I’m going a different direction in 2015
Today marks a step in a slightly different direction for me. For the past few years I’ve been the “sponsorship guy.” My shirts, my last name, my book, a road trip, a fitness challenge, the list goes on and on.
While those projects were great, they are incredibly difficult to replicate and even more challenging to build into a sustainable income. In 2015, I’m focusing heavily on shifting from sponsored projects (trading my time for money) to building products that people can use to grow their businesses, and hopefully fill their bank accounts. Not that money is the most important thing, but let’s be honest—we all have bills to pay!
My first project for 2015 is associated with one you may already have heard of: Invisible Office Hours.
Invisible Office Hours—or IOH—is a podcast with my good buddy Paul Jarvis. You may m be thinking: “Jason, podcasts aren’t new. Why do I give a crap about this?”
That’s a great question and let me tell you why…
Podcasting is a phenomenal platform and I think right now is a critical time in the growth of podcasts. But podcasts are hard to monetize. And most people monetize it by doing what? Yep, you guessed it: sponsorships!
I’ve heard of popular podcasts getting $250 – $1,000 sponsorships per episode. That’s not money to scoff at, but acquiring sponsorships takes lots of time and effort. It also means that you have accountability (at some level) to someone else. Instead of focusing purely on the content of your podcast, you now have to think about creatively tying a sponsor into your show and enticing your listeners to check out their website or use some promo code.
But if a listener of your podcast is tuning in to hear from YOU, shouldn’t you offer them something that gives them more of YOU?
For the first season of IOH we had a sponsor. We made decent money (a few thousand bucks). But we felt like we were selling ourselves short and leaving a lot of money on the table. We also knew that our listeners weren’t just random strangers, they were people already on our email lists, reading our blogs, and buying our products/services. Hey that’s you!
*Light bulb moment!*
Instead of schlepping someone else’s stuff, why don’t we focus the time we would allocate for a sponsor and use it to sell our own products in a unique way? I know that’s not a groundbreaking thought, but here’s where it gets fun…
For Season Two of IOH we’re offering “The Bundle of Awesome.”
So what the heck is The Bundle of Awesome?
The Bundle of Awesome is exactly that: a bundle of awesome (digital) things. We decided that if we were going to promote anything on our show, we wanted it to be stuff we created, products/services we love, and things that will help our listeners grow their businesses. We hand-picked all the items in this bundle and included our courses, books, and products, as well. The total value of the bundle is more than $2,500!
But we’re not selling all these courses, books, awesome discount codes, etc. for $2,500+. Instead, we’re selling it in a way you might recognize…
The Bundle of Awesome just went on sale and the starting price is $1. Once someone buys it at $1, the price will increase to $2. Does this sound familiar?
Yep, we’re using the increasing pricing structure I created for IWearYourShirt to sell The Bundle of Awesome!
You should know that The Bundle of Awesome will only be on sale during Season Two of our podcast. So when the last episode airs in a few weeks, the bundle will disappear forever … never to see the light of day again.
If you’re excited and want to know what’s included in the bundle, click here to see everything that comes with it: http://invisibleofficehours.com/awesome
We’re looking to create a new way to monetize our podcast. Even if you’re the 200th person to buy the bundle, you’ll only be spending $200 to get $2,500+ worth of stuff (my sponsorship course alone is $497!). We’re shifting our thinking from the standard sponsor-an-episode model and hopefully generating way more revenue and way more value for our listeners.
Maybe you don’t have a podcast, but I encourage you to challenge the norm in whatever industry you’re in. I’m sure we could have secured another sponsor or two for our podcast, but even at $500 per episode, we’d only be making $6,000 for our 12-week season. If we sell 200 bundles of awesome we can generate $20,000.
I wasn’t great at math in college, but I do know $20,000 > $6,000.
BUT WAIT… There’s more…
(in my best infomercial voice)
How would you like to be able to add the increasing pricing structure to your own products? Maybe you have an online course, a product you sell, or services you offer that could be a good fit?
Meet Bumpsale, the friendly increasing pricing structure product that can be used by anyone!
Bumpsale isn’t quite ready for the public, but if you sign up for the pre-launch email list at Bumpsale.co you’ll be the first to know when it goes live. The goal with Bumpsale is to make it easy for anyone to utilize an increasing/incremental pricing for ANY product or service. Hopefully even my grandmother could use it! (That is, if she sold stuff online…).
This is definitely the first time I’ve announced two big projects in one week. I have big plans for 2015 and I want you to benefit from them. Whether that means getting $2,500+ worth of stuff at a huge discount, or being inspired and shifting your thinking for your own projects/goals/dreams.
Let’s make this year awesome together!
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