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With my outline together for my free report, I’m ready to put the content together. There are basically 3 ways to get content together for a free report:

• Write it entirely yourself
• Use transcripts of your own teleseminars
• Use someone else’s writing with permission

I prefer to use transcripts because it’s the fastest way, and it definitely positions me as an expert. Some people prefer to write it from scratch, but then wonder why it’s taking them a month to put together a 10 page report. I especially don’t understand this if you can’t type at least 75 words/minute.

The third method, using someone else’s writing, is the best way to go if you haven’t done a teleseminar yet, and you simply want to build your list. This entails ghost-writing, using public articles with permission, or PLR. I talk about the merits of each inside the Discover Product Creation in the IM Success Library.

For my report, I’m using the transcripts I had done for my Teleseminar Formula course (which is what I’m promoting in this report anyway). Remember, this report is supposed to give people enough steps to do their first teleseminar, but also to get them hungry for more step-by-step lessons from me in the bigger course.

So unlike with some teleseminars where I’d take 1/3 or 1/2 and make simple edits to create the report, this report will be a quick compilation of a few pieces of different teleseminars, with editing done to make it flow smoothly.

I’m taking pieces of Module 1, Module 3, and Module 4 specifically for the content of the Introduction, Pick a Format, Connect To A Bridgeline, Press Record, Talk, and Download Recording chapters of my report.

I may also take the transcripts from one of my previous preview calls for the final section, Next Steps. But I’ll do that later.

For now, I simply want to make sure the main guts of my report are completed.

Notice how during this initial content phase, I’m not worried about the Table of Contents, the About the Author, or even the title. For one thing, I can make a TOC in about 10 seconds on Microsoft Word (or Open Office), and I already have the About the Author from the 8 ebooks that make up the text version of Teleseminar Formula. But if I didn’t have those pre-made, I’d save them for a time in my writing process when I felt “stuck”. Completing those two pieces of a report, ebook, or physical book are a great way to get an “easy” set of steps done and feel like you’re making progress. This is a strategy Donna Kozik teaches in her Write A Book This Weekend program, and one I had been using for the last few years.

At first my process may seem like Dr. Frankenstein’s Product Creation Formula. And I’d say that wouldn’t be an inaccurate statement. Piecing together things you’ve already written (or turned into transcripts from a teleseminar) is fast, a bit of a puzzle, and puts the emphasis on creation instead of writing. Psychologically, creating instead of writing has a much more positive vibe to it for me, and I imagine that may be the case for you as well.

One more item to note in my process for creating a report. While I was in college (first at Florida State and then at Johns Hopkins), I’d obviously have to write papers for classes. Procrastination was always a big thing for me. Deadlines were essential for me to get my work done. Even if I had 3 months to plan and write a paper, I’d still wait until the last minute.

When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to set your own deadlines with consequences/benefits of getting it done on time.

So here’s what I’m going to do for the content: I’m setting a deadline of having my final first draft done for Monday (it’s Saturday morning now). The benefit is getting the rebrandable report out to my affiliates so the report can help make this month my best month ever.

I also want to give this report out as the second month’s free report for my new list I had started during the 30 Day Autoresponder Challenge. So the consequence of not getting it done this week is having my subscribers disappointed in how long they are waiting for their report (many of my subscribers are on message 10 already, and awaiting message 11).

I also found I needed a certain environment to get completely focused. I’m going to take my laptop to my dining room, which we hardly ever use but which has comfortable but upright new chairs, and work there. There’s plenty of light. And I’m going to bring my iPod and see how much I can get done during a full album. My favorite music to work to is techno, drum, and bass, etc. And the first pick on my iPod to work to for writing is always the Prodigy. Obviously this won’t work for everyone, but I find the hectic pace of the music helps me think faster, work more quickly, and there’ll be time for revision afterwards in case I make mistakes.

After my initial draft today, I’ll then add the rest of my content during my next work session, and go into editing mode before publishing the report on Monday.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Are you putting a report together while you follow my mini-challenge? What’s it about? Are you writing it, compiling transcripts, or using other people’s writing? Post your comments below!

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