RuanDavey1. Ask yourself, Why?
The single most important thing to get clear on when you start is understanding ‘Why’ you have decided to embark on this journey. In my case, I wanted to create more freedom and flexibility in my life to spend time with my family and on my hobbies. I wasn’t fully fulfilled in my career and didn’t want to be tied down by the limitations of a traditional corporate 9 to 5 type of job.
Your ‘Why’ may be entirely different. Perhaps you have an existing business that you want to scale up to reach a larger global customer base. Or perhaps you are worried about the future of your 9 to 5 job, and you want to create a second source of income. Perhaps you want to help people. Whatever your reason, get clear on ‘Why’ you have decided to go down this path in the first place.
2. Overcome your fears and develop a growth mindset
Fear and hesitation prevent us from living our best life but to live a better life, to make more money, to have more adventure we have to do things that scare us and are uncertain. 90% of people in the world never reach their full potential or achieve their dreams because the struggle to overcome their fears and they lack the self-discipline to do whatever it takes to succeed in life.
Do something every day, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem towards building your business. It takes more mental energy to get yourself to start something that it does to complete a task, so stop the internal dialogue and just do it. Once you start, don’t give up until you succeed!
Develop a growth mindset!
3. 90-day Action Plan – becoming clear on your Vision and Goals
Get crystal clear on the vision and goals. What are your expected outcomes from your business and the other areas of your life – health, personal, and social. Ensure your goals are aligned with your values.
Start by developing a 90-day action plan which will become the blueprint for your success. The action plan will define your goals and the steps you have to take to reach your goals.
Hold yourself accountable by sharing your Blueprint with your partner. Keep track of your performance against your goals to ensure you keep driving towards the target.
4. Picking your niche and your path
This is where you get to choose your niche and area of interest. What do you want your business to look like? What are your passions and hobbies and areas of interest? What skill sets do you have that you can offer to the digital economy?
There are many options when it comes to online business. Some of these include Affiliate marketing, E-Commerce, Freelancing, Coaching, and Consulting. In the beginning, you may not be sure which path you want to go down yet or even know the difference between them. That’s OK!
You can, of course, do your own research but I would highly recommend enrolled yourself in an education program that takes you through a step by step program and teaches you everything you need to know.
One of the easiest and quickest ways to start an online business is through Affiliate Marketing. This is where you focus on front end marketing and referrals to other people’s products and services in exchange for a commission. It’s easy to start and requires very little capital to set up an Affiliate Marketing business and you don’t have to worry about product fulfillment and drop shipping like in E-Commerce.
5. Set up your Marketing Platform
By marketing platform, I’m talking about the marketing strategy you will use to connect with your customer avatar. This could be through YouTube Paid, YouTube Organic, Google PPC (pay per click), Bing, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook advertising. There are also other platforms. The best advice I can give you here is to pick one advertising platform and become a specialist in that area. If you do end up going for a second platform, make sure to focus most of your effort on your primary platform.
6. Education and learning how to market
Have you ever wondered why so many businesses fail? It’s not because the owners don’t know their business. They’re probably really good music teachers, draftsmen, electricians, builders, therapists, or affiliate marketers. What they’re usually not, is good business people.
The number one rule in business is understanding the law of supply and demand. The key to your success will be to identify a need and then fill that need. The next step is to offer your product or service in such a way that people who need it, get to hear about it and they trust you to give it to them – that’s marketing!
There are two areas that you need to educate yourself on. The first is marketing (business) and the second is technology.
By far the most important one is marketing. The good news is that marketing is a learnable skill. Technology can be taught or you can choose to outsource it. Regardless if you choose to do it yourself or to outsource, I would highly recommend getting a basic understanding of how to build a website or set up a sales funnel and marketing campaign. This will help you down the line in case you need to adjust your website or campaigns.
When first starting out, there’s going to be a ton of information that will come at you from many different sides. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or become distracted from your main goal – which is to set up a profitable business! Again, I would recommend enrolling yourself in an education program that takes you through the foundational education process.
The company I am affiliated with provides an excellent step by step learning process covering all the areas you need when setting up your business from scratch.
I’ll drop the link below to the education and mentorship program that I am affiliated with.
7. Setting up your Foundations
By foundations, I’m talking about the infrastructure and tools you need to own and operate your business, otherwise known as your real estate. As a start, you’ll want to build your website. Your website builds authority and provides valuable information to your prospective customers about your brand, your products, and your services. You also need to set up your domain name, business email, and social media platforms.
It goes without saying that you are going to have to develop customers. The first step in getting customers is developing loyal subscribers, also referred to as leads. These are your potential customers and they will ultimately be the lifeblood of your business!
One of the keys to your success is to provide high-quality value-driven content and information to your list of leads through regular email follow-ups. As my personal mentor always says, the money is not in the list, the money is in the relationship with the list!
Good list-building takes time, but once you have a solid list of loyal subscribers, your marketing becomes effortless. In short, the process entails driving traffic to your site by offering something of value for free (a lead magnet), in return for getting their information. This is done through the use of a sales funnel.
8. Connect with a Community
There are two ways to building your business; you can either go it alone which I wouldn’t recommend or join a community of mentors and entrepreneurs. This will dramatically fast track your results.
I’ve learned more from the community than a lifetime of education can provide. The community will provide you with support, encouragement, and show you how to do things without having to reinvent the wheel.
9. DMO – Daily Method of Operation
There are 5 things you should get into the habit of doing daily….
- Visualization of your Goals – Spend 5 or 10 minutes daily visualizing and tracking your progress against your goals.
- Income Producing Activity – Do something related to your online business every day, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, Don’t skip a day!
- Invest in yourself – Read or listen to Audiobooks related to your topic or field of interest.
- Mastermind with Leaders – Connect with other entrepreneurs and business owners to learn and grow and share what you have learned with others.
- Learn – Do – Teach.
10. Fail forward, do the work and be consistent!
Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Eighty percent of the things you do and try out will fail but the other 20 percent will drive you forward and have huge positive results for your business. The key is to keep trying and never give up.
At the end of the day, there is no substitute for hard work when it comes to online business, but the feeling of satisfaction and the reward of owning your own business is totally worth it!
Finally, remember that consistency is everything and will ultimately ensure your success!
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Great advice – love it!
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