Rogers Online Business Management for the Agriculture Community

Posts Tagged ‘agriculture’

I know a lot of people have trouble convincing themselves to simply get started with creating an information product and this really holds true for the agriculture industry. This is one industry that just needs to catch up with the rest of the world who are marketing information products online. So I’m going to be sharing with you in several future posts just how easy it is to create your product that will earn you extra income. Now is the perfect time to create your products as this is the time that people are looking for new ways to save money.

So if you decided that you are going to write an ebook and perhaps do an audio file to go with it, your costs will be minimal to produce this product. Sure, there is time involved, but with proper research you’ll know how to spend your time. An information product shouldn’t be your life’s work…at least not your first one. Get your feet wet with a few easy to put together products and learn from your experience. After all, the worst thing you can do is make a mistake…but that really isn’t a bad thing at all. Mistakes are learning experiences and you will improve your techniques all the time. And the faster you can make your mistakes, the faster you’ll become successful.

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make an MP3 file or even how to write an ebook. Don’t let the fact that you don’t know how to do something stop you from doing what you want to do. These are all pieces that you can learn along the way. Again, if you make some mistakes, it’s okay. I’ve made several mistakes when I first started too. If you make mistakes and learn from them you’ll become successful more quickly than if you sit and wonder “how can I get started”.

One of the easiest ways to start is by doing research with your own customers. If you already have customers, you have your very own research center. Get to know what your customers want and then sell it to them. Ask them questions and really get to know them and how they respond to different bits of information you give them.

If you already have a website and do business online, then you probably already have a mailing list of subscribers. The same applies here by getting to know your subscribers and what they want. Find out how they respond to different mailings and other information that you send them.

It’s much easier to sell to someone who is already a customer or subscriber than to go out and look for other customers. That’s why I limit my products to my main market. I already have a decent list of customers, so why would I go create an information product on something completely different when it would be just that much harder to sell to them?

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start creating information products if you don’t have a list or a website with much traffic. We all had to start somewhere so if you’re just getting started there are plenty of research tools available. I’ll be sharing with you in the future the most useful internet research methods out there. So until the next post–start thinking about what you want to create for your first information product!

My favorite part of my business is creating information products and earning money on work that didn’t take me very long to put together.

So what is an information product?

Information products are basically any information that you sell or you could even give away for free. They are often how-to-guides that teach anything from feed and production practices or farm safety techniques. They can be written guides, audio recordings, workbooks, videos, membership sites, newsletters or all of the above. They can be digital downloads, MP3 or PDF files where your customers simply download the files off the Internet or you can ship out printed guides, published books, CDs and DVDs, if you’d like. That’s what an information product is and I’m going to talk more and more about how it can work for your business in future posts.

 How can it be so easy?

As I mentioned earlier this is my favorite part of my business because even though you have to work on marketing your information product, the creation of the product itself is probably one of the easiest to put together because it’s information you use every day. It’s taking things that you know or even things you don’t know and creating an information product out of it. You may think that no one would be interested in what you know but you’d be surprised what people want to know and they are willing to pay to have that information.

When I first started creating information products I learned to keep an eye out for those questions that people ask over and over again. I now keep a small notebook with me to jot down a notation that will help me remember what to research for future products. If I don’t have my notebook with me, I just use the memo recorder on my cell phone. And then when I find time I just transfer what I recorded into my notebook. I like keeping all my ideas in one place so that when I’m reviewing my notes if I noticed that I’ve made several related entries, then that’s the product I want to start creating.

So get yourself a small notebook and start jotting down all your ideas for your information product. Remember that no idea is silly. If you thought of it I’ll bet there’s several other people out there that thought of it as well and wished someone could provide them with that information. So make yourself the expert and start creating today!

Don’t let the fact that you don’t know how to do something stop you from doing what you want to do. The pieces you will need to create and market your own information products will be laid out for you in future posts. But if you would like to get started now then you can contact us at agriculture@easmyworkload.com and our team of experts will help you develop your products.

June 7th is Trial Technology Day!

But why leave it just to one day this month–Why not try a new technology for your small business everyday this month?

Webinars are a great way to share your expertise and what a great way to get young farmers excited about the agriculture industry. Try holding a webinar on a new process you need your employees to learn or use for ongoing safety meetings–go ahead, give it a try!

 Web Conferencing Made Easy

Few things are as simple as GoToMeeting. With just a few clicks, you can easily organize on-the-fly or scheduled meetings, perform live demonstrations and collaborate on documents in real time. It’s like you’re in the office with your clients and colleagues. Find out for yourself how GoToMeeting can change the way you do business.

Click Here to try it today, absolutely FREE.

GoToMeeting is the easiest and most cost-effective way to organize and attend secure meetings over the Internet. Meet as much as you want – for as long as you want.

 Improve Productivity and Sales.
Easily hold on-the-fly or scheduled presentations, perform live demos and collaborate on documents in real time. Clients and co-workers don’t need your application to view your files. Even files created with specialized applications, such as CAD drawings, are viewable.

Start Meeting in Minutes.
Just use the GoToMeeting icon in your system tray, an email or an instant message. There are no complicated logins or setups. It takes just 2 minutes to set up and a few seconds to start a meeting. That’s it!

Increase Flexibility.
Meet as often as you want, for as long as you want — for one low rate. Try GoToMeeting for FREE and experience the simplest and most cost-effective online meeting solution on the market today.

Try GoToWebinar – the new, affordable, do-it-yourself Web event service that doesn’t require a consultant. Free Trial available.

What I like about online webinars is that you can hold them anytime of the day. So if it’s easier for you and your employees to hold a meeting in the evening, then this is a perfect solution for you. Most of the webinars I attend start around 7:00p.m. and go until 9:00p.m. This allows me time to wind down from working all day and still have the time to have dinner with my family.

Our team at Rogers Executive Administrative Services will help you set up your meeting and coordinate all the training material your employees will need for your presentation. Just send us an email at agriculture@easmyworkload.com and find out what a time saver this could be for you.

Even though we don’t like to think about something happening, an emergency can strike your farm at any time. You need to be prepared with the correct information to assist emergency responders and others if called upon when a disaster strikes.

Farms have equipment, building structures, livestock, chemicals and fuels, and crops that will require special attention by emergency responders. Make sure that you’re able to provide them with information on the description and location of these to minimize the devastating effects of a disaster on your farm.

Here are some items to include in your farm emergency plan manual:

• Make a list of emergency contacts to include the Fire Department, Police Department, Poison Control Center.
• List family members, employees, and neighbors who are familiar with your farm business, along with their contact information.
• List contact information of all the businesses providing services such as veterinarians, utilities, equipment, hauling companies, insurance company, and financial institutions.
• List contact information for your suppliers of chemicals, fertilizer, etc.
• List contacts that can help provide emergency feed and water, power, livestock, machinery, etc.
• List location of important health history for yourself, your family members, and your employees.
• List location of important farm documents on-site and off-site such as safe deposit boxes.
• Have a description of the farm and directions from the nearest major intersection.
• Have a general diagram of the farm that includes the location of chemical, fuels, livestock, equipment, overhead and buried utilities, etc.
• List the location of spare keys for vehicles and buildings.
• List meeting location where all family and employees should gather following a disaster to assess the situation and to make sure everyone is accounted for that was working during the time of the disaster.

Make sure you hold regular safety meetings with your family and employees to review and update this information, as well as make sure that they are aware of the location of this emergency manual.

If you need help in putting together your emergency manual contact Rogers Executive Administrative Services at agriculture@easmyworkload.com. We can help you keep track of all this information, as well as put your manual together for you to ease your record keeping workload.