The Problem:
You are a teacher and mentor to many. You find yourself giving different versions of the same or similar advice to many different people.
Or you are a content producer, savvy in the new world of DIY publishing, and you need a source of content and a built-in audience.
The Business
Produce a book, e-book, or “super-pamphlet” that must be read before the advice or mentorship begins. Everyone will be better off.
Doableness
The mentor and the content producer must each be the right person for the job. The teacher must have a consistent message and an audience. The content producer must know how to cultivate the audience and bring the essence of the mentor out of him.
And, of course, they must be right for each other.
My Thoughts
I flew cross-country with my father yesterday morning. He is a law professor of 35 years and a mentor to literally thousands in the Baltimore legal community. I asked him what problems he has. He told me that he wishes he had more time to spend with students. He loves advising them. I asked how much of the advice from student to student is the same. He said at least 30%.
If he published his way of thinking about the 30% that is the same across most students, they could come in prepared. He can offer them a higher level of advice.
But the very same reason he doesn’t have time to spend with students prevents him from writing the publication. He needs a content producer to sit with him, watch him, and draw it out of him.
In essence, the business is: If you are that content producer, go find the one who needs your services. This will produce endless quality content concepts. And there is a built-in audience (the beginnings of it anyway). Sounds like a hell of a business for an everyday reader of Copyblogger.