Comment by miscmktg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by miscmktg | Hacker News Reader

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"The problem with courses like the one the OP took is not that they offer bad advice, but they get people thinking about what they can sell instead of a) what problems they can solve and b) what problems they have the authority to solve."

I took the same course as OP. You're making a lot of assumptions here. I have to chime in, because 30x500 is almost the exact opposite of what you've described.

1. We spent an overwhelming amount of time learning how to find, identify, and dissect pains and problems. Importantly, all of this was done well before we spent any time about thinking what types of products we should sell.

(Side note: Check out this free lesson from 30x500 to get an idea of how we approach "pains"... http://unicornfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Lesson-12-...)

2. The problem with OP wasn't that she wasn't "expert enough" to solve the problem SaaS Compass addresses. (There's no question that her product benefits SaaS owners.) It was a matter of her perceived authority, and that's something that can - and, knowing Jaana, will - be established over time. (e.g. through content marketing, publishing helpful, free information on her blog, etc.)

"I'd encourage anyone looking to sell a product like this to spend just as much time, if not more, becoming an expert on said field before selling advice."

3. "Expert" is a very broad term, so this is wishy-washy advice. At what point is someone considered an expert? Can I teach 3 year olds to play soccer even if I'm not an expert soccer player? Hmmm, I think we're on to something. On top of that, what type of expert does one need to be? "Said field" is equally vague. Fields are BIG. You don't need to be an all-round SaaS expert to sell to SaaS owners. You just need to be an expert at one particular slice of SaaS, and know more about that than most SaaS owners do. (For instance, you can be a CRO expert and sell CRO advice that's targeted and tailored to SaaS owners and their CRO problems.)

Read my comment again:

'The problem with courses like the one the OP took is not that they offer bad advice, but they get people thinking about what they can sell instead of a) what problems they can solve and b) what problems they have the authority to solve.'

This has nothing to do with what the course teaches, but with the perceptions of the students during their time in the course.

I haven't analyzed the OP's business success, so I can't say whether or not I'd feel comfortable taking her advice, but I can tell you that were I to buy something like this, I would expect that it should come from someone with a good reputation and a volume of experience in the field (authority is a function of this).

I'm not damning the course or the OP at all, merely stating an observation based on my own experiences in the field of info-products.

Okay, I read it again :)

No, 30x500 doesn't get people thinking about what they can sell instead of what problems they can solve. This goes for the material, and the student perception of it. I'm making this bold claim because beginning by "thinking about what problems you can solve instead of thinking about what you can sell" (i.e. the opposite of what you've stated) is one of the major premises of the course.

If you're talking about other courses, and you just assumed 30x500 was similar, fine. I just wanted to point out the differences, and how what you said was so far away from what we learned in the course (that includes the material, and our 'perceptions' during our time in the course).

"Courses like the one OP took" <--- (You said this without knowing anything about 30x500...???)

Amy doesn't remember but her and I have had many conversations at various conferences. I know many of her peers, and I know several people that have taken her course. Her husband and I discussed my sunburn at lessconf. I know that she/he are good people.

My reference to courses like that is to any course that teaches someone how to make money on the internet, whether they sell ebooks, software, tools, downloads, or anything in between.

My comment is not an indictment of her course, but of the many get rich quick seekers that take courses like these.

Amy and I spoke about this today and mentioned that she markets so as to avoid this type of person. I think that's great. However, I'm not going to back away from my comment just because her students don't like what I'm saying.

You are totally entitled to your opinion, but here's what happened from my point-of-view:

1. You read/skim my post

2. You assumed I'm selling advice (or info-product)

3. You assumed I didn't know my topic

4. You assumed I would be stupid enough to tell people "gee, I don't know anything about this biz optimization thing" while selling advice on the topic via the same channel

5. You assumed I was a "get rich quick seeker" out of my depth

6. You assumed that Amy's course somehow was responsible for this

7. And now it's not Amy - it's us students, who the courses like this attract

I'm not offended though, I'm just amused. LOL. And I can see how my communication and not being native english-speaker are partially responsible for this.

The funniest thing here is that many of us "get rich quick seekers" in Amy's course have spent years building online businesses. Yeah, we definitely don't like what you are saying :D

Do you know any 30x500 alumni who "think about what they can sell instead of what problems they can solve"? Or was that just a general statement about "any course that teaches someone how to make money on the internet?" (In which case I wouldn't disagree. I was just surprised to see 30x500 thrown in the mix there, had to add my two cents.)

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