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Info Businesses Are Dying
Here's what to sell instead...
882 Words | 3 Min 40 Sec Read
Welcome to another issue of Passionate Income.
Today we’ll be discussing why after a decade of hype, information product / course businesses are dying.
Further, we'll also dive into what people are buying instead in today's post information overload era.
Let’s dive in.
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Was scrolling YouTube today and I saw a video from the ultra-reliable Pat Flynn discussing how info businesses are dying.
While it was a clickbait headline, the content of the video was right on point.
See, in the mid and late 2010s, gurus like Frank Kern would pump up the information industry by citing stats about how many billions of dollars the e-learning and online education industries were generating.
And while those stats were true, and there was a lot of money to be made from information products back then, the reality today is much different.
Mainly because, after years of buying courses and never completing them (or getting results from them), most people have realized information alone just isn't that valuable.
Especially in the content marketing era, where gurus, agencies and SaaS companies given away all their knowledge as a lead magnet for their Done With You, Done For You and software services.
So where does that leave us?
Well, if you are currently selling or plan to sell information products, you might want to think twice. Mainly because now, in 2024, it's harder than ever to sell pure information.
Keyword: Pure.
While selling courses is hard these days, what you have to understand is that information was nothing more than a stepping stone to XYZ outcome.
From dating eBooks to fitness video courses, people don't buy information products for entertainment. Instead, they pay because they want to learn a skill or want to follow a proven roadmap for achieving a certain outcome.
And until we achieve worldwide utopia, it's likely those desires will continue.
So what should you sell instead of information products / courses?
First, understand the real reason people don't want to buy courses is because consuming information products is not a valuable use of their time. Mainly because people have realized consuming information, and taking action to get the outcome, are two very different things.
In short, time is valuable. And what people really want, much more than just the roadmap or blueprint, is implementation.
They don't just want to "know" how to do it.
They want actual help doing it.
To address this, there are three types of offers you can sell.
The first is Done For You, where you quite literally do the thing for them.
Given you can't do exercise or go on dates for people, most DFY offers apply to the B2B sector. With that said, there are some exceptions, including DFY:
Cooking (personal chef)
Dating App Mgmt. (small but real niche)
Travel Concierge
Job Recruiter
But generally speaking, DFY is most relevant to freelancers and agencies.
Second, you can offer a Done With You service.
On the B2B side, examples include coaching and consulting. On the B2C side, we're talking things like Personal Training, Weight Loss coaching, etc.
Last, and what is much less common these days, is a Done With Others offer.
You can think of DWO as groups where the community is focused on achieving an outcome together and with each other's assistance.
While monetizing DWO offers can be harder (given there isn't a guru leading the group), there is potential to generate profit as a community organizer (which if you know anything about organizing large groups of people, is a highly valuable skill).
Last, understand info products and courses are not "dead" per se.
I myself just bought one for $100/month a few days ago, and we at Passionate Income sell our own: InstaIncome School.
In both cases, however, there's an element of community, support and coaching. Which is precisely what sets today's best-selling courses apart from the pure DIY info products we saw in the past.
Further, adding a Discord community or once/week, one hour live coaching call is not a particularly large commitment. But because it involves live support, you're much more likely to attract people who want help with implementation in addition to the roadmap.
💡 Takeaway: Every year that goes by it gets harder and harder to sell pure information products. However, by adding a little bit of hand holding, you can actually charge more while giving buyers what they want: A helping hand.
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