The answer is actually quite simple.  Step outside the IM box and focus on providing a solution to people in desperate markets.

Consider problems that require help and provide the answers within a report.  Build your squeeze page, offer the report as a giveaway and voila! You are building a targeted, responsive list of buyers while subsequently, testing the waters to determine overall profitability before you create your very own info product.

When it comes to finding “desperate” markets, you need to step back from the noisy community of IM’ers and think about the problems that exist within your own life, or family.

How many people do you know suffer from acid reflux?  What about acne?  Insomnia?  Bed wetting?

You also have relationship problems in desperate markets, such as “How to get your ex boyfriend back”, or “Help with repairing/saving a marriage before divorce”.

People who actively search for information and help within these markets are anxious to solve their problems, and are often responsive when offered a direct answer (via your report).

When evaluating niche markets, you need to verify that there is an existing customer base, that the niche is actually penetrable (meaning that it is affordable to market to), and that the niche is ever-green. You want to focus on building a customer base revolving around a problem that won’t necessarily be resolved with a single product, so that you can consistently expand your funnel and offer the same subscribers various products, and options.

Another thing to keep in mind that is you never want to target the mainstream niche but rather dig into the market until you come up with a viable ’sub-niche’.

For example, rather than targeting “weight loss” as a broad market, consider creating a report that offers help with:

“Women who are looking to shed weight post pregnancy”
“Men who are desperate to lose love handles or gain muscle mass”
“Seniors who are interested in incorporating a simple work out plan into their daily lives”.

The more targeted your plan of action is, the easier it will be to penetrate the market and build a customer base that is responsive, plus, by targeting specific sub-markets, you will find it a lot easier to build products that specifically cater to your subscriber base.

To help you get started, I’ve created a “Niche Swipe File” of profitable ideas, as well as a listing of recommended niche evaluation tools that will help you identify whether a niche is a viable one.

Click here to download the free guide.

Reality check.

Working at home brings with it, tremendous benefits including the freedom and flexibility of carving out your own path, making your own choices and essentially, being your own boss.

But there’s a downside to working with such freedom.  With no real deadlines, no supervision and for the most part, no accountability.  You are in complete control and that is as equally liberating as it is outright terrifying.

I’ve been a work at home mom for nearly 12 years, and still to this day I sometimes struggle to stay focused, motivated and on track.  I find myself breezing through entire work days wondering “where did the time go?”, or in putting off personal projects only to abandon them altogether for a “new” idea that pops into my head.

So, after years of this repeated cycle with incredibly successful months followed by rock bottom bouts of distraction and lack of focus, I decided to do something about it, and actually document my daily tasks.

You’d be surprised at just how much easier it is to effectively manage your time when you are forced to literally write down what you plan to do each day and then evaluate what you actually got done. (It’s a bit shocking for a lot of us when we begin to really analyze our time-sucking habits).

Here are a few changes that I made that dramatically boosted my overall productivity:

Dirty Habit: Wake up, check my iphone for new emails before I even rolled out of bed, take a shower and then get into the office where I’d again check my email and spend time “researching” (a.k.a surfing the Internet forums needlessly)

Changes: Wake up, shower and head into the office. Email program does not get opened until I have checked off at least two items on my “to do” list.  For the most part, I challenge myself to see how much I can get done before I give in and load up my mail program.  (As a constant email checking fanatic THIS was a challenge)

Results:  Just by pushing my email until the end of the day, I have increased my overall productivity by 200%.  Emails are an important part of your online business, especially customer support issues however regardless of your industry or market they CAN and should be pushed down your priority list until you have completed other things.  Checking your email every 60 seconds will kill your productivity faster than anything else.

Dirty Habit: Browse forums and websites and check my voice mail messages throughout the day, log onto chat programs and Instant messengers.

Changes: I avoid forums, communities and boards like the plague. And this also applies to social communities (yes, you need to step away from your twitter account )..  It really amazed me to really evaluate just how much time I spent updating my “status”, posting tweets, Facebook messages, checking voice mail, and browsing thread after thread on industry forums.  ALL of this behavior will sabotage your efforts, and keep you sitting at your desk for hours and hours a day while making absolutely no progress.

Note to self: More than 5 browser tabs open at once is a no-no.

Instead, reward yourself with an hour of “browse time” at the end of your work day, or better yet, get off the computer and spend some time with your friends and family.  You need to recharge your batteries in order to be at your best.

(I know it’s tough. that Skype message blinking can be really hard not to click on, and the thought of missing someone’s tweet might drive you crazy at first, depending on how much of an addict you are, but believe me, once you’ve begun to make these changes and see just how much more you get done in a day, you’ll wish you had started making these changes sooner.)

After one week of making small but steady changes to the way I structured my workday, I was able to:

• Write 3 ebooks (60+ pages)
• Write 7 reports
• Write 2 Sales pages
• Set up an entire blog with a customized theme (the one you’re on right now =)
• Set up 2 JVs with other developers
• Found time to actually call my mother

______________________________________

As for time management courses, there are literally hundreds available online and I’ve read through dozens of them only to be told that the secret to effectively boosting my productivity was to shut down my Internet connection (as if that’s going to happen) or to go to extremes with blocking out all forms of human contact.

If you work from home with a family and kids, that’s much easier said than done. Instead, you need to work around all obstacles and balance out every workday so at the end of it all, you’re able to feel good about the progress you made.

The best and most straightforward course on time management that I’ve ever read (and watched, as there are videos included) was released by Jason Fladlien. You can check it out at: http://imtimemanagement.com/ (no aff link)

Each month, I update PLR Grab to feature a new PLR package, absolutely free.

These website packages come with everything you need including:

• Website Design
• High Quality Info Product
• Affiliate Center (with animated banners)
• Pre-written Sales page
• Thank you / Download Page
• PSD Files for all included graphics

And best of all, FULL unrestricted private label rights.

This month’s package features “Social Marketing Exposed”, a complete feature laden PLR package showcasing a 110+ page ebook and more.

Grab your license before it’s gone!

Next Month:  Traffic Generation Strategies

Subscribe to the list to receive notification of brand new FREE releases.

To help you get through the process, I’ve created a “Quick & Easy Blog Transfer Guide”, that you can download absolutely free.

Note: The transfer guide features HostGator as the hosting provider, however the transfer guidelines apply to the majority of hosting providers, including NameCheap, GoDaddy and DreamHost.

I sent him a copy of my Blog Flipping guide and let him have a go at it (I’m not a big fan of hand-holding.. and believe the best way to learn is to take a hands on approach).

Here’s what happened.. (and this is for EVERY newbie out there who doesn’t feel that this can work for them)

Within a few days of reading my blog flipping guide, he thought he knew enough to give it a shot and spent the weekend working on his first blog.  He used a simple yet well organized theme, modeled his site after the ones that sold successfully in the marketplace (similar topics, layout, styling), and applied everything he learned to his brand new shiny website.

Now, keep in mind, my brother had NEVER created a blog before, knew absolutely nothing about online business and had never been involved in “website flipping”.  

This kid was as green as green can get.

But he did what 99% of my newbie friends fail to do.. he studied a simple guide – without getting overwhelmed with too much information at once – applied what he learned – and took that first step forward (which as you know, is often the hardest one to take).

He didn’t let the noise and clutter of the marketplace scare him off.  He didn’t download a dozen “how to” guides and cram as much information  into his poor little brain as possible in the shortest amount of time (and boy, that’s often a very hard thing NOT to do)

He took a straight & narrow path from A to Z … one step at a time.

After a weekend of working on his blog, it was finished and ready to go.  He priced the blog at $197, and pulled the trigger.

And believe it not, he sold that baby within a day.

No feedback.. brand new account, no name, no reputation and he didn’t even claim association to me in his listing..  no edge over the competition, no experience online – just him, a copy of my blog flipping blueprint and a strong desire to make money online the fastest and easiest way he knew how.

And he sold that darn thing, despite over 50 other similar listings from experienced blog flippers (like me) pushing him down in the marketplace.

Now, needless to say – he’s absolutely hooked and is eager to learn more about the flipping industry so that he can build more websites in less time.  The look on his face when he got his first BIN though, is one I will never forget..  Despite how successful I have been with website flipping, he looked absolutely shocked that it “worked“.  He was thrilled, and of course, wanting to learn even more so that he could continue to enhance the blogs he’s selling.

I learned a great deal from my experience of watching someone like him who had never tried making money online take information, read it, apply it and make it work for him.

There’s a lot to be said about that level of determination and most of us, with years and years of experience under our belt often forget how frustrating it was when we first got started..  It takes real dedication, even more so than skill or “natural ability”..  We overlook the most obvious method of being successful in new markets..  learn, absorb, apply … and of course, a bit of tunnel vision blocking out all the noise around you until you reach your objective sure doesn’t hurt.

Kudos to my brother and every other newbie like him who makes the decision that “I am going to do this” and does.

To always moving forward,

Kate