The Self-Employed Stoner - Digital Asset Building

cannabis digital assets

The world is changing before our very eyes and I believe that there are many people out there that are ill-equipped for the new economy. People are still playing by the “old rules” of money and considering that things are only bound to get more expensive and the value of the dollar will continue to decline – I think it’s a good time to start talking about different ways of making money.

Today, we’re going to focus on “Digital Assets” which I believe is one of the best ways to start building wealth in the digital age. While digital assets are definitely something that anyone can do, if you’re a stoner who wants to be able to smoke weed and make money – then this is definitely a side hustle for you.

In fact, with a little ingenuity you can leverage your stoner knowledge and create a digital asset that exists within the cannabis sphere. After reading this article, you should have the basics on what a digital asset is and how you can start making one today!

What is a digital asset?

When I say, “digital asset” people immediately begin to think about crypto currency like Bitcoin. While this is technically true, a digital asset can be anything digital that can be leveraged to make you money. This includes things like eBooks, MP3s, videos, apps, software, NFTs, Crypto, etc.

Some digital assets give you little control while others give you more control. For example, if you build an app – you control every aspect of it and can alter it to your liking. However, if you own Bitcoin there isn’t much you can do to alter Bitcoin. The value of the asset is dependent on market perception.

While there is a lot of money to be made in NFTs, Crypto and similar digital assets, we’re going to focus on assets with “high control” embedded into their source code.

Easiest Digital Assets to Make

By far, one of the easiest digital assets to make is a website. Technically, speaking it is very simple. You could go to Square Space and have a website up and running in a matter of hours. However, this website will simply be one in a million and without any proper direction or thought, it would be a worthless asset. Nonetheless, it’s still an asset.

Other simple assets to build include;

Books
Videos
MP3s (music, soundscapes, jingles, V.O)
Websites (Membership, Blog, eCommerce, etc)
Streaming/Podcasting
App

While each of these have their own level of difficulty, depending on your natural talents, you’d be more inclined to do one over another.

Finding a Market

Making a digital asset doesn’t mean much if there’s no one to buy it. Therefore, in many cases before even building anything you’ll want to do some market research. To find the right market you’ll want to;

Find something that you naturally do better than most people you know
Make sure that there’s an actual market (people are selling and buying within your niche) **Competition is good!
Work on Consumer Profiles

There are markets for virtually anything on this planet. If you want to sell Smurf Memorabilia…there’s probably a group large enough for you to make some money. Of course, you’ll want to have markets that’s a little more “broad” than Smurf gear – but perhaps if you like cartoons, you could have a general site that sells shirts and other memorabilia of different animated shows. You’d have to figure out licensing, but this is something that is doable.

Your consumer profiles are important because this will help you focus your digital asset. It will allow you to learn what they want and how they like to obtain their solutions in order for you to engage with your ideal buyer.

Building the Asset

I’m rushing through points, but once you have identified your market and designed your general plan – you’ll want to build the asset. This means writing the book, building the website, filming the video, etc. This might take some time, the trick is not to rush it.

If you’re building a digital asset you’ll want to think of quality above all. There’s so much SHIT out there because people focus on the money as opposed to the product or the solution you’re trying to solve. Focus on providing value to your consumer and they will reward you with money, but if money is your focus – you’ll cut corners and won’t deliver the quality that deserves dollars.

Marketing your Asset

After you built it, then the real problem starts. You’re going to want to market your asset which means;

Ads
Landing Pages
Sales Funnels
Appearances

Fortunately, most businesses don’t have a traffic problem – they have a “retention problem”. This is because they are buying traffic without any real marketing funnel. Your digital asset needs to be created to allow your perfect buyer to go through the stages of readiness of purchasing your good. Ultimately it comes down to consumer trust.

Your marketing funnel is designed to help your buyer move along the pipeline, gain more trust and perceived value to inspire action – i.e. a purchase.

After you’ve built your asset, you’ll want to shift focus on perfecting the marketing funnel.

Reinvest once you strike gold!

It may take time before people begin to purchase your asset or use your service, but once you do begin to see some money flow towards you – reinvest most of it. You’ll want to take your small revenue stream and turn it into a mighty river.

For books, this means increasing sales. For membership sites, increasing sign ups, for blogs that rely on ad revenue…traffic.

Always invest a good chunk of your money back into your business and continue expanding. When it comes to digital asset building, you want to scale as large as you can since there is no physical production or distribution costs – you have a high margin for returns and your biggest expense should be marketing.

It’s not “easy”

People associate “digital commerce” with ease when in reality it’s just as hard as any other thing that’s worthwhile. Most people fail at this game because they are after the money, which is not a bad motivation. But if it’s your only motivation, when things start operating at a loss – you may quit. However, when you are focused on providing real value to a consumer market you’ll push through the low times until people catch on that what you are delivering is superior.

Once more, this is the “nutshell version” of digital asset building. If you want to know more, let me know in the comment section.