Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that had been growing at lightning speed with about 5.5 million users at the time of this article. I had no idea what to do once I signed up for my free twitter account. Now I’ve learned what to do and I’m filling up my Teleseminars and my how-to-make-information-products classes with people who came directly from twitter.

Twitter Tip 1: Follow More than just your friends and family.

At first, I was only following one person and couldn’t figure out why in the world anyone would care about random messages about what I was doing and I was sick of hearing all about what he was doing 24/7. I almost (gasp) stopped using twitter altogether because I did not understand it.

Now I follow everyone except those people who look like they might be spammers. By having a lot of followers, every time you send out a message or an invitation to a teleseminar or a new product, those people who are interesting in your subject will sign up. More sign ups to your teleseminars means you are building your list community and more customers who can sign up for your products and classes.

Twitter Tip 2: Go to Your Twitter People (Tweeple) when You Need a Boost.

Sometimes you might have a bad day. It’s hard to create products or do much else effectively when you are feeling negative. We all have days like this. I’ve noticed that most people on twitter are extremely positive and caring. If I ever feel discouraged, all I have to do is go to twitter and read some of the posts or interact with my tweeple and I can continue my day with an infusion of inspiration.

Twitter Tip 3: Survey Your Tweeple to See What Kind of Products They Would Buy.

One day I wanted to do a little market research and I decided I would send a survey to my regular list community and the same survey to my twitter followers. I was amazed at the higher responsiveness from my twitter followers compared to my regular list community.

I believe it’s because on twitter people are actively engaged and everyone is flooded with email and many times email is simply ignored. I know I don’t read most of my email or I would never get anything done. I got a huge response from my twitter and they helped me decided which product to create next. I filled up that class with a lot of people from twitter!

Many times when people decide they want to create information products, the first thing that stops them is not feeling like enough of an expert or authority in any subject. If this is the case, my answer is to create a product by interviewing other experts.

Interview Secret 1: Borrow Expertise

When you become the interviewer, you automatically become an authority on your subject. Napoleon Hill was not successful or a millionaire when he began interviewing people for the classic book Think and Grow Rich, but he became an authority on the success mindset.

Interview Secret 2: How to Choose Your Potential Interviewees

You must be clear about who your target audience is and what they want to learn. Find people who are being successful doing that and those are your perfect potential interviews.

Interview Secrets 3: How to Actually Ask for the Interview

Have a clear benefit for the person you’ll be interviewing. Craft a 30 second pitch to show them it would be a win-win situation. If you go to live events where you could actually meet some potential interviewees, go up and ask them for the interview then and there. If not, you may have to get through some gatekeepers, but be polite and follow up, don’t give up on the first try.

Interview Secret 4: How to Get Past the First “No”

The first rule of a great interview product is you must get over the fear of just asking. The worst thing people can say is “no” and most times people will actually say “yes”. If you do get a refusal, just keep moving forward. Don’t let it stop you.

Interview Secret 5: Always Be Ready

You never know when the perfect interview will occur. Always carry your list of questions and a recorder. Being prepared also helps you to actually be completely present during the interview, instead of panicking and formulating the next question instead of paying attention and making magic during the interview.

Interview Secret 6: Recording Your Interviews

If you are interviewing people in person, use a handheld recording device or a small USB video recorder. Be sure there is not too much noise in the area so your recordings will be clear. IF you are recording over the phone, thee are several free online recording services you can use and end up with a digital recording of your interview.

Interview Secret 7: Creating Your Money Making Information Products

This is where it gets incredible! There are so many different things you can now do with your interviews. Turn the audios into downloadable mp3s and physical audio CDs. You can have the audios transcribed and turn that into an Ebook or a physical book. If there are video interviews, you can turn those into online streaming video or physical DVDs. The best part is all these products can be created from the comfort of your own desktop or laptop.

At this time, many people are talking about the economic crisis or the recession. They are feeling the pinch of hard time of even losing their source of income. At the same time, other people are taking action and using the easy (and sometimes free!) tools of technology to leverage the power of the Internet to share and sell their knowledge, information, gifts and talents. Here are 3 important secrets about creating products inexpensively that can pay you over and over again, in any economic climate.

Product Creation Secret 1: Everyone has Expertise of Some Kind.

This expertise can be assembled, packaged with a high-perceived value and sold. It could be a hobby, a passion, an expertise obtained at a job, a process they’ve developed or how to navigate through a life experience successfully. There are people interested in all kinds of information. Just think about your friends and family. I’ll bet there are people with all kinds if interests and hobbies and they are buying information products from someone.

Product Creation Secret 2: Creating Products Can Be Very Inexpensive. Creating high value products does not have to entail a high investment. The best way to begin is to assemble your information into an Ebook. Computers come with word processors and there are free tools to easily convert your document into Ebook form. As long as your Ebook content is informative, educational and inspires your customer to apply your information, you have a winner. Your Ebook can be simply the beginning, the foundation for what I call your “PJs Empire”

Product Creation Secret 3: Creating Products to Sell on the Internet Means You Are Open for Business Anywhere Anytime. By creating products to sell on the internet, you are creating a business that works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I have Ebooks, online video products, audio products I created once and set up automatically to sell for me over and over again. Once you do this, you can create a stream of income without your actual presence required. By placing your information online, you are also making your products available to the entire internet which is a huge pool of potential customers.

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

I really enjoy helping people create information products that can eventually create more time and freedom for them by duplicating their efforts. Many times they have heard conflicting ideas about creating products or have seen programs that promise instant and effortless product creation. Let me share with you the top three product creation lies.

Product Creation Lie #1 You Can Create or Buy Instant Products with Little Effort.

If you want to sell virtually worthless and low quality products, this might be true. But if you want to actually share your knowledge, information, gifts, talents and inner voice with the world, there is no instant about it. It can be a fast process, but there is effort involved. I believe when you create a product, you are actually sharing part of yourself and your light with the world.

Product Creation Lie #2 You Must Take Years to Create a Quality Product.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is also no need to spend months and months or years to create great, high-value products. I believe the best way to create products is to first set a start date. Then set an end date for completing your product or you could end up trying to tweak and perfect your product forever. When you use my quick and effective tips to create quality products that do not require years of your life, you can become a product creation machine too.

Product Creation Lie #3 There Are Already Too Many People Creating the Kind of Products You Want to Create.

Instead of being discouraged if someone else is already teaching what you want to teach or creating those types of products, ask yourself how you can differentiate yourself from the crowd. There is a segment of the population who will resonate with you as a teacher waiting for you and your products. And if you see competition out there, think about how you can collaborate with them. There is more than enough room for everyone and the internet makes collaboration extremely easy.

As the saying goes “A rising tide raises all boats”

The biggest roadblock I notice about people who want to create information products that pay them over and over again is taking action immediately. You’ve probably hear the saying “Goals are dreams with Deadlines”. It’s important to put an end date on the product creation process or you could end up tweaking your product for years…

I created Diamond Deadlines to help my students put an end date to the product creation process. A diamond is a piece of coal that has so much pressure put on it that it turns into a diamond. Setting Your Diamond Deadline can help push towards completion of your Ebook, Audio, Video, Membership or bundled product.

Here are 3 tips for setting and completing your information products using Diamond Deadlines:

1. Dealing with Fear and Procrastination.

Identify your top fear and frustration about creating your money-making product. It’s important to shift this fear from blocking you and turn it into an empowering question that will help your mind to actually look for a solution. Turn your fear into a question that begins with one of the following:

“how do I…?”

“how can I…?”

“how could I…?”

2. Create Mental and Physical Space.

It’s important to make space for creation to occur. Sometimes we become so overscheduled with busy and meaningless activities that keep us from making time for completing big dreams like creating products that could pay you over and over again.

Create mental space by getting rid of some of the activities on your schedule. Reevaluate your friendships. Sometimes we remain friends with people who are unsupportive of your dreams and goals. Ending those friendships can be done in a gradual and graceful way.

Decluttering your physical space is just as important. Get rid of clothes you haven’t worn in one year. Give away books you have already read to someone who could benefit from reading them. Create space for your products to become reality.

3. Set Your Diamond Deadline.

Take out your calendar. Set a date to complete your product. An ebook can be completed well within one month. A Video can be recorded, edited and placed online or in a Membership Area very quickly. Then reverse engineer the production of your product by setting smaller Diamond Deadlines so you are turning a large task into smaller, easily reachable goals.

The most important thing to remember when setting your Diamond Deadline to complete your product is to honor your self-promises. It may feel uncomfortable at the time, just like the pressure put on a piece of coal, but the reward is a product that can duplicate your efforts and pay you over and over again.

Maritza: So which of the success principles from Think and Grow Rich desire, persistence, masterminds, faith do you think has influenced you the most?

Andrea: I think it’s a combination of all of them. I think what Napoleon Hill has hit on is that beautiful recipe of creating a very successful life. I would say in my own recipe I’ve had a burning desire since I was very young, this desire to serve people. I truly want to leave every person who I encounter better off than when I found them. If that’s just a smile, a friendly hello, a nice to see you, how’s your day, it’s a small thing in the world, but it makes my life richer and it also allows me to feel like I’m living my time here with purpose, even if nothing great or amazing happens, it’s the little things in life that you do every day.

Every moment is a blessing and is a gift and it’s what you do with that. Faith has been a big part of my journey, because I have had this calling in my heart that never made a lot of sense on paper. I’ve taken big risks with my life that to my parents seemed crazy and foolish or to other people around me. Even with my own journey of losing weight, science was even telling me your genetics are against you. You’re going to be fat you’re destined to be this way, but I didn’t believe them. I had a deeper faith that I could find a way and faith in myself, the faith of being tested by life and adversity, yet knowing that I’m a person who loves living. I love life, I’m passionate about it. I have a deeper meaning for being here. Therefore, I just know that I’m going to continuously strive to overcome whatever I’m facing and that also comes with persistence that’s a big part of it. Learning that when you fall down.

The mastermind is very important as well. Surround yourself with people whom you admire; you truly become the people who you’re around. I love the saying ‘I would rather soar with the eagles than pluck with the chickens.’ That saying is like, there are thousands and millions of chickens and they all huddle together, but the chickens are so focused on what’s right in front of them. They pluck from seed to seed whereas they never look up or look around and they never see that there’s a bigger world around them.

Whereas, an eagle soars high above the whole world and if you look at an eagle most of the time they’re soaring alone. They’re alone in the sky and you compare that to the chickens that are surrounded by other chickens, but they’re still chickens and they’re still lost in their short-sighted world. It’s like you rise up higher and then you get to a place where you can lift them up. It’s about holding yourself up to that, soar like an eagle and what happens is you find other eagles, eventually. You meet other people at that level, but you have to stay at that level you cannot be sucked down.