How to Turn Your Knowledge Into Income – In Just 7 Minutes with Mike Gowans

Resources/Links:

• Want to know how you can sell digital products without stress? Click here: https://www.makeonce.com/

Summary

Do you want to know how you can sell your knowledge and expertise online without sacrificing your time, money, and efforts?

In order for you and your Internet business to get the success it deserves, it is important to create a digital product that can solve your audience’s problems while building a subscription community around it.

Mike Gowans is an expert in launching, growing, and monetizing digital businesses and memberships.

Sit back and tune in to Mike’s amazing insights as he talks about how you can monetize your knowledge into a successful Internet business.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:24 – Mike’s ideal client: There are two real kinds of ideal clients. There’s one person that is trying already. They already decided they want to sell information online.
• 02:36 – The problem he helps solve: The big problem with a lot of them is that they’re just overthinking things. They’re making it more complicated than it needs to be.
• 05:30 – The symptoms of the problem: You’ve tried to sell things online. I mean, I did all that. Tried everything– MLM. I mean, I had a ton of different jobs. And you said something like, “Hey, you’re actually doing the thing each day, so that you’re showing them how to do that.”
• 05:30 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Mike: People, the problem, the big one that they have that I see, or where they know that they need this, is they don’t have any consistency. And there are all kinds of things happening that don’t need to be happening, like they’re buying little software, or they’re doing all this stuff.
• 07:30 – Mike’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): They think they need to create the product before they sell it. The thing you want to do is just like an architect– lay out the plan, get the model made, get the blueprints made, and sell that blueprint, sell that model.
• 08:01 – Mike’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want to know how you can sell digital products without stress? Click here: https://www.makeonce.com/
• 08:48 – Q: Where do you start? A: The thing I would say is what problem do you want to solve? Figure out a problem that you actually get excited about solving and then start solving it for people.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Figure out a problem that you actually get excited about solving, and then start solving it for people.” -Mike Gowans Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Hello, everyone! A very warm welcome to Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast, here in Australia, joined today by Mike Gowans. Mike, good day from Down Under! Where are you hanging out, sir?

Mike Gowans 00:20
Yeah, I’m here in Kansas. Wichita Kansas area. So right in the middle of the United States.

Tom Poland 00:25
Kansas– yeah, a long way away from the Sunshine Coast here in Australia! Hands across the water, something like that. Mike’s magic is something that everyone needs at some point in time, whether you’re starting a new business, or whether you need to restart your new business because you’re just not getting the impact. He’s an expert in launching– very important, the new word– growing– and a really important next word– monetizing digital businesses and memberships because you can actually grow but not make any money as you’re growing. So those three things– launching, growing, monetizing digital businesses, so you can have a true lifestyle, business, work from home, reach out around the world, have clients happily paying you, recurring subscription revenue. It’s a dream. So let’s kick off, Mike. The title today is, “How to Turn Your Knowledge Into Income”. Our seven minutes start now, sir. Question number one is who is your ideal client?

Mike Gowans 01:24
So it’s just somebody that- you know, there’s two real kinds of ideal clients. There’s the one person that is trying already. They already decided they want to sell information online. They want to take their unique expertise. They want to package it up, and they want to solve people’s problems using the Internet. The other person is the person that, where basically I was, where I wanted to have freedom location. I wanted to have control of my income. And I wanted to actually do something I like doing each day so that I enjoyed my life. But I didn’t want to work for a boss. And so there was a place where I had to figure something out. And I didn’t want to, and this as the same person, I didn’t want to have a physical product. I didn’t want to have to be buckled down somewhere. So the internet just made sense. And, you know, I wanted to make money. I mean, plain and simple. It’s like people who have money seem to live a little better and do a little better. So I wanted to figure out a way to do that. That’s the two people! They want to get out of their 9-to-5, let’s say, and then the other person they’ve already decided, but they just don’t quite have the system together.

Tom Poland 02:23
Okay, interesting! So people who have made the jump, and the people who want to make the jump. So how would you articulate the problem that you solve for them? Because they’ve got this idea, they can see other people doing this thing, what’s stopping them? What’s the problem?

Mike Gowans 02:36
Yeah, so the big problem with a lot of them is that they’re just overthinking things. They’re making it more complicated than it needs to be. And they’re trying to make everything perfect and planned and get everything in place instead of just doing the thing. And so the big problem they have is number one, they forget how money is actually made. And it’s just by solving problems. And so the first thing is they don’t have a product, and they’re overthinking that part. So I help them create an actual digital product. But I call it a “hybrid product” because it’s a combination of a community– a live community– a live weekly color or a couple of them as I do. And then you’ve got a pre-recorded self-paced course that’s inside of there. And that type of offer is really cool because you’re just helping somebody get from point A to point B as quickly and as easily as possible, and we use the internet to do that. So videos, PDFs, audios. The next part is-

Tom Poland 03:29
Oh, go ahead.

Mike Gowans 03:30
Yeah, so the next part, after they have the product is now we can create like a lead magnet, something to generate leads. We take a piece of the product and use that. And then also, need to attract people to the actual lead magnet in the funnel and the sales page. And so I just help them set that all up– how to set up their funnel, get their product together, and then generate traffic. So it’s like a three-phase process. I call it raw materials, then you got the automated machine and then you’ve got your endless traffic. So that’s the problem. It’s not that they don’t believe it necessarily. They see other people doing it. They just don’t have the pieces of the puzzle.

Tom Poland 04:05
Yeah, I mean, there’s an awful lot of subtleties and nuances about that, a lot of traps and new players, so to speak. So it just makes a whole lot of sense to have someone like you, if you like digitally holding their hand, showing them how to do all this. I get the sense that new clients see you doing what you’re helping them to do. You know, you’re what you’re actually walking the talk. You’re actually doing the very thing that they want to aspire to do. So they learned two levels– one from your online instruction, but the other by seeing this living representation walking a path that they aspire to walk. Is that right?

Mike Gowans 04:44
Yeah, no, that’s absolutely true! I say it all the time. I’m like, “If this didn’t work, how would you be listening to this right now?” Or, you know, “If this wasn’t something that was real then how are you even consuming this?” or you know, “Why are we on the phone” or whatever?

Tom Poland 04:57
Right! The very fact that you’re here is living proof, and the first person, that something’s working. You and I are not the first people on earth to have this idea. People will have had this and they’re going to try stuff. What I want to do now is save people a whole world of pain by asking them to point out two things. Put two questions in one here, questions three and four, how do people know they need what you’ve got? And secondly, what would you say are some of the common mistakes that your clients have made prior to reaching out to you?

Mike Gowans 05:30
Yeah, so I would say the person, to answer the first question, if you will, is you’ve tried to sell things online. I mean, I did all that. Tried everything– MLM. I mean, I had a ton of different jobs. And you said something like, “Hey, you’re actually doing the thing each day, so that you’re showing them how to do that.” What’s interesting about that is there’s kind of– I don’t know, I think it goes in phases or seasons, or something- but this idea of a one-person business, and this idea of solopreneurship and things like that. Me setting in my office or being out somewhere, and being able to do what I’m doing and make more money than the average bear, have time and location freedom, and actually get to talk about things and topics that I like. People, the problem, the big one that they have that I see, or where they know that they need this, is they don’t have any consistency. And there are all kinds of things happening that don’t need to be happening, like they’re buying little software, or they’re doing all this stuff. And they get all wound up in that. And I did too! That’s the only way I know how to get out of it because I had to get myself out of it. You know, there’s really three core things to this. And I want to share just this because if anything would happen, and you just got one thing from this, I’d want it to be this. We really only have two things that we do in this business. We build an email list of people who have a problem that we can solve. And then we sell those people on the list our solution. And then we just keep doing that over and over and over again. In order to get people on the list, there are three little quick steps. You have to attract people. So social media content– paid or free. Then, you attract them to an email list. Give away something for free, we convert them, and then we deliver on the promise. And then that’s it! And we keep making it easier and better for them to get the answer.

Tom Poland 07:17
Thank you for that! It makes a lot of sense. So we have limited time left. Real quick, what would you say is a top tip that’s not going to solve the whole problem for people, they probably want to reach out to you for that, but it might just take them a step in the right direction.

Mike Gowans 07:30
The biggest one is this. They think they need to create the product before they sell it. The thing you want to do is just like an architect– lay out the plan, get the model made, get the blueprints made, and sell that blueprint, sell that model. And when you have people who are proving your concept, meaning, “Yes, I want that. Yes, I’ll do this”, then you just stay a step ahead of them in the process, and you build the course with them, which is a cool little bonus they get when they join you the first time you do it. And then just build it as you go and refine it as you go. So, sell it first, then build it.

Tom Poland 07:59
So a great top tip. The value of delivery and make sure that what you’ve got is going to sell before you build the whole freaking thing! URL, where can people go to find out more about what you’re up to and get more?

Mike Gowans 08:01
They can just go to makeonce.com. And everybody’s like, “Why make once?” because if you learn how to make this thing one time, you can sell it thousands and thousands of times over for the work you did one time. So makeonce.com.

Tom Poland 08:26
Makeonce.com/. And you can opt-in there to find out more about creating and selling digital products or paid membership sites. So-

Mike Gowans 08:35
We have a newsletter there. Yeah, it’s called “The Creators Unlock” and I just send one email every Saturday with one tip on how to do that.

Tom Poland 08:42
Creators Unlock– beautiful! All right. So 15 seconds left, sir. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Mike Gowans 08:48
I would say like, where do you start? And the thing I would say is what problem do you want to solve? Figure out a problem that you actually get excited about solving and then start solving it for people.

Tom Poland 08:58
Perfect! Mike Gowans, thanks so much for your time and your wisdom. Cheers.

Mike Gowans 09:03
Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you!

Tom Poland 09:05
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.