AP 0090: Is It Worth Creating My Own Guide When Many Already Exist?

AskPat 90 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey everybody, what's up? Welcome to Episode 90 of AskPat. I appreciate you being here and listening in on all the answers to the questions that people like you have submitted to the show.

Now you might notice especially if you've been listening to the show for a while that my voice is a little echoey right now. That's because I'm actually in an empty office. I moved all the furniture out of my office because this week there's people who are going to come and build stuff in it and turn it into the office that I want. So I had an interior designer to help design it, but currently the way the office is, I just had to clear everything out to make way for the construction people. So apologize for the echo, but it's okay, you'll be able to hear the answer to today's question from Frank.

So let's get to today's question right now.

Frank Angelone: Hi Pat, this is Frank Angelone from SocialTechZone.com where I interview well-known entrepreneurs in the field of business. My question for you is, if I see somebody else online who is producing a similar guide or tutorial in their particular topic . . . So for me since I do a podcast and I've had well-known guests on my show, I get a lot of people asking me how to do certain things with their podcasts. Now I know there are a lot of tutorials out there where people ask how to do say, getting a podcast in iTunes like you've done. I wonder, if I'm getting that type of question but with so many other people actually providing these guides online already, is there still a benefit for me to do this as well? I'd appreciate your help on this. Thanks for all you do. Take care.

Pat Flynn: Frank, thank you so much for your question today. I really appreciate it. This is a very common concern that a lot of people have when they're doing something or anything online. Somebody else has already done it; is it worth me doing it too? Now there are a couple of clues here that I'm going to say that the answer is yes.

The first and for the biggest thing is that your audience is asking you for advice and even though there might be guides and articles and blog posts out there already explaining those same exact things, people are requesting that information from you. So whether you are going to create a guide that's free, whether it's in a blog post or an ebook or a video or a podcast episode or whatever the case may be, you got to understand that it's going to be different. It's going to be different because it comes from you and there's probably a lot of people, Frank, who also are getting the same social media advice from you as well. Or the same social media advice that you give out as well but you always are putting your own twist and unique position on things which is why people resonate with you, why people are fans of you and have subscribed to the content that you produce.

Therefore, it's absolutely okay for you to create a guide of your own as long as you don't of course copy or rip off somebody else's. You create it on your own based on your own experience and that's going to be something that's unique. That could be something that you could potentially sell as well. Classic example of this is my podcasting tutorial. I have one as well as you mentioned and I wasn't the first one to create a high-quality free podcasting tutorial. Mine can be found at PodcastingTutorial.com. But before that, Cliff actually has one—Cliff Ravenscraft from PodcastAnswerMan—he has a great one as well at LearnHowToPodcast.com. And you know what I was doing when people were asking me for help with podcasting? I would always send people to Cliff's resource because it was great; it was perfect. It was everything anybody ever needed to get started with podcasting, but I kept getting requests from people saying, “Pat I just love your style of teaching. This is great information but I want to hear it from you. I want to hear the unique fun things that you always put into the work that you do. I would love to see a podcasting tutorial from you.” So I created one. I actually—you know Cliff and I are in a mastermind group together, and I went to him first and I asked permission because I highly respect the work that he does and I didn't want him to feel like I ripped him off and he said, “Dude, Pat, completely understand. Go for it.” And so he gave me permission to do that so I created what is now PodcastingTutorial.com and it has been viewed I think 90,000 times now. People have seen and gone through that tutorial and I'm getting emails every single day from people who are saying, “Pat thank you so much for your podcasting tutorial.” And again that's why it's called Pat's Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Podcast, or something that has the word Pat in it because it is my own and it's because I put my own style onto it. And Frank, you'll put your own style to it if you want.

Now you have to also step back a little bit and consider the fact that, yes there are other guides out there. Would it be worth your time to create, in terms of how many people are requesting this? Could you perhaps benefit more from just sharing the resources that already exist and use that time that you would use to create your own guide to create something else? Something that you're going to have to answer yourself, Frank, but I hope you understand what I mean. That's my answer. It's totally up to you. If there are great resources out there already, you can point in that direction. However, people are asking from you. Now, you know that when you point other people or when you point your audience to somebody else's tutorial if it's a great tutorial, you are still helping them. You're still providing value to them. Again, it is worth it? That's something that's going to be only answerable by you.

So Frank, thank you so much for your question today. I really, really appreciate it and an AskPat teeshirt is going to be headed your way. If any of you listening to this have a question that you'd like answered here on the show, just head on over to AskPat.com. Check it out there. Also check out the brand new player that will be soon available later this month or early June. It's going to be made for distribution because a lot of people have been requesting that actually.

And lastly I want to mention and thank today's sponsor which is LegalZoom, LegalZoom.com. This country was built by innovators and dreamers, right? People like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford: They laid the foundation for our country but these days it's innovators and entrepreneurs like us, like you, that keep our country running and fueling the job market and the economy. This month, LegalZoom celebrates innovation by helping you launch your dream. You can apply for a patent, you can register a trademark which I've done before on LegalZoom. I've also done incorporation and LLCs. You can launch your business right now. So if you go to LegalZoom.com and use discount code “Pat”, they'll provide the personal attention you need to help take care of all the details. They've helped over a million businesses get started right including my own. They have a A+ from the Better Business Bureau. They celebrate innovation all the time and this month especially. You can get a special price on all this so make sure you put “Pat” at checkout. Of course, Legal Zoom provides legal help from independent attorneys and self-help but they're not a legal firm. They're not a law firm. LegalZoom.com, discount code “Pat”.

I thank you for letting me mention that, and I also want to mention the quote of the day, which is a quote of my own that I've actually shared recently on a blog that's gained a lot of traction. That quote is, “The moment dishonesty enters the selling equation is the moment you're selling for the wrong reasons.” Thank you so much and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat.