I’m continually amazed by the technology available today, and what it allows us to do. It’s been over three years since Chris Anderson wrote  The Long Tail , and it seems to be getting longer and longer every second.

To wit:
Adam Purcell of Hungry Dog Media has just posted this video, showing how to create an ecommerce site with a product for sale up and running in five minutes!
Ridiculous! Awesome! Fantastic! Scary as all get-out!

Few thoughts:

• Anyone out there thinking that it is too hard to start a business just got pwned.
• Anyone out there thinking that there won’t be any competetion for whatever goofy thing they’ve decided to sell (this includes me, you, and everyone you know)… we just got pwned, too.

More interesting, though (because it’s what I care about) is how easy to use the WP e-commerce plug-in is for selling downloads (ebooks, people; info-products). You don’t have to mess with payloads or anything else.

Now… Trying to actually make a living selling digital products and ebooks is tough, BUT… for all you consultants, service providers, professional experts, and (hooray) Social Bootstrappers… Ebooks, and other digital info-products, are KEY to your success as a thought leader.
Thought Leaders do a few key things:

• Innovate their industry. That is, have a unique point of view or way of doing things.
• Give away a lot of information, so that people start to use them as the “go-to” reference.
• Charge for additional (or simply repackaged) information, so that people see the value of their expertise. (The extra money is nice, but that usually isn’t the point.)

Number one is hard… very hard, and no one can do that for you. But WP has made it easier and easier to distribute your information, both for free and at a premium.

If you can learn how to harness Word Press for thought leadership, you can make a fortune! You have two options:

• If you are a service provider, a consultant, or a business owner who is INNOVATIVE and a has UNIQUE point of view, you can become a thought leader.
• If can find people who want to become thought leaders (they are everywhere), you can become a Social Bootstrapper, and help them reach their goals (and they will pay you… oh, how they will pay you).

Happy Bootstrapping!