How to Find an Online Business Idea…
…That Works for You!
Part 1 of 4: You are in the Internet World Now!
by Case Lane
You are looking at a world where everyone seems to be making money online.
Even if you do not really surf social media or pay that much attention to the online world, you know other people are building financial security and having an awesome time…and you’re not.
And you’re wondering what to do next. Should you join in? Are you missing the future? After all you’re educated and have worked for years and have tons of experience, and you’re wondering why you cannot have the same success, that these overnight online wonders seem to be having.
Then you think again, and wonder about jeopardizing your education, work experience and knowledge by doing something you’ll regret online.
Do you have to be silly? Swear and be outrageous? Do a song and dance like those other people you see? Or can you be serious and spread your knowledge without becoming just another one of those annoying Internet show-offs?
The Value of Online Business
You know, many of us never imagined having to figure out how to earn income online…
We did not see, and did not have to see the rise of technology as a life-altering fact.
For many it was like a fad that would pass…
I noticed this back when I worked in Hollywood, and watched the rise of digital media from physical media (you remember film and tape, right?). Over a couple of years, we were first spurred on to switch from VHS to DVDs..
…but would you believe I worked with a high-paid home entertainment executive who once said, with all sincerity, “I don’t know why someone would want to buy a DVD.”
Maybe in hindsight, when you think about the multi-billion dollar industry that was once occupied by DVDs, you want to laugh right? This guy was making millions, seriously millions of dollars a year, running a billion-dollar division of a mega global corporation, and he honestly had no idea what was driving consumer choices.
That executive could not see the future that was right in front of his face. He probably would not be able to do the same today.
The transition from the industrial age to the tech age is already overwhelming people, including, and maybe especially, those who are educated, and well-off, and think that they and their children are already set for life.
What if they are not? What if you are not?
In 2020, the world changed overnight. We have always lived in a world where we could not, technically, predict the future. But in 2020, the uncertainty is at a new height.
Companies are spending day and night planning for the post-pandemic world. But they’re planning in a fog.
What’s the new normal?
Nobody knows.
Your Opportunity Online
Given the uncertainty around us, we have to react to changes…and learn to react quickly.
In the pandemic economy, essential workers, corporate management …and online entrepreneurs continued to work. Delivering value and solutions to increasing numbers of those who want or need new services and products.
After starting ebook self-publishing while in law school, I decided the best way to learn was to do, and I became immersed in the world of online entrepreneurship and the tech tools and resources available to everyone who wants to get online.
I firmly believe that a great number of us, maybe one-quarter to one-third of the population should be independent, self-sufficient entrepreneurs taking full advantage of technology and the global marketplace to maintain and enhance our security in the global economy.
We should not be living in a world of constant instability.
And even if there is some recognition tomorrow that the global pandemic exacerbated the gap between rich and poor, and we have to do something about it, governments and civic society are unlikely to develop long-term solutions anytime soon.
How long will lasting permanent sustainable viable change take? Longer than you you’ve got.
You are much better off securing your place – by yourself.
Follow a Guided, Tactical Path
The online entrepreneurship opportunity is alive and thriving, the investment is low, and the demand is high, yet many do not accomplish their dream to become an online entrepreneur, or they drop out while trying.
To avoid overwhelm, and help you see through the jumble of information so that you could get your chance in the digital economy, follow a clear path that makes sense to you.
Based on my research, reading, building my business, observing developments all over the world, talking to other entrepreneurs, helping aspiring entrepreneurs, and trying all the various paths myself, I developed a framework you can use to prepare BEFORE diving in to one of the online entrepreneurship fields.
Instead of randomly thinking about whether you could be a blogger or podcaster or course creator, take the cleared path through the noise, and adopt the blueprint you could use so you would know where to start.
Focus on Value
The tech economy both thrills and scares people.
The first post is the hardest, right?
As an online entrepreneur, remember you share value. Your work is important. You provide knowledge, advice or even useful tips from your hobby that other people can find useful.
The first time you decide to put your words online, you may feel a little trepidation.
This fear is normal. The reason is the visibility and permanence that comes with posting. In this current environment, what you say online defines you, and stays part of your legacy forever…as far as we know…
And that’s pretty scary…
So spend time to think through the content you plan to deliver before you post your message…even if you’re still worried.
What will happen?
A variety of people are making money online for a reason. They overcame their initial trepidation to make sure they contributed.
Entrepreneurs have the courage to move forward.
Define Your Personal Goals
Maybe you want additional income, or maybe you are really concerned about your current paycheck or your retirement…
Maybe you want to use the incredible education, knowledge and experience you have built up, and deliver it to a world that wants and needs what you have to offer.
If you can create an online revenue stream for yourself, you have a chance to build your future security, hedge your bets against job instability, and fully participate in the online global economy…
In other words, you can set your own future…and maybe set one for your kids, friends and others too.
This is the future we all have to get moving on together.
That old world Hollywood executive did not understand how the world was changing…
But you do…
…And so do I…
Get the Right Idea
To take advantage of the online entrepreneurship opportunity to make money, be successful, and achieve lifestyle freedom…
Focus on a business idea that:
- Reflects your interests or skills
- Delivers over the platform where you are most comfortable
- Helps you be the automatic leader in your niche of niches
That means…
1. Technology, and the access to the global market you get through technology are not passing fads. You have to recognize that this is a permanent change to our economy and society. And you have to decide if you want to fully participate, by starting an online business, and becoming a contributor.
2. If you’ve come this far, you probably recognize that becoming an online entrepreneur allows you to take the best of all worlds…
…You can highlight your professional skills
…Reach deep into your interests
…And deliver value to those who are aligned with you.
There may be other professions that provide you with job satisfaction or financial security, but they all also likely depend on the Internet. By starting your own business online, you are setting yourself up for the future that is already here and covering all your bases.
3. When you prepare to be an online entrepreneur you increase your chance of success by focusing on exactly what you like to do, and picking the platform and tools that best fit your vision for your ideal life.
You have your opportunity to achieve your vision of Lifestyle Freedom through an Online Business – the 21st century dream life – but without Feeling Fear, Embarrassment or Imposter Syndrome.
You want to be authentic and deliver value as you see fit.
Today, right now, you are living the opportunity to have the life that you truly want. A life on your terms where you add value that you believe in, and that makes you feel like you’re really contributing to build the world you want to see.
Becoming an entrepreneur, being your own boss and having your own business is one of the best ways to take control of your life, and to deliver to yourself your own life dream.
But you have to get started.
Why is it so important for you to move forward with entrepreneurship now?
Summary
1. Technology is our lifeline and upon it we are building the future. So the more you know about having a life online, the better you will be.
2. Being an online entrepreneur means you develop online skills, you learn the tools and resources which now are indispensable in the work world, and you can accelerate your professional development, and improve where you want to be.
3. When you prepare to be an online entrepreneur you increase your chance of success by focusing on exactly what you like to do, and picking the platform and tools that best suit your vision.
For the next article: Click Here for Part 2 of 4: How to Prepare to
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Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
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What is an Aspiring Entrepreneur?
The two words ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ have their roots in Latin.
Aspire comes from aspirare – ad- ‘to’ + spirare ‘breathe’. The root of the English word ‘aspire’ is to breath. Yet we have come to associate aspire with ambition, dreaming and hoping for an accomplishment.
The idea of being aspirational often refers to the indefinite, those with their head in the clouds. In fact, we even say lofty heights of buildings are aspiring into the sky.
Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay
A word meaning breathing, the act we need for life, has ended up as a reference to lofty dreams that can be celebrated or ignored. From a root tied to actually staying alive, we have derived a hopeful sensibility to achieve something you desire.
The word entrepreneur, comes from the French, entreprendre which means to undertake. The Latin root is prendere, which means to take.
Would this mean the term ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ refers to a breathing taker – or the breather who seeks to undertake?
Two Words for One Intention
A friend of mine once told me he studied Latin to avoid needing a dictionary. When you look up words, you often find the Latin root, which if you know the definition, means you can define the word.
When it comes to the concept of an aspiring entrepreneur, the Latin root appears to betray a less serious qualifier on the action-oriented French intention ‘to undertake.’
Maybe aspiration alone is not enough.
Entrepreneurs also need ambition, drive and perseverance.
The aspiring entrepreneur who ‘undertakes’ is more likely to transform dreams into actual action. A fact which brings the term ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ full circle.
The entrepreneur part of an aspiring entrepreneur undertakes to get things done. The aspiration part is knowing you can make it happen. The dreaming – breathing part of the definition is the vision needed to ensure a business idea gets into the global marketplace.
An aspiring entrepreneur, who stays aspiring, is the ‘almost’ entrepreneur who has not yet found a path to business success that will work. To get beyond aspiring that entrepreneur has to keep going until the correct road is identified.
Follow Examples
In Wild Company, Mel and Patricia Ziegler’s awesome book about building the Banana Republic stores, they knew they wanted to have a business even if they did not have a specific idea which one. They went out looking for a business that would work for them.
The titans of the early 20th century like Rockefeller capitalized on opportunities they saw growing around them in new technologies for steel and oil.
The titans of the 21st century like Jeff Bezos used the capabilities of technology and the reach of the Internet to build new businesses.
Are You Aspiring?
An entrepreneur who has yet to create a business must decide if activities reflect: Continuous aspiring? Searching for visible opportunities? Or preparing to create something new?
Begin first by considering where you have been. What makes you believe you are an entrepreneur? If it’s the idea that you want to have your own business, that you have a product or service you believe could be of value, or you know you want an independent professional life, then you are set. You are already in the entrepreneurial space.
If you want to be an entrepreneur for the ‘bling’, the money, house, car and publicity, but you do not have a valuable product or service attached to your vision, then you may be stuck in aspiration for some time to come.
It is much easier to pursue your dream and work on it every day, if you believe in it and you care about results and the outcome. You have a great chance to actually have a business if your passion for your product or service is also the fuel that prompts you to put the time and money in to making the passion a business.
It is a lot harder to commit to a plan if you really just see it as a ticket to…nowhere.
Actions for Moving Beyond Aspiration
To get beyond aspiring, make a commitment to a business idea that you can move forward into a business.
Take the time to research your idea, find your niche and community.
Determine where you can add value, and the product or service needs of the community.
And put your research in to action.
Forever aspiring means never doing.
You want to see the results of your dream not just having the dream.
An aspiring entrepreneur is the person who focuses on the hope and dream of entrepreneurship. You can start aspiring, but must transition to actual action to be considered an entrepreneur.
Summary: To Transition to Action:
- Research your idea – determine who wants or needs the product or service you would like to offer
- Talk to people who have done it before
- Identify the value you can add – your niche
- Put your research into action
Take your vision past aspiration, and on to implementation.
Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. I earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
Today’s entrepreneur will inevitably be asked at some point where you like to connect on social.
Are you on Facebook? Insta? Do you tweet? Pin? Prefer Linked?
If you are not in to social media, or you prefer not to have your business on social media, you will miss out on potentially thousands, maybe millions, of customers who use social to find all the information they seek.
But you have many options for choosing a preferred social media platform. Some will say follow your audience, others will stay stick with favorite site. Some believe in only being on the biggest. Others like the niches. Some insist you should be everywhere, others believe you must specialize on one.
In all cases, consistent and valuable content helps build a lasting audience that always knows where to find you.
But what is the best path for choosing a social media platform?
And how do you know which social media platform is right for your business?
Whether you love or hate social media, you are going to have to have a position on the platforms for your business. Potential customers will look for you on social, and they will want to engage with you there. You will also have the opportunity to market, promote and share value every day, all day.
So how do you choose?
Understand the platforms
You need to understand what each of the social media platforms are, and what they do. You should also understand the demographics for the dominate audience on each platform.
The basic idea of a social platform is that you establish a profile, post your text or pictures, and people engage with that profile, leaving comments and feedback that other people can see.
Find Your Audience
When marketers say you need to know where your audience is hanging out, you can use either formal or informal approaches to finding this information.
The informal approach is to check out the sites and see who is there. Make sure you set-up a profile and see if you can engage with other participants.
Search topics relevant to your business, and look at the people who are posting and commenting on the subject. Narrow your search as much as possible. If you search #entrepreneur on Instagram, you see tens of millions of posts.
But if you search #womenentrepreneursofsaskatchewan, there are fewer than 100 posts.
As you look at the public profiles or pages of your potential customers, you will be able to learn about their preferences and interests.
The formal search approach involves using paid analysis services.
When you are looking to analyze where the audience is located, you can look at sources like Hootsuite. Every year there are multiple organizations that analyze social media trends and usage. You could spend some time reading these documents, or you could just go to each site and see what’s there.
Although these are great services for information, they present the information in generalities. While the general profile of the audience may be valid, you will not have the specifics about your potential customers who could be anywhere.
Be careful about dismissing a potential audience thread because you read the audience is more likely to be somewhere else. Look at the content on the platform and see for yourself if you think the audience appeals to you.
Go through the platform as a user, search for topics that interest you and see what comes up, and whether it’s easy or difficult to find what you are looking for.
Do you get bored after a few minutes or end up being sucked in for hours? That’s the real test of whether or not the platform works for you – now ask does it work for your ideal customer?
Overview of Each Platform in Alphabetical Order
Despite its increasingly eroding reputation, Facebook is still the social media behemoth. With a couple billion users a day, Facebook is impossible to ignore. But ironically it’s one of the more difficult platforms for building an audience.
You must bring friends to your Facebook page, and hope they will like or follow you, or preferably both. Facebook is the most demanding platform when it comes to proving interaction.
Your potential customer must friend, follow and like you to count in your numbers. That’s three clicks just to be recognizes as operating in your world.
But you have the benefit of using Facebook for long text messages, short messenger messages, images, videos, and links. That kind of complete functionality does not exist on the other sites.
If your business is prepared to spend Facebook also has a robust advertising program that allows you to directly target people who have expressed an interest subjects you define. The scope of their customer analytics is extraordinary, but the frequently changing rules is a challenge for all sides.
Goodreads
Goodreads is included as an example of a subject specific social site. The site is for readers, which means it’s used by authors who have profiles, to answer questions, post reviews and engage in groups.
If you are a writer or writing a book that is linked to your business or other non-fiction in your genre you can engage with readers on the platform. But be careful, Goodreads is a readers site meaning authors are not welcome to promote their books, only to offer value.
You can search for subject social sites and forums discussing issues around your product or service.
The occasionally-defined, and often-repeated rule is to add value first, avoid promoting your product or service unless permitted, and respect the site for its declared purpose, not as a place only for you to find more customers.
For all the photography buffs, Insta is for you. The site is defined by its visual presentation of images and videos. The emphasis on images leaves you with a limited profile and no place to put links inside posts.
Insta is perfect for businesses that use images in promotion like travel and cooking. It has fewer opportunities to direct people off the platform, unless you have a business account, which does have additional features.
In the past, Instagram has been one of the best sites for growing an audience organically because you could use hashtags to connect your content to various topics and ideas, and people would discover you.
However, it seems to be getting harder to be discovered on Insta which limits the options for those who do not have community coming from somewhere else.
Linked In
The site for professionals is all about profiles, networking and adding value.
Linked In is probably the most serious of the sites, with people who have high expectations for the type of contact that should be available. You can add links, videos, and pics, but all should be of the highest quality and interest.
This is probably the hardest site for growing a business and attracting people to developing ideas, but one of the strongest for more established ideas and information people can use in their existing professional lives.
Many are surprised to realize that Pinterest is more of a search engine, than a social site. This is a place where people are looking for specific topics and ideas.
The user’s approach appears to make Pinterest more serious than a typical social site. Pins often lead to blogs, that provide detailed resources, keeping users off the social site. But the functionality also makes Pinterest the most mysterious of the social sites.
You are pinning your ideas, which require extra work to find and create an appealing pin graphic, and then writing the post in the description area. The organization and categorization of your pin is not intuitive. If you decide to become serious about using the site, you should do some research into keyword selection and writing for pins.
But if you are putting together interesting collections on your pin boards, you may be surprised about how you begin to attract new followers.
Snapchat
The site most associated with a younger crowd appears to have lost its original lustre. But it’s all about creativity – pictures and captions – decorated and enhanced for appeal and attraction.
This site is mostly ‘fast,’ and in the moment so if that’s how your business rolls it could be your preference.
Tik Tok
This is one big party. You could have room for your business here, but only if it’s a party.
Whether you are inflamed or not by the messages, you know Twitter is where people make statements sometimes short, sometimes threads, and all range of controversy.
If you want to be quoted, leave your comments on Twitter. You can also just use the site to post announcements about your business.
If you are using Twitter for business, you may not want want to be doing anything that will effect your revenue or turn off your ideal customers. The temptation is there to fill in those 280 characters with a shocking statement. But it’s not always the most ideal way to move forward.
YouTube
If you set up a channel for your videos, you can use the description section in YouTube to provide more detail, and help people find you.
Although YouTube not set up as a social site, it can still be used as one. Viewers can engage with you in comments and you can reply – allowing others to see the discussion.
Next to Facebook, YouTube is the biggest social site. It’s hard to ignore the appeal of video. Even if you are not comfortable on camera, you may still want to consider how the platform may be useful for you.
Summary of Social Media Platform Differences
Here’s a quick glance guide to each platform:
Facebook – short or long posts, images, videos, and links, but you have to get the audience to come to you. There’s an invitation step for friends, and a commitment from followers
Goodreads – readers, readers and more readers and all things books – look for similar sites in your niche
Instagram – images, videos, stories, people can find you through hashtags – but no links and not many long involved posts
Linked In – serious, professional, more thoughtful posts, but also more engaged and possibly more connected
Pinterest – images, text in the descriptions, links, more of a search network, no comments, but people can find you and follow you
Snap Chat – all social all the time, great if you want to be communicating with your audience all the time
TikTok – all performance all the time, if you have creative videos this is where you should be
Twitter – short phrases, witty posts, your quotes and brief comments hashtags, but not much room for serious engagement
You Tube – video with text explanations, a search engine, links in the description, social in the comments
How to Adapt Model Solutions to Your Business
A successful entrepreneur takes the stage, and the crowd sits on the edge of their seat listening intently to their story.
Usually the person has an extraordinary story of rising up from the bottom, hitting hard times, and recovering to go on to earn millions.
As the crowd rises to its collective feet to give a standing ovation, you decide right then and there that the success story you have just heard is also the model you want to follow.
After all, why reinvent the wheel if a successful entrepreneur has already carved a path you can follow.
Image by Thomas Hendele from Pixabay
But when you try and emulate the success, you suddenly realize the idea may not have been as straightforward as it sounded on stage. Many aspiring entrepreneurs sometimes hear the greatest advice they have ever heard, and then ask:
How do you adapt success advice to your own business?
The Plan to Follow a Model
The stories of successful entrepreneurs who created a business from their own idea are often model entrepreneurial journeys. Entrepreneurs are driving forces in the economy, and their perseverance and determination is inspiring.
Following a model someone else has set can be an excellent way to get your business up and running. Several courses offer ‘complete blueprints’ on how to repeat the work already done, and hopefully to achieve the same success. You can also find detailed blogs with guidelines and advice around an established model.
But sometimes the advice is so inspiring you want to just follow what others have done step-by-step. But when you go to do implement as instructed, you realize your business idea and plan do not neatly fit into the model.
Copying verbatim may not work because your circumstances are not exactly the same. You have to figure out how you could do repeat the model’s success – with your own idea.
Where do you start?
Break down Details
Using an origin story you may or may not be familiar with – the creation of Facebook – you can begin to document the details you know, and identify the gaps that are missing.
In general, you probably know that Mark Zuckerberg and his partners built Facebook in their dorm room at Harvard, and released the site to Harvard students, before dropping out, going to Silicon Valley and formally creating the company.
If your business idea is to build a social-sharing website, and you want to follow this model, you would also intend to build on your own until you can attract venture capital funding.
Sketch the existing model
1. Gather all the Details from the Model You Can Find.
Often when a successful entrepreneur tells their story, they do not give you all the details. You might hear about the late nights coding, and the conflicts with partners, but you do not learn the specifics, especially about technical obstacles or marketing.
How did the site get built? How was it promoted? Who was the first person to sign on and why? Did the founder have 1,000 friends who clicked on links the first day?
When you try to emulate someone’s success, and are unsuccessful, you might think there’s something wrong with you – that you are unable to do what the most successful do.
But in fact you may not have all the facts. Before you even try to do what someone else has done, document exactly what you know, and what you don’t know. Make sure you fill in the gaps for information you have not yet heard.
If you do not have a step-by-step guide to how to finish the job, you will have to research other sources to try and figure out what’s missing.
Since you know what the final product looks like, you can spend some time to visualize and reverse engineer the complete process.
Ask questions about the pieces you do not understand.
2. Fill in the Gaps
Where do you find the missing information?
Keep doing research.
Do enough research to figure out what you have to do next. Do not drift in to analysis paralysis, and halt your entire business launch while trying to find out everything you need to know.
You will never know everything you need to know. You will only have enough to get started before you begin trial and error to see exactly what could happen with your business.
If you’re trying to build the next great social network, and you know nothing about technology, start by finding out the basics, like how user interfaces are created. Talk to programmers and coders who understand the process. And designers who can help you make the product user friendly.
If you are not doing something as complicated as building a social network, but you are building a website and want to copy the process of a successful ecommerce company, you will almost certainly need to get started to learn what the market is buying, and how you can deliver for your market niche.
3. Build your community
Often the biggest piece of the entrepreneurial success story that is often left out of the current record is the marketing and promotion that intrigued the first customers.
Understanding how this business reached its market is absolutely critical to your success as an entrepreneur. You could have the best product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it, you will not have a business.
Conversely you could have a decent, not spectacular, product or service, and be wildly successful because the customer base responds well to your offering.
In all cases, you must respond to your own results, not try and directly copy what someone else has done. If your marketing does not work, look at your product or service, market targets and the current environment.
Trying to make the same adjustments your model made may be futile if all other circumstances for your business are completely different.
To learn more about what it takes to match someone else’s model, see my upcoming podcast and blog series where I will break down my attempt to capture the magic of someone else’s 30-day plan.
Summary: How to Follow a Model
1. Make sure you know all the details you can learn about the business you want to model. You won’t find out everything the founders did, but document what you do know so you can decide what you have to do next.
2. Fill in the gaps for the missing information. Continue researching or talk to experts who may be able to give you insight into the actions that you need to take.
3. Build your own community. Focus on your own marketing and promotion. Everything changes, the world around you, the economy, society – what worked for a business at a certain point in time, may not work for you. Make make sure you are prepared to set up your own promotion plan before going forward.
When aspiring entrepreneurs begin investigating the options for starting an online business, the variety of options can be overwhelming. People appear to be making money as bloggers, podcasters, vloggers, teachers, and not to mention the all-encompassing ‘influencer.’
The open question is: How do people actually get set-up and become successful online?
Then there’s the terminology. The word website is ubiquitous, but what about landing page or squeeze page? Email, direct response, digital and targeted marketing? What’s the best approach and best tools for the type of business you want to create?
3 Key Online ‘Presence’ Tools
The most common tools, that you control, for establishing your online space are: your website, landing page and email management.
If you want to understand more about what the online tools look like, and how you can get set-up using them go to: guide.readyentrepreneur.com to get a step-by-step introduction to getting setup on your website, landing page and email management. And there are videos there too.
Reasons for Using a Specific Tool
You can decide which tool to use based on the depth of online presence you want to have.
You do not have to have a website to have an online presence. You can use social media to build your online presence or start a YouTube channel. Or just have an online store through Etsy or WooCommerce. Establishing your content on a third party brand can act as your website, but that decision has its limitations.
Ask yourself: Do you want or need a specific place where you can send your community, or do you want to be hosted on a third party’s platform.
Important Considerations
If you do not have your own space – you are subject to the other platform’s control. You would end up being dependent on Facebook’s latest rules, or design limitations on a template store or similar constraints developed by others.
The consideration around the type of online presence you want is whether or not you want to have control.
You also have to consider how you want to scale. With your own space, you can scale on your own terms.
The question is: Are you a renter or an owner? You can imagine the preferred approach is to own so you can grow and have the flexibility you need.
Landing page or Website?
The terms landing page or squeeze page or lead page or lead magnet, all refer to the same thing. Your landing page is a one page website that provides information about your business, product or service, and usually prompts the viewer to do something like enter an email address to receive a product from you.
Entrepreneurs start with a landing page as a way to collect e-mail addresses or sign-people up for a webinar or another service. This is a great way to start if you want to build your community from the beginning, and manage e-mails from the beginning. It may also be less expensive to have only a landing page instead of a website, and starting with one page helps you get started quickly.
A website is much more in-depth because it has multiple pages, and you can target each page differently. On the Ready Entrepreneur sites there are pages that provide foundational information about finding your confidence, time, money, value, action and lifestyle – the 6 core factors in Ready Entrepreneur.
There are posts for the blog. If you plan to start a blog, you would start with a website, not a landing page.
You can have integrated pages from another site. If you select the courses page on the Ready Entrepreneur website, it takes you to the platform where my courses live, which is Teachable.
And you can collect e-mails and other information.
In general, you have more flexibility to present more ideas with a website. All the functionality of a landing page is with a website, but not vice versa.
Collecting E-Mail Addresses
Whether you start with a website or a landing page, you have to decide if you are going to collect e-mail addresses.
Why do businesses ask for your email?
The top reason is they want to own a record of interested customers for continued marketing. Over time, you want your own community – that you own – by having a list of emails of people who are interested in what you do, and why you do it.
Almost everyone looks at email every day. Even the people who use multiple email addresses to keep the marketing separate from personal or business correspond, still definitely look – because they want to see if there are any new deals or offerings that are interesting. And they know the businesses who have their emails are the businesses they have done business with, and might want to do it again.
An aspiring entrepreneur has to make a decision about collecting emails. Many people may believe it’s an obvious decision, but it’s not as obvious as it sounds. Once you collect a customer’s e-mail you have to protect it, and you should decide what to do with it.
If you decide to start communicating with the people on your list, you want to be able to provide them with continuously interesting information so that they will remember you, and be engaged with your e-mails. If you decide to neglect communicating, and then suddenly start up again, you may surprise people. If they’ve forgotten you, you may receive a quick unsubscribe.
Before you start collecting e-mails, think about what your plan will be for your email list.
Will you have an opening sequence, a series of emails that are scheduled to send you messages in a defined sequence?
If so then you are probably wanting to use an email management system, like ConvertKit, which is what I use (and for which I’m an affiliate). At ConvertKit, Mail Chimp and a few other providers, you can set up your account for free. You begin to pay as you attract more subscribers and scale.
If you are not planning to do elaborate communications, or you do not want to have any upfront costs, you can manage emails in a spreadsheet. However, you have to be careful that your system does not get out of control as your business grows. If you are planning to do a promotional push to get people to sign-up with you, you probably want to get a paid system, and automated, system.
There are many different email management systems that are differentiated on features and price. What you want is ease of us and flexibility. Think about your strategy for emails. Are you going to have different programs with different lists that need to be managed differently? Then you definitely want a system that can help you to do that efficiently.
The considerations are flexibility, growth management and cost.
Summary
When you are starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur, you will know doubt look at online resources and try to decide how to use them.
For each option, tactically think through each option to avoid being lost or wasting time trying to make a decision.
- Decide what kind of online presence you want – your own controlled or hosted on another platform
- Do you want to manage your own image and style without limitation and not be subject to someone else’s rules, or do you want to keep it simple
- If you pick your own space – between a landing page or a website do you want to start big or small
- If you are going to collect emails you have to decide if you want to manually or automatically manage the process
- Manually is potentially more difficult especially as you grow.
- Automatically will grow with you, and provide flexibility to do different approaches with different groups
- Think through your reasons for using a particular tool before you get started.
Disclaimer: Links to Bluehost, Convert Kit and LeadPages are affiliate links which earn for eligible purchases.
How to Gently Dump Someone so You can Get On with Your New Business
by Case Lane
Ending a relationship is never an easy conversation. But it’s necessary.
A bad boyfriend or girlfriend needs to be removed so you can move on and find someone new. Ending a marriage is more dramatic and typically requires third parties to finish the process, but the reasoning is the same – both sides must be permitted to move on.
But when it comes to toxic friends and family, many aspiring entrepreneurs remain aspiring because you feel obligated to remain among those you have always have in your life. Even when you have made an effort to improve your personal development or began researching how to execute on your business idea, you play along to get along with the people who are in your life.
Define ‘why’
You want to start your own business and spend time on the product or service idea you have developed, but maybe you are married, or with someone or have other family obligations, or a lot of friends who expect you at parties and events, or you feel you must be wherever they are.
That’s your first mistake. You are holding yourself back. By discovering and reading this article, you have already declared your intention to start your own business. If the people around you do not want to move forward to the next level, you need to breakoff the relationship.
But how do you get away…gently?
Consider dumping toxic people – your friends, maybe your family too, and definitely your colleagues at work – is all for a good cause, your personal lifelong dream to start your own business.
Identify your Supporters
You don’t have to dump anyone if they are all on your side. But unfortunately for many aspiring entrepreneurs no one is cheering them on. And to break away and really do what you want to do, you have to practice some tough love.
Recognize Your Contribution
You have done everything you were supposed to do – college, professional life, family relationships, and connection with friends. You do everything the way you’re supposed to do it – you go to every birthday party and wedding, you ‘like’ every Facebook post, you stay on the phone for an hour, or more while someone goes on about some guy who just left or the girl who just showed up – and that’s your life.
At work, you attend all the right meetings, fill out the mandated reports, and smile politely and engage in idle chatter with everyone with a title.
But during those birthday parties, and phone conversations and meetings, you are thinking about your business idea, marketing for the product or service, plans for your website – and you find that thinking along those lines makes you happier than the other activities.
But you feel guilty. After all, you have dutifully gone along with all the friends and family and colleague rituals for years. You’ve laughed, cried and hugged everyone. No one would ever suspect that the whole time, you were trying to figure out how to gracefully dump everyone so you could concentrate on the real passion of your life.
Recognize Your Actions
Every day you think about your business, you also feel more and more drawn to getting started. You listen to the Ready Entrepreneur podcast, read books about entrepreneurs, and research your business idea and target industry.
In fact, in reading books about entrepreneurs, you notice a common pattern. The most successful people never settle for ‘regular’ lives. They were able to roll right into starting their own business without holding back and clinging to all those old relationship ties.
The 19th century moguls – Carnegie and Morgan – were all business, all the time. Bill Gates dropped out of college to go work on his business, so did Mark Zuckerberg. Patricia and Mel Ziegler who founded Banana Republic were both working at a newspaper and left together to start their business. Sir Richard Branson was always involved in some entrepreneurial venture right out of school.
So it seems at least as the writers tell the story, these famous entrepreneurs never had to figure out a way to sneak away. In fact, from the beginning they found friends who were also business partners, like Gates and Paul Allen, and built their business together.
So what should you do?
Strategies for Gently Dumping People from Your Life
One huge caveat: people who are married or who have minor children will probably not be able to just walk away, and should to reach an amicable solution with those to whom they are legally obligated.
For aspiring entrepreneurs who are trying to gently remove people from their present lives who do not reflect their future, your task is going to be to take these strategies and wedge them into your life.
Communicate
You do not owe everyone an explanation, but there may be people in your life who you are particularly active with and therefore you need to explain what you are doing when you decide to back away.
Tell them you are starting a business and see how they react. The people who want to laugh at you or tell you you can’t do it are the first people you can walk away from without feeling guilty.
For the people who are supportive, you won’t have to worry about stepping away. They will understand.
Start Saying ‘No’
You need to start saying ‘no.‘ For once-in-a-lifetime events like weddings and funerals, you can say yes,’ especially when you know it’s easier to say ‘yes’ than to explain why you were not there.
But for the regular occurrences of parties and dinner, saying ‘no’ is going to be difficult at first. People are going to be insulted and angry by your indifference. But you have to make time for your business and for the plans you have.
Remember you are becoming an entrepreneur because you have an idea for a product or service that will add value for people who want or need your product. You are going to be helping many people with your solution. Your new community is waiting for you. If the old one does not understand, you will have to move on.
Roll out your ‘no’s’ slowly. Start with the least important events while making sure you let your existing community know you are committed to the big events.
Be Present When You Do Attend
When you are with people, be your old self. Engage with them and let them tell you their stories. Learn to be a listener. You will be attending fewer and fewer events so these few hours when you make the effort may be tedious and boring, but limited on your agenda.
At the office, focus on the work over idle gossip. Recognizing that every office is different, and the dynamics of your situation will dictate your behavior, but the idea is to use the time at the office to your advantage.
If you’re still at the office, use the time to learn as much as you can about business operations or administration that you could use in your business. Talk to people you have never spoken to about their work, and let them teach you information you can use. You can learn what not to do, and the activities you think are good or trivial.
Once you know you’re going to leave to start your own business, stop joining in the office gossip, and going out to lunch. If anyone is in your confidence, you can tell them what you’re doing, otherwise just make your excuses. Soon your colleagues will stop asking you to join them and your time will be free.
Schedule Text and Social Media Time
You are going to have to slowly wean yourself off of texting and social media with friends and family. Schedule the time when you will look at your phone for social reasons, for example at 9 am, 3 pm and 8 pm – or something similar. Turn off the buzzer on your phone, and turn off all social media notifications.
If your work and personal phone are the same, try not to look at the personal posts and emails. You will not be able to get on with your business if you are trying to get to your phone every minute.
Those closest to you will call if there is an emergency.
Summary: How to Gently Dump Someone so You can get on with Your New Business
These simple behaviors are designed to give you the time to focus on starting your business, and moving your life towards your goal of lifestyle freedom. You are doing this to have purpose and fulfillment in your life.
Some people may not support your intent, but those that do will be with you on this gloriously fun entrepreneurship journey.
- If you have already done everything you are supposed to do, then you likely have a life of family, friends and colleagues who expect you to participate in their social interactions and casual banter just when you want to work on your business
- To move away from them – communicate – with the ones closest to you so they know what you are doing
- Start saying ‘no’ to the least important events, and work your way up until you have to say ‘yes’ to the once-in-a-lifetime events
- Be present when you attend functions and events. If you still want to be with everyone, let them know you still care
- If you’re at work, use the time to understand business concepts. If appropriate, speak to people about their work to learn information you may be able to use in your business
- Say ‘no’ to gossiping and social lunches – soon your colleagues will stop asking you to join them, and it will be easier to walk away
- Schedule text and social media time, outside of work to limit the hours when you will check for texts and social media
If you implement these tips, hopefully you can have a graceful exit from the past and a triumphant entry into your new future.
Keep Your Dreams When the World Changes
by Case Lane
When the New Year’s celebrations lit up the world on January 1, 2020, most people were bracing for an exciting year. The Olympics, elections, a growing economy, lots of travel, weddings, graduations – all round celebrations and good times…just like normal.
As an aspiring entrepreneur you may have been planning your big breakthrough – the changes that would take you to the next level.
You could have guessed a financial or operational issue might have thrown you off for a day or two, but you had no reason to believe you would end up living in a completely different world.
For the first few months of 2020, as a global pandemic spread around the world, and governments made the unprecedented decision to shutdown all movement – you found yourself stuck, literally – with the greatest question of your life so far – what are you going to do next?
Lessons from 1890
Unless you are over 102 years old and remember the last global plague, you are living in a world you never knew could exist. Unlike during a war when commerce and socializing continues, this disruption has forced fundamental changes in how we live, and how we view the world.
Suddenly when all the sports activities were canceled, you could feel sorry for the athletes losing their income, but also recognize the insignificance of the game in the face of thousands dying.
When the schools were closed, you could be challenged by the idea of trying to help your kids at home, but not really aware of those who would not have your resources.
As conferences were postponed, hotels shuttered, and restaurants operating only through the delivery window, you could develop an entirely new perspective on the idea of an economy. The people you debated tipping became your lifeline.
Those with professional positions mostly went to their now at-home offices to wait out the shutdown with their families, worried only about getting enough toilet paper to last for a few weeks. But those in non-essential, non-professional positions stared at bills to pay, and promises that could not be kept, and wondered what they could do.
For the first time, the people who always work, always find a job somewhere, had nowhere to go to stay independent, self-sufficient and free.
And those deemed essential – from doctors and nurses, police and fire, to delivery drivers, mail sorters, grocery store cashiers and customer service operators – found themselves with extended hours, no breaks, no vacations, and the daily threat to their lives.
The air is cleaner, you can clearly hear birds chirping, you can ride your bicycle down Las Vegas Boulevard or the Champ d’Elysee. And yet behind closed doors, an unimaginable level of suffering has been unleashed on a population that may never recover.
The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma
So where does that leave you, the aspiring entrepreneur?
If your bold pronouncements of going your own way and starting your own business fell on skeptical ears before the pandemic, how are you sounding now? Are you afraid to face the scorn of those who told you to stop being selfish, and get a real job – if you can find one?
Are you considering making yourself essential by offering to work at a warehouse, fast food restaurant or security desk – just to participate in the greatest economic upheaval of our time? Are you afraid to mention an interest in making money, adding a new product or service to the marketplace or delivering value?
If you’re saying yes, yes, yes…ask yourself once again why you want to be an entrepreneur.
Your Dream is Alive
Your life dream to be one of the risk takers who fills a gap in the economy by working day and night to deliver value for those who want or need your product or service has not ended because of the shutdown.
Your dream cannot end. In fact, it’s the opposite. People need the ambition, drive, vision, innovation and penchant for risk that entrepreneurs deliver more than they ever have before. Can you just not feel the ringing desire for someone – anyone – to come up with better solutions to our current problems?
Who but the entrepreneur can even think about what needs to be done. The failure of government in many countries has never been more acute. And the indomitable spirit of ingenious individuals has never been more pronounced.
It is not too outrageous to claim that the global visionary thinking of entrepreneurs may just get us out of this mess. From the labs that are racing to a cure, to the retooling of factories for essential goods, to the rapid adaptation of businesses from offices to home-based, entrepreneurs the world over are looking for new and innovative ways to make this world, as it exists right now, work.
Your dream to be among the entrepreneurs actually has to be stronger than ever before, and your determination to be a person who takes risks and delivers value must be galvanized at this moment.
Your Next Act
What you need to be doing is not lamenting loss, but thinking about opportunity. And not exploitive opportunity, but real value ,and real possibilities that move the world forward.
If you are that person who has always had business ideas in your head, and you wanted others to respect your vision and plans, then show now that your desire to be an entrepreneur is not just a passing fancy where you plan on earning a million bucks, living in a mansion and driving a Rolls-Royce.
Use this time – this tough economic, social and personal time – to show that your commitment to entrepreneurship is about who you are as a person.
A person who delivers value.
A person of ideas.
A contributor.
And someone who is ready to adapt and to lead.
Use this time to improve on every level, read more, research your ideas, learn new skills, enhance your business knowledge, and be part of the solution.
This is not the time for you – the forward thinking participant in the economy – to bail out in despair. You can set the example for others by doubling down on the situation you see around you to come out stronger on the other side.
How do you keep your entrepreneurial dreams when the world changes around you?
You take action. You keep moving through your plan to create your own business. And you make it happen.
The nature of being an entrepreneur and thinking as an entrepreneur means you hang on and move forward through turbulent times.
Your vision, your ideas, your perseverance are all needed more than ever.
Find a way to contribute.
Bring your value forward.
And make your impact.
by Case Lane
When you are first starting as an entrepreneur and manage to put away 15 minutes a day to work on your business, you will likely start by researching more about your business idea.
The purpose of your research should be to find sufficient information to move on to the next step in launching your business. But many aspiring entrepreneurs get caught in analysis paralysis, endlessly researching similar products or services in an effort to understand the competition. But there are more productive ways to spend your time.
When researching:
Investigate your Business Idea
Once you have a business idea, you have to find the information to fill in the gaps in your knowledge.
Most business ideas come from the entrepreneur’s own questions around their likes, dislikes, hobbies, experiences, work and education. Some people have also asked others to contribute to an idea. The origin of the idea is the foundation for going forward and doing your research.
Research Leads to Action
All research should be leading to action. The research provides the details about how you can bring your product or service to your community, then you can begin to take the action steps necessary to make it happen.
Research helps you realize what you need to do. The information can help you decide how to determine what you like or do not like that is already available, to identify best practices and good ideas, and to put together an action plan for yourself.
You want to see what’s going on in the marketplace – if anything – related to your product or service. And this exercise exists even if you have an idea of a product or service that does not exist in the marketplace.
Look at the context and functions for your idea
Looking at the broader market will help you determine the context for your product or service.
For example, there is a saying that if Henry Ford had listened to his customers, they would have said they want a faster horse. The statement is supposed to be profound because Ford of course brought the car to the masses. The masses could not have envisioned a car, they could only envision a faster horse.
But if you look at the context of this example, you see a different story. Consider the functional not literal product Ford delivered.
The customers were saying they want to get around faster. And Ford responded by giving them away to get around faster than a horse. He even emulated the infrastructure needed to manage his new product.
The car needs care and feeding, just like a horse, but this time with hay not gasoline. The product needs to be stored, not in a stable but in a garage. And it must be maintained, not with horse shoes but with tires. Ford actually gave people the functionality of a faster horse – that’s just not what we ended up calling it.
So when you are looking at your product or service, you are looking at the context for how you will introduce the product, and the functions it will perform.
Even if you have invented a new product or service, you still need to research the other products or services that try to address the same or a similar problem.
Go Offline
After all the online research, it’s important to remember there is a world outside where potential customers could be demonstrating the literal or functional use of your product or service.
If you look and touch the real world, you might learn more about what you intend to offer. Go out to see your product or service in live action. You can go to a store and see people shop or ask questions about the product, or maybe just walk down the street to see if your idea evolves based on your real world interactions.
Even if your product is completely digital, consider if the problem you are trying to solve also plays out in the physical world.
Limit Your Research Time
When starting research, Now I mentioned earlier that you do not need to do endless research. You can decide how much time you really want to spend. Part of the decision rests on how your life is currently organized. If you are only taking 15 mins a day to research because you are slowly working up to your available time then it make take you several weeks to put together sufficient information.
Generally if you have one or two hours a day, start with one week, and see how much information you can gather. If you still feel you need more information, go one more week. But do not keep procrastinating or delaying the work.
You are much better off getting started than just trying to keep researching forever.
You will know you are finished when you have enough information to move forward. For example, if you are starting a podcast and you’ve researched equipment and learned how you can do the recording, and where to host the completed file, at that point it’s time to create content.
You don’t need to keep looking at microphones. You can go with the most recommended one and if you don’t like it you can upgrade later. The same is true for the hosting platform or recording software. You can always change your mind after you get started and receive initial feedback on how the process is working.
In general, you are doing research to give you enough information to move your business along, not to have an excuse to delay starting your business.
Summary for How to Research Your Business Idea
- After you have selected your business idea, research is used to determine what you need to do next to take action on getting your business started
- Think about the functional use for your product or service and the context that people will use it, not just the literal use of similar products or services
- Go out into the real world with your research, not just online. Look up how similar products and services are presented in the marketplace
- Keep going until you have enough information to move on to the next step of your plan. A week of 1-2 hour days is a good start. Make sure you stop and move on. You can always change your mind after you have started and tested the results of your decision.
- It’s better to start the business with a little research, than to not start at all while you continue to spend time endlessly looking things up
The key to researching your business idea is to get enough information to move you along to the next step.
The idea as always is to just get started.
How to Get Started with No Audience or Market
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur with no friends, family or colleagues who support your idea of becoming an entrepreneur; or you have tons of friends, but all of them are only interested in partying, celebrities, sports or other things, and nobody ever wants to talk about business, how do you get your business idea out into the global marketplace?.
You may have a business idea in your head, but when you try and share your plans, you get the cold shoulder. No one is going to give you any feedback about whether or not your idea is any good. But you are ready to launch. You have a product or service you want to put out into the global marketplace, but you have no idea how to make sure your potential customers know about you.
How do you get started?
Product Launch
When you start a business you often do something called a product launch. One of the best ways to think of it, is it’s like a movie premiere. The final official launch of a new movie is a big party announcing the ‘product’ is now available for everyone to see.
If you are a billion-dollar Hollywood studio, you throw a huge bash, invite all the stars, roll out the red carpet, tell the press, and bam! your product is launched, and gets mountains of free publicity.
Publicity that comes months after – trailers, bus side posters, interviews in the press, and many other promotional activities have already taken place. If you are a Hollywood studio, you spend money to launch a product and you’re done.
How can your business idea get the red carpet treatment?
But if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur and you don’t have the multi-million dollar budget, how do you get started?
If you would like to hear these strategies, check out the Ready Entrepreneur Podcast Episode 063: How to Get Started with No Audience or Market on Apple Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts
Friends and Family
Many entrepreneur how-to gurus will tell you to start your promotion with friends and family. If you can get the people around you to try your product or service, and maybe even review it, you can easily get started with immediate feedback and ‘social proof.’
The early support is helpful and inspiring, but really only works best when friends and family are your potential community. If they’re not, the support your receive may not be genuine, as they may not be interested in contributing to your idea, or might provide a half-baked response.
Using friends and family works best for those who have strong, supportive and active friends and family. If you belong to religious groups or organizations that support individual endeavors, you can leverage those connections.
If you don’t have a supportive immediate circle, you have to think like a Hollywood studio.
Publicity
When launching a new product or service, an entrepreneur needs publicity. And you get publicity by creating a compelling story about your product or service, and then telling people who are, or can connect you with, media influencers.
There are many ways to start telling people about your product or service. Start with social media. Develop the message of your product or service and post about it on social media. Different platforms perform differently for this approach.
If you use Instagram and your product or service can be displayed in pretty pictures, then go ahead and post attractive photos. You can also use hashtags to highlight your product or service for people who are looking for something similar. Instagram works best for this because it gives you the popularity of hashtags.
Twitter works in a similar way. Sometimes people search for an idea, or phrase ,and you can lead them to your product or service if you are using a hashtag that is associated with your product or service.
If you use Facebook, you can write a detailed post, with links to your site. However, you may have a more challenging time circulating your posts to others.
If you have some friends or family who you know are not interested in your business, try and get them to circulate your message others by encouraging them to repost or pass it on to someone who may be interested.
Social media allows you to move forward if you have no other resources, and you just want to see what kind of an organic response your idea may receive from the marketplace.
Giveaways
Before a Hollywood studio releases a movie, they let a lot of people see it for free. They hope those people enjoy the movie, write reviews and spread the word to others. You can do the same with your product or service.
You can offer the product or service for free, or offer a portion of it or a companion product that prompts people to just pick up and try your idea.
Free promos have been part of the marketing playbook for years. You may already be familiar with the practice inside your local Costco. There is a reason they are giving out free samples. The store is trying to prompt the customer to buy the whole product. You can use the same tactic.
Depending on your product or service, you have to find the best place to provide your free offer. The aisles at Costco are controlled. But you may be able to find a local event or product fair that suits your style and business intent.
Online you can use tools like webinars, YouTube videos or Internet calls to provide free services that allow people to sample what you have to offer and how you deliver it.
Once you are able to obtain a potential customer’s attention through a free offer, then you have an opportunity to retain them by collecting an e-mail address, and continuing to communicate and follow-up.
Blog, Podcast or Video posts
You can also build your audience through blogging, podcasting and online videos. These platforms can be free to use, and provide you with an opportunity to present a more detailed and thoughtful message about your product or service.
Plan your ‘message’ from the perspective of the customer. What would you want to hear about a new product or service that would peak your interest and stop you in your tracks? You can write a story about your product, or the reason you decided to start your service, or a testimonial from someone else. And if you come up with a compelling idea, you may even be able to leverage other people’s audiences.
Other people’s audiences
If your idea resonates with the audience of another blogger, podcaster or vlogger, you can ask to appear on their established platform. These influencers are often looking for great new ideas for their audience. If you can present your product or service in a way that appeals to them, you may be able to ‘launch’ to an established audience.
But make sure you do your research. Do not approach influencers who have nothing to do with your product or service, or whose audiences would be completely different from your intended community. When you reach out, make sure you have something to offer that’s compelling and interesting enough for the influencer to want to present you to their community.
Most businesses began with no visible market. In fact, many aspiring entrepreneurs were told their idea would not work, and their business will not be successful.
The founding entrepreneur had to reach the people who would be interested in the product or service they had to offer. Ben and Jerry drove around selling ice-cream out of the back of their van. They took the product to the potential customers, and let them spread the word.
Summary:
- You can start your own publicity machine with family and friends if they are supportive
- If the people around you are not your intended community, reach out to social media with your messages, photos and hashtags that appeal to the people you are trying to reach
- You can giveaway your product or service in the arena that is most appropriate, whether that be at a physical event or online. Let people give your product or service a test run, and then become the testimonials for your future promotions
- Use online tools like blogging, podcasting or vlogging to create a compelling message about your product or service, and deliver it to a larger audience
- Reach out to people who have established blogs, podcasts or vlogs and let them know if you have a product or service that may be beneficial to their community. You have to show them how you provide value.
A Quick Start Guide to Online Entrepreneurship
Many aspiring entrepreneurs want to start an online business. The idea of low or no start-up costs, running an empire from your laptop, and being able to use all the latest technology in your day-to-day operations is appealing and romantic.
Many believe online entrepreneurs move faster, get things done easier, and reap immediate rewards by keeping their entire business infrastructure online.
The Internet is full of success stories from people doing what you want to do. But what, if anything, makes their process different from any other type of entrepreneur?
To listen to these tips, check out the Ready Entrepreneur Podcast Episode 062: A Quick Start Guide to Online Entrepreneurship at Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen to your podcast
What does it mean to be an online entrepreneur?
Being an online entrepreneur is the same as being an entrepreneur in general.
Entrepreneurs identify value to deliver to the global marketplace. If you have a product or service that people want or need, and you want to bring that product or service to a potential community, then you are already thinking like an entrepreneur.
You become an entrepreneur when you get the business started and reach out your potential customers.
What is different for an online entrepreneur?
To understand any potential differences between online entrepreneurs and traditional entrepreneurs start with the definition of an online business.
An online business means a business enterprise that delivers products or services only over the Internet, and you earn your revenue the same way. You take advantage of online tools and resources to get your idea in front of your community.
Some of the most popular online businesses include blogger, vlogger, podcaster, author, teacher, software designer, artist, editor, copywriter, marketer…and the list goes on and on. These are all businesses that can be started and function only online.
For the purposes of this article, online businesses are those that were created through the rise of the Internet, and its applications.
Old vs. New
Traditional businesses that are now conducted online are different from new economy businesses that were invented online. If you are a licensed professional in a traditional business like healthcare, and you start providing medical advice online, you are governed by a different set of rules than a blogger who starts providing opinion about a healthcare issue online.
An aspiring entrepreneur starting an online business must decide: what business you are in. If you are in a regulated industry, you must follow that industry’s rules even online. If you are in a new economy industry, the rules are still murky and somewhat free. However, the environment of online law is changing rapidly, by the day, and all entrepreneurs must be aware of how these changes may effect their business.
A Website or Landing Page vs. Social Media presence
When starting an online business, an aspiring entrepreneur must know if there are potential customers. And the potential customers must know where to find the entrepreneur.
Many online businesses start with a website, but some avoid even that early expense by focusing on a social media presence.
If you have only social media, your biggest challenge will be in knowing who your audience is, and finding a way to keep them as part of your business. Setting up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram provides you with a free forum for posting about your product or service offering. You may even be able to communicate directly with your community using services like Messenger. This may set up your initial business, and even provide you with a few customers.
But you also have to think of the customer experience. With a website, you can set-up and organize all your information in an easy-to-navigate format. Most importantly, you can host a permanent location for new and interested customers to sign-up with you and learn more about your product or service.
Own your audience
From the first day you begin an online business, you want to be able to own the potential customers who come looking for you by maintaining a relationship with them. You start by giving them a place to sign up for more information. When they sign up you get their e-mail address, and you can ethically continue to communicate with them about your product, service or related issues.
If your audience is only located on a third party platform like Facebook, then that company owns the audience. You can be kicked off of Facebook at any minute, and at that point you lose the audience and all the comments and connections you may have made.
If you own your audience, you control the relationship.
To own your audience, you can sign-up for an e-mail management service like ConvertKit that provides both forms and landing pages for you to collect e-mails, and back end organization for the e-mail lists you have. You can learn to use the service’s features which automatically upgrade your plan as your email list grows.
New Rules
Aspiring entrepreneurs should be aware of the regulations that are being implemented to protect people’s personal information, children, and commerce in general.
Taking possession of someone’s email information means you are subject to privacy regulations. Most legitimate entrepreneurs state upfront that they never sell or share an e-mail with a third party. This type of transparency helps build trust with your audience, and positions you as a business that does not need to run scams to attract people for only their e-mail address.
If the content you provide is not suitable for children, you must also be aware of the appropriate warnings that you need to include to warn parents and others.
Even with the focus on issue like privacy, other Internet practices are not diligently governed, and you must police yourself using common ethical standards and practices.
The Internet is global, anyone, anywhere in the world can put up any type of online front page and be in business. The governance for this behavior is not universal, nor recognized by everyone.
The reality is both an opportunity and a trap. If you are doing business with the public, you are subject to certain rules and ethical practices. If you abuse people’s trust, they will find a way to bring down your business. The same forces that allow you to successfully join the global business community in a matter of minutes can end your business just as quickly if you prove to be unworthy of their trust.
The best practice for an aspiring entrepreneur is to be prepared to behave online as if you are facing your customer directly in the face, and not as if you are anonymous and unaccountable for your actions.
Which Online Business should you select?
The criteria for deciding which business idea is best for you to start is another article. In general, you should consider:
- A thoughtful, truthful personal brainstorm on your strengths
- Issues or problems that come up in every day life
- Products or services you would use to make your life better
- Align the above with your education, experience, knowledge and hobbies
When you have your idea, you decide which platform is best for delivering it to the global marketplace. Here are some useful links depending on the type of person you identified with above:
For personalities – Start Video-blogging
For Teaching Others – Start an Online courses
For techy types and gamers – Create an App
For software designers – Create Software as a Service (saas)
Online entrepreneurship is the same as all entrepreneurship. You identify value you can deliver to the global marketplace through a product or service that will solve a problem, or deliver a solution.
Summary of The Quick Start Guide to Online Entrepreneurship:
- As you are getting started, decide if you are moving a traditional physical world business online, or starting with a new economy purely online business like blogging
- If you cannot decide, check out the resources just above this section for how to get started in the new economy areas
- Once you have an idea of what you want to do, decide if you want to have a website or strictly social media presence as the place where your potential community can connect with you. If you have a website or landing page, you can begin immediately to collect e-mail addresses and communicate directly with people who are interested in your product or service. If you only use social media, you can get started right away, but you do not own your audience
- Be aware that just because you are online does not mean you are above the law. You must still recognize laws, regulations and ethical practices when dealing with the public and operating online
Disclosure: links to ConvertKit on my site are affiliate links which means I earn revenue for eligible purchases that helps support this website and other resources for aspiring entrepreneurs.
