How to monetise anything: part 1

I drink a lot of coffee. Unless I have decided to be completely anti-social I normally meet someone for coffee twice a day. It’s part of my investment in networking.

First meetings tend to be wider ranging as we get to know each other, and downstream meetings are normally focussed on a specific problem. But because of the volume of “first” meetings I attend, I have noticed a number of generic business issues. Here’s some snippets indicating some of the issues that I regularly hear.

“I keep on getting asked to speak at small community events, but how do I make money from this?”
“I am part of a group fascinated by Wikinomics, which we feel has enormous value, but nobody wants to pay for it”.
“I have a great network, but how do I monetise it?”

The question of “how do I monetise this?” is a difficult one. Normally because you find yourself in a situation where there isn’t a reference point close enough for how to make money. Certainly the green grocer doesn’t ask the question about his fruit and veg, but he does when he notices something unexpected such as people regularly using his shop to shelter from the wind or rain while waiting for the morning tram.

But “how do I monetise this?” is a question that pops up in my coffee meetings again and again, because of the type of people I meet. So as is my way, I thought for awhile about what the question really was, I did some research and came up empty. I mulled over it for a couple of weeks, drew some circles on a page and searched for a universal framework to approach the problem. I have come up with what I think are solid thoughts, but because of the size of this article, I have split it into three parts.

The problem of how to monetising something you have or are doing, is not dissimilar to negotiation or being an entrepreneur. In fact, it’s a bit of a melding of the two. It also has a simple workflow, but of course the devil is in the detail. There are just three steps:

1. Identify all the attributes of the situation
2. Identify where the value is and;
3. Identifying the appropriate packaging.

In next week’s blog I will look at identifying the attributes of a situation.

To read more Brendan Lewis blogs, click here.

Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded: Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.