How We Do It The word "empowerment" is used so much these days that it's almost lost meaning. However, we truly believe that we do empower our clients. We do this in four ways: Internet technology that gives you control Professional, reliable support when you require it On-going education to help you do more An active community of like-minded people Let's look at each in turn ... Technology Because we focus on working with infopreneurs, we design our software with infopreneurs in mind. For example, our shopping cart allows you to take payment for e-books, on-line courses, seminars and teleseminars, not just for physical products. Our "content management system" gives you control over your Web site. You can add new pages, publish articles, send newsletters, add products, add client testimonials, and update most things on your Web site yourself. You do it all from your Web browser, so you can do it from your home, office, airline lounge, hotel room, client premises, or anywhere else with Internet access. We provide tutorials for other Internet software that could be useful for you. For example, we don't provide blogging software because there's so much other good blogging software available elsewhere. We do provide a step-by-step tutorial for using Blogger, Google's free blogging software. Support We offer a professional Help Desk service to assist you with problems using our system. We include telephone training when we first create your site, to "walk you through" the most common features. The Web host we use is very reliable, and gives you a guaranteed one-hour response time 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We've built a reputation for delivering on time and on budget, with no hidden costs. You get access to detailed on-line tutorials to help you get more out of your Web site and on-line strategy. For example, we have tutorials about market research, blogging, podcasting, creating a membership site, conducting teleseminars, starting joint ventures, writing compelling Web copy, and more. Wherever possible, our support structure is designed to empower you to take control. We will do the work for you if you wish, but we'd rather that you learned to do it yourself for the future. Education Gihan offers on-going education programs on leading-edge Internet topics. He's an associate member of the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a mentor in the Thought Leaders community. Because we've worked with infopreneurs since 1997, and Gihan has been using the Internet since 1988, we know what topics are most relevant and useful. We choose topics based on your demand and our knowledge. Gihan also knows how to take the mass of information available about Internet marketing, and filter it to deliver the most relevant information for infopreneurs. We present material in different formats - e-books, audio downloads, CDs and video tutorials - to suit your preferred learning style. We also present the live education in different ways - monthly teleseminars, intensive workshops, one-on-one coaching, and public seminars. Community Because we work within the specific niche market of infopreneurs, our clients make up an active community of like-minded people. We make it easy to tap into the collective wisdom and knowledge of that community. The First Step Member Community is a private on-line community for our clients - a bit like a private version of Facebook - where you can take part in discussions, participate in teleseminars, and even promote yourself. We occasionally host member-only networking events, such as lunches in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. We feature our members on our monthly Leveraging Ideas podcast, which gives them exposure to a wider audience.