If you are a coach or consultant you may have found yourself stuck in a vicious circle: you earn more money only if you work more hours. So when you go on a holiday, decide to study or spend some extra time with your family - your income drops.

There is a solution to this problem. You can convert your knowledge and experience into sellable products and start selling them via your website. These could be e-books, CDs, DVDs, white papers, online training courses, teleseminar recordings, podcasts, premium membership area access, access to online library or articles, etc. Whatever you choose to do there are a few things you need to consider first. Apart from the obvious - developing and designing your information products - you need to think about delivering purchases to your customers.
One option would be to integrate PayPal into your HTML/CSS website. It's easy and cheap to do. Your payments will be securely processed by PayPal so you don't need to worry about handling someone else's card details. However the downside is that every time someone places an order for an ebook or an mp3 recording - you have to go online and send the customer the file or a link to download it. This will take time and by no means can the income generated from such sales be called "passive".
The other option is to use a shopping cart. Whichever system you are using at the moment to manage your website - WordPress, Joomla, HTML - there is a way to integrate a shopping cart solution. Some are free (like ZenCart), for some you need to pay a regular monthly free (like 1shoppingcart). However the system will handle the whole purchasing process on your behalf - from listing the products to sending a Thank You message. 

The main benefits of a shopping cart over basic PayPal:

•  Easier to update - you can add products & categories via an online control panel, image resizing is done for you, download links are automatically created for each product;

• Access it from anywhere - all you need is a web browser;

•  Multiple payment methods already integrated - you may be able to use PayPal, Worldpay etc.;

•  Automatic email notifications - you get notified of all new orders, your customers receive an automatic thank you message;

• Statistics available online, all in one place;

•  You don't need to have any technical knowledge of how to build a website;

• You can create discounts, multiple purchase offers, use affiliate schemes, send promotional emails to get customers to return and buy again;

• The purchase will get delivered automatically;

• You can create content pages to fully integrate the shopping cart into your site (or make your site as a shopping cart);

• The system will collate customers' emails, so you can keep in touch and follow up;

• In most systems you can send a newsletter to your customers or integrate it with e-newsletter systems like Aweber, MailChimp or Constant Contact.

So very quickly you will be able to set up and manage your online store. All you need now is to finish off that e-book you were working on for a while.
How can a Virtual Assistant help you with earning passive income?

• Virtual PA can set up the shopping cart for you;

•  VA can add products, set up auto responders, add links to e-newsletter systems;

• Virtual assistant can proof-read and edit your e-book;

• VA can design the e-cover for your information products, making them feel real and tangible to customers;

• Virtual PA can edit the recordings of teleseminars, teleconferences, podcasts, videos to be ready for sale;

•  Virtual assistant can create PowerPoint slides to accompany your teleseminar;

•  VA can create landing pages to market your teleseminars, manage social media campaigns, set up registration process and teleconference facilities.

If you would like to find out more - contact us today on 0208 144 4594 or email via the website. We offer you a free, no obligation consultation on how to convert your expert knowledge into passive income. For more similar tips and advice check our blog or subscribe to ournewsletter  

I would love to have a Personal Assistant. But that assistant would have to be located on my premises, and will have to play an active role in the work I do, including a fair share of fieldwork. Try as I may, I have not yet found an effective way to integrate a Virtual PA into my working environment. There's a challenge for you, Tamara!