Sometimes you don't want to be in front of the camera and would like to act as producer of your How To Video. That's great - I'll show you how to brainstorm and find your local guru for a How To video project. Once you have a system in place you can repeat in as many niches as you are able.

Finding a teacher or Guru (gu - dark; ru - light; one who brings from darkness to light) for your How To video can be easy if you know where to look. There are probably hundreds of gurus in your neighborhood. So this class will find as many as we can, identify good niches and then pair down until we have the perfect guru to work with.

You can find Gurus in three main areas - Experts, Hobbyists, Entrepreneurs. There are a few in my neck of the woods. Plus I have some friends that I think would qualify - but they live a good distance away.

I live in a small town outside Philadelphia. Lots of shops around and local experts. By brainstorming I can come up with a few people who might make a good host for a How To DVD. You have the role of "Guru Maker".

Here are some potential gurus in my neighborhood

Dave - Pizza Parlor Franchiser
Delores - Jewelry Shop
Mike - Non-Profit Grant writer
Joe - Lacrosse Shop
Pete - Sporting Goods Store
Jane - Urban Chicken Farmer (really!)
Larry - R/C Airplanes
Howard - Graphics Design Company
Marta - Real Estate

Here are some friends who I might get to visit for a day or two

Sean - Public Speaker
David - Producer
Randy - Video Graphics

Researching An Idea

Not all of these will make great How To DVDs. Some have too small an audience. Some have too much competition. Some are better ideas for a corpoate video (which I'll pitch) and some have other issues as we'll see. Research is the fun part for me. I use Google and see if I can find an existing DVD on a topic, an authority site, and/or a forum. My searches look like this:

• "topic forum"
• "topic portal"
• "topic DVD"
• "topic association"
• "topic business association"
• "topic trade association"
• "topic tutorial"
• "topic magazine"
• "topic research"
• "topic user group"
• "topic how to"
• "topic how to video"
• etc.

This takes a while but I really love this part of the process. I get really INTO finding out all I can about the topic and I love getting to know the "crowd". THIS is important! Getting to know the people who I may be producing a How To Video for is key! I need to know what they want and how they think. I also explore and rank how easily I can "reach" the crowd. Some topics sound great but when you try to market to the audience - they are non existent or are very hard to find or they are mostly off-line, which is not what I want to pursue.

If you can find multiple forums you have an easy to reach audience. If you find authority sites - sites like associations, portals, etc., these also help in your reaching your potential audience.

So, I put together a spread sheet and start filling in the blanks:

While "Urban Chicken Farmer" has the most appeal to me, I'll save that idea until I can figure out where to market it effectively. I now throw out the idea seeds that have audiences that are difficult to reach and I start adding topic ideas to the mix and then research these for existing products. I also want to have a good time while doing this so I rank these on my personal interest level.

A note about competition:. The worst market you can choose is a market with ZERO competition or similar products. There is a reason why there is no one in that space! Chances are some have tried and failed. Leave these markets for your second or third How To Video. For the first one, we want to tag along with a trend and perhaps make some partnerships along the way. "Raising Urban Chickens" may sound fun but it's going to take a while to educate the marketplace. Not an inexpensive task. You are looking for an educated and hungry marketplace.

Potential Guru	Expertise	Reachability	Topic Ideas	Competition	My Interest
Dave	Pizza Parlor Franchiser	Easy	Franchise Your Business	Stiff	6
Delores	Jewelry Shop Owner	Medium	Profitable Jewelry Shop Owner	None	6
Mike	Non-Profit Grant writer	Easy	Non-Profit Grant Writing	Some	5
Larry	R/C Airplanes	Easy	How to fly an R/C Airplane	Stiff	7
Howard	Graphics Design Company Owner	Medium	Systems for Graphic Design Firms	None	4
Marta	Real Estate	Easy	Pass Your Real Estate Exam	Some	4
Sean	Public Speaker	Medium	Public Speaking Secrets	Some	7
David	Producer	Medium	What a Producer Does (potential video series)	Some	8
Randy	Video Graphics Designer	Easy	After Effects Power Tips	Stiff	7

Now it's time to weed out the ones I have little interest in and focus on the ones with the most potential. I call my potential gurus and see if I can get a feel for THEIR interest level. Here's a script you can use to see if they would like to help:

"Hi Dave, I was wondering if you would be interested in helping me out with a project. I want to do a video on Franchising and I thought of you immediately. Would you mind getting together for a chat next week? I'll lay out all the details then."

So here is my final chart after my initial inquiry calls:

So I have a few good ideas and potential Gurus. Next lesson I'll cover the screen test for your guru - this step is MOST important so...

Stay Tuned!