166: The easiest way to create passive income

If you've ever thought, "I'd love to create passive income but I don't know where to start" then this episode is for you!

One of the biggest misconceptions in the online business world is that you need to create a huge online course, membership or complicated programme before you can start selling digital products.

The truth? 

You don't.

In this episode, I'm breaking down one of the simplest ways to start generating income online without spending months creating content or building complicated funnels... micro offers.

You'll discover what a micro offer is, how it differs from a freebie or tripwire and why it can be the perfect first step towards creating scalable income streams that give you more freedom in your business.

I'll also share examples of micro offers, explain why they work so well for service providers, coaches and consultants and help you identify opportunities to package your expertise into something you can sell on repeat.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What a micro offer is and how it works
• Why micro offers are ideal for creating passive income
• The difference between a freebie, tripwire and micro offer
• How micro offers fit into your customer journey
• Examples of profitable micro offers you can create quickly
• Why service providers are perfectly positioned to create them
• Simple questions to help you identify your first micro offer idea
• How micro offers can help you escape the time-for-money trap

If you're ready to start turning your expertise into digital products, create new income streams and build a business that gives you more freedom, this episode will give you plenty of inspiration and practical ideas to get started.

Resources Mentioned

Explore my digital products and resources:

www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/shop

Join the Sell Your Brilliance Online Membership:

www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/membership

Subscribe & Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with a fellow entrepreneur who is looking for smarter ways to grow their business.

Because creating more freedom in your business starts with taking the first step!

Transcript

Karen [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Online Business Uncovered. This is episode 166 and in today's episode I'm going to be talking about what a micro offer is, why I believe every business owner should have one, and how it could be your first step towards creating passive income and more freedom in your business. So let's jump right in and let's get started. Hello and welcome to another episode of Online Business Uncovered. 

This is the show that lifts the lid on what it really takes to turn your brilliance into digital products, passive income, and of course, time freedom. I'm your host, Karen, and I am really excited that you have decided to press play today to listen to this episode. Now, if you are a business owner who is tired of constantly trading your time for money and you are ready for a smarter, more sustainable way to grow, then you are in the right place. Because each week on this podcast I bring practical strategies, honest conversations and simple steps to help you create scalable income streams that give you more freedom, flexibility and choice.

Karen [00:01:23]:
And today I want to talk about micro offers. Now, if you've ever thought that you would love to create passive income but you don't know where to start, or perhaps you've been looking at online courses, memberships and digital products and feeling completely overwhelmed by the amount of work involved, then this episode is going to be for you. Because one of the biggest misconceptions I see is that people believe that they need to create huge like courses or memberships before they can even start selling a digital product. They think they need 10 modules, 100 lessons, hours and hours of video content, a fancy website, complicated funnels and months of preparation. And it, you don't end up taking any action because you, you, you've sitting in overwhelm. And what then happens is that a lot of business owners never get started. But what if there was a simpler way? What if you could create something small, something valuable, something useful that helps your audience and generates income without spending months building it? That is where micro offers come in. And that's why I want to talk about that today.

Karen [00:02:47]:
So let's just kick off by talking about what a micro offer is. A micro offer is a small, low cost digital product that solves a specific problem for a specific person. Typically they are priced between, I don't know, seven and 47 quid. And they are designed specifically to help somebody with a quick win. Now the important thing to remember is that with a micro offer, it is all about solving one problem. Not 10 problems, not 50 problems, just one simple problem. So an example could be a template. Template solves a problem, it saves time, and it often gives people a starting place to do something.

Karen [00:03:42]:
A checklist is a micro offer. A checklist can help somebody get really clear on what needs to be done and then check things off as they're working through what they're doing. Workbooks are great, Swipe files are really useful. Mini trainings, resource guides, AI prompt packs, notion planners, quick start frameworks, digital toolkits. All of these are designed to quick start something. So rather than somebody sitting there for hours having to create something, you can create one of those micro offers to help your audience do something. Now, the goal isn't to completely transform somebody's life overnight. You're not going to do that with a micro offer.

Karen [00:04:34]:
The goal is actually to help them achieve a specific result as quickly and as simply as possible. I've got in my business quite a few micro offers. One of my favorite micro offers is my online course system that's been built in notion. It is a micro offer, but it's a system that's built to help somebody build their online course. So it's a place to capture their ideas, to get clear on their framework, to store content, to use as a. A project manager, to have a place to figure out their marketing, their launch strategy, their pricing strategy, to write their proposition, all of that stuff. And it's been built in a notion system which is then sold. So what? It's great for me because I can sell it as a low offer, but for the person buying it, they get a complete system.

Karen [00:05:43]:
So although it sounds a lot, it isn't. It is a micro offer because I didn't spend months and months and months building actually came from something I was using for myself. And then I repackaged it up to sell it separately. And I also include it whenever people join my membership or they buy one of my courses. If it's in relation to online course creation, they get this system as well. So it allows me to take that one thing and repurpose it and put it in different areas. So a micro offer is really useful because not only can you sell it, but you can also repurpose it in for other things as well. It is a simple system and that's why my members love it, my customers love it, because it looks good, it's simple and it does the job.

Karen [00:06:39]:
That's the power of micro offers. Okay? If you can get it so that it literally focuses on one outcome and it's simple and it does what it says on the tin, then you will get those sales. Now what often happens is that, that people overcomplicate things. They're so focused on creating something huge because they think that by creating a big course they're delivering more value, they're teaching more things, which means there's gonna be more of an outcome. But they forget people are often looking for just small solutions to immediate problems. And that's why just talking about my online course system in notion, that's why that works really. Because it's a simple solution to a problem that somebody is experiencing when they're creating their online course. Because they're more likely going to be feeling overwhelmed by all the things that they're creating.

Karen [00:07:42]:
So they need a system that pulls it all together. And that's what I've created. So it's just about looking at your audience, seeing where the gaps are in terms of what they're struggling with, and then creating something small that resolves that problem. Now, most people who are going to discover you online most likely don't know you. They've never worked with you, they've never experienced your expertise, and they may not be ready to invest hundreds or even thousands of pounds straight away. It's always interesting to me when I meet somebody and I have a one to one and then we talk about what it is they offer and then they turn around and say, I have a six month program that you can come into and pay for. And by the way, it's, it's going to be something like three grand. When you meet somebody for the first time, the, no, the, like the trust has not even been built.

Karen [00:08:54]:
You have to build it up. You have to have that, that nurturing process in place so that your potential client or customer gets to know you. They develop the, the trust in you, the belief in you that you are the expert that they want to follow, that they want to learn from, that they want you to help them solve their problem. When an offer is presented that starts at such a high price point, it can immediately turn somebody off because it's like, well, I don't know you, I'm not going to spe that kind of money with you. So you end up losing a potential client. But what if you could instead of offering that premium program, turn around and say, you may not be ready for this program, but I have this which will give you an immediate win because it will solve this problem. And I meet a lot of business owners, they just don't have anything like this in place. They have nothing clickable in their business that somebody can just buy off the shelf.

Karen [00:10:02]:
It's always a premium program or a premium service. Now, what a micro offer does, it lowers the barrier. It's a smaller commitment, and it's easier for somebody to turn around and say yes. If somebody is struggling with a specific problem right now, and you can help them solve it for what, 17 quid? 27 quid? That's a much easier decision than investing three grand for a program. And something really interesting happens when somebody buys from you. They stop being a follower, they stop being a subscriber, and then they become a customer. And that shift is really powerful because once somebody has invested in you and they've had a positive experience, they're far more likely to buy from you again. And that's why micro offers can be such an important part of your customer journey.

Karen [00:11:01]:
They bridge the gap between free content and higher ticket offers. Now, there is a difference between a freebie, a tripwire and a micro offer. And I just really want to clarify this because I think this is where a lot of confusion tends to happen. People often use these terms interchangeably, but they're actually really very different. So a freebie, a lead magnet, is designed to attract new people into your world. Its purpose is lead generation. That's it. It examples may be that you've created a guide or a checklist, or even a free training, or it could even be a PDF resource.

Karen [00:11:47]:
The goal here is not about revenue. The goal is about building your audience and growing your email list. Now, a tripwire is slightly different. It is a low cost offer presented immediately after somebody signs up for a freebie. So you'll have your freebie, somebody will register for it, and then on the thank you page, they will get presented with an offer. And that offer is what the tripwire is. A micro offer is broader. A micro offer is a standalone product.

Karen [00:12:24]:
You can sell it through social media, you can promote it on your podcast, you can mention it in your newsletter, you can sell it through your YouTube, your webinars, your workshops, or even paid advertising. It doesn't have to sit behind a freebie. It's. It can if you want it to be, but it doesn't have to. It is a small but valuable solution that introduces people to your expertise and helps them achieve a result. Now, I've got a micro offer in my business called the Passive Profit Accelerator. It's the first steps to creating passive income in your business. It is an incredibly powerful offer because when I am speaking to somebody and they say to me, I want to create passive income in my business, I have no idea where to start start.

Karen [00:13:10]:
And that leads very nicely onto the passive profit accelerator because that's exactly where people start. So it's easier for them to buy something at a low cost point than it is for them to work with me and pay for my coaching. That's going to be a lot more expensive. Or come into my membership. I mean they can come into my membership. My membership at the moment is only 47 pound a month. But it makes sense to buy something that is relatively low cost, get started with that and then when you are at a place where you're ready to implement, maybe you need support, guidance, coaching, all of that, then invest at that point when you're ready. So I want to share some examples of what Micro offers could be.

Karen [00:14:09]:
So if you are a business coach, you could create a business planning workbook or a customer journey planner. You could even create a content strategy template. All of these suggestions will get somebody into action very quickly. And for you as a business coach, you may already have these available. All you're doing is packaging it up and then selling it it. If you're a fitness coach, it could be something like a 30 day workout planner or it could be a meal planning guide or even a beginner training program. If you're a social media manager or you work with clients helping them with their social media, it could be canva Templates Caption Packs A content planning system Notion is brilliant. I have introduced my members to Notion and I talk about it a lot on this podcast.

Karen [00:15:12]:
My two favorite platforms that sit very much in my business are I rely on them heavily is System IO and Notion. And the two work brilliantly together. System is more external, so landing pages, funnels, courses, memberships, all of that good stuff. And Notion is the system that sits behind my business, that helps me run it. And what's great about Notion is that you can create things on Notion. You can set up a checkout very easily in System and then you can sell it. But when I'm talking about creating things like 30 day workout planners and meal planning guides and training programs and caption packs and content planning systems, these things can be done in Notion and you don't have to pay for Notion so you can actually have a tool there ready for you to build out these micro offers, that is not going to cost you any money. And if you sign up for System IO and use that platform, then you can create a sales page with a checkout with a thank you page.

Karen [00:16:30]:
So a simple product funnel and that's not going to cost you anything as well, because you can most likely do that on the free tier. So the reason I'm mentioning that is if cost or investment is a barrier for you right now, then there you can do this on a bootstrap. You can do this without having to invest any money up front. And by using Notion and System, both of those platforms give you exactly what you need to get this done. So with Notion you can create the offer, and with System you can sell the offer. Now, if you're a podcast coach and you are thinking about what you could be creating, then think about a podcast launch checklist or maybe even a guest outreach template. You could even create a podcast planning workbook. One of my own micro offers is a podcast planning workbook.

Karen [00:17:37]:
What I've just mentioned, because last year I ran a program, a life program with, you know, my clients where I taught them how to launch their first podcast. And off the back of that I created a load of resource. And then because I have those resources, they can then become micro offers. And one of them was a podcast workbook plan. If you want to see what micro offers I have in my business, then head on over to my website, www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/shop. Because I've got a lot of them there and you can actually see how I've done it and how they've been set up to be sold. And those offers have been set up to be sold through system. So whenever somebody purchases, it goes through my system.

Karen [00:18:35]:
My funnels are in system, my checkout page is in system, even my shop, I have built it in system. So my, my website is WordPress, but my funnel pages are in system. And, and again, the reason I'm saying that is because these platforms are so powerful and they give you the tools needed to get this done. And all it is that you need is know how, which is why I've created this podcast. But you can create a simple micro offer and it's not gonna cost you any investment up front because of these. Now, all of the micro offers that I have suggested have been designed to help entrepreneurs or help certain people in whatever space. They are simple, they are easy to create and you can sell them at a low cost offer. They are all, all focused on solving one specific problem.

Karen [00:19:45]:
Helping somebody from wherever they are to wherever they want to be. It's exactly like my passive profit accelerator. Again, that's a micro offer. It's designed to help entrepreneurs identify and plan their first scalable income stream so that they can create passive income. It helps somebody move from I know I need passive income to I have a clear plan for creating it. That's it. It's one problem, one solution, one outcome. And that is why it is so effective.

Karen [00:20:21]:
Now, micro offers, I think, are absolutely perfect for service providers because a lot of business owners have years and years of expertise sitting in their heads. They're sitting on a pot of gold. The knowledge they've built through experience is highly valu. The processes that they've refined, the questions they've answered a hundred times. The challenge is that many of them are only getting paid when they're actively working with clients. And that is a classic time for money trap. If you stop working, your income will stop working. Micro offers allows you to start packaging your expertise into something that could be sold repeatedly.

Karen [00:21:06]:
So instead of answering the same question ten times a week, you create a resource that answers it once. Instead of delivering the same advice over and over and over again, you package it into a digital product. You create it once, you sell it multiple times. Now, I'm not saying you're going to create a 27 pound workbook and you suddenly become a millionaire overnight. That's not how this works. But what you are going to be doing is leveraging what you know in your business. You are going to be creating business assets that have value and those assets have the potential to generate income without requiring you to constantly be involved. And that is where freedom starts.

Karen [00:21:57]:
So if you're listening to this and you're thinking that this sounds great, but you have no idea what your micro offer should be, then start with these questions. What question do people ask you all of the time? Time. What problem do you repeatedly help people with and what process do you constantly keep solving? What quick win could you help somebody achieve? Now, the answers to those questions will reveal your best micro offer idea. And remember, you're not creating a huge solution, you're creating a really simple solution. And small problems often lead to fast sales. The simpler the offer, the easier it's going to be for people to understand, buy from you, and then implement your training. Now, if you've been thinking about creating passive income in your business, but you felt overwhelmed by the idea of building a micro offer or even a membership, then I want you to know that you don't have to do it alone. A micro offer.

Karen [00:23:21]:
A micro offer is one of the easiest and most effective ways to begin. You don't need a huge audience, you don't need complicated technology, and you don't need months of content creation. You just need a simple, valuable solution to a specific problem problem. Now, if you need help creating this micro offer, then head on over to my website www.sell your brillianceonline.com membership. Because in that membership I have everything you need to get this done, get this out there, get this sold so that you can start generating income on repeat as soon as possible. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope this has given you some clarity and sparked some new ideas for your business. If you have found it helpful, then please do share it with a friend or even a fellow entrepreneur who's also building their online business.

Karen [00:24:20]:
This might be exactly what they need to hear today. And if this episode has you thinking that you're ready to get started with creating a micro offer, then head on over to my website www.sellyourbrillianceonline.com/membership. I will be back next week with another episode, but until then have a wonderful week.