Turning Your Hobby Into A Business Through Knowledge Commerce

More and more people are finding that in order to make ends meet or live a more fulfilling life, a side job that they enjoy is the key. While more and more people are picking up part-time work or pursuing hobbies and passions, many would love to combine these into one opportunity. A perfect way to achieve this is to become an infopreneur.

An infopreneur is someone who uses their knowledge of any subject area to earn income by teaching and consulting others. Infopreneurs trade in what is called knowledge commerce, wherein they sell their expertise through products, courses, and training to students who pay from anywhere in the world. Knowledge merchants and infopreneurs can teach anything from guitar playing and putting a baby to sleep to mining cryptocurrency and programming languages.

The freelance work arena has grown exponentially in recent years, and the ability to be your own boss is the greatest benefit to being a knowledge merchant. Over 57 million Americans worked as freelancers in 2017, contributing $1.4 trillion to the economy. Younger people thrive in gig and freelance work, with nearly half of millennials reporting that they do some sort of freelance work and 71% of freelancers finding more work in 2017 than the prior year.

We have all heard of massive open online courses run by universities or some of the bigger e-Learning sites, but now, a growing segment of individuals are monetizing their expertise through the medium, which is expected to be valued at $241 billion by 2022. E-learning offers many benefits to students and teachers, including easy access, affordability, and a more niche community compared to standardized learning communities.

If teaching a diverse class of people from around the world about your passion or greatest skill sounds like something you’re interested in, then it’s time to become a knowledge merchant. Maybe you want to but are not sure what it is you should teach. Think about what you wished somebody had taught you when you were younger like finances or handiwork. Maybe you’re an amateur guitarist and want to show others how to play the tough songs you’ve become a master at. Maybe you’re a philosophy wiz just out of college looking to make use of and expand on what you received an education in. Whatever it is, everyone has something they can teach others. If you’re still having trouble figuring out what that is, use one of the many career guidance and aptitude tests that can be found online.

Once you figure out what your passion is that others would pay you to learn about, start your personal brand, student outreach, and monetization plans. Consult with other individuals, students, and companies about how to make their business better and maybe work with yours. Set goals for how to maximize the message and profit of your courses by publishing new content regularly, managing your time and balancing your other responsibilities, and using strategic ad revenue methods like Google Adsense or TargetGrow to reach people with similar interests.

Once you build a following, you can create merchandise like books, shirts, and other items that promote your courses and knowledge. Earn money through tiered membership plans, deals, and exclusive content downloads. Team up with like-minded individuals and companies to co-market each other’s products through affiliate links and advertising. Use your social media to keep conversations going and followers interested with scheduled giveaways or notifications about upcoming lessons or guests.

The time to start sharing what you know and make money doing it is here.

Learn more about knowledge commerce with the infographic below, provided by Kajabi.

[Infographic] Knowledge Commerce: How to Turn Your Skill Into a Thriving Business
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