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Did I miss something or did $130,000 come from workshops rather than products? To me workshops aren't where I want to spend my time if I'm developing products.

Did I miss something or did $130,000 come from workshops rather than products? To me workshops aren't where I want to spend my time if I'm developing products. They are too time intensive and costly. The gross amount is nice but I suspect the actual income is a lot less.

kylecordes 16y ago
It appears to me that workshops are a good, high-margin offering to create short-term revenue in the early months/years of a product business. Workshops aren't all that scalable, but they don't need to be, if you're building a product business alongside.
ahoyhere 16y ago
That income is from about 20 days total of teaching. The main course we developed on 2009. There is some time to market and update, but you've got to admit, that's a ludicrously good ROI. That said, like Kyle said, and my article said, it's not where I want to be forever. But training is still a product.
- brc 16y ago
  Have you considered rolling any of the teaching content into an ebook or other type of self-serve information product? That might be an interesting way of leveraging the content you've collated into something that continues to sell even if you don't feel like getting up in front of someone.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - ahoyhere 16y ago
    Absolutely, as I described in the "what's next" section :)
- callmeed 16y ago
  I disagree. Training is a service. A product (as defined by me) is something you build once and sell. That could be an ebook, an SaaS web app, or some kind of widget. It could even be access to workshops you've recorded. But training people in person or live online is not a product. You might say it's simply a matter of semantics, but I think it's an important distinction. Services don't scale like products because you are limited by the amount of time you're available to perform said service. Keep in mind I'm not trying to take away from your success. It's a good blog post–I simply find the title and use of the word "product" inaccurate.
  - ahoyhere 16y ago
    If you sell a product -- with no subscription & no support -- but customers wont buy unless you do several in-person sales meetings, it's still a product. I decide when and where to put on workshops. Then people pay me to show up. It's a product.
    - callmeed 16y ago
      To me, you just defined the distinction further. Anyone on a company's sales staff can do an in-person sales meeting and sell a product. Want to sell more product next month? Hire and train more sales staff. But only Amy Hoy can teach a seminar by Amy Hoy. People are paying for your specific knowledge/reputation. You have a fixed amount of time every month and cannot be in two places at once. Still don't agree. Not a product :)
      - tptacek 16y ago
        You are stuck on the semantics of the word "by" in "Seminar by Amy Hoy". A salesperson would absolutely sell "A Magical Evening of Amy Hoy Brought To You By One Of Our Talented Trainers". They in fact do it all the time. Of course, Mrs. Hoy can do a lot of things to make it even easier to disintermediate herself from the course. But she doesn't really even need to. I really don't know much about Amy Hoy. Nice hat. But I've watched a fair bit of training get sold (software security training is a fairly hot item, and we've built courseware and delivered training to some pretty large companies), and I think you're off base here.

kylecordes 16y ago

It appears to me that workshops are a good, high-margin offering to create short-term revenue in the early months/years of a product business. Workshops aren't all that scalable, but they don't need to be, if you're building a product business alongside.

ahoyhere 16y ago

That income is from about 20 days total of teaching. The main course we developed on 2009. There is some time to market and update, but you've got to admit, that's a ludicrously good ROI. That said, like Kyle said, and my article said, it's not where I want to be forever. But training is still a product.

brc 16y ago
Have you considered rolling any of the teaching content into an ebook or other type of self-serve information product? That might be an interesting way of leveraging the content you've collated into something that continues to sell even if you don't feel like getting up in front of someone.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- ahoyhere 16y ago
  Absolutely, as I described in the "what's next" section :)
callmeed 16y ago
I disagree. Training is a service. A product (as defined by me) is something you build once and sell. That could be an ebook, an SaaS web app, or some kind of widget. It could even be access to workshops you've recorded. But training people in person or live online is not a product. You might say it's simply a matter of semantics, but I think it's an important distinction. Services don't scale like products because you are limited by the amount of time you're available to perform said service. Keep in mind I'm not trying to take away from your success. It's a good blog post–I simply find the title and use of the word "product" inaccurate.
- ahoyhere 16y ago
  If you sell a product -- with no subscription & no support -- but customers wont buy unless you do several in-person sales meetings, it's still a product. I decide when and where to put on workshops. Then people pay me to show up. It's a product.
  - callmeed 16y ago
    To me, you just defined the distinction further. Anyone on a company's sales staff can do an in-person sales meeting and sell a product. Want to sell more product next month? Hire and train more sales staff. But only Amy Hoy can teach a seminar by Amy Hoy. People are paying for your specific knowledge/reputation. You have a fixed amount of time every month and cannot be in two places at once. Still don't agree. Not a product :)
    - tptacek 16y ago
      You are stuck on the semantics of the word "by" in "Seminar by Amy Hoy". A salesperson would absolutely sell "A Magical Evening of Amy Hoy Brought To You By One Of Our Talented Trainers". They in fact do it all the time. Of course, Mrs. Hoy can do a lot of things to make it even easier to disintermediate herself from the course. But she doesn't really even need to. I really don't know much about Amy Hoy. Nice hat. But I've watched a fair bit of training get sold (software security training is a fairly hot item, and we've built courseware and delivered training to some pretty large companies), and I think you're off base here.