So: You’ve been dreaming about starting an online business.
If that’s the case – Awesome!
Maybe you have enough of your 9-5.
Maybe you’ve been working for one company for way too long.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to have your own business (just never really had the courage to).
Maybe you’ve been blogging for awhile and you want to monetize your expertise.
Maybe you’ve had some paying clients but don’t have a business set up yet.
Or maybe you’ve have no idea where to even start.
There is way too much conflicting information on the Internet on what you need to do to become your own boss. I know how it feels! I’ve been there too. Success can be a tough cookie but it’s totally within your reach. It’s hard to start a business when you don’t know what steps you should take and how to create one which won’t burn you out and instead will fill you up with great energy and satisfaction.
You may be asking yourself many questions such as: Can I do this? How can I build a business while working full time? Where do I find the time and/or money? Is it possible to create a profitable business and still have time for what really matters? The short answer is 100% YES!
There’s just one catch: It takes vision, effort, and action. Rome hasn’t been built in a day but years later everyone still admires it. So: are you IN? I hope you said YES. If so – you’re in for a treat. Here are the 7 steps you need to take to create a business of your dreams.
STEP 1: DECIDE
There’s nothing worse than a girl with a dream that she never acts on. The major difference between successful entrepreneurs and people who admire them or look at them with eyes filled with jealousy is the decision they made. If you’re thinking: yes, but… Let me stop you right here. Not everyone makes the decision knowing how to get to the finish line. In fact, in entrepreneurship, there’s never a finish line. There are milestones and goals achieved. Most successful entrepreneurs take the approach of one of my favorite fitness YouTubers – Christian Guzman – who famously said:
Proud, but never satisfied.
And that’s exactly how entrepreneurs work. That’s also why the higher you go, the more you achieve the smaller the so-called competition. He is also one of the fantastic examples of people who started from scratch, now necessarily knowing how his life will look like in 5 years. So: if you’re thinking that you have no idea how you to achieve your goals. Don’t worry! The most important thing is to be solution orientated, so if you don’t know you either look for an answer or find someone who can support you.
STEP 2: THE WHY
There’s so much talk about the fact that when you have a passion you can turn it into a business. I like to look at it from a few perspectives. Passion is generally overrated because it has a tendency to imply that if you are passionate everything will be shiny and as pleasant. The reality is that not everything will be rainbows and unicorns. Passion won’t make the disliked task any easier. What will is remembering why you started. If your why is bigger than you and focuses on truly helping others you’re on the right path.
Your ‘WHY’ will also help you define the target group of people who you’ll be serving, helping and selling to. Its part of your story and when included in your branding, it strengthens the power of your main message. You may be one of many people in your niche, yet it’s the reason behind your brand that has the power to attract the perfect clients.
STEP 3: YOUR MASTER PLAN
When you get into your car and want to drive somewhere you’ve never been to before you either have a navigator or use a sat nav. You tell the person or the system where you want to go and they find you the way. On most occasions, there are a few options to choose from, depending on different variables (traffic, type of the vehicle you drive, length of the journey, etc).
The same applies to business. You need to know what you want to achieve and create a plan with series of steps. You may not know the small details yet, just as you don’t know what scenery you’ll see depending on a chosen GPS path, but you have the journey mapped out. And just like when you don’t know the way and you either ask someone for directions or ask sat nav for it, you can do the same in business: hire a coach, a mentor, someone who knows the way and can show it to you. Think of this person as of your navigator. You can also buy a course which would work with your GPS. The difference: when the directions in a GPS aren’t clear you can’t ask any questions. With a navigator – you can.
There are usually many roads you can take and it’s up to you what/who you’ll choose. The most important part is to stay on the track or you’ll get lost. Don’t be tempted by ads, blog posts, other courses if you decided to take one way. Stick with it until you see progress. The worst thing you can do is to buy a course, hire a coach and in the middle of your journey say you’re getting out or turn onto some other road. Just because it looked nice.
STEP 4: HAVE A DATE
It’s easy to go slow and think it will somehow work out. I tell you, girl, that’s a devil thinking. You need to give yourself a deadline. If you won’t have a date you will find yourself with nothing done and a big resentment towards what you were working on or who you were working with. If you stretch your activities into a long period of time you may lose interest and you will certainly not be able to create a momentum – which is an absolute must in business.
HEADS UP: You can build a successful business with just a few hours a day. When I was starting out I didn’t have money to advertise and I only had 15-30minutes a day. You don’t need tons of time but you need a lot of focus and having a master plan with step by step system helps. I recommend dedicating 5-10 hours a week if you’re planning to launch in 6 months or 15-20/week when launching within 3 or 4 months. You don’t need countless hours, weeks or months. You need a plan/strategy, commitment, and focus.
PRO TIP: when creating a schedule for your launch divide your whole process into smaller chunks.This way you’ll be able to see progress. You’ll also be able to see and fill the small gaps that may become visible as you go along.
STEP 5: EYES ON THE PRIZE
One of the most difficult things is to stay motivated in the face of challenges. And sooner or later they will appear. It may be that you’re asked longer hours, your family member gets sick or you simply lose motivation. Having a plan – as mentioned above – helps to stay on track. You’ll also need to keep an eye on your boundaries: both personal and at work.
Keep your goals close by; written down or on a mood/vision board or in your planner. Research shows that our brain gets primed seeing the prize and thus helps us stick with our plans, no matter the circumstances. Other ways to ensure your success are daily affirmations/manifesting, journalling, a group of friends with a common goal such as Fearless Bosses Mastermind on Facebook.
PRO TIP: Don’t stretch yourself to thin. Being active in too many groups can make you feel being pulled into in many directions. It can sometimes induce a feeling of guilt or FOMO (fear of missing out). Choose one to three that feel right to you personally. They don’t need to be huge, they just need to have the right kind of energy. Paid masterminds or programs usually have a higher commitment. No one likes to waste money and thus people who invest are much more likely to achieve results than those who are in 100 unpaid communities. The focus is your best friend lady!
HEADS UP: When you have a vision for your life and you know how you want it to look like, it will be much easier to keep your eyes on the prize. Be as clear as you can. Clarity is essential.
STEP 6: SMALL STEPS, BIG VISION
Entrepreneurs rarely have all the resources they think they need. Many started very small with a very small following and budget. Don’t get fooled if someone tells you that you need thousands to start. Online business has the benefit of not requiring an office, a warehouse or even a stockroom (when thinking of a shop).
You can start with a super small product or service, one or a few clients. You don’t need complicated marketing and sales funnels or many freebies. I am a fan of simplicity and can assure you that just one opt-in and super simple funnel go a long way.
The biggest mistake you can make is to wait until ‘you’re ready’. Because that time may never come and it’s better to start small and keep growing than wait another year, two or forever and have nothing. I know you’ve already decided what you’re going to do next. I got you, girl!
P.S. The only thing I really remember from my corpo job was one casual conversation with someone I didn’t know too well. Actually, it was just one simple, yet very powerful statement:
Small Steps, Big Vision.
Every time one of my clients stumbles I remind them of it. So: dream big! Dream bigger than you think reasonable. The biggest dreams will act as a super fuel for your ambition.
And so if you’re still with me – I admire you. You really want this lady! Let’s have a look at the last step then.
STEP 7: JUST DO IT!
Such a cliche right? Well, no… It may seem the simplest thing to do but the smallest detail can make you not to do things. I know this from experience. The more ambitious, the more meticulous you are the more prone you’re to suffering from either analysis paralysis or the feeling you are not enough, don’t know enough, you’re not an expert and million more reasons why you are not ready yet.
One thing you’ll learn is that on the beginning many things will seem difficult. When you’ll look at them in one year you’ll laugh. Everything seems hard until it’s done. We naturally experience resistance towards thing we haven’t done. We may feel excited but there’s just this little voice at the back of our head. Don’t let this gremlin kill your dreams. Just do it! Start and as you work on your master plan, you’ll notice that with time it gets easier. You become comfortable with lots of activities and so you gain headspace and experience for the next steps.
And remember… Just one action a day will get you closer than another day debating whether you should do it. Also: You don’t have to do it alone. There’s always a helping hand. Having accountability helps massively improve your productivity. You can have a coach to do it in a more private way or announce it to the mastermind group.
I hope you found the list of steps on how to start your online business helpful! I totally believe in you, even if you sometimes don’t believe in yourself.
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