Creating more alcoholics

[SYK]

How long does it take you to create the personalised report?

At $10 a pop (excluding CPA) you're gonna need to churn them out.

 

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[Tengen]

5 minutes per report seems like a good estimate.

Works out to $60 per hour.

I may decide to expand the reports and raise the price slightly in the future.

Edit: math brain fart, it'd actually be $120 per hour

 

[jockinbox]

No matter how you frame it, $89 is a lot of money

You aren't targeting people who think 90 bucks is a big deal.
You are targeting the upper class, wine drinkers, or those with recent success that want to drink wine because its "fancy"

Sure it may not be fancy for someone like me who cant tell the difference between $12 merlot and $60 Cabarnet Sauvignon , but I'm not your target market

Your target is
Someone with money
Someone interested in wine

Yeah if you try to sell 90 dollar consulting to a drunk on the street you wont get far
But if you sell to the higher class, the recently rich/wealthy and upper middle class, then 90 dollars is..well..loose change

Don't ever say that your product is not what its worth
The first person you need to sell if yourself
If you truly believe that you will deliver a gold mine of information in that field then you'll be in a better position to ask for 90, 200, 500, 1000 dollars

I'm with Kyle here, I personally don't see this thing happening, but I'm no wine expert and I certainly won't tell you not to pursue your dreams.

Cheers,

P.S Nice landing page, I would move the price a little bit more down. But awesome work on the graphics

 

[Kyle Tully]

Your mindset around price is off.

Price isn't the issue.

The market is.

$10 is going in the wrong direction. You'll attract the groupon type of crowd who *might* buy once because it's cheap and sounds like a laugh... but will never buy anything from you again.

And even it they really do take you 5 mins you're not going to make much from that strategy.

I would be going the COMPLETE opposite direction.

Write a book and become an authority. That leads into a $2000 personal consultation. Backend with $10,000 wine tasting holidays, $XXX monthly recurring program sending new wines each month, high end wine cellar gear etc.

That is the million dollar business here

 

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[Tengen]

I would be going the COMPLETE opposite direction.
Write a book and become an authority. That leads into a $2000 personal consultation. Backend with $10,000 wine tasting holidays, $XXX monthly recurring program sending new wines each month, high end wine cellar gear etc.
That is the million dollar business here

Mate, that would be insane if I could pull that off. But let me win with the consultation part first

I've just been reading around and I guess I've been disoriented by all of the different advice I've found.

The way I see things now I've got two options:

1. Offer ebook for free, build mailing list, get people interested enough to buy a consultation for $10-20

This is what I'm currently thinking of. And you're right with the groupon analogy, I am trying to attract people who might think it's fun and simple.

2. Offer ebook for a low-price (e.g. $5-10), position consultation as a premium service and charge $80-100

I suppose I hadn't deeply considered this option due to the adwords testing I had mentioned before. But the difference now is that I have an ebook which, as you say, I can use to position myself as an authority.

At this stage i'm more ready to implement option #1, which is less risk, but also less potentially rewarding.

Option #2 entails a lot more work - I'm already thinking about registering new domain names for my ebook and consultation separately, integrating e-junkie, aweber, etc... the risk is high, but the potential rewards are higher.

I've come this far already, so #2 should be a no-brainer, but the thought of the mammoth task in front of me is causing some slight paralysis.

Thanks again @Kyle Tully for another helpful post, you've given me a lot to think about.

 

[CreateLiving]

I would be more interested in buying the E-book for a premium, if say it came with a consultation. I say raise the price of the book, and when they buy the book they get the consultation. Don't just rely on one medium to drive business to the other...Put them both in the same space. Find a smaller kicker to close the deal on your email list.

 

[Tengen]

Just a small update:

Just had my tax returns done and I'm expecting a substantial refund, which I'll used to fund my future progress on this project.

I've also created MOBI and EPUB versions of my ebook with the intent of offering them in a package. Initially I had trouble formatting these different files but some well-placed questions and a little research resolved that.

Luckily I had a Kindle and Kobo nearby to do a test:

Overall I'm very happy with the results, and surprised it took me less than a day to figure out.

Still more work to do, will keep you guys posted.

 

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[Tengen]

Just got my tax refund which is sweet, will fund my development of everything for a couple of months,

I've registered the domain www.7keywineconcepts.com for my ebook, installed Wordpress and loaded OptimizePress to create a landing page. The URL is a bit of a handful, so I have also bought the domain www.7kwc.com and have arranged to have traffic forwarded from that address.

I am also planning on buying a separate domain name for my consultation service, but still haven't decided on a good name - my initial choices have been taken/parked, so it'll take some creative thinking on my part to find a good one while avoiding hyphens and .org suffixes.

In the meantime i'm in a bit of a creative rutt, trying to pretty up my ebook landing page as much as possible.

Currently it looks like:



I might just sit down at a table, away from the computer, to draw up a rough design plan.

Does anyone here have some good suggestions for ebook landing pages? Any reference sites I should look up? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CreateLiving]

Landing page is looking good, great job investing your tax refund in your business!

 

[Tengen]

Update:

I've sent out about 10 copies of my ebook to various people for reviews/testimonials and have gotten a few replies already. One has also asked if I am planning any kind of affiliate program, which seems like a good sign.

I have also finally registered the domain name www.consultwine.com for my consultation service. I will be creating a separate landing page for this and the 7KWC site, linking them with one another with the intention of getting people to sign up for the consultation.

the 7KWC landing page is shaping up quite nicely, here is a preview:



The ConsultWine landing page:



Everything seems to be coming to shape. A couple of things I am aiming for in the near future:

1/ get more reviews from people
2/ finish off landing pages for both sites
3/ draft up a guest blog post for a niche website, driving traffic to the book.
4/ set up e-junkie and aweber
5/ Possibly get business cards made

As usual, any critique and suggestions are welcome.

 

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[Tengen]

MILESTONE REACHED

The websites are now LIVE

http://www.7keywineconcepts.com/
http://www.consultwine.com/

I put on the final touches today. Signed up to e-junkie and integrated with MailCheat(Chimp) in expectation for the signups.

I've also submitted a guest article to a niche blog, and expect to see it published next week.

Have also touched base with an up-and-coming food blogger based in Sydney who says he'll share with his followers/subscribers when I give him the word.

Finally, making a list of facebook friends i'll be messaging personally, asking them to help me out and share with their friends.

Pretty stoked at reaching this milestone, going to pop open a bottle of wine now, but nothing too expensive

 

[Tengen]

MILESTONE - MY FIRST SALE

I sold my first copy of The 7 Key Wine Concepts this morning! Most likely it was an affiliate sale via this book review here - http://mattforney.com/2014/10/09/the-7-key-wine-concepts-by-mark-law/

I've also just sent tailored messages via facebook to a small selection of close facebook friends, asking them to share my book and consulting services with their friend by posting on their walls. I've already gotten some supportive responses, and will look out for any progress.

 

[Tengen]

Milestone - Massive traffic spike

My article submission to the niche site finally got published and caused a huge spike in traffic to my blog and sales sites. Records were smashed and good times were had.



The downside is - no conversions. I've made three book sales and zero consultations since launching at the beginning of the month, so while this influx of traffic is welcome, i need to find a way to convert this.

I'm going to look into more Google Adwords stuff a la @Andy Black to see what else can be achieved.

My immediate concern is whether i want to focus any advertising on my e-book (easier sell) or the consultation service (greater profit margins). The prevailing theory is that you should get the easy "yes" first and the harder "yes" will come easier, so i'm leaning towards the former.

 

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[Andy Black]

The prevailing theory is that you should get the easy "yes" first and the harder "yes" will come easier, so i'm leaning towards the former.

Makes sense to me, but I'm still a contractor so would be interested in what other people thought.

 

[PeeVee]

Your mindset around price is off.

Price isn't the issue.

The market is.

$10 is going in the wrong direction. You'll attract the groupon type of crowd who *might* buy once because it's cheap and sounds like a laugh... but will never buy anything from you again.

And even it they really do take you 5 mins you're not going to make much from that strategy.

I would be going the COMPLETE opposite direction.

Write a book and become an authority. That leads into a $2000 personal consultation. Backend with $10,000 wine tasting holidays, $XXX monthly recurring program sending new wines each month, high end wine cellar gear etc.

That is the million dollar business here

@Kyle Tully is dead on with his advice here. Build a tribe (that's what books do...look at this forum). Just cause you or someone else wouldn't pay $x for something doesn't mean that the right market won't. I just overcame this with a new product I am launching. Based on what I have read so far you may be overcomplicating the eBook. I would find attractive something around pairing wines with foods and things along those lines. It could be a cheat sheet. Who doesn't love cheat sheets. Even better, create a downloadable google spreadsheet that has your personal selection and food pairings....that builds authority and is useful to the person giving you their email. Build your email list...that is your future and it is a way to get away from paying google, Facebook or anyone else for leads in the ling run. Build that email list and treat it like gold.

Keep in touch and send them golden nuggets once a week or every other week so that by the time you email them with an offer they feel like they owe you for all of the free stuff (value) you have been giving them. Ever been out to eat or to a bar where your friend offers to pay the bill and you immediately offer to pay the next round or next meal? It is the same concept.

 

[Tengen]

I'm still having trouble with Adwords Editor, some errors keep popping up and i'm unable to found the source. I may have to go through the browser and input them one by one if it comes to that.

In the meantime I've recently been offered and have accepted a position as a sommelier at a fine dining venue. I hope to offer some value with my knowledge, as well as picking up some new skills while working with everyone.

Other than that, this project has reached a kind of plateau or waystation, I will continue to brainstorm more ideas but in the meantime I can't think of anything else to add, other than regularly updating my blog with articles.

 

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[Draven Grey]

Cool to read all of this. I mentioned in another thread that I use Market Samurai to gauge market interest. Wine Coolers (as in the Wine Fridges that don't take up entire rooms) came up as one of the top 3 drop shipping businesses we were considering starting. It had a lot of money being made in the google top ten, with low enough competition to be in the top ten with a little work. In other words, without getting into all the details, it was one of those perfect "break out" businesses that Market Samurai and eCommerce Fuel talk about. Have you considered a business like that to run along side the consultations and books?

 

[Tengen]

Hi guys, been a while since I last posted. Have been very busy with the new job, but now that holiday season is over things should be quiet and I'll have more time.

I've just posted up a series of new google adwords campaigns, it was a pain to start because the Adwords Editor wasn't allowing me to copy/paste from spreadsheet, so I had to manually create a campaign and include ad groups one by one. However once the first one got done i was able to copy/paste via Adwords editor.

Just going to sit back and observe for the time being.

 

[Andy Black]

Save spreadsheet as csv. Import csv?

 

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[Tengen]

I think i tried that a few times and came up with the same error.

 

[Tengen]

Well.

It has been 3+ years since I started this thread. Am I a billionaire yet?

Hell no.

What went wrong? Let's have a look...

---

The websites are still up and functional, but have proven to be ineffective.

I hadn't the time or motivation to figure out how to fix them. I could blame my job, but really it's all on me.

Through my inaction I wasted ~$1000 on Wufoo subscriptions, which ran the form for my "wine consults". (I've since cancelled this.)

"Sales" of my book remain single-digit.

By any objective measure, my "progress" here has been an abject failure.

---

So, how am I? Depressed? Despondent? Suicidal?

No. In fact, I'm more content with my life than I've ever been.

For the last three years I've worked as a sommelier at a hotel/restaurant, which has been very rewarding. It's inspired me to study even more about wine, and I'm currently pursuing the WSET Diploma, on track to finish early next year.

I got a mortgage. And a girlfriend. I am acutely aware that these are heavy burdens, according to FL lore, but I view these as temporary events rather than a life sentence. I live well, eat well, am healthy and lose no sleep.

My job has put me in contact with many interesting people.

I've picked up skills along the way - I can build websites now (damn!).

My wine knowledge is evolving, and more and more I feel this is not just a hobby or a passion, but a life purpose. I look forward to see where it takes me.

I continue to look up other avenues to make money. My focus is no longer narrowed purely on wine.

---

So for all intents and purposes, I supposed this "progress thread" may come to a close. I'll keep my websites up, as it doesn't really cost me any extra to do so. I still blog on a regular basis. And if nothing else, they will serve as monuments to my efforts.

The dream still lives within me - to be rich while still young, to possess both freedom-from and freedom-to. I will merely aim to pursue them by other means.

 

[Millenial_Kid5K1]

Well.
The dream still lives within me - to be rich while still young, to possess both freedom-from and freedom-to. I will merely aim to pursue them by other means.

Why? It sounds like you've found a niche in the slowlane that makes you decently happy. Without a MOTIVATION & PURPOSE, you're unlikely to ever travel the quite difficult path known as 'entrepreneurship' to reach "rich while young".

 

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[ExaltedLife]

Is "Rational Wine" your name and logo? IF so, you should get a new name and logo. You're breaking every rule of copy here. I can see "Rational Mortgages" or "Rational Engineering" or perhaps "Rational Investments" working as a brand, but "Rational Wine"? I don't see that working out for you.

But that seems to be the least of your problems....

My wine knowledge is evolving, and more and more I feel this is not just a hobby or a passion, but a life purpose. I look forward to see where it takes me.

I continue to look up other avenues to make money. My focus is no longer narrowed purely on wine.

What the hell? It's your "Life purpose" but you AREN'T focused on it?

es, I supposed this "progress thread" may come to a close. I'll keep my websites up, as it doesn't really cost me any extra to do so. I still blog on a regular basis. And if nothing else, they will serve as monuments to my efforts.

Monuments to your efforts or monuments to your lack of focused, dedicated effort. You've barely posted at all in the last three years, how the hell did you think you were going to be a billionaire? How do you still consider this to be a 'progress' thread?

I got a mortgage. And a girlfriend. I am acutely aware that these are heavy burdens, according to FL lore, but I view these as temporary events rather than a life sentence. I live well, eat well, am healthy and lose no sleep.

Jesus H. Christ I feel bad for your girlfriend. I have a feeling you pursue your business interests the same way you pursue your romantic relationships - as TEMPORARY EVENTS. If you can't commit to a woman, who will probably only demand the bare minimum of your daily time, how the hell will you commit to a business? You live well, eat well, am healthy and lose no sleep. Sounds like you're totally content with NOT being an entrepreneur. So why fake it?

The dream still lives within me - to be rich while still young, to possess both freedom-from and freedom-to. I will merely aim to pursue them by other means.

Yep, sounds like it will remain a dream as you 'merely' coast through life.

This last post basically sums it all up. Look at yourself:

What went wrong? Let's have a look...

I hadn't the time or motivation to figure out how to fix them. I could blame my job, but really it's all on me.

By any objective measure, my "progress" here has been an abject failure.

So, how am I? Depressed? Despondent? Suicidal?
No. In fact, I'm more content with my life than I've ever been.

You've basically chosen to opt out of the difficulty of entrepreneurship in favor of a slowlane path. And that's fine if that's what you want, but if you want what the Fastlane provides, you have to actually COMMIT to what the Fastlane requires - which will require that you change basically everything about your current mindset.

 

[Sully1994]

"Rich while young" "freedom" "making money"

I'm encouraged that you've picked up important skills like website creation, Google adwords and blogging- but look at these phrases dude.

This sounds mostly focused on "you" and not the people you're serving. That time when you got feedback from your friend over some Johny Walker- do that every day . Ask people what THEY would like to see in a wine consultation/ education site. What do THEY care about?

Forget all the technical shit and start there. If your product is not somthing people actually want - none of it will matter. It sounds your job is an absolute goldmine for insight into your target audience. Take advantage of that!

 

[AdamMaxum]

Hey @Tengen - welcome back, if only temporary. Glad to hear everything in life is working out. If you're happy, great.

The only thing I would caution is to ask yourself if this happiness can be sustained 10 years down the road when you're still a sommelier working in restaurants/hotels talking about wine all the time and then decide you want the freedom to pursue other interests or pay the bills without needing to work all the time. Or you randomly get fired for who knows what. Comfort is temporary and you're relinquishing control because life is good now.

Hopefully you venture back over to the fastlane sometime in the future, but for now, you've all but confirmed the slowlane is your preferred lane...and that's fine if that's what makes you happy...for now.

 

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[RaffUnscripted]

I would suggest some branding work as well. Wine is a "good life" type of product and when I went to your page that's just not the feeling I got. The logo unfortunately looks overly basic and homemade. I commend you for your efforts and lord knows you've put up tons of content but wine is an image product and I think there is a visual disconnect there. As far as the name... Wine is passion not reason. I feel like the name takes away from the reason wine exists and may alienate consumers that don't identify as rational.