This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Welcome to a new week. Hope you've been well. Can't believe it is the second month of the year already, almost the third month. And right at the top of the week here, I want to jump into a controversial topic. I was thinking about this as I made my notes for this episode.
What are some other controversial topics? I was like, oh yes, network marketing, which is not our focus today, but network marketing has got to be one of those topics that whenever it comes up, I know I can get a response from listeners about. Like whenever I mention it, and I'm not a neutral voice by the way, I'm saying don't get into it. Don't do network marketing. It doesn't work. It doesn't end well. I always get a lot of email
about it. But hey, listen, if you have 23 minutes, let me just tell you about a wonderful opportunity. Just kidding. I would never do that to you. So what else is like network marketing?
Timeshare properties. That's right. Today's listener, that's what we're talking about today, timeshares. Today's listener has an idea to help people break free of the shackles that come with a timeshare contract. It is a captive market, a very captive market, but can anything be done?
I love this question. I love this idea. So I wanted to hit it hard here right at the top of the week. Should I create a course for how to get out of a timeshare? That's what we're going to talk about right after this quick message from our sponsor. Hey Chris, it's Karen calling in from Salt Lake
City, Utah. I discovered your podcast a couple months ago and have been working my way through all your episodes on my daily walks. So over 9 million Americans own a timeshare, many of whom would love nothing more than to free themselves from the lifelong ever increasing financial burden of ownership. However, the timeshare companies make this endeavor increasingly difficult. After relentlessly researching the topic, I was finally able to get rid of our family's timeshare without using a realtor attorney or timeshare exit company. And I didn't have to ruin our credit either.
I was thinking of perhaps creating an online course to share what I learned throughout this process and to help others develop and execute a plan that works for their situation. Do you think that this is the best way to deliver this type of information or should I be considering other avenues? How do I protect my content and how do I determine what to charge? Thank you again for your invaluable podcast. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my idea. Thanks.
Well, I love everything about this idea. Let me just put my cards on the table there and say, I think this is fantastic. Over 9 million Americans own a timeshare and approximately 8.9 million of them wish they had never taken that tour. Don't do it. It's not a good idea.
Maybe there's somebody out there who loves their timeshare. I'm sure I'll hear from them. But just remember most people don't. Okay, that's the point. Or at least let's say a substantial number of people really wish they hadn't got into the situation. So what Karen is trying to do here
is help them get out of it. And she's correct. It is possible to get out of this desperate situation, but the timeshare companies don't make it easy. They know that a good percentage of people who make these commitments, make these purchases are then going to regret them. So they actually try to make it difficult to get out of it. So I think the simple thing here is there's a few different
directions to go. Um, it's not that one is better than the other, but I think that the simple thing is this is an hour long course or maybe a couple hours or something. Maybe there's some different formats, but it's a relatively brief course still in depth, substantial enough, but not something that you're going to have to study for 40 hours or whatever. It's a relatively brief course that tells them exactly what to do. It tells people in the situation, here's what you need to do along with some examples, some tips, perhaps some pre-written scripts. If you have to have conversations
with the timeshare companies or with a reseller or anybody else, um, maybe some charts or details on how the laws vary in different states and provinces. Um, when I was doing some keyword research on this topic, I saw that people all over the world, actually, maybe not all over the world, but in lots of different countries are actually searching for this information. So I saw a lot of people in Australia like searching for get out of timeshare Australia. Now, speaking of that, think about search engine optimization, SEO. Um, you really want to research terms such as get out of timeshare to see exactly what people search for, um, and then build your site around those terms. Um, so
when I did that, I saw get out of timeshare COVID, get out of timeshare mortgage, get out of timeshare Reddit. So people are looking for some information on Reddit there, um, get out of timeshare for free, get out of timeshare lawyer. So in that case, people are probably searching for a lawyer because they think that's what they need. And no doubt there's going to be, you know, timeshare lawyers advertising on those search terms, but you can still learn quite a bit by doing this. And also you may want to have an ad that says, you know, you don't need a lawyer, you need this course, right? So I actually think this is a project that works well with some limited targeted advertising.
Um, I often, you know, caution people about advertising, but in this case, because you can bid directly on those search terms, uh, you have a really clear, you know, as I said, captive targeted market. Um, so definitely do some research on that for sure. I also think in terms of marketing, you know, be bold, like you don't want to soft sell it. You want to talk about the pain that people are in any situations and how you can relieve that pain. Now let's see. What else
did Karen ask? Um, how do you determine what to charge? Um, well, it shouldn't be cheap. I tend to think probably in the hundred to $300 range. Um, I could see it as like a $97 course with a couple of options for premium versions. Um, and maybe you could go higher than that. Once you go
higher than that, you definitely have to introduce, you know, more of a sales process to it. People have to think about it some more, but it's definitely not a $20 product. I think you want to really make the case that, Hey, you're going to spend a hundred bucks or a couple hundred bucks or whatever. And you're going to learn, you know, some really valuable information. It's probably going to save you, you know, thousands of dollars perhaps, uh, or even if it doesn't immediately save you thousands of dollars, you're going to be well educated, um, to make a much better decision.
So those are a few thoughts on that. Good luck, Karen. Definitely let me know when you have this course ready. I would love to tell our listeners about it. Anybody else I know who's into timeshare?
Anybody who emails to complain? I just want to give it to you straight, you know, like maybe somebody out there is like, Oh, I really like timeshares. In fact, I'm sure there are, but just remember, as I said, a lot of people don't and they feel trapped. So that's what Karen is trying to address here. All right. Listeners, if you have a question or comment, of course,
come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. So grateful to be able to make this show for you every day. Thank you for being part of this community. I hope you'll join me again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
from The Onward Project.
