Are you tired of trying to grow (or even, maintain) your business with your own team? Have you considered that there are a world of people who might be willing to share your business with the world…for free? Empower your business’ fans to do more than simply like you. Empower them to share your business with their network.

In a traditional business model, the business owner sells their product or services directly to a customer. If someone wanted to buy your offering, they had to buy it from you, your competitor, or do without it entirely.

One way to grow your business is by adding commission-based salespeople outside your company. When they sell your goods, they get a cut of the profit. The upside is that you’re not paying for these additional salespeople. The downside is that you sacrifice some profit for each sale.

You could add an affiliate program to your business. People that help you sell earn something in return. A lot of recent information marketing products have been sold with such a model – someone leverages their email list to make a quick buck. Again, the upside is increased sales. The downside is that (by definition) you’re not in control of the affiliate, and have no way of encouraging them to do more/better without sacrificing more profit.

You could create a franchise model for your business. Share the raw materials, your recipes, your marketing materials, and your trainings with people in exchange for either an upfront and/or ongoing franchise fees. So, instead of continuing to sell your products and services, you’ve created a turnkey system for others’ to do so. The upside is that expansion risk is on others’ shoulders. The downside is that you’ve switched your business model to supporting others to sell your offering.

Instead of (or perhaps in addition to) these models, consider empowering your fan base. The people that already purchased your products and that love them are ideal evangelists for you. Imagine that you give them permission to sell (or in some cases, give away) your products to their network. The motivation that fans have are different. They are likely already sharing your information with others, and you’re simply empowering them to do more. Start with making a formal relationship with your fans (call it a “license”) which details what you want from your fans and what you’ll give them in exchange. A great example of this is the TEDx model. TED licenses their name to individuals and organizations (“fans”) for free. The fans get to use the TEDx name (in a proscribed way) to improve their local community. TED gets the benefits of increased branding recognition for free and they get the content that the TEDx groups produce for free as well. A win-win relationship.