do you LIVE or simply EXIST

Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting multi-millionaire Robert G. Allen. It was at the first annual Bookwise convention. He spoke about a subject that I have become more interested in lately: infopreneuring.

(He’s wearing an eyepatch because he just had laser surgery to repair a detached retina that morning.)

I became aware of Robert Allen one night after a late night infomercial on real estate investing. I didn’t buy his product, but I googled him to find out more about him. That was the start of my studies in real estate investing. It has helped me earn a little extra money. ($1,750 so far, but working on doing much more).

I enjoyed his talk very much. He explained how an infopreneur is the opposite of a book publisher. Publishers, he said, have no idea how to market their books. They publish 400 books a year, wait to see which 3 or 4 randomly (luckily) take off, then concentrate their advertising on those 3 or 4.

An infopreneur, on the other hand goes “deep” instead of going “wide” like a publisher. The infopreneur has one product that he develops multiple methods to capitalize on.

Take the example of Allen’s book, Nothing Down. This started out as just a book. Then it turned into a seminar. Then weekend long “boot camps.” The private coaching. You get the idea. He took one concept and developed multiple paths to capitalize on it.

It got me thinking about what product I could promote online. I don’t have the answer yet, but I will be thinking about it. In his article, infopreneuring, Allen says each of us has at least one good book in them, and that story, if properly packaged, can turn into a lifetime stream of income.