One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

Rental properties come with lots of responsibilities and it can be hard for you to handle everything especially if you have other things that you need to take care of such as running a business. Fortunately, you can be a hands-off kind of property owner, landlord or investor when you hire a property manager. Today there are professional property managers that you can fully trust in handling the property responsibilities as far as managing and leasing the property is concerned.

However, you should select the best and trustable manager to have peace of mind. To do this you can conduct an interview consisting of all relevant questions that make it easier for you to gauge the potential and suitability of the property manager.

What advertising strategies do you use? You want to have a property manager that is aggressive enough to make sure that your property does not remain vacant for long periods. A manager that uses extensive marketing strategies targeting both local and international markets can be an excellent manager for your property. Find out exactly what marketing channels they will use and skills they have around them.

How do you structure your rates? Most property managers charge for property maintenance and watch on a monthly basis and the fees can range depending on the size of the property and the services you want to enjoy from the manager. Choose a manager that offers more for less but still strives for quality service delivery.

What are your agreement termination terms? It is very normal to start a working relationship with a property manager only to realize that they are not what you expected. It makes it very important to find out beforehand what the contract terms are as far as termination goes so you can select a manager that gives you an easier time terminating the agreement. Ask about any penalties that could be attracted by a termination.

How do you conduct tenant applications? You might be desperate to have your property occupied but you also want it to be occupied by the best tenants possible. Find out what process the property manager puts in place to make sure that only the best tenants are given a chance to occupy the property. A vetting process that includes running of credit reports and checking of criminal records, current and past employment as well as proof of income can prove rewarding for you. You can at least have confidence in people renting your property.

How will you handle maintenance and repairs? To retain tenants you must have a property manager that acts swiftly in solving any issues that arise on the property. Find out whether the manager has maintenance crew or a handyman at hand and how they bill such services. Also find out what repairs the manager will be responsible for and how inspections will be done to make sure that tenants are responsible for damages they cause on the property during their tenancy.

Marketing includes matters such as pricing and packaging of the product and creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. There are other options, of course, like product creation, resale rights marketing, joint ventures and the likes, but they are merely secondary to the above.

If you take the freelance route, it is important to ensure that all rights to profit from the final product, or any materials produced in its making, remain yours. Bookkeeping, physical product creation or delivery of goods can be done better with specialized help. Determining the purpose of the product is vital in niche product creation.

Implementation of Methodology – The choice of implementation of Six Sigma methodology depends on whether development is required on existing processes (DMAIC) or on new process/product design creation (DMADV). Determining what you really want to sell, something that you can be relaxed selling is the first step at the creation of a niche product. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts; to complete turnkey solutions, there is no excessive need to worry about spending time on the actual product sold to the customer.

For instance, you should be prepared to either perform yourself or to subcontract the completion of the following tasks:- Product idea research (are there any existing products or patents already existing for this idea)- Product specification document training (what it will do, how it will look, how will it be powered, and how the user will interface with it)- Marketing study (what it will be named, who would buy this, how much would they pay, how will we get customers to purchase the product)- Schematic or electronic circuit design process- Creation of a bill of material or BOM and an approved vendor’s list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple sources identified, with a BOM and AVL for each assembly level in the product- Printed circuit board layout design process (single sided board, double sided board, or multilayer board; size of the PCB; board material)- Mechanical packaging design with user interfaces (displays, buttons, switches, key. This removes all product creation costs from your budget as a marketer.

No other database of affiliate programs offers such a possibility for profit on either the affiliate side or the product creation site. Your chosen niche should allow for the creation of more than one product or service.

There are several marketing strategies that are necessary in the creation of a successful e-commerce web site – Email marketing (broadcasting) of prospects/customers – Effective use of auto responders (generate automatic email messages) – Online Newsletter – Online Form / Survey to capture your prospect’s email address – Electronic Product Delivery (if you sold a digital product) – Advertisement (Ad) Tracking – Back End Sales – Affiliate program etc.