Report # 3: A Simple Action Plan

The business model chosen and described in the past report considered packing my knowledge in a document (that may become in itself an e-book), which generates a power point presentation, which then transforms in a course that is sold through a digital platform and with marketing activities. For those users who want more, a personalized coaching is offered via e-mail or videoconference. 

A couple of weeks ago I had a new support to my initiative. A Chilean University offered me to use their multimedia premises to generate my contents, in return they would use them in their online courses exclusively for a given time. They were interested in this "digital competencies for analogical managers" thing. The name is beginning to be catchy, since it is easy to understand and visualize the contents of the Course. A TV content producer offered me the same to run the course in their TV platform. I'll have both. I think that the more formats you offer your contents, the better. Once they are all available, you may assess which performs better. 

The thing is, packing knowledge in a format that can be used massively is not about yourself just taking in front of your webcam with power point presentation and recording if your computer´s screen. Writing what your will say in that presentation is the first task, and I am finding it is a tiresome one. You come up with something which is okay for an e-book, but clearly won´t do for a lecture. Anyhow the first of the 9 modules of the course is already written in Spanish. I think that for the English version it is not a matter of using Google Translator. It must be edited and writen differently, though the concepts remain the same. As my english editor in these posts says, there are terms in Spanish that must be broken to pieces so they can be better understood in English. 

Anyway, this first chapter took me over a month to write, and it was twice as big as I had thought it would be. Now I must transform what is written into "knowledge capsules" following the best practices I have found in the MOOCs I have attended so far. They are small capsules. There is no standard length of the lecture. There are virtual activities (watch a video, read a blog, answer a quiz) linked to the capsule. Even the with the e-book, there is a lot more than just writing it down: you must also do the self-publishing work. But all of this is encouraging. To take it with humor, there are digital skills to be learned in producing a course on digital skills. 

This is my action plan for the forecoming months:

By end of June I must have produced this first module and published the first module's e-book, in both languages. By February of next year all 9 modules must be produced and uploaded. A tight agenda considering I must continue with my regular activity. 

During 2014 the focus will be on massive marketing, though improvements of what has been so far produced must be attended as well. So, by the end of 2014 I must have a consistent flow of income from my online activities, which will allow me to get independent from my actual income source, and rely solely on what the Internet produces. The thing is new consulting opportunities are coming their way, with many attractive ones which are like the mermaids chants to Odiseus. I have decided I will take only those who strengthen this 2015 project, and leave the rest.

So, the action plan is decided upon, and now it is all just hard work. 

In my next report I will talk of a tool I discovered recently which allowed me to save lots of time in what massive marketing is concerned. It also allows to make money while learning, though it is not in the core of my project. 

I want to thank all who have written me to my LinkedIn account and my personal e-mail giving me their support. This one thing I want to share: regardless of your age, life is a wonderful rainbow of opportunities and when it comes to a job, the colors of the rainbow are seen when you replace in your mindset "looking for a job" by "working on what I love and have talent"

¡Just try!

Alfredo Barriga

Second Report: on the Business Model

One of the first steps you must make if you want to live from what the Internet gives is to build a good business model. We are in the best of worlds regarding this aspect: it has been only 20 years since the World Wide Web started, so there are plenty of open opportunities. On the other hand, we have 20 years of experience, so there is enough empiric evidence on what works and what doesn´t.

I have discovered three key issues for success:

1) Create a Customer Value Proposition (CVP) that the customer can´t refuse. It is not about "free" as in "no charge". I love the business model created by Apple around iTunes: in a time when piracy was in full splendor, they made a bet: people are willing to pay for owning their favorite music, as long it is only their favorite music, and the price is one they can´t refuse. So they came up with selling songs on a one-to-one basis for 99 cents. Even the optimists or even the most optimistic at Apple forecasted there would be one million downloads within 6 months. The reality was that there were 6 million downloads during the first six days, and 10 billion downloads in the first 4 years. The whole music industry changed forever with this Business Model, which in fact saved the music industry.

2) Create a product that targets a massive market: something you can say with a certain level of certainty will be interesting to millions of people - even though in the end only a few thousand might buy it. There is a huge virtual circle being generated around the Internet. Of the approximately 2 billion people accessing the internet, most are not yet taking advantage of what is available on line.

When you have a good experience with ICTs you want more. When you have a bad experience, and you become frustrated, you want nothing more do with it. It’s an emotional experience.  It follows that you need to create a product that can be comfortably implemented by the buyer. If the buyer’s self-confidence builds while using your product, she will recommend it to others.


Which brings me to the third key issue.

3) Make a good product, not necessarily a perfect product. Ok, some companies really hit the ball with great products (ask Apple) but also there is great success when good enough is good enough (ask Microsoft). I have done a thorough investigation on what is sold on the Web regarding contents and found out that good enough is good enough. There are products sold for $2,000 which are far from being wonderfully designed products, but they are successful because they provide what people need.  I bought one such expensive product because it gave me one thing I am scarce of: time. To learn all that I learned would have taken me more than 200 hours, and my hourly fee is a lot more than the price I paid for the product. So, it was a good investment for me, but it also taught me you can create a product that can sell for thousands of dollars if it is able to give in a short time what normally would take a long time. And what I intend to do has that feature. I will speak of this product that saved me so much time in another blog

What I am developing - contents that make "analogical" managers acquire digital skills -is not as massive as songs from iTunes might be. But I can bet comfortably that most organizations are managed by people who still have not found the pay back of using digital platforms - yet, they know they are important. So, even if it doesn´t cover the whole Internet population, it still appeals to a massive market.

So, what I will create is a packaged “know how” that can be delivered massively, for a price which will be impressively lower than what I would charge for providing the same knowledge on an hourly basis.  Since this is a process in which I cannot wait until I have a perfect product, I will also offer online coaching, by e mail or Skype, with a monthly fee the first month and an hourly fee the second month. That coaching will ensure continuous improvement of the product. The ideal scenario would be that, as the product improves, at some point no one would need the personalized coaching, so that all my energies will be focused on the massive product. This massive product is where both supply and demand have their best deal: supplier gets back more money for the time invested, whereas demand gets what it needs at the lowest price possible. That is a huge disruption in the traditional business model of content-based services, and a great opportunity.

I want to thank the support I have already received with the initiative of writing everything I do in my blog. Support from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google + and from the blog itself. I feel more accountable with that support. You people are putting pressure on me, which is exactly what I intended as a side benefit of this chronicle. I already have people subscribed to my UDEMY account, where nothing yet has been delivered. Now I feel obliged to produce something that is worth the confidence received. I have many people in my country who have become enthusiastic about traveling the same road, and making their own story. That is the idea! The more, the merrier. There are enough places for all who want to come along. By sharing our experiences, all will benefit.

Next report, I will bring forth a Plan with defined milestones and dates... to heighten the pressure even more!

Alfredo Barriga

Copy editor – Sharon Diotte

A journey to freedom and Independence with the Internet – Report #1

I have been writing lots of posts about the knowledge society, the knowledge economy and the Internet economy - which is growing at a 15% annual rate, is creating 2.6 jobs for each one it destroys, has a GDP that surpassed that of Canada in 2010 and moved 8 trillion dollars in e-commerce in the same year. Yet, up to now, all my incomes have been offline.

 

I woke up a couple of months ago and said to myself “What the hell am I doing? What is the point of writing on the wonders of the knowledge society and the Internet economy while standing outside staring it? And then I made a decision: by the year 2015, all my income will come from what I do in the Internet, and I will withdraw myself from all other activities (consulting in e-marketing, marketing of technologies and face to face classes).

 

Last week I made another decision: I will document the whole process and give it away for free through my blog. I’d love to help other people find their own way to freedom and independence. I have often written in these very pages about how the world would be a better place if everyone could work where most talented, and where she or he likes best. It is time to start doing so myself, thereby making a small contribution to that better world. If many follow, the more, the merrier!

 

I have accrued expertise in understanding information technologies from a business point of view: how ICTs can make a difference in every organization to achieve their goals. I have been digital mentor to a number of managers, including a President of this nation. There is a huge need among managers who are not digital natives to better understand how ICTs can work for their organization. But they want it told from a business point of view. No bits, no bytes.

 

I can package that “know how” and sell it online. It is about digital skills for analogical managers. I am working on the details of packaging that knowledge in the most efficient way to ensure sales. I must transform that knowledge into “knowledge capsules”: user friendly lessons that can be assimilated by people who are not experts in ICT. I must find the best digital platform where to sell these capsules. I must produce my contents much like movies are produced. I must investigate the business of selling thousands of contents, which means driving traffic to where they are available, at a user value that is obviously higher than the price I charge.

 

Year 2013 will be a learning and producing year. Year 2014 will be a launching and selling year. Year 2015 will be a “good bye to traditional income flow” year, when I will detach from all activities I have been doing up to now and fully embrace a 100% income flow from the Internet.

 

Last week I met Jarredt Kopf, an American angel investor and Founder of Adroll. He came to Chile to see how VCs work in this country. He told me that I should reach my target a lot earlier than expected. Okay, that would be great. So my 2015 target is now the latest target date to achieve my goal. I could achieve it by 2014. Earlier than that, I cannot because I have commitments to honor in my traditional business for 2013 and part of 2014.

 

What have I learned so far?

 

The first lesson in this journey is to find out which is your core knowledge (a content that is highly valuable and that can be packed and sold at a far lower price than it would be if it had to be delivered on a one to one basis). That one is checked.

 

The second lesson is that you must focus on that core knowledge. In the process of learning how to live from Internet only, many big opportunities will arise. I have had them in the past and will continue to have them in the future. The one criteria to decide what to take and what to leave is “does this help me in my core knowledge delivery?” Being an enthusiast of things related to the Internet, it is very easy to end up pecking here and there, to end up doing nothing. Since I made this decision, I have been overwhelmed by all the opportunities the Internet brings to those who seek them. Making decisions on which to pick and prioritize is a big skill to move on quickly.

 

The third lesson is that you must plan ahead and determine each step of the way: what skills you already have to make your goal, what skills you must acquire, what your business model will be, how you will completely detach from your present working paradigms. The latter is especially hard, since money still flows from those established source, and new income is still possible. Sticking to a couple of income sources that take no more than 50% of your time while developing the new income source is a tougher task than I had thought

 

Last, but not least, making my personal challenge public is not only to help others in their own journey for freedom and independence. It is a way to introduce accountability in my own process. Being publicly accountable is a powerful incentive to change your working paradigms and habits, since inertia to go on with the old ways is also very powerful. Tell it to your friends, tell it to your family, or tell it to the world: whatever you feel will benefit you most.

 

I hope I produce useful tips here for all who want their own independence and freedom journey to happen. You are all invited to make any comments you want to. With that feedback, I can make my journey a better one, and in reporting about it I can spread its benefits to all. It is one of the things in the Internet that I like most: win/win opportunities.

 

Adam Smith said that if each one focused on a selfish goal an “invisible hand” would provide the best to everyone. Clearly, after more than 200 years, that has not worked out. Internet is showing it works the other way: if each one gives to the betterment of the rest, an “invisible hand” will provide what is best for the self.

 

Or, as Kevin Kelly put it in his TED conference in 2007, “to share is to gain”. That is why I share this experience with all who want to follow.

Alfredo Barriga