I've been providing services (coaching, groups and classes) for over twenty-five years. I self-published a book in December 2018 and now I want to pivot my business to focusing almost entirely on products that I can sell online. I have loads of content that I can repurpose from years of being in business. Plus, I've written four blogs. My biggest issues is funding. I want to hire someone to design some products related to my book. I'm also designing an online course, but really need to hire a videographer and stylist because there are 38 modules that need to be filmed. So I am clear about exactly what I need the funds for. I prefer not to take out a loan and saddle myself with a heavy debt.
I am not convinced you need an investor for what you are doing. Why give up part of your company and someone else having a say in your dream.
I would start with some simple videos at Udemy, going through that you will learn a lot and move up from there.
You may also consider a local intern to help you sort through the material and put it online.
As an advisor education entrepreneurs for more than two decades, I would need more information to adequately answer your question. If you haven’t already, I would suggest the following to guide you to a solution appropriate for you:
1) Develop a detailed business plan – The business plan will provide you (and potential investors) with the roadmap for your pivot, particularly relative to development costs and timing, marketing and resource needs, and revenue expectations.
2) Build a financial model – The financial model quantifies your business plan. Ideally, the model forecasts a multi-year period on a quarterly basis. This should provide you with an excellent view of the capital risk and potential upside, and may inform of changes that could reduce your enterprise risk.
3) Target the funding – The outcome of this activity should provide you with a true sense of the capital needed for the pivot. From this, your choice of capital options will become clearer.
There are three primary sources of capital that you might be able to access: internal funding, debt or equity.
• Internally generated funds can come from your current revenue stream or personal assets. Many times, this is the preferred choice; you don’t have to go through a financing process, sign contracts or give up ownership. Many times, this source of capital is insufficient.
• Debt is a contractual relationship that provides funding in exchange for a promise to repay within a certain amount of time with a certain return for the lender. Debt often is cheaper capital, but much less flexible in the event that the plan doesn’t materialize as envisioned. Many lenders, particularly banks, will require a personal guaranty.
• Equity is an ownership stake in the business. Capital will be more aligned to your business, however, you will essentially have a business partner that you might not want forever. The capital will be more expensive than debt as it represents a riskier investment. Potential investors could be friends & family, angels or professional venture capitalists.
As you sort out your business model and refine your capital need, the type of capital that will serve you best will begin to become evident. Engaging a professional financial advisor may also prove beneficial in sorting through and sourcing the investor options. I am available to chat if that would be helpful.
Hi! I think to answer this question, really I'd want to know why aren't the services that you've been offering (coaching etc), and your self-published book not providing you with enough funds to develop your online products? Also with the products that you are supplying, are you sure that your target market really wants 38 modules? I would suggest that you first develop a shorter course maybe split into parts, then test it to see if they actually want it? And unless there's a reason, you don't need to supply all your products all at once; but instead phase them in, whilst also using the funds for your coaching business to pay for it.
As a content creator, you can raise funds via Patreon. I recommend packaging pieces of your services for different Patreon Tiers, systematically positioning them in donation hierarchy.
Don't film/create the products in advance. Create the course outlines/syllabi and market the courses first. Talk about your successful track record as a coach, and how you now are going to offer your training in convenient, self-paced products to provide outstanding value. (Talk about how this adds value to them, not about how it benefits you, which they don't care about). State the normal, high price for the for the products, but how you are offering a one-time, steep discount for people who pre-signup and will gain access as the products are created. Then, use this money to fund the creation of the courses. As you create modules, deliver them and ask for feedback. This way, you can incorporate feedback and improve your products as they are being created. At the end, get testimonials/referrals. Even if this initial group of customers results in breaking even (or a slight loss), you are better off than if you created the products with your own or borrowed money, and you also know that they sell on the market place, and you now have testimonials.
If you have lot's of content, do yourself a big favor...
Read "How to Make Money Blogging" by Bob Lotich for $5-$10 on Amazon.
Use his trick of...
1) Run Google Ads on blog posts for 30 days.
2) Start with highest traffic page + move down.
3) Visit the page + hit refresh 10x time, recording the Ad showing up.
4) Then replace your Ad Units on this page, changing Google Ads to the actual site originating the Ad Unit identified in #3.
You'll do this by visiting the site + signing up for the site's affiliate program, so you drive traffic from your site to the Ad site directly, without Google as the Middle Man.
5) You may be very surprised about revenue you can generate with this model.
6) Start with this first, then move on to working on your courses.
I share your sentiment, trying to productize your services.
Bootstrapping is the word that is normally used ... thus:
1. teaming to share profit/ barter trade
2. consider crowdfund as an option
3. digitize coaching as a franchising model - with technical partners' help
4. integrate current reputable apps with very low costs to instantly uplift the service quality and automate major activities.
Actually, this is what I am doing currently. Hope the above helps.
There is only best way that I see as perfect it is Return = Risk × Reward, where Return is the likely financial profit for the investor, Risk is the chance of the profit being realized, and Reward is the projected profit from any one investment. In this way, if the Reward from an investment is projected as 3-fold and the Risk is assessed as 1 in 5, then the overall Return would be 3 in 5, which is not worth doing as it is less than one. But if the Reward for the same Risk were to be 15-fold, the overall Return would be 15 in 5, or 3 to 1, and a worthwhile bet.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
