Have you ever read Stephen King’s The Dead Zone?
Or perhaps seen the film with Christopher Walken?
A man has a car accident that puts him into a coma for five years. 
When he wakes, he discovers that he has gained psychic powers.
He can see into the future.
While in hospital he has a vision of a girl trapped in a burning bedroom.
It’s the daughter of one of the nurses.
She rushes home and rescues the girl just in time.
As you’d expect from a Stephen King story, this special power doesn’t turn out too well for him in the end. (I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s worth reading/watching.)
You know, I’ve always been captivated by this idea. Because, after all, when it comes to business, it would be one of the most profitable powers you can have.
You’d know in advance what the next big niche, craze, or red hot selling product would be before anyone else got a look-in.
Alas, I can’t give you that power.
But I can do the next best thing…. I can give you the tools of prediction.
How to know your product will be a hot seller
It doesn’t matter whether you’re creating an eBook, setting up an information website, offering services, or selling physical products online – such as clothes, crafts, food and cars.
There are trends in any field of business.
Certain products are always on the up – and the earlier you get into them the better.
Here’s a basic life-cycle of trends:
When it comes to choosing your products and service you need to be on the left hand side of that curve.
Here’s another example of the same kind of curve, created by Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company Magazine author of best seller, Practically Radical.
He calls this ‘The Idea Diffusion Curve’.
As you can see, there are a tiny 2.5% of innovators… and 13.5% of early adopters.
If you are one of those, with a product or service on the market, you’re going to have far less competition and a lot more time to make your profits before that demand starts sinking again.
Taylor writes:
“Your only hope is for your product or service to be remarkable. The definition of remarkable: something so amazingly brilliant and different that people want to talk about it.”
This factor is also important for your content marketing.
Find a product in the very early stages of the “idea diffusion curve” and it’s more likely that people will get excited about it.
They’re more likely to spread it around in their blogs, emails, and social media networks.
Taylor calls this “the positive word-of-mouth you need to move through the idea diffusion curve.”
This all makes total sense in theory doesn’t it?
If you had the power to see into the future you could make a fortune.
Of course, it’s not quite so easy in the real world.
But I’ve got a shortcut for you…
My 7 favourite tools for finding hot product ideas
In this month’s issue of Digital Upstart I reveal the 7 best tools for finding bestselling product Ideas.
Used together, these will help you see precisely what kind of products people are seeking out, where they are on that trend curve, and what kind of profits you can make.
In less than an hour you could find a red-hot new niche to exploit.
The paper version will be posted tomorrow, but for those eager to see it sooner, I will upload it to the members area later today.
So if you’re not yet a member, now would be a great time to join.
There’s also plenty more in this month’s issue that will help you accelerate your online business:
- Use this cheeky 3-step “fire sale” strategy to make money online fast, without a product. This is ideal if you are starting from scratch. But also works really well if you already have a fledgling business and you’re looking to build a list of highly qualified email subscribers who are proven buyers.
- How the ‘wrong’ website colours can increase traffic, social media shares and sales. This remarkable article by web designer and marketer Emily Rees, reveals the rule-breaking advice the internet marketing crowd never tell you (and probably don’t even realise.) This is crucial if you want to attract people to your website and encourage them to stick around. Essential reading!
- 11 ways to get total strangers to trust you online and buy -When you run an online business, you’re invisible. You could be anyone. Creating a bond of trust is hard, especially when so many people are rightfully wary about losing their money to scams or dodgy operators
- Website surgery! You’ll also find my analysis of a reader’s website. I give detailed advice on design, copy, landing page, images, navigation, and product positioning. The owner has already started to implement some of my recommendations and I can’t wait to see the results! So if you have a website, or are about to build one, make sure you check this out.
If you’re not a member yet, you can join risk-free here.
If you are a member, and there’s something specific you’d like me to cover in Digital Upstart, then let me know by dropping me a line:
PS: For existing business owners only: I’m looking for a handful of ‘dream clients’ as part of my new consulting service. I’ve had so many people ask me if I would work with them on a 1-2-1 basis recently, I’ve decided to do something about it.
So if you already have a solid business, a steady flow of leads, a list of prospects and customers, a good solid product AND reputation, then we need to talk.
I am only taking on a maximum of 10 people this year and I will be VERY selective about who I work with. So please, only email me about this if you meet the criteria above.
Email me directly on nick@digitalupstart.co.uk