* Although your information must be up-to-date, useful and valid, it needn't offer content that no one else has. Buyers pay for booklets and special reports primarily to have information in a handy, easily digestible form.

* You don't need high-level communication skills to produce salable booklets, although I do recommend that you take steps to ensure proper spelling, punctuation and grammar.

* Unlike newsletters, you don't commit yourself to future issues on into future.

* You don't need to convince editors that you and your idea merit space in their publishing program. Buyers deal with you directly.

* Your profit margin is high - a booklet selling for $5.00 might cost you $.10 to produce, while a special report selling for $95 might cost nothing other than labor that went into it.

To be fair, let me list some disadvantages of booklets and special reports, compared with other information products:

* They don't last anywhere as long as books, audios or videos and don't look impressive on a buyer's bookshelf.

* They can't contain as much of your personality as an audiotape or video.

* As one-shots, they have less impact over time with each buyer than a newsletter.

* Since they're self-produced, they don't serve as much of a credential, although they can do an excellent job of proving that you know your stuff.

* They don't make it into public libraries very often, compared to information in other formats.

* Since they need to be practical and snappy, they can't provide an outlet for full range of your creative talents.

All in all, however, booklets and special reports are easy to write and can easily generate a stream of extra revenue not requiring your time and attention once everything's set up. This passive income can become plentiful indeed!

While you may be aghast at responses, you would be surprised at how many executives and corporate officers fall into at least one of these categories. I liken this scenario to parenthood. It is assumed that, if you’ve given birth to a child, you also know how to raise him/her. In corporate world, if you have been promoted to upper-management, it is assumed that you’ve been adequately trained for position at some point along your career path. This is not always case.

While executive coaches help to instill communication skills, improve confidence and better equip officers and executives for their ever-changing roles, they also lend an ear. According to Leviss, “You’d simply be amazed at depths of isolation there are at executive level. The phrase ‘lonely at top’ doesn’t even begin to approach how shut off upper-management can be. They are expected to know everything and need nothing. This is where executive coaches perform their most important duty… they lend an ear.”

Executive coaches also play a great role in offering encouragement and support to those in executive positions. While most employees have co-workers and supervisors to support them, officers are in a class by themselves. They are stopping point… final destination. Coaches fill gap.

As positive reports continue to role in from trenches, there is little doubt that executive coaches will continue to play a vital role in corporate life. In fact, many firms are now including executive coaching as part of officer and executive benefits packages. And why not? If coaches’ strategy of “taking it from top” causes a chain reaction of greater teamwork and loyalty all way down through ranks, it will offer a payoff well worth cost of initial investment.