Let’s say you want to start a new business, but you need some capital to do it. Maybe you want to start making apps or some other kind of software. Or you need software for your own social networking site, or whatever. Here’s how to get others to fund it for you.

As you are building your business, record everything. Every problem you solve, every step you take, every misstep you make – take notes of everything.

Offer these notes for sale to others who want to do the same thing you’re doing. For example, if you’re building apps then you’d sell your info to other people who want to make money with apps, too.

You might offer them a weekly update as you progress. Or bundle it all together and sell it when you’re done. It’s up to you, but frankly the idea of letting your customers watch you as you set up your new business and turn a profit can be pretty exciting for them and motivating for you. Plus, you’ll get paid up front.

Offer this insider info for a reasonable price, and remember to offer an appropriate upsell as well. The right upsell will more than double your profits. Use this money to fund your business, and you’ve basically started a business for free – not a bad deal at all.

You’ve likely seen comments in IM forums such as: “How much will I have to spend to do this?” Or, “I won’t have to spend any money to start this $1,000 a week business, right?”

Yeah. Right.

Where did the notion come from that it should cost zero dollars to start a real business? If you open a barber shop or a donut shop or a flower shop, I guarantee you will need funding for the shop, the supplies, the tools, the counters, cases, inventory, etc.

Yet somehow we’re under the impression that doing it online should be free.

I have 3 words for you: Get over it.

If this is your way of thinking, then just get over it. You will spend the next year searching high and low for the magical, mythical business you can start for zero dollars and be making a grand a month within the week.

And you’re as likely to find it as you are a bag full of unicorn horns.

Here’s how a real business person would think: “Okay, I’m a marketer, not a web designer. So instead of mucking about for the next six months to build a website and a sales funnel, I’m going to outsource the whole thing and have it done in a week, two weeks tops.

“And while that is happening, I’m going to create a free report to give away to build my email list. And while I’m at it, I’m going to create an OTO (One Time Offer), too, so I can immediately start making a few sales from my new subscribers.”

Of course, if you’re not a writer, either, then you would outsource the report and the OTO as well.

The point is, if your specialty is marketing, then that’s where you need to put your focus. Let other experts handle the stuff you’re not good at while you do what you do best.

The difference between trying to do it all yourself (the “free” way) and hiring pros to help you is usually about 6 months. That’s right – try to do it all yourself and you will lose 6 months of business growth and profits.

Or it could take even longer. I know of one ‘marketer’ who has been trying to figure out the tech stuff for over two years. That’s two years he could have been building his business, but instead he’s trying to do everything himself rather than pay someone. That has got to be the most expensive version of ‘free’ that I’ve ever seen.

Outsource your challenges and focus on what you do best. This is the fastest way to get into profit, with the least amount of headaches and hassles. You’ll be glad you did.

You could not be blamed if you think a blog exists to inform and entertain its readers. After all, a blog really isn’t much different than a magazine, right? And a magazine exists to inform and entertain its readers. Right?

Actually, this is the exact point where many information marketers go horribly wrong.

Let’s pull up a quote from an ad executive named James Collins:

“There is still an illusion to the effect that a magazine is a periodical in which advertising is incidental. But we don’t look at it that way. A magazine is simply a device to induce people to read advertising. It is a large booklet with two departments – entertainment and business. The entertainment department finds stories, pictures, verse, etc. to interest the public. The business department makes the money.”

James Collins said that in ’07.

That is, 1907.

And it’s as true today as it was then. Maybe even more so, with the advent of the Internet.

Why do websites make you click links to read the following pages in an article, rather than putting it all on one page??

Why do websites make lists of “The Top 20 __” and then make you scroll through each one, rather than putting the entire list on one page? It’s to expose you, the reader, to more ads. If you have to go to 3 different pages or 20 different slides to finish an article, you’re exposed to 3 times or even 20 times the number of ads.

As a content marketer, you must focus on two things:

Providing interesting content. It could be entertaining or informative or both, so long as it captures and holds attention. But the content isn’t what’s keeping you in profit – it’s the products you’re selling. Content is simply a means to a sale.

Making a profit. This profit could come from ads on the page, or products you promote, or even products you create and sell.

One business, two functions: Entertainment and business.

When you view your business in this light, everything becomes much more clear. You suddenly know what it is that you have to do, and more importantly, what you don’t have to do.

Look at it this way: The only purpose for your content (blog posts, articles, podcasts, free ebooks, tweets, posts, etc.) is to gather the specific audience you want.

So you choose your audience and then tailor your content accordingly.

Now then, ideally you want your audience to sign up to your email list. This makes it far easier to do the business side of your business. Otherwise you are dependent on readers to click your ads or buy your products. But with a list, you can send emails to your prospects promoting products they can buy.

Your focus should be on turning every reader you can into a subscriber. And when you do, you offer them whatever it is that they already want.

Find out their desires and sell them the solutions and products they already want. Don’t try to forge new paths by educating your audience on what they “should” want. This is an uphill battle you will lose. Instead, discover what they already desire and also how they like to be sold. Then act accordingly.

Remember: Your content is simply a device to induce people to read and act upon your marketing. It’s that simple.

As you know, there is a lot of money to be made in working with offline businesses. If they don’t have a site you can build one for them. If they have a site but it’s not mobile friendly, you can build them a mobile site. If they’re not doing video, you can do that for them. If they’re not building a list, you can get that started for them and so forth. The possibilities are nearly endless, and there’s tons of support on how to do it.

But here’s the sticking point for most online marketers: They do not want to go out and talk to business owners.

So if you’re one of those who prefers to stay at your desk, then how can you cash in on offline marketing? Simple – hire a sales person. Pay that person a commission such as 50% of profits or a straight 25% off the top. This way you only pay when you make money.

And if you don’t want to be the one to provide the services, you can always outsource that as well.

This is a great side business for marketers. You’re still free to focus on your online business, diverting your attention to offline only when there is a sale. And it’s a great opportunity for the sales person, because they can pursue it in their spare time.

And if you’re outsourcing the work, you probably only need to spend a few hours per week to make this work.

There’s an expression that the first million dollars is the hardest to earn. It’s also true that your first business is the hardest to start. But once you’ve got one business, why not branch out and create a second business?

If you do, you’ll have another revenue stream, as well as added security. After all, if you have two different lists and two different sets of products and something happens to one, you’ve still got the other.

You’ll also find that by expanding into a new business, you’ll get your old enthusiasm back. Remember when you started your first business, how exciting it was? You can have that excitement again by starting something new.

And then there’s cross promotion. Choose your second business correctly and you can market your second business’ product to the customers of your first business, and vice a versa.

So let’s say you sell info products to the dating market – how about starting a dating app business, too?

Or maybe you sell financial products, like how to invest money. You could branch out to how to make money, and sell those products to your investment list, and so forth.

You might think you won’t have the time or possibly the skills to take on a second business. But no worries – just outsource the work. And remember, the true money maker in business and in marketing is creative thinking. You can always get someone else to handle the details for you.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you likely have hidden assets you can sell. For example, do you write a newsletter? Then you can sell a bundle of back issues. Do you send out emails? You can bundle these as well for other marketers to use.

How about blog posts – do you have enough to package them into a book? Have you developed any software? If so, you can sell the rights to it, or the resell rights.

Have you developed a squeeze page that works remarkably well? Why not sell the template?

The list goes on and on, but the bottom line is this: Take a good look at your business and see what hidden assets you can sell for a tidy profit. And continue to search for the hidden assets, because sometimes they’re hiding in plain sight.

For example, let’s say you’ve developed a system for hiring and training outsourcers for your business. You take this for granted, but to other business owners this information could be worth a great deal.

Or maybe you’ve developed a blog post template and writing system that quickly creates blog posts that tend to get shared a great deal through social media. You’ve been doing it for years, so again you take it for granted. But there are other blog owners and writers who would pay a small fortune to know what you know.

Don’t under estimate the value of your systems and various assets. There is a learning curve to everything, and guaranteed there are people out there who will pay you to help them shorten that curve.

What if you had an entire membership site full of the latest videos in your niche? And what if you gave access to that membership site for just the cost of an email address? Do you think you could build your list?

Obviously, the more value you offer your visitors for joining your list, the more likely they are to say yes. And while a report or a single video can work well, an entire membership site that is continually updated can work even better.

But how do you do it in just a couple of hours per month? By using YouTube videos. As you know, there’s almost nothing you cannot find on YouTube. So if you’re willing to do the research, you can find videos that fit your niche perfectly. Embed them into your membership site and add your own introductions to each.

That’s it! You can make this as simple or as extensive as you like, but in either case it’s not going to take you all that much time. And in return, you’ll have what might be the ultimate list building incentive.

Let’s say you have a product for brick and mortar businesses on how to get more customers. If you take the exact same information that is in your product, but customize it for a specific niche, you can charge more AND make more sales.

For example, you customize the info for chiropractors and market it exclusively to chiropractors. Sales will actually be easier to make for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s easier to reach your audience when you are being specific. Second, chiropractors will see the info is just for them, and be far more likely to buy than if it was generic. So it’s easier to reach your audience, and easier to sell to them when you find them.

But perhaps the biggest benefit of all is that you can sell your product for more money because it is geared specifically towards chiropractors. And you can do this in multiple niches: Contractors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc.

Let’s use another niche – weight loss. You have a generic product on how to lose weight, which means you are competing against every other weight loss product out there. But if you focus your product just for men over 60, or just for college women, or just for people in cold climates who can’t get outside to exercise, you’ve created more opportunities to target and sell your information. And you can continue to customize your info as many times as you can find markets. If you can reach your specific audience, you can do this.

This could be a business all on its own. You can go to any product owner and strike a deal where you take their info and customize it and then sell it. If you do, be sure you negotiate for a high percentage of the profits, since you will be doing the customizing and the work.

Or better yet, simply buy rights to the information and then you can keep all the profits for yourself.

Humans are insecure in nearly everything. For example, there’s the mother who’s worried she’s not being a good mom, the manager who suspects his career has stalled and the internet marketer who thinks everyone is doing better than she is.

You can play on these insecurities to build your list or sell your product. And by doing so, you can actually help these folks to get over their insecurities.

For example, every mom worries she’s either doing things wrong, not doing things she should be doing or in some other way totally screwing up her child. So if you use a headline such as, “Find out what other moms do when their child misbehaves” or “Discover what the best moms know that you don’t,” odds are you’re going to get a great response.

In the case of the manager, you might use: “Learn what other managers are earning” or “Discover how other managers get promoted in record time.”

And for the internet marketer: “Find out what other marketers are really doing to make money” or “Discover what other marketers know that you don’t” will probably work really well.

Then of course, be sure to deliver whatever you promised. This not only works well to get your prospect to act – it also positions you as a knowledgeable authority they can turn to for information and products.

There are two methods for making money in the “make money online” niche when you’re new, you’re broke and you’re just getting started.

The first one is to fake it until you make it. Fake screen shots, fake your income, fake your expertise and hope no one notices. The problem is, someone is guaranteed to notice – you. And who wants to start a business as a faker? Hopefully not you. It doesn’t feel good, for one thing. It probably messes with your head and makes you doubt that you will ever be a REAL success.

Instead, try method #2: Be real. Instead of selling “how I made $100,000 in 30 days” type of info, sell tools. Or be an affiliate. Or start a blog and give your opinion. And let others watch as you build your business for real.

Let’s look at each of those.

First, sell tools and be an affiliate. This means offering software and info that you are either using or find to be valuable. Give your opinion and why it’s worth buying. Be sincere. Don’t offer junk. This is your good name and reputation you’re building.

Next, start a blog and give your opinion. Yes, some will say you have no right to have an opinion until you’ve made $1,000,000 in the business, or whatever. Who cares? When you’ve made a million they’ll still be saying that. And they’ll still be broke, too.

People like to read opinions. You’ll resonate with some, and those folks will become your loyal followers and customers. The rest? It doesn’t matter.

Lastly, let others watch as you build your business. People who want to start a business are fascinated to watch others do it. Those who already have like to help out those who are trying.

So by being real, by being honest, by showing what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and the results you’re getting, you’ll get even more loyal followers. And you might just get a helping hand now and then as well.