Eben Pagan breaks down the two fundamental approaches to selling products and services: creating your own or marketing someone else's creation. He emphasizes the "everything is a test" mindset and advocates for quick market validation through information products, coaching services, and affiliate programs.
How To Sell Products And Services
Eben establishes that there are only two ways to bring products to market - create them yourself or sell what others have made. He emphasizes that both approaches have built $100+ million businesses, making the choice about speed and fit rather than superiority.
Different business models require different focus areas, but even product-focused companies spend most time on marketing. Eben shares how his dating advice business required heavy marketing investment despite creating gold-standard products due to the psychology of the target market.
Drawing from Jay Abraham's wisdom, Eben teaches that successful entrepreneurs never assume success and only invest minimally to test markets. This prevents costly mistakes and accelerates learning through rapid iteration.
Information products top the list for speed and leverage, followed by coaching services riding the wave of industry growth, and virtual services for immediate income. Each offers different risk-reward profiles for entrepreneurs starting out.
Affiliate programs provide risk-free product testing while platforms like ClickBank, Commission Junction, and Amazon offer different advantages. This approach allows entrepreneurs to learn what sells before creating their own products.
“There are two main ways to get a product or service to market and sell. One way is to create it yourself, and the other way is to market and sell something that someone else has created. Each has its pluses and its minuses.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 0:30
Both approaches can work - the key is choosing whichever allows you to test fastest. Many successful entrepreneurs have built $100+ million businesses using either approach.
“My favorite niche to make money fast is information products.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 10:54
Information products are the best niche because you can identify problems, create solutions quickly, and sell globally for very little investment. Examples include ebooks, membership sites, and online training programs.
“Everything is a test. Possibly the best way to waste a lot of time and money is to assume that your product or service is going to be a home run success.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 7:14
Use the 'everything is a test' mindset - never assume anything will work and only invest the minimum needed to test market. If you can't make it work small, you probably can't make it work big.
“An affiliate program is when you go to someone's website... And you sign up, and you get a link... And then if someone clicks on that link from your video and they go actually go buy one of those TVs, the company whose affiliate program you signed up for will send you a check.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 16:16
Affiliate programs let you sell others' products by signing up for a link, marketing it through websites or ads, and earning commissions when people buy through your link. Companies handle all sales and payments.
“I've read several statistics, that coaching, personal coaching and professional coaching is one of the very fastest growing industries in the world right now... what we really want to have is somebody help us, take us by the hand and walk us through it, actually teach us one on one.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 12:08
Because things are changing so fast that knowledge alone isn't enough - people want someone to take them by the hand and walk them through implementation personally, creating massive opportunities for coaches.
“Some companies focus more on the product and service that they're selling and really put all their time into creating a super high quality product or service, and some businesses focus more of their time on the marketing.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 2:17
Product companies focus on creating high-quality products that sell through word-of-mouth, while marketing companies focus more time on promotion and sales. Both require significant marketing effort, especially initially.
“If you're interested in information products, go to clickbank.com... Next, Commission Junction... Many of the biggest companies in the world use Commission Junction... Next, amazon.com.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 18:00
ClickBank.com for information products with performance data, CommissionJunction.com for major companies and real products, and Amazon.com for anything they sell with universal trust and reliability.
Eben Pagan's framework for deciding whether to create your own products or market existing ones
Assess speed to market
Determine which approach allows you to test fastest - creating your own or finding existing products to sell
Consider your strengths
Decide if you want to be a product company (focused on creation) or marketing company (focused on promotion and sales)
Apply the test mindset
Remember everything is a test - don't assume success, invest only minimum needed to validate the market
Start small
If you can't make it work small, you probably can't make it work big - prove success before scaling
Choose your model
Select information products for fast money, affiliate programs for low risk, or coaching for growing demand
There are only two ways to get products to market: create them yourself or market something someone else has created, and both approaches can build $100+ million businesses
Eben knows very successful business people who have grown multimillion to $100+ million businesses using both approaches
Product companies need products that lend themselves to word-of-mouth marketing, while marketing companies can focus more on promotion and sales
In his dating advice business, men were reluctant to refer other men to the products because admitting you need dating help challenges the male ego, requiring more marketing focus
Everything is a test - successful entrepreneurs never assume anything will work and only invest the minimum needed to test market
This mindset comes from Jay Abraham, widely regarded as the godfather of modern marketing who trained most of the smartest online marketers
Create products 'quick and dirty' rather than trying to make them perfect - get close enough, good enough, and test market as soon as possible
Eben emphasizes not getting caught up in perfection and getting to market quickly for testing
Information products are the best niche for making money fast because you can identify problems, create solutions quickly, and sell globally for very little money
Eben's businesses like doubleyourdating.com, Altitude business training, and Wake Up Productive are all information products - ebooks, membership sites, downloadable audio/video training, seminars, and webinars
Personal and professional coaching is one of the fastest growing industries because people want hand-holding through rapid change, not just information
Multiple statistics show coaching is one of the fastest growing industries globally because knowledge is becoming a commodity but people need personal guidance
Virtual services and freelancing through platforms like Elance.com provide immediate income opportunities, though they're less leveraged than products
Websites like elance.com and guru.com allow you to start working immediately offering virtual research, projects, and assistant services
If you can't make it work small, you probably can't make it work big - start with minimal risk and scale only after proving success
Eben warns against ending up like people with garages full of unsold inventory who bought in bulk for bonuses before proving they could sell
Affiliate marketing provides automated tracking and lets you test multiple products without creation risk - many successful entrepreneurs started this way
The Internet has automated tracking and reporting for affiliate programs, and many of the most successful people Eben knows started their businesses through affiliate marketing
ClickBank's marketplace allows you to see how different offers perform relative to each other and provides education in what's selling in information products
ClickBank shows conversion performance across categories and provides marketing/sales website examples for research and education
Amazon's affiliate program leverages universal trust and reliability - everyone knows and trusts Amazon to complete sales and pay commissions
Amazon handles all sales, money collection, and commission payments while providing affiliate links to anything they sell, backed by universal consumer trust
There are only two ways to get products to market: create them yourself or market something someone else has created, and both approaches can build $100+ million businesses
▶ 1:16Product companies need products that lend themselves to word-of-mouth marketing, while marketing companies can focus more on promotion and sales
▶ 2:17Everything is a test - successful entrepreneurs never assume anything will work and only invest the minimum needed to test market
▶ 7:14Create products 'quick and dirty' rather than trying to make them perfect - get close enough, good enough, and test market as soon as possible
▶ 6:40Information products are the best niche for making money fast because you can identify problems, create solutions quickly, and sell globally for very little money
▶ 10:54Personal and professional coaching is one of the fastest growing industries because people want hand-holding through rapid change, not just information
▶ 12:08Virtual services and freelancing through platforms like Elance.com provide immediate income opportunities, though they're less leveraged than products
▶ 13:30If you can't make it work small, you probably can't make it work big - start with minimal risk and scale only after proving success
▶ 14:45Affiliate marketing provides automated tracking and lets you test multiple products without creation risk - many successful entrepreneurs started this way
▶ 15:26ClickBank's marketplace allows you to see how different offers perform relative to each other and provides education in what's selling in information products
▶ 18:00Amazon's affiliate program leverages universal trust and reliability - everyone knows and trusts Amazon to complete sales and pay commissions
▶ 18:40Scroll for more
Claim: “You need to create perfect products before launching them”
Reframe: Create products 'quick and dirty' - get something close enough and test market immediately
Claim: “Assume your business idea will be successful and plan accordingly”
Reframe: Everything is a test - never assume anything will work and only invest minimum needed to test market
Claim: “Focus either on product creation or marketing”
Reframe: Even product-focused companies will spend most of their time on marketing and sales, especially in the beginning
“Everything is a test.”
“If you can't make it work small, you're probably not gonna be able to make it work big.”
“My favorite niche to make money fast is information products.”
“Don't get too caught up in trying to create the perfect product or the perfect service. Just get something that's close enough, that looks good enough, that works, and get out to the market and test it as soon as possible.”
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Coaching Strategies
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Common Mistakes
The path to business success is typically counterintuitive - what seems like it will work probably won't, and what will work wouldn't be guessed in a million years
Eben Pagan calls this 'the critical counterintuitive' after studying success for over 15 years and observing that obvious paths rarely lead to business success
Tens of billions of dollars are spent annually on consumer research by corporations because making mistakes with big bets is expensive - small businesses can't afford mistakes even more
Large multinational companies spend tens of billions yearly on focus groups and consumer research, and if big businesses can't afford mistakes, small businesses especially cannot
The fastest way to waste time and money is assuming your product will be a home run success without testing
Eben Pagan states this is 'possibly the best way to waste a lot of time and money' and that successful entrepreneurs 'never assume that anything is going to work'
Successful entrepreneurs only invest the minimum time and money needed to test market their products
Eben explains that successful entrepreneurs 'only invest as much time and money as they have to in order to detect test Market'
