I am a HUGE believer in the value of education and I've purchased A LOT of Information Products over the past 3 years.  In fact, now that I think about it I've spent thousands of dollars on live events, Ebooks, courses, coaching and other products.  But if you're a Part-Time Network Marketer with limited time to build your business, it's essential that you make every second (and every dollar) count.  You  must be very careful when you buy information products or you could end up wasting a lot of valuable time and money.  It's vitally important for the growth of your business to purchase products/courses/coaching that will have positive results in the short-term.

The 7 Rules for Buying Information Products

Rule #1:  Do your homework

If you are buying a $10 ebook, it's not that important to check out the author.  But if you're going to buy an information product worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, you want to be darn sure the creator has a proven track record of success and delivering on promises.  Search the internet for more others experiences using the product.  Don't rely solely on the Testimonials on the website.  Those will be only  the most positive; to get the full story, do your homework.  Ask your sponsor or mentors their opinion before you buy.

Rule #2:  You may not need even the best product

This one took me a while to get.  The truth is, you should only purchase information products that you are ready for.  For example, if you are a beginning marketer, you don't necessarily need an advanced course in PPC advertising.  You may learn a lot but your business is not at the stage where you will be able to get results quickly.  Only buy products that you can use immediately to grow your business.

Rule #3:  Don't get overloaded

Unfortunately, this is one rule I seem to continually break.  It's important as a Part-Time Network Marketer that you limit the number of training courses or products you purchase to one at-a-time.  With only a couple of hours a night to work on your business, concentration and focus are extremely important, or you could end up with a bad case of Information Overload.  Better to focus on one training at a time and implement what you've learned than to take many courses simultaneously and implement nothing.  And don't worry – most of the courses that “close” to new members magically reopen months later anyway.

Rule #4:  Plan ahead and don't get distracted

Creating a solid business and marketing plan is a necessary step to creating a successful home business, but you'd be surprised how many people have no idea where their business is headed.  It's like being in a boat without a rudder or motor, simply letting the tide and winds decide where you'll end up.  Decide ahead of time what you need to learn to grow your business in the short-term and stick to it.  For example, if you want to become an expert video marketer, don't purchase a course on article marketing no matter how good it looks.  Stay focussed and stick with your plan.

Rule #5:  Don't get enticed by bonuses

Many product launches attracts a herd of affiliate marketers looking to make money off a sale.  To entice you to buy through them, many marketers will offer bonuses.  Be careful.  Don't let these bonuses throw you off course.  To be honest, I have rarely even looked at many of the free bonuses I've received as a result of a product purchase.  I concentrate my time and effort on the product I purchased.  Unless the bonus is specifically something that I've wanted to learn, I ignore them.  One exception here – if a bonus includes private coaching from an affiliate you respect and wish to learn from, this can be a reason to purchase through this person.  The bottom line – don't be swayed to buy an information product you many not need just because of the bonuses.

Rule #6:  Every product you purchase is WORTHLESS unless you take action

Even the best information product is worth nothing unless you take what you've learned and TRY IT OUT.  Using the strategies you've learned, test different options and see what works and what doesn't.  Only by implementing what you've learned can your business move forward.  This one seems like a no brainer, but you'd be surprised how many people go through training and never take action.

Rule #7:  Use your results to create a relationship with the owner

Nothing makes the creator of an information product happier and more proud than having one of his students take action and get great results.  If this happens for you, be sure to contact the product creator and tell them what you've accomplished.  Write or record a testimonial for the product.  If it ends up on the product sales page as social proof, you can get some free advertising for your business.  Continue to keep in touch with the product creator – many joint ventures have started out with such interactions.

Educating yourself is probably the single most important thing you can do to be more attractive and valuable to your prospects.  Remember that, in general people join people, not opportunities, so it's important to continually improve yourself through education and training.  Follow these simple rules for buying information products and you'll be well on your way to success in your Network Marketing business.

What are YOUR rules for buying Information products/training/courses?  Please comment.

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    8 replies to "How To Buy Information Products Without Wasting Your Time and Money"

    • Audrey Ross

      Crawl before you walk and walk before you run. Having this in mind will not only keep you on track and focused, but also prevent you from losing precious time and money.

      • Bob

        Well said, Audrey. I’ve seen so many marketers take off like a shot, spending a lot of money before they knew what they were doing. WRONG approach, in my opinion.

        I love to buy info products and tools, but I have come to realize that there is a time and place for everything. If you’re not ready to implement what you learn, if you are not at that stage in your business yet, than hold off… the product will aways be available later!

    • Timo Kiander

      This is great stuff!

      I have started to take a critical look of all the testimonials – mostly because they don’t necessarily give you any value at all. However, if I can see that someone has clearly gotten results by using the methods taught in that training program, then of course it is a different story.

      I used to buy many training courses, but now I only focus on those ones, which bring me the most value – which are the most useful when building my online business. If your business needs the training move forward, then buying a training program is a good idea.

      Do you have any tips on how to go through the training in general? I’m actually testing of having one training day per week, when I can focus on educating myself. Otherwise I would be spending too much on training (on a daily basis) – instead I could be spending my time to other activities.

      Timo

      • Bob

        It depends, Timo.

        If the training is live, then you don’t have much choice but to take the lectures as they are given. But if it’s recorded training then I try to batch them into one night. I find this works well for me.

        Thanks for sharing your insights, Timo!

    • Linda Paull

      Nice post. This is precisely the problem that I have. I think the point about only buying the products that you are ready to implement is an excellent point.

      • Bob

        Exactly, Linda. When I first started this list, it was as a personal reminder to myself — to stop buying training programs I didn’t really need or couldn’t use at that point in my business. But as I completed the list, I began wondering if I was the only one with such problems. The response to this post seems to indicate that many have similar issues.

        Thanks for the comment!

    • Donna Merrill

      What great information you are sharing! I love rule #6! So many times, people have a wonderful product, but they don’t realize that it takes time, energy and focus to push that product out. It has happened to me in the “old days” where I was so enthused by 2 awesome products that I found out the hard way, that I didn’t have the time to work on them. Learning by experience is the best teacher of all.

      I also enjoyed rule #4 because planning is everything. We can easily get caught up and say to ourselves “Yea…I can do that!” In a recent radio show I was on one of the questions was just about that. We have to really think through and see how much time we have and organize a marketing strategy.
      Thanks for such valuable information.

      Donna

      • Bob

        Hey Donna,

        Yes, time is the major issue for many of us, especially if you’re building an online part-time. A big one for me to overcome was to stop buying everything because it looks great. Many training programs ARE great, but not so great if you don’t have the time to implement what you’ve learned.

        Thanks for your comment. Love your blog!

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