Quote: (06-08-2014 02:55 PM)2014 Wrote:
Thanks for the thread Vince.
Sounds stupid perhaps, but I've taught English for 5 years, have an MA TESOL and make very easy money in Asia. Would there be a niche teaching how to do it? I don't think so, but how about some other angle you could imagine?
Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Saudi Arabia
Spend a few weeks doing leisurely research online. Look in forums and on blogs (the comments sections too) to see what kinds of questions people are asking about this niche, e.g. "how to make good money as a teacher in Asia", "how to make more money than the average TEFLer/TESOLer" and any other kinds of knowledge and tricks that somebody starting wouldn't know but you would.
Then think about how you could possibly help solve their problems. Maybe an eBook, maybe a video course, etc. You might even defer creating anything and just start blogging about the topic and giving away a lot of valuable advice for free. Then survey and outright ask your readers what kind of information they'd be willing to pay you for. There's your first digital product, with market research done for you and a validated concept (i.e. people are willing to give you money for this thing).
I'm greatly simplifying because building a blog audience takes time and most blogs fail miserably (including several of my own). But if you can find and attract your audience, solve their problems elegantly and ask them straight up what they need, you can do well. It takes some time though.
Quote: (06-08-2014 04:48 PM)Jackr Wrote:
Nice thread VV.
What sort of volume did that copywriting thread generate? And were you asking those prices ($35 / $65 / $95) straight out of the gate?
That thread was for article writing, NOT copywriting. Just to clarify...
I had more volume than I could possibly handle. I was writing for 8 hours a day at one point. I started getting carpal tunnel. Even with premium pricing like $35 for a 500-word article, you're still looking at between 1-2 hours per article because in order to justify that pricing I had really deliver quality work.
This meant researching, drafting, editing, re-editing and then making changes if the client asked for them. I was in the US at the time so it wasn't enough money for the work but if I had been in Asia I might have stuck with it.
Just to RE-reiterate, writing is sort of an archetypal example of a service to offer but I don't recommend offering it, specifically. You'll want to find a service that has more room for growth in terms of acquiring knowledge and has a higher income potential (because you can corner that subniche).
I'll give you a real life example I saw the other day. One of my clients asked me if I could set up some of his forum software for him. But my knowledge of forums is pretty basic. I've set up myBB before (which is the forum software that runs this very forum) but there's a lot to configuring forums.
So he found a guy on oDesk who was specializes specifically in setting up forums and he charged a healthy hourly rate. The barrier to entry for this kind of service is higher because it requires poring over documentation, figuring out settings, etc. But it doesn't really require any kind of special education. You just have to read and do; read and do.
Then if you can brand yourself as THE Forum Setup Specialist, who do you think people will go to when they need forum help...?