The Producer: How to Build a Profitable Digital Business (Without Being the Expert)
They're the subject matter expert, while you're the digital business expert. Neither role is more important because both are essential.
The most rewarding role in an expertise-based business isn’t necessarily being the subject matter expert.
Instead, it can be playing the role of a producer who packages and scales that expertise.
Think of yourself as the Shonda Rhimes or Rick Rubin of online education. You’re not the one performing for the crowd, but you’re orchestrating everything that makes the performance work and, more importantly, makes it profitable.
The expert provides credibility and the source of content. You provide everything else that transforms knowledge into revenue.
This isn’t ghostwriting for a flat fee or ongoing retainer. This is a strategic partnership where you claim a substantial, ongoing slice of a business you build together.
And if you’re a midlife professional with decades of project management, business operations, or marketing experience, you’re uniquely positioned to make this model work.
Here’s the key insight… You are also an expert, just not in their domain.
You’re an expert in content marketing and digital monetization, which is what you’re learning here in Further Premium.
Why Subject Matter Experts Need Producers
Having expertise and having a profitable expertise business are entirely different skill sets.
A doctor who’s brilliant at functional medicine may not be adept at building sales funnels, creating email sequences that convert, handling customer service, navigating payment processing, or optimizing conversion rates.
A fitness instructor with a transformative method doesn’t automatically know how to structure a membership site, create engaging content, or run an affiliate program.
That’s where you come in.
You’re not borrowing their expertise to pretend it’s yours. You’re pairing your expertise in content marketing and digital business to attract an audience and build infrastructure they can’t (or don’t want to) do themselves.
This is a partnership of equals with complementary skills. They’re the subject matter expert, while you’re the digital business expert. Neither role is more important because both are essential.
A $300 Million Example
Benjamin Wolin and Michael Keriakos realized there was significant, unmet demand for expert health and wellness information online. But they didn’t become doctors, nutritionists, or fitness instructors. Instead, they formed Waterfront Media from Wolin’s kitchen table and developed partnerships with established authorities.
Their model was pure producer thinking: partner with leading lifestyle brands to launch comprehensive websites, starting with SouthBeachDiet.com and DeniseAustin.com. They weren’t the creator of the South Beach Diet and had no prior connection with Denise Austin.
And yet, they became the profitable producers who turned those brands into digital properties.