He talked about his visit to the craft fair and items of interest like kids clothes, candles, doll makers, etc., and to get our heads out of the major league box and nip about the edges.

He also suggested we keep out of the forums until our tasks for the done were completed!

Also, Dan is crafting a conference center for 30dcs at Second Life, where bonus material will be presented. I’ve never been a big fan of SL, so will be interested to see how this evolves.

An interesting comment was about what to pick in terms of a niche. Ed said that if we love something we generally ARE experts at it – so anything we write we might feel isn’t good enough; and maybe we’ve done it so often it’s boring to us. We might lack the curiosity needed to be successful at this niche.

He suggested we think back to the most recent hobby we took up, or the last thing we purchased that really excited us–that’s where we’ll probably find the passion.

Again, smaller is better cause the market isn’t saturated with material.

Assignment: Whittle our list down to 7 MARKETS by the end of today. And remember, this is MARKET research, NOT product research!! For example, a MARKET is underwater kick boxing or sausage making, NOT underwater kick boxing fins.

Back in a bit with recaps of the four videos.

2. Listen to the podcast

3. Make sure we’re caught up

The video gave a brief overview of the four steps we’re going to learn in this 30 day challenge. The podcast went into more detail.

Step:

1. Market Research.

According to Ed, the idea isn’t to just think “niche” but rather to think sub-niche, i.e. trout fishing as a niche, trout fishing with a spinner (whatever THAT is, Ed!) as a sub-niche.

Ed said the smallest, least obvious niches are the most successful.

2. Traffic. Hallelujah! We’re going to learn how to get traffic without spending a stinkin’ dime! Now, *that’s* brilliant.

3. Conversion. In the past, visitors were converted to buyers via LONG sales pages. Now, using a more Web 2.0 conversion process is more important. Build our lists, and use video and audio as a conversion technique.

Ed also commented that videos don’t HAVE to show US, but rather can show screen captures, powerpoints, etc. (or dancing stuffed animals).

4. Product. In the past 30dc’s apparently ebooks were the focus; now Ed is hoping more of us will jump into audio and video products.

IMPORTANT: When creating product, create *real* stuff for *real* people, i.e. a sausage making machine for sausage makers. We JUST deliver on the promise.

Recap of niches: Pick around the edges of a niche, not out of the middle, i.e. do NOT focus on a niche like weight loss.

No selling is required. As Ed said, did any of us every have to be “sold” on something we really wanted? Not me.

Day 1 Action Items:

1. Watch video

2. Listen to podcast

3. Jot down ideas, don’t edit them.

4. Get caught up.

Oh yes, outsourcing: Apparently it’s cheaper to outsource AV than ebooks. Hmmm. I want to know more about that.

Meet Team Universe’s Rockin’ Mascot

Watched all the videos, signed up for the forum, joined Twitter, SumbleUpon, Delicious, et al, and can’t wai to see how Ed and the guys bring all these social networking sites into play for promoted our products.