Part-time Job with HUGE Potential

Do you know what's the biggest advantage of marketing online?

Scaleability.

If you can sell something once, you can usually sell a hundred of the same thing, just by scaling-up your efforts.

Some offline products are scaleable, too. So you can start small or part-time and, once you've cracked the formula once, you just do it 'bigger' next time.

Seminars are a good example. Test the water with a small event first time out, then you'll be confident about stepping up to the next level.

Niche Seminar Secrets is 'scaleable', too. It starts at just One Dollar!

Take the one-dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets now.

For that, you get all the information, in a downloadable PDF, for a full thirty days. Only then do you pay the full price, and even that's discounted.

Then I'll send you the manual in all its full-colour printed glory.

So, you can dabble for a dollar, test the water for next to nada, and still dive in at a discount. I'd say it's worth a dollar just to find out if it's your thing!

Take the one-dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets now.

To success!

Roy

PS. No, there's no catch. One dollar gets you IMMEDIATE access to the PDF version of Niche Seminar Secrets for a full 30 day trial period:

Take the one-dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets now.

Get Clients For Free (or even get paid)

To know how much you should spend to acquire new clients and customers, you need to know how much each customer is worth, over time.

Something that can be difficult to calculate.

If your clients cost you nothing, though, there's no problem. You just want as many of those kind of customers as you can handle!

For a great way to get customers, and especially clients, at no cost to you or even at a profit, there's nothing to beat speaking engagements.

In front of you, when you speak at an event, will be an audience of potential clients and customers, specially selected to be interested in what you offer.

Why else would they be there?

That's why conversion rates from attendees at seminars and workshops to customers and clients can be astronomical - close to 100% in some circumstances - but as they're all costing you nothing, any customers you acquire this way are good news.

Simply give your audience good information to demonstrate your expertise and your generosity, offer your services or product at a special rate or within a special package for 'today only' and see how many customers and clients you can pick up.

Get some practice at other people's events under your belt, especially if you're a bit nervous about the idea, then think about staging your own event. You could even get so good at the events that they earn more than your original business!

Roy

PS. Discover the secrets to the seminar/events business for one dollar!

Answering Another Question From The Survey

One of my survey respondents wonders how they can rely less on Powerpoint.

('Powerpoint' is the Microsoft program that enables you to create and display slides for your audience. I'm sure there are other programs, but we tend to use the term 'Powerpoint' for all of them).

I think we've all been victims of 'death by Powerpoint' and I can understand how you want to avoid inflicting that fate on your audience!

But we've all been to lectures and presentations where the slides have added a lot of useful, even essential information. I think there are a few rules we can try to keep to, but I am aware that circumstances will vary a great deal.

Anway, assuming you'll be using some slides, here goes:

1 Only use slides that actually add something to your spoken words. Don't just use the slides as the text of your presentation.

2 Keep your slides brief and pithy - in other words, they must be quickly understandable and make a memorable point.

3 You can use slides to highlight any quotes, key phrases, website addresses or other points you want your audience to write down. Then you can move on while the slower writers make their notes.

4 Use a consistent design for your slides, including the colour scheme, a simple font, etc, and don't try to be clever. You need your audience to be able to take in the content of each slide at a glance and then return their attention to you.

5 On which point, don't try to use your slides to divert attention from you! If you're going to put on a slide show you shouldn't be on the stage at all.

6 When you want the audience's attention (ie, most of the time) make sure any slide that's showing isn't a distraction. A blank screen looks accidental, but a simple logo or company name looks far more professional, especially if you're recording the event on video.

7 Be the most engaging, entertaining and dynamic speaker you can be, with your content pitched at a level your audience can grasp (but not necessarily remember in detail) and you'll hardly need any slides at all. Naturally, some subjects will be more complex, but they'll mostly atract a more intelligent audience anyway. If you feel your subject is bound to be above the level of many in the audience, be sure to pepper your presentation with enough 'amazing' facts to keep them entertained as well.

8 Why not practise in front of an honest critic, without slides, and see what he or she thinks of it. At any points where they feel 'lost' or need some information you can't convey clearly in your spoken presentation, consider using a slide. You might be amazed by how few you need.

If you have any thoughts on this or any other subject I'd be delighted to get your feedback, via the comments below or by email.

Roy

PS. The One Dollar Trial goes on! Try Niche Seminar Secrets for a whole 30 days, for just one dollar, then get a $20 reduction on the full price too!

Answering a Question You Didn't Ask

How do I overcome 'pitchfest phobia'?

Note: these articles are supplementary to Niche Seminar Secrets, available for a 30-day trial for just one dollar, HERE.

I'm sure we've all been to events where at least one of the speakers did little more than pitch their product or service, where the information you got was all about them and their company.

Equally, I know some excellent 'teachers' who tell you loads of what you need to know and don't manage to sell a thing. That's great for you when you're a delegate but not so good when you have your seminar promoter's hat on.

Most experienced speakers will get it about right, of course. Natural selection will see to that. Meaning, you don't get to gain experience if you don't get the gigs because you don't sell anything...

I usually suggest about 80-85% good, unbiased content to about 15% or so spent promoting yourself and your product. Delegates mostly see that as acceptable. So about ten minutes out of every hour can be 'pitch'.

You might still get some resistance, of course. What you don't want is people spreading the word that your event was just a 'pitch fest', especially when it wasn't. So here's a way to get your delegates to look at it (and the sharper ones will see it this way, anyway)...

...it's all part of the education process.

Learning how to pitch is as important as anything else in business, and seeing someone do it right is an education in itself. Actually, seeing people get it badly wrong is even more instructive, but you can't afford too many lessons like that at your event!

When we were learning the seminar business (not that we'll ever stop learning), seeing how smoothly or otherwise each speaker segued into his or her pitch was fascinating. Seeing inexperienced speakers struggle a little and then make rapid progress was actually quite a thrill, while hearing a few of the delegates' grumbles taught us a thing or two.

And we were keen to learn.

So you can make a virtue out of the speakers' desire to sell by including at least one session, perhaps near the end of your event, where you explain what the presenters were doing and why.

As I said, it's all part of the education process for your delegates and it might help them appreciate just how much thought, effort and experience goes into the average presentation.

Most of us are used to being sold to by now. As marketers, we probably keep swipe files and acquire countless books and ebooks about 'how to sell'.

Your event could be the example 'par excellence'!

Roy

PS. Many people take copious notes during an event but most of them stop writing once the speaker goes into his or her pitch. Imagine the boost to your DVD sales when people realise the lesson you just gave them, and that they won't find in their notes.

PPS. The One Dollar Trial is still available, directly from this blog, here.

Two Ways to Improve Your Speaking Confidence

Here's another question I received from you in the Niche Seminar Secrets Survey:

'How do I overcome nerves/become more confident as a speaker?'

As with the very old joke I quote in Niche Seminar Secrets, to get to Carnegie Hall, 'You Gotta Practise.'

Dale Carnegie would agree (I know the hall was financed by Andrew Carnegie but the coincidence adds a nice symmetry).

Essentially, practice is the thing. First, write your presentation to sound as relaxed and natural as you can manage, then practise speaking it out loud (not just in your head), amending and adjusting it each time so that it becomes more and more like your natural 'voice'. A natural presentation is much more pleasant for the listeners, since an uncomfortable speaker makes them feel anxious, too.

By the time you've got a really natural-sounding presentation you will probably have learned it well enough to do without the script. If not, practise some more! When the time comes to make your presentation, you should need no more than your opening lines, plus some key words to prompt you and help to keep you to a logical sequence, plus your closing remarks. Put these on cards and staple them together.

If you've signed up to my niche-seminar list you should have had your copy of Dale Carnegie's 'The Art of Public Speaking', which still makes great sense today. Sign up now if you haven't done so and I'll send you the download link, free of charge.

I know some people prefer to learn in other ways than by reading, though, which is why I've previously recommended 'Step Up and Speak', an 11-part audio and video course (plus extras) that I'm confident you'll find useful. It's modestly priced and can transform your confidence and performance as a public speaker.

Remember, the more convincingly you speak, the more your public speaking will boost your business.

There are also some simple ways to combat nerves, which I've described in some detail in Niche Seminar Secrets, including taking moderate exercise and a great technique called Thought Field Therapy that I can personally recommend - TFT helped me overcome crippling nerves and I demonstrate some simple methods in an appendix to the manual.

Few things eradicate nerves as well as knowing you're well-prepared, though, so I'd recommend you use Dale Carnegie's book and / or 'Step Up and Speak' to help you prepare, then practise, practise, practise.

Enjoy the experience and you won't need me to wish you 'Good Luck'!

Roy

PS. The One Dollar Trial of Niche Seminar Secrets continues, here: http://seminar-secrets.blogspot.com/2008/12/one-dollar-trial-with-difference.html

Identifying a Profitable Niche

One of the questions that came up in the Niche Seminar Secrets Survey was, 'How do I choose a niche?'

To answer that, you need to ask yourself what it is you really need to know. Then, the answer becomes obvious:

You need to know what people are currently interested in, and especially what they're currently spending money on. It's quite easy to get a broad idea, but you will need to narrow it further. Remember that a broad niche may give you a bigger potential audience but to capture an enthusiastic, hungry crowd you need a smaller, more focused niche who will be keen to find out anything they can about their favourite topic.

Here's a simple three-step process to help you find your broad subject area and then identify your more tightly focused niche:

1. Remembering that seminars are information products, we can look elsewhere to see what subjects people are currently buying information about. So our first stop should be Amazon, the world's largest online bookstore, to study their list of current bestsellers. This gives you a very good idea of what's hot, topic-wise.

2. Visit your local magazine retailer and see which topics have the most magazines devoted to them. Also, watch to see which ones seem to sell best - you'll need to linger for a while - and browse through a few. Magazines that carry lots of advertising are probably doing well, since most (though not all) advertisers are quite careful not to waste their advertising budgets in magazines no one reads. The more successful magazines will be the ones that hit a particular niche most effectively, with content that suits the current tastes and interests of their readers. Make a list of the contents of these successful magazines. Now you're beginning to home in on your target.

3. Finally, visit online forums dedicated to the niche or niches you've identified. Now you're not just looking for the niche topic and its enthusiasts; you're actually going to find out exactly what they want to know. By spending time following discussions, contributing comments and questions of your own and identifying people's most pressing questions and problems, you will have found your niche and also have a very precise idea of exactly what questions to cover in your seminar. By contributing freely - you can research the answers elsewhere - you will also have begun to establish yourself as an authority in that area and developed a following - your first potential delegates!

You'll find more information and ideas about identifying a niche and its enthusiasts in Niche Seminar Secrets, including how to use other people's events to launch your own. And the one-dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets is still available, right here on this blog.

For just one dollar, you can secure a 30-day trial of Niche Seminar Secrets, with a further discount available at the end of the 30 days. Just choose the payment option you prefer when you order your one-dollar trial.

Here's to a prosperous 2009. Yes, it is still possible!

Roy

Now Try Niche Seminar Secrets

It looks like we had a few coding problems with the PayPal buttons for the one dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets.

These are now fixed, and you can access the one dollar trial, with its two payment options, here: Niche Seminar Secrets One Dollar Trial.

You get 30 days to decide for just a single dollar, then the option to save a further 20 dollars before I ship you the physical product in a month's time.

Go to One Dollar Trial With a Difference to get yours while the offer lasts.

Roy

It Must Be The Time of Year

...because I've decided to keep the one-dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets available for a little longer.

Which means you'll be able to download the full system for just one dollar and take the next twenty-nine days deciding if it's right for you. After thirty days I'll send you the full-colour hard copy, and I'll even offer you a further $20 discount on top.

I'll also send you an extra bonus or two with your manual. I'm not revealing exactly what just yet, but rest assured you'll be pleased you said 'yes'!

Go here to take the one dollar trial of Niche Seminar Secrets.

Try it and see.

Roy

More Niche Seminar Questions Answered

Hello again

It's time to answer another of your questions from the Niche Seminar Secrets survey.

'How do I get started with very little cash? Things like hotels costs, speaker fees, food and refreshments, etc.'

Getting started in any business does take a bit of cash, but the seminar business offers ways to limit your liability to an absolute minimum.

Firstly, make your marketing extremely cost-effective. It's likely you have more time than money right now, so take the time to build a list. Even that may not take very long, depending on the niche you're aiming at, and I've written a brief report on a very easy way I discovered to build a list of several hundred names in a couple of weeks. Use your speakers lists and offer an affiliate program so other people are selling for you.

I'll be talking about choosing the best, most responsive niches next time.

Once you know you have a demand - bearing in mind that response to a mailing will usually be lower than for a digital or physical product - you will have an idea of the size of venue you need and you can begin to negotiate with venue owners for the best deal. Compare room rate with 'delegate day rate' for the anticipated numbers and don't commit too early. Have several alternative venues lined up and play them off against each other to negotiate the best rate possible, but be reasonable or you might find they don't want to deal with you again!

For a low-cost event, don't supply food and drink. Even big-budget organisers will often save costs here, and sometimes charge just enough on tickets to pay for the venue. Their profits come from products and continuing sales to the list, of course.

Using the Niche Seminar Secrets model, you shouldn't have to pay your speakers anything. In fact, they make you (and themselves) money by appearing.

Commit to as little as possible up front, keep your venue and room size options open and even use the strategy I've outlined in the bonus chapter of Niche Seminar Secrets, as well as following the rest of the tried and tested Niche Seminar Secrets system, and you should be fine.

Take the One Dollar Trial of Niche Seminar Secrets

Now you can get your hands on the complete Niche Seminar Secrets system for just one dollar there's really no reason to risk trial and error. Doesn't a one dollar trial sound like a much better idea? Go here for your one dollar, thirty-day trial.

To your success!

Roy