What Is Knowledge Commerce? Why Is It A Red-Hot Business Right Now?

Knowledge Commerce Is Exploding With Lucrative Opportunities

Knowledge Commerce is often seen as “ecommerce of information products”. But it’s much more! It’s not just ecommerce of any information products. It’s ecommerce of products that monetize your unique knowledge.

Most people think success arrives where you convert your knowledge in saleable products and they all earn handsomely thereafter. At Solohacks Academy, we think that’s where the success only begins. When your knowledge products become flag-bearers of your unique brand, your brand value grows exponentially.

The rates you can command for becoming a topnotch influencer, an authority or thought-leader, in your niche, are enormous. You’ll be sought after more than your products will be. While your knowledge products will still earn endlessly, your brand will zoom forth and earn more than you ever dreamed of.

Here are some key reasons why you’d do well to strike while the iron is hot…

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1. Knowledge Commerce Is Poised To Reach $325 Billion By 2025

Entrepreneurs who take advantage of the opportunity to market their unique knowledge, and to get paid for creating knowledge products will reap rich rewards.

a. Knowledge Commerce Is Among The Easiest Businesses To Enter

As Jon Cronstedt, President of Kajabi, a renowned Knowledge Commerce platform says: “This is a $243 billion industry in 2020. In other words, 2,430 entrepreneurs could build million-dollar businesses.”

Of all the entrants in this space, solopreneurs are likely to be a huge part of the Knowledge Commerce industry, marketing their unique knowledge. MBO Partners’ 2019 Report indicates that 41 million Americans are building solo businesses. A huge bulk of these solopreneurs are likely to become “knowledge brands”.

Solopreneurs can be of any age too. They can be millennials or side-giggers with other 9-to-5 jobs. They can be freelancers, mompreneurs, or homepreneurs. Even retired folks could launch into a solo earning with an online business. There are virtually no barriers to anyone entering the Knowledge Commerce space and making money from their own unique expertise.

b. To Succeed All You Have To Be Is Your Own Unbeatable Self

Here’s something that should warm the cockles of every entrepreneur’s heart. You will be both the brand and the product of your business. Your brains will create the knowledge products you sell, so there’s no demarcation between the business-owner and what the business sells. If you succeed, your name will get emblazoned across the Internet as an “expert”. Also, there’s will be no serious competition to beat, because there are no two people exactly like you.

Knowledge Commerce must be the easiest business for online success, because all you have to be is your own quirky, maverick self to be at your differentiated best. Make yourself memorable and sought after – and you’ve made it. What more, there’s no limit to the amount of knowledge you’ll ever have, as human brains move fluidly into newer related spaces. That means there’s no limit on what you can earn either.

c. Solopreneurs Can Gain Big Via Passive Incomes And Automation

What is passive income? If you were to try to impart the knowledge you had, one-to-one, to a number of clients and customers, there would be a limit to your time and the number of clients you could handle and earn from. But if you were to “productize” your knowledge – as ebooks or courses or membership sites – then your business could handle any number of clients 367x7x24 – and earn endlessly, even as you sleep.

Among other entrepreneurs, solopreneurs have limits to how much work they can do in a day. But if you use that time to creating passive-income products, you create just once, but earn without limit.

The other way small marketers can do less to earn more is use marketing automation. We’re not talking of fancy, pricey tools here. All you need is this. Let site visitors subscribe and fall into the right segments of your inexpensive mailing list, depending on what articles of interest they were reading. Then set up automated follow-up email sequences wooing them to buy products in their interest areas. Is this rocket science?

2. Why Knowledge Commerce Marketers Can Never Lose The Game

In Knowledge Commerce, the knowledge product marketer seldom loses. He has the ability to “pivot” easily – that is, to change tracks if his business model does not bring success as he hopes. Plus, there are other benefits …

a. Every Kind Of Knowledge Product Has Its Interested Buyers Nowadays

You don’t have to be an expert in some formal knowledge to succeed at Knowledge Commerce. Your forte could be some kind of informal, but eminently useful, knowledge. For example, you could ask yourself “What peculiar smarts do I have?” You could end up with talents like this:

“I’m damn good at ducking conflict”
“I am brilliant at collecting outstanding dues from clients”
“I’ve learned the trick of de-addicting from my mobile”

You could publish some eminently valuable ebooks or courses, or offer consulting services in your quirk. People nowadays don’t want only formal courses online. They are intrigued when they see new types of practical knowledge they didn’t know they could have fun learning, plus it’s easy to buy in a snap.

b. Technology Evolution Adds Fuel To Spur Your Momentum And Growth

What can you sell through Knowledge Commerce? The limit is set only by the technology available. Right now, you can sell ebooks, courses, podcasts, video tutorials. You can build membership sites with paywalls that protect exclusive knowledge. You can host webinars or mastermind classes. You can also offer to consult or mentor as a service. But this is just what you can sell today.

Who knows where new technologies will take us? What new selling opportunities will they create for our knowledge? If you keep yourself at the frontiers in your niche, your knowledge products will be cutting-edge. That’s what people like – usable, up-to-date knowledge, in a variety of formats.

Marketers often ask: “But what will the market for human knowledge be if Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes into play more strongly?” This sounds like a good question – but, in fact, it’s a bogey that will never happen. Experts believe that, no matter what, machines can never exist without humans dictating the boundaries of knowledge that any machine can have.

c. Knowledge Commerce Is Already Among The Most Profitable Online Businesses

The whole production, marketing, and sales processes – in the creation and promotion of information products – are all done online. It’s all digital all the way through. Nothing can be as cost-lowering or value-increasing than that.

Some solopreneurs have learned to handle it all themselves. They do without expensive tools or hires. They operate at as close to 95% profitability as they can get away with.

Some even add an affiliate program to enlist others to help sell their products. They are able to afford to pay high commissions and get the best of breed affiliates.

3. Why Customers Online Will Be Willing To Pay For Quality Knowledge

One question a lot of people ask is this. “There is so much free information available online. Who would buy your knowledge products?”. The answer is simple: see yourself as an example. When do you, as a customer, pay for information and buy a knowledge product?

a. Customers Will Gladly Pay For Knowledge From Credible People They Trust

It’s wrong to think customers always want free information. Customers will pay for knowledge if they trust the author of a knowledge product. They will then see that knowledge as providing greater value than free knowledge.

Knowledge products sell due to the trust, credibility, and difference the author projects. The author’s branding, in other words, elevates his information products. His products become “branded knowledge” with a distinctive price value.

One thing to notice. In physical products, people first evaluate the product-fit for their needs. They then get satisfied it is from a good manufacturer. In digital products, it’s the opposite. They first evaluate the author. They then check that his knowledge is a relevant solution to their problem. Since there’s so much information online, the author’s credibility acts as a first filter.

b. Customers Will Read Your Price-Label As Your Confidence Of Quality

When there is information overwhelm, people are willing to pay for quality information. A price label helps signify “better-than-free” information.

This is a well-known axiom in marketing. When there’s too much of anything, people use the price label as an indicator of superior value.

There’s another insightful angle on this issue. Ramit Sethi, the millionaire entrepreneur, says he once gave away a $2000 course free. The buyers didn’t log in even once. That’s when he realized that people only value what they pay for. If it doesn’t cost anything, they don’t value knowledge.

c. Customers Will Spend On Knowledge If They See It As An “Investment”

When people want to earn money or save money, they don’t mind paying for knowledge that can help them achieve that. Such consumers see educative information as a recoverable investment.

Buying customers have this rationale. When they are still uncertain about their earning or saving goals, they look for free information. But when they get serious about earning or saving, they want serious knowledge.

Never mind the price, because it’s not an expenditure. It’s an investment towards increasing their chances of success. In fact, free knowledge may be like shortchanging their own learning and growth.

In Summary …

Knowledge Commerce is growing into a $325 billion market by 2025.
If there an online business to enter, start and run away with, this is it.
It’s especially perfect online business for solopreneurs.
Both sellers and buyers get their own benefits from this exciting market.
Initially, you may sell your knowledge in productized forms and earn.
But even bigger bucks will follow when your brand starts soaring.

Hear These Experts On This Topic …

Shane Barker in the article “What Is Knowledge Commerce?”:

Think about the last time you planned a vacation. Didn’t you look up information on the internet, read a blog post, or join a community of travelers? A few years ago you would’ve probably just booked it directly through an agent. However, as with everything else, people now want to make more informed decisions. They want to learn about topics that are new to them from people who have experience.

This presents a great opportunity for you to share your knowledge and generate an income. Whether your area of knowledge is in fitness, travel, music, or personal development, there’s always an audience for it.”

Business Blogs in the article “Knowledge Commerce: What is it? And How to Benefit from it?”:

Do not confuse information with knowledge however because knowledge in the traditional system is not usually available without paying anything while information can be taken from anywhere. Knowledge needs a proper channel and plan of execution while information can just be given to anybody.

The traditional ways of acquiring knowledge have been overridden by the revolutionary ways of getting all the knowledge in more effective and easier way while spending a lot less on every tangible resource. Knowledge and exchange of knowledge on online platforms fundamentally make up the Knowledge Commerce.”

Vikas Agrawal in the article “Knowledge Commerce – More Than Just a Fad”:

It’s the very premise of knowledge commerce—helping others make informed decisions based on personal experiences.

If you’re yet to decide whether to cash in on this marvelous opportunity, this is an encouragement to do so, because there’s enough room, whether you’re knowledgeable about health, fitness, travel, marketing, personal development, or yes, online learning itself. You’ll find an audience of people willing to pay to learn from you. Just answer this question: what knowledge do I have that the world needs?”

So What Are Your Thoughts? Do Share!

This post is incomplete without your input. The community of Knowledge Commerce solopreneurs would feel galvanized to hear from you … so do share your thoughts on this topic with us, in the comments field below this post.

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What can you sell through Knowledge Commerce? The limit is set only by the technology available.

Right now you can sell ebooks, courses, podcasts, video tutorials. You can build membership sites with paywalls that protect exclusive knowledge. You can host webinars or mastermind classes. You can also offer to consult or mentor as a service.

But this is what you can sell today. Who knows where new technologies will take us? What new selling opportunities will they create for our knowledge?

If you’re thinking: “What the best time to enter this industry?”, the answer is: “Not later than today!” The market is burgeoning with opportunities.