Still Working On Your First Product?

Was creating and selling your first product by May of 2006 a key goal of your business plan? You even signed up for a shopping cart and a merchant account in February. You created an outline for the product and started working on it, but somehow forgot all about it by March. It is now November and you have written a grant total of about 10 pages. You are nowhere near being done, but the year is almost over.

If this describes you and your efforts to publish your first e-book, you are not alone. Many business owners I have spoken with tell me that they are very excited about creating a product in the beginning. They get a merchant account, research shopping carts and create an outline for their first e-book. Then, they start the actual process of creating the product and that starts taking more and more time.

Business owners are very busy people and have many tasks in addition to creating the product - they need to work with their customers, do marketing, and teach classes. They don't have enough time to continue writing the product at a good pace. They don't have enough time to continue on pace with the project, and after some time they stop writing it altogether. This is why many people have 4 or 5 chapters of an e-book written, but fewer people actually finish the e-book and are able to sell it.

Do not repeat this mistake. Finish your e-book and start making money with it - you will get a sense of accomplishment, become an author, and generate a new income stream. Here is how to finally finish your e-book:

- Take stock of what you have already done. Spend some time reviewing what you've done, so that you will not have to do the same work twice. Make sure you have a working outline. Count the chapters you have already written and note the number of chapters you still need to write.

- Create a plan for the remainder of the e-book. Figure out how many chapters need to be written, and what else will be included in the e-book. Plan and reserve time for proofreading and editing. Many first time authors forget to include these crucial actions in their plans.

- Do research and make a decision on a shopping cart and payment processing for the e-book, so that you are prepared to go live with your product as soon as it is finished. Get your research done and out of the way, and save the names of the services or service packages you will want to use. You don't have to sign up for those services immediately, but keep track of the names, so that you can sign up as soon as you need the services.

- Create a sales letter for your product. Once your e-book is 80-90% done, start writing a sales letter for it. Sales letters are written and re-written many times, so start working on yours early.

Many business owners have half-written e-books sitting on their computer hard drives collecting digital dust. Don't let that happen to you - use the steps above to take your half-finished product and turn it into a finished, first-class product that you can sell on your web site.

About the author: Biana Babinsky is the online business coach, expert and author who teaches business owners how to get more clients and make more money online. Get her special report, Top Strategies To Get More Clients Online absolutely FREE at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/free_report.html to learn how to get more clients online.