The Art of Business – Can You Sell Your Knowledge as Part of Your Business?

Selling your knowledge as a STRATEGIC part of your business

Many of the most common issues my clients run into before deciding to work with me stem from them not thinking about their course and their business together strategically, before jumping in and creating.

The key to success when planning to sell your knowledge as a part of your wider business is to think about how it will fit into and alongside the rest of your business and if you will be selling to the same customers as you are with your other products and offers.

Your customers for your knowledge product will likely be the same customers that you already have. In fact, you might want to include a product like this for free in any premium photography packages you sell to help your customers to get the most out of their time with you.

What do I mean here?

If for example, you have a photography business, you could sell:

• A product, such as an eBook or video course, which prepares your customers for a photo shoot with you. It might contain styling tips or information on how to relax in front of the camera. Here you are adding a knowledge product to an existing service.

• A product, such as an eBook or video course, which prepares potential future customers for a photoshoot (with you or with other photographers). This might contain similar information to the suggestion above, but your audience here probably wouldn’t be the customers who are buying from you already. This product would be more popular and more useful for people who need to make the most of their future investment in professional photography and who want to know what to expect so that they can prepare well in advance.

• A product, such as an eBook or video course, which helps other photographers to set their own customers up for a successful photoshoot. Again, this might contain similar content to the options described above but here the audience is other photographers and not the current or potential customers of the photography business. I know that this might worry some of you but remember that other people are rarely our direct competition – as small business owners we deliver our knowledge, products, and services in highly unique ways. That is a big part of what our customers are looking for when they shop with us.

Can you see that in all these examples the knowledge being sold is probably similar, but how it fits into the wider photography business is quite different?

The way the photographer would talk about the same knowledge in each product will be tailored to a different audience. Each option has pros and cons. And there is potential to make all three options work for the same business. In the end, the right strategic fit would depend on the photographer, their current business state, their future business goals, and their customers wants and needs.

The questions further down this post will help you to think about this kind of strategic planning for knowledge products in your own business.

Selling your knowledge doesn’t have to be a part of your business!

Yes, I know that was the title of this blog post (and of the original workshop) but if you can share your valuable knowledge on some other subject alongside growing your business then don’t limit yourself by thinking that everything must fit together within your business.

Starting and growing a business is hard and takes time. Finding ways to support yourself whilst you do it is important and should be talked about more often.

A good example of how this can work comes from a lady I was speaking to at a coworking session recently. She is growing business in the health and wellbeing sector, but her previous job required her to be a whizz at Excel. She is highly personable, approachable, and patient. She could consider offering one-to-one support or workshops for new business owners on the basics of using Excel for bookkeeping. This would not be tied to her growing business but would be an effective way to bring revenue into her business whilst it was growing. She would be selling her Excel knowledge in the short-term to support her core business development goals.

So, where do you start with all this knowledge selling?

If you have got this far and still think that selling your knowledge could be a promising idea for you and your business work through the following questions. Being honest with yourself and your answers should allow you to ease into the next steps of selling your knowledge.

I would personally write my answers to these questions down, take a break, and come back to them later to review them. Talking these questions through with a coach, mentor, peer, or friend might be a good option for some of you instead, depending on how you prefer to process things.

1.     What is your current goal for selling your knowledge?

What are the immediate and short-term results that you are hoping to get from creating and selling a knowledge product? Why are you even considering doing this?

This could be as simple as an injection of cash, or to retain or attract customers, or that you just want share something useful with more people. It could be that creating a course would make your work more accessible or affordable when compared to your services. Or simply that you want to work fewer hours and are hoping that an online course will shift you away from the time for money business model that you currently have. This last one is more of a longer-term aim, but if it is what sprung to mind, write it down. There are no wrong answers here.

2.     What is the longer-term goal for selling your knowledge?

What are the 1-5 year and beyond results that you are hoping to get from creating and selling a knowledge product?

Not everyone reading this will have an answer for this one, especially if your goal in the short-term is a quick injection of cash into your business. That’s ok, not everyone forwards plans years into the future. Just take a minute to consider what you might want your business and your work within in it to look and feel like a few years down the line. A short-term cash injection could be turned into a more stable or regular source of income in the future, for example.

3.     How does this fit with your wider business?

Going back to the strategic planning part – where will selling your knowledge fit in with your existing products and services?

Will your courses sit alongside your services? Will your course be foundational and then led into your services? Will your workshops help people to DIY their own versions of your products or allow them to enjoy the process with you?

This bit is highly individual, so start with how you make money now and how you want to make it in the future. Then look for the gaps. Then think about it all from the perspective of your customers – what gaps in support or access might they notice?

4.     What knowledge can you sell?

This one stumps a lot of people so asking others can be useful. We are often great at things without even noticing. Ask your peers or customers what they learnt from you or what they enjoyed learning from you.

You can also try asking yourself; what do customers often ask you for or comment on when working with you? What are the main products or services that you sell? What is popular about them? What do you know or do that is unique or sort after?

You might produce an extensive list here. Remember you only need one idea that you like to get you started.

5.     How can you package up your knowledge to sell it?

There are lots of options here. Read this huge list if you are stuck otherwise ask yourself the following questions.

What would be the easiest thing for you to create? This is often a one-to-one session, a workshop, or a PDF eBook. What would be easiest for potential customers to learn from? What would be easiest for you to sell? What would fit into a price bracket that you would feel comfortable selling in? What can you create in the sort-term and what can you create in the long-term?

You also might want to think about the kind of learning that you enjoy. This is especially true if you didn’t enjoy school. Take a look at this blog post and journal prompts if you want to figure out your teaching identity.

6.     How do you know what to include?

Begin by thinking about the end goal of what you are teaching? What do the people who will be buying this thing from you need to be able to do, think, or understand at the end of it?

Then think about where people are likely to be with that same thing before you work with them – where are they starting from?

The things in between the two are what you need to include.

If it is a workshop that you are creating then this blog post might help you prepare.

7.     How can you test all of this out?

You will need to find a way to validate your ideas, ideally before you put too much time or energy into creating a new product.

You can do this by asking your potential or existing customers if this idea would appeal to them, taking presale orders, or running a BETA or test run version of a course or workshop among other options.

This makes business sense but it also an opportunity for you to build your confidence and to bring your audience on your business development journey.

8.     Where do you start with technology?

Wherever you feel most comfortable.

I could talk about technology and education for a very long time. There a so many options out there right now, each has pros and cons. I do help my customers choose and set up the tech that is right for them and their customers, but I always begin with this question: what technology are you already comfortable with? Can you use that to deliver this knowledge product to your customers? What help or support will you need to make that happen?