Back in 2001 I almost stumbled onto this secret…
You see, that was when I first released a “viral” electronic book (ebook) that was meant to be passed around on the Web. That part worked great. In fact, as I wrote this I went to Google and typed in the name of the ebook “Million Dollar Emails” in quotes and it still came up with 72,200 references 4+ years later. That’s 72,200 websites that are selling, giving away or mentioning my ebook – so I can only imagine how many countless copies are circulating on the web.
But this isn’t the point. The point is the two magic words, right?
I can almost hear you screaming, “C’mon Yanik – give me those two words already, Buddy!”
I promise I will but not quite yet…
Let’s fast forward a few years to 2003, and I’ve pretty much forgotten about my little eBook adventure and the fact it included the “two magic words” on the cover (oops there’s a hint). You see, I was considering the idea of coming clean about a hidden way to literally “steal” an almost endless source of content (on practically any subject you could imagine). That’s when I decided to go ahead and hold a two-hour call to spill the beans about how I’d been able tap into this mountain of public domain information for years and years. Plus, I asked a legal expert and two other guests, who have had success with public domain, to be part of this call. (That’s the www.PublicDomainRiches.com/?51525 product)
After setting up the details, I made a quick announcement to my subscribers and the response was crazy. I thought I’d need maybe 150-200 phones lines but I sold 850+ seats to this teleconference call @ $49/spot or $97 if they wanted an audio CD sent to them. For about two-plus hours of work, I made a tidy $47,926, but more importantly, I knew this had hit a major hot button.
That’s why, after the call I simply asked the 800+ attendees one question – “What is the one lingering question you still have about finding, using and profiting from public domain?”
Okay nothing fancy but the responses and answers I got gave me the ideas for a follow-up product. They told me there needed to be a much more comprehensive and advanced program that took people step-by-step through the process – starting with finding and selecting public domain works and exactly how to profit from them. I decided to hold a private “eclass” for 15 people in which I delivered lessons and homework assignments via email for eight weeks to attendees. (This eclass sold-out five consecutive times until I stopped offering it as a live course and turned it into a home-study course.)
On top of the requests for more advanced help, the responses we got from the survey also centered around “How can I be sure a work is really copyright-free?” and “How can I find a good market or niche to sell information to?”
After reading those questions – I decided the next thing I’d offer in the “Public Domain Riches” family would be something I named “Public Domain Goldmine™”. This product was a “fish”. Huh? You’ve certainly heard the expression about “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. But teach him to fish and you feed him for life.” Well, that’s B.S.! People today are busier than ever and they don’t want to learn “how to fish”. They’d rather have their fish grilled and served them on their plate ready to eat with a little mango chutney on the side.
The Goldmine product included a bunch of different public domain works plus all the pieces people would need to profits from them (i.e. market research, keyword research, back-end products, etc). Like I said – this really is the “fish” with everything done for them.
I had a really strong feeling this would take off and it did!
We brought in $71,624 in less than 48 hours and we sold out all 250 packages available in 9 days flat! And we went on to sell out every other Public Domain Goldmine™ package that’s been released since this first one.
How? A big part is using those 2 magic words I’ve been teasing you with…
Okay ready to hear them? Drum roll please…..
….They are: “Volume I”.
That’s it. I know it seems almost too simple but if people like your “Volume I” – guess what they’ll want? Of course, Volume II, III, IV, etc.
Really, this has tons of applications if you give it some thought. Here’s a quick example from Hollywood. Think about Quentin Tarantino’s film “Kill Bill”. Quentin shrewdly set himself up with a built-in audience for the sequel because he named the first film “Kill Bill: Volume I”.
Hey, I went to go see “Kill Bill: Volume 1” and then afterwards I had to see complete the story by going back to the theater and plunking down my money again for “Kill Bill: Volume II”.
By automatically setting up “sequels” you can get your customers practically begging you for more and more and more.
