Back in the early 1970s, when I was about five years old…

I remember watching Gerry ‘Thunderbirds’ Anderson’s Joe 90 television show from behind the sofa.

It was the opening sequence that made me cower.

There was something terrifying about Joe staring out from inside the ‘BIG RAT’, a strange whirling psychedelic orb machine.

I think it was because Joe was actually a puppet with lifeless eyes.

But enough of my childhood fears…

Once I got over the terror of the opening sequence, what I loved about the show (and still remember fondly) was the concept of the ‘Big Rat’ (Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer).

Because it meant that a 9-year-old child spy could go into this machine and – within a few minutes – emerge as an expert in ANYTHING.

Fighter Pilot… Brain Surgeon… Concert Pianist…

You name it.

Then he could use these skills to foil international criminal gangs.

Back in the ‘70s, this seemed so futuristic.

But here we are in ‘the future’, and it’s not so far-fetched.

While we can’t quite become instant brain surgeons, we have almost unlimited information at our fingertips.

• The internet offers us instant access to books, films, training courses and academic studies…
• Social media allows us to follow… learn from… and even talk to… top experts, authors, researchers, artists, campaigners and politicians.
• Smartphone apps in the palms of our hands can translate languages, identity plants and birds, show us maps of where we are and direct us to where we need to go.
• Artificial intelligence tools can answer almost any question in seconds and quickly turn our concepts, designs and questions into professional-standard texts, images and products.

This means we ALL have the potential to become ‘experts’.

And we can very quickly turn freely available information into products and services that people will pay for.

As a digital information publisher, you can now create email newsletters, eBooks, PDF reports, planners, checklists, online courses, webinars, membership sites and social media video channels.

These could focus on any subject that has an audience that is actively searching for help online.

And you don’t need to be a recognised expert to provide that help.

It’s really a matter of collecting and presenting practical information that will be useful and valuable.

To give you an everyday example…

If you want to get rid of your Christmas tree, you don’t necessarily need to contact a recycling expert or a local council official.

A neighbour who you trust might give you the website link which they used to get their tree collected for free.

That’s all you’d need, and all you’d want, to solve the problem.

You were just looking for a guide who could show you the quickest, cheapest and easiest route to take.

The same goes for information publishing.

The Meaning of ‘Expert’ in the Digital Business World

Most people imagine ‘expert’ can only mean that you have years of formal training, qualifications, awards or a massive online presence (ie, multiple thousands of social media followers).

And yes, those people can make money from their own books, courses and membership services.

But there are plenty of other kinds of ‘experts’ out there who successfully sell information.

These are people who are simply a few steps ahead of their audience.

They have focussed on a specific goal or problem, then found practical methods of achieving it.

To do this, they:

• Find good information online, via AI, social media, search engines and specialist websites.
• Filter it down to its essence, getting rid of all the fluff, jargon, and poor advice.
• Organise it so that it’s really easy to read, watch or follow.
• Make it useful by offering things like website links, resources, templates and tools.

To do all of this, you don’t need to be the world’s leading authority, or a celebrated professional.

You just need to be a trusted guide.

It simply requires a system for seeking out, organising and presenting practical info.

And for that you can use search engines, curation apps, organisation tools and AI – which are easy to use and available to you for free, or at a very low cost.

Of course, there are some exceptions.

This does NOT apply to any fields where you absolutely and legally DO need qualifications, including:

• Medical diagnosis and treatment
• Legal advice
• Tax/Accounting

However, the vast majority of recommended information publishing niches are in areas that don’t have any ethical or legal issues.

These include:

• Work and life skills
• Business strategies
• Marketing techniques
• Home enterprise
• Lifestyle improvements
• Organisation
• Motivation and confidence
• Health and fitness
• Hobbies
• Personal/business productivity
• Self-education
• Computing

In areas like these, you can ethically pass on good quality information that people can use to achieve their goals and avoid common problems.

Your job is to find out what works… remove what doesn’t… simplify what’s confusing…

And then present it in a practical way.

Here’s how it’s done.

How to Become ‘Expert Enough’ to Publish Digital Information

Step 1: Find an In-Demand Niche

The key is to narrow your focus onto one specific niche subject.

Because while becoming an expert in digital marketing would take a lot of time and effort… becoming an expert in ‘Local Facebook Advertising’ could be done much more quickly.

And while ‘home renovation’ might seem a daunting subject to master, building bookshelves could be something you could reasonably learn about.

Similarly, ‘self help’ is an enormous topic with many elements, but ‘productivity’ would be a niche that’s easier to grapple with.

As long as there are people actively seeking advice and information about these goals, you have scope to collect and provide that information.

Of course, you can use AI to help you do this.

Ask it: “I am interested in publishing information in this broad subject area: [SUBJECT] but I need a narrower niche that I can more easily become expert in. Please give me X suggestions.”

Step 2: Define A Specific Problem

Within your niche, it’s best to hone in on a specific problem or goal.

For example, let’s imagine you choose the niche ‘productivity’ within the larger subject of ‘self help’.

You should then concentrate on a productivity problem, for example….

• How to achieve focus and concentration when you need it most during a day
• How someone with a side business can organise their time around work commitments
• How to set a big financial goal and successfully plan for it
• How a busy parent can plan nutritious meals in 20 minutes a week

Again, you can use AI to help you with a prompt like this:

“List 20 narrow, practical problems people have within [NICHE] where I can find and present useful information and advice.”

Step 3: Verify Demand

You can also look online to find out if people are looking for help, or experiencing problems, in any specific area.

That could include:

• Amazon book reviews – use keywords related to the niche in the Amazon search box, then click on relevant titles to see what people say.
• Reddit threads and Quora questions – these two platforms are where many people ask (and answer) pressing questions where they can’t get the answer easily from existing sources.
• YouTube comments – use the search tool in YouTube to find relevant videos and check out the comments.

You’re looking for repeated frustrations, requests for explanations, and complaints that there isn’t good advice or information out there.

Step 4 – Find High Quality Sources

Now you know what your audience wants (and doesn’t want) you can find the information they need for the specific problem they are looking to solve.

Try and find:

✔ 2–3 blogs or YouTube channels
✔ 1 or 2 credible courses (these could include video courses or email courses)
✔ 2-3 specialist websites with articles, resources and links
✔ 2–3 books from Amazon (eBooks mean you can get instant access)

I’d also recommend you sign up to any email newsletters that are relevant to your subject matter, which will give you a weekly feed of incoming information.

It’s also worth following influential or popular social media accounts linked to the niche. These could include influencers, experts, super-fans and content creators.

Again, this will give you a rolling feed of news, links and opinions.

Finally, you can use AI tool like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and get them to:

• Answer questions and solve problems that your niche audience might have
• Research topics for you
• Create step-by-step plans
• Explain and simplify anything you don’t understand
• Find you further books, courses, academic publications and other sources of information

If you can do the above, you’ll very quickly find yourself becoming an expert in your narrow niche subject.

And you’ll also find yourself with a wealth of information that you can sift and collate into something simpler, and more practical to pass on.

That’s when you have the core ingredients for a successful information product.

There are plenty of ways you can present the info – from the simple to the complex – from planners and guides to courses and email newsletters.

But that’s a subject I can get stuck into for future issues of What Really Makes Money!

In the meantime, have a go at the steps in today’s issue.

See if you can find a niche topic that you could see yourself specialising in.

It could be the beginning of a brilliant digital product!