Why You Don’t Have a Business if You Don’t Have Products
I hope the subject heading got your attention.
When a mentor said this to me a couple years ago he got my attention all right, in fact I was royally pissed.
Actually what he said was this: “Until you have products you what I consider a have a successful practice…nothing wrong with a successful practice…but you do not have a business.”
I argued, “Look at everything I’ve accomplished. Look at everything I’ve learned. I actually made a profit last year. The IRS certainly thinks I have a business!”
“Those are all amazing accomplishments,” my mentor said “but if, God forbid, you got hit by a bus and couldn’t do any work for six months or longer what would happen to your business?”
“I’m the business,” I replied, “If I can’t work there is no business.”
Exactly.
A Practice Begins and Ends with You
Even if you have an amazing assistant. Even if you have clients who love you and sing your praises: no you, no business.
One year later, two years later, there isn’t even a vapor trail.
Now for a lot of people, this is completely cool. You may be reading this article and thinking “Hey its enough that I take good care of my clients and my business pays the bills for me and my family.”
You have a successful practice and that is something to be very proud of.
And the success of your practice depends entirely on your ability to
show up and be present. If you can’t show up, there is no business.
My dad was a dentist for over 40 years. He was a very good at his work and his patients adored him. When he retired he sold his practice to another dentist.
When my dad is at the grocery store or running errands people still come up to him and tell him how much they appreciated him and that they miss having him as their dentist.
I’m always impressed by the warm feelings my dad’s former patients still express to him. You can’t buy that kind of good will.
But the practice itself winked out of existence when my dad took his name off the door. Any special processes my dad knew, the things he said to calm nervous patients, the skills and knowledge he honed over the years; that’s all gone.
It’s About Influence and Making a Difference
This is not to belittle my dad’s accomplishments. He taught me a lot about working hard and with integrity. I’m proud of my dad.
At the same time, when I close shop for my business, in addition to having contributed to my clients success, I want to have products: books, classes, software, and tools that hundreds of thousands of people can use and benefit from my skills and knowledge.
When you create products, your business no longer depends on you because in a sense, you have replicated yourself. You’ve duplicated what made your business yours. The reason you got customers to begin with.
With products you can influence thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people. That’s a LOT bigger than what any practice can do.
Not that the Money isn’t Nice too
Most small business owners are attracted to creating information products because they love the idea of earning passive income from multiple sources.
It’s a great reason to sell products. Not such a great reason for creating products.
Seriously. If you’re into products primarily because you want multiple streams of revenue, I’ve got one word for you: Affiliates.
Sell other people’s products and make commission.
It’s easy. Most of the e-commerce products I use: my web host, my email and list management, and my shopping cart all pay me a percentage when people find them through me.
And I’m an affiliate for several businesses whose programs I’ve used and gotten good results from including Amazon.com.
Again, remember, your own products will outlive you, affiliate products will not.
Bottom Line
Having a successful practice is huge accomplishment and you can make
a huge difference–as long as you’re around.
If you want a profitable business whose influence goes well beyond
the clients and customers you serve: then you want to create and
sell information products.
It’s the best way I know to take what you know and make money making
a difference in the world.
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February 7th, 2013 at 7:06 am
Judy,
I agree that products are the most likely way to continue to produce income when you are not able to actively work the business. However, to generate this income, you must have a process in place to continue marketing the products. Also, your products must be of exceptionally high quality.
Let’s start with marketing. Most marketing techniques require ongoing implementation. From Facebook and Twitter to free teleseminars and public speaking, marketing has a brief shelf-life. The only solid, ongoing idea that comes to mind is Amazon, where the public can find you for years into the future and decide to order long after you have retired.
On the other hand, it is very difficult to make much money from a book, in part because the prices are so low. Which is why the experts say not to publish a book if your motivation is a healthy income.
Then to the issue of quality. The longer I am in the marketplace to buy information, the more jaded I have become and the less I buy. Titles that used to entice me—how to make all the money you want, how to make money while you sleep—sound like overpriced trash to me.
There’s so much free content out there that content for a fee must be fantabulous to compete.
The best example of a profitable product is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Lightning struck and she (and her heirs) will make money for years to come. A unique concept and one that will continue to work regardless of emerging technology.
-Diana
February 7th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Hi Diana,
Yup you’re right re a. hard to make money on books and b. lots of crap out there and c. Artist’s way. Totally agree.
In terms of exceptionally high quality, I’m picking up what you’re laying down. I’ve noticed people have an interesting mindset when it comes to information products. People will bicker and niggle with the cashier when they’re charged $.02 over the advertised price. But lay down $50 for a crappy product and people rarely request a refund.
I think it’s because a. the intangibility of the transaction and b. there’s the rationale “maybe some day I’ll use it.”
And so often the marketing hype has been clearly constructed to elicit an almost pavlovian response of “Buy this NOW”
My fantasy is to create information products that are so fun, engaging, and useful that I will raise the bar on what people expect from an information product. Not exactly sure how this will actually happen but it’s a beautiful, inspiring dream.
Minimally I can certainly cultivate a client niche that demands exceptional quality and sees my products as the gold standard. That, I’m pretty sure I can do.
Mwaa ha ha ha ha ha. (Evil Overlord laugh).
Judy
April 29th, 2013 at 10:23 am
Judy, I’m brand new to your site and newsletter, but I wanted to say I absolutely adore your *fantasy.*
This part from your text above has inspired me greatly:
“My fantasy is to create information products that are so fun, engaging, and useful that I will raise the bar on what people expect from an information product. Not exactly sure how this will actually happen but it’s a beautiful, inspiring dream.”
I LOVE it! Should you ever make this happen, I’d be delighted to know about it…