social platforms to sell content on

Anyone can become an infopreneur, but the key to success is having a unique experience or unbeatable knowledge of a specific area or topic. This is where infopreneurs can add value to the content they create, which will make their content sell.

For instance, as an accountant, you might have experienced some accountancy practice quirks that perhaps only a handful of others have. This is an area of expertise that you can create authentic content about, that can help other accountants.

But what type of content should you create?

What type of content do infopreneurs produce? 

There are so many different types of content that infopreneurs can create. But the type of content they choose to focus on should largely depend on what their target audience needs: What would this audience consider valuable and worth paying for?
 

It could be books, e-books, newsletters, workshops, online coaching, consultations, presentations, courses, virtual summits, conferences, podcasts, or videos. It might be a variety of different types of content, or they might choose to specialise in one type of content, so they’re then seen as the producer of that type of content. Like podcasters or authors, for instance.

 

Rather than just selling content directly, they might use clever sales strategies. For example, they could pull together a collection of interviews with top experts in their niche area and hide them behind a ‘paid-for’ membership area. Or, they could create a series of training videos that come with a subscription to a group coaching course. 

 

The top 4 benefits of infopreneurship

We’ve already touched on some of the benefits infopreneurship offers infopreneurs but let’s look at them in more detail.

Infopreneurship benefit #1: Anyone with internet access can do it

If you have access to the internet, you can self-publish a book, launch an online course, give virtual presentations and produce a podcast. Thanks to the internet, it’s now possible to create and run an infopreneurial business entirely remotely, without needing a physical location to sell your products or services from. People of all ages, across all industries, and from any background, can generate income using their own knowledge and life experiences from wherever they are in the world.

Infopreneurship benefit #2: It’s a low cost and low-risk venture

Because there are no bricks and mortar to pay for, staff to hire, train and look after or investors to constantly impress, an infopreneurial business costs little to set up and has virtually no risk attached to it. The biggest investment infopreneurs have to make is time.

As an infopreneur, you can be your own boss without having to hire staff, invest in office space or equipment, or worry about other risky financial investments.” – Mint

For example, it’s easier, cheaper and less risky to write and sell books on “how to skydive”, rather than setting up a business that hires instructors that teach people “how to skydive”, right?

Infopreneurship benefit #3: You’re adding value to people’s lives

How good does it feel to genuinely help someone out? Whether it’s giving them a solution to a problem, or showing them an alternative way of doing something that saves them time or money, it always gives you a nice, warm, fuzzy glow, doesn’t it?

So, imagine being able to help someone improve an aspect of their life, whilst also making some extra cash?

The information infopreneurs share through their content can directly impact the thoughts, feelings and actions of those who read their e-books, watch their online tutorials or listen to their podcasts.

Infopreneurship benefit #4: You can scale the business quickly

We’re living in the peak attention economy and information age, so the demand for your knowledge already exists.” – Mint

People crave the latest, most up-to-date information, so infopreneurs have a captive audience in the palm of their hands. All they need to do to grow their business is fully understand their target market. They need to know how to reach them, what type of content they need and how to present and market it.

So, whether you’re a local accountant or a budding entrepreneur, infopreneurship can provide you with a scalable source of income without the costs and risks that come with running a traditional business. You can run it as a side hustle to complement your existing line of work or run it as a full-time business. It’s flexible, easy to do and is guaranteed to give you a high ROI. 

This article was brought to you by Tax Cloud

Tax Cloud is a self-service online R&D tax claim portal. It’s supported by the R&D tax experts at Myriad Associates and is designed to help accountants, like you, submit R&D claims on behalf of their clients and get the maximum amount of tax relief possible.

It’s simple to use, costs less than hiring a specialist R&D tax consultant, takes less time than filing an R&D claim yourself and it keeps your clients happy because they’re receiving the maximum amount of R&D tax relief.

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