Business Ideas 

by Terry Dean

Videos are an extremely popular format to use in information publishing and that is due to a few reasons:

1.  Most customers want information in a video format (they are used to it from watching TV all of their lives).
2.  They don't have time or the desire to read books.
3.  Video on the Internet is not very practical yet...except for short video clips.

All of this adds up to opportunities for smart entrepreneurs to create videos in small niche markets.  Understand that when I speak of niche videos, I am talking about producing low budget videos targeted to a very specific group of people.  This is not a
Hollywood production nor a subject that TV will take on.  Those are two competitors that are way out of your league.

You want to pick a market that neither one of those video giants is willing to go for. You are not going for the masses. You are going to go where there wouldn't be a big enough market for Hollywood, but there is a big enough market for you to make a good profit from.

Let's not go into a full production of how to do the videos, but I would like to mention that you don't need to go out and buy all of the video equipment yourself or that you have to learn all of it before you start.  If you were to choose that direction, it could be years and tens of thousands of dollars before you will ever be able to do your first video.

The easiest way to do your own video is to come up with the idea, a step-by-step outline for it, and then hire the technical staff you need for the operation.  Videographers can be hired.  Studios can be rented.  Professional editors can do your editing for you.  This way you won't have to learn the equipment nor will you have to buy any equipment.

Hiring a cameraperson for a day and then having the video tape edited will probably only cost you $500 - $1,500.  This is only a small portion of what it would cost you to just purchase just a little bit of the equipment you would need.

Once your video was produced, you could send it off for duplication (there are hundreds of video duplicators which you can contact online by using one of the search engines) and begin preparing what you need to start making sales immediately.  The three things you would need to do to get ready are:

1.  Design a web site or have one done for you.
2.  Prepare a Press Release for all targeted magazines and newsletters.
3.  Then, set up a way to take orders...secure ordering pages or an order taking service.

One video like this isn't going to make you a millionaire, but it will get you started on your way to your own information publishing business in a very short time.   Once you have good concept and script created, it will probably take you less than 2 weeks to get this project up and running.

Once you have this one making a good profit and running on auto-pilot, then you can go out and do the same thing with another idea.  After a while, you could be creating new videos every month or every couple of months once you have the system down (then you may think about your own equipment).


How-To
Is there something you know how to do?  I sure hope so!  Well, the most common type of niche video is simply a video that shows how to do something.  You may show how to create a web site or how to fix an engine.  It can be on how to sew or how to play paintball.  It can be How To Do Anything you know how to do (or that you can find someone else who can do).  Just be sure it isn't something that is readily available on TV somewhere.  It needs to be Unique.

Events
The quickest video would be to go to an event such as a trade show or a product expo.  If you received permission beforehand to tape the event (this is as simple as sending a letter and calling the event promoters), then you can go through taping and interviewing the people at the different booths.  There are thousands of these events held every year across the country, so you will be able to find something near you which would make for an interesting and exciting video.

Software
Remember the frustration of trying to learn how to use a new program.   It is such a pain in many cases.  This means one thing for entrepreneurs: opportunity.  Videos could be done on a number of different software programs, especially Internet related programs (programs which can help to increase someone's business income or drop their work time).

Technology
New technology always comes with new problems, mostly in the frustration factor.  Any type of new technology can come with videos.  You can show how to use the technology with the most leverage and how to avoid problems with it.  Think about new
tools that this can be done with and keep your eyes open.  There are new opportunities showing up every day.

Demos
Many companies are now turning to video catalogues or video demos of their products.  This especially works well with high ticket items.  It is difficult to sell above a certain price level online, but that can be overcome by producing a video on the product and subject.  You price the video at a low level: Free, $5, $10, or $20.  Then, let it do the presentation for you.

Seminars
There are hundreds of seminars being done every week.  You can present to the even promoter that you will video tape the event for free and give them the full reprint rights to all of the videos as long as you own the rights as well.  This can be an easy way to get your own video set done on a popular subject (it was popular enough to do a seminar on). 

Hobbies
I tell this to people all the time when they ask me what they should do for their own home business, "Do something that you enjoy!"  What hobbies do you have?  Any of your hobbies could easily present a video opportunity.  Whether you train dogs, paint pictures, or design cartoons, you will be able to find a market for a video.  Look through magazines that apply to your subject and think up ideas by reading both the articles and the ads.

Pains
People buy for two reasons: to gain pleasure or to relieve pain.  Find a problem that people are having and create a video information product that is the solution to it.  To the budding entrepreneur, problems are not problems.   They are opportunities for new products.  Start looking for problems.   Once you find some (that should take about 5 seconds), start searching for
solutions. 

Dreams
Do a video on people's dreams...How to travel the world, the best Bed and Breakfasts, How to take a Cruise, Local Romantic Restaurants or Hotels, etc.  Fulfill people's dreams for pleasure.  Give them that "Dream" they are constantly thinking about and have fun doing it.

For Hire
Do videos for other companies.  This one requires you to learn how to do camera work or editing, but it can provide a good source of extra income for any video business.  There are many businesses out there that would love for an outside company to
do the entire job for them and take a portion of the profits in a Joint Venture arrangement. 

 

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