Top 6 Things You Must Do If You Want To Make Money Online and Guarantee Success
These are scary times for many of us. People who thought that their jobs were safe and secure are being laid off. Businesses that have been around for over 100 years are gone and there is no end in sight.
As crazy as it may sound, there are airline pilots stacking supermarket shelves and delivery drivers for Amazon just to be able to pay their mortgage and put food on the table.
And, economists tell us that the worst is yet to come.
This has led to a huge increase in people searching for ways to make money online. Especially the older ones amongst us who are worried about their pensions and what the future holds.
They have given up looking for another job as some positions are receiving thousands of applicants and, instead, are looking at ways to set up their own business and take control of their own future.
20 years ago, if you wanted to set up and run your own business, the only option was a bricks and mortar business, which, for the older ones amongst us, was a huge leap and a full-time endeavour. Add that to the huge cost of setting up your business, and it was just not an option for most of us who had families and commitments as the risk was just too big.
Today it is a totally different story and the good news is that it has never been easier to set up an online business. It is no longer a big leap, just a small step.
The cost is negligible, and it can be run part-time, if you still have a job, until such time that you are earning enough to replace your current salary.
Add that to the fact that so many online businesses do not involve you trading your time for money, which means they are scalable and can make you a real passive income, making money while you sleep or taking a holiday with the family.
There are a number of things you need to know when starting your online journey and this short report provides you with the top 6 things that you should do to help you guarantee your success.
1. Mindset – Treat It As A Real Business
One of the main reasons that a lot of online businesses fail is because people do not treat it like a real business.
When someone starts an offline business, it takes a lot of thought, planning, time and effort. It usually involves a big investment in equipment, vehicles or stock as well as leasing an office, shop, warehouse or factory unit to work from.
Unlike a bricks and mortar business, you can set up an online business in a weekend and the cost is negligible. Therefore, people do not always attach the same value to it as they would if they had spent £10,000 or £20,000 on opening a small shop or office.
Mindset is really important. You have to understand and see the huge potential and value in your online business from the outset and treat it as such, regardless of how little it costs you to set it up. You need to put in the same effort that you would if you had spent thousands of pounds on starting your new business.
Be prepared to invest in your business
While you can easily start an online business for just a few pounds, you should be prepared to invest a reasonable amount of money into your business if you are able to. This will help you grow your business so much faster than trying to do everything on a shoestring.
People are usually either ‘time rich and money poor’ or ‘money rich and time poor’ and by ‘money rich’ I don’t mean you need to have thousands of pounds but enough to be able to commit a reasonable budget to setting up and marketing your new online business.
If you have plenty of time and a little money, then, of course, you will be doing a lot more of the work yourself. It will take longer as you will be learning on the way, but, the pro side of that is that you will get to know every aspect of your business. It is also important that you dedicate the time on a regular basis. Like I mentioned earlier, treat it like a proper business/job. Set hours that you are going to work, set deadlines for tasks and use a project planner to keep track of everything that needs to get done.
If you are able to commit a reasonable budget to your new online business, then you can grow it so much faster.
2. Invest In A Mentor Or Training
The reason that franchises are so successful is that the franchisee is trained and mentored on how best to build and run their business. The one big downside of a franchise is the high cost to buy into the business in the first place and the ongoing costs and big commissions that have to be paid to the franchisor. Once set-up the franchisee does all the work and the franchisor gets a big chunk of the profits. Not only that, but, when you decide to sell the business you have spent years building up, you have to pay the franchisor a percentage of the sale!
The answer, therefore, when looking at starting your own business, is to find someone who has the knowledge and experience behind them to help, mentor, coach and train you on the different aspects of the business that you are lacking and need to learn. You are working for but not BY yourself. You only pay for their knowledge, guidance and support until such a time when you feel that you have gained the experience and expertise to go it on your own and, of course, you get to keep 100% of your profits.
3. Take Time To Understand Your Strengths And Weaknesses, Skills, Passion And Talents.
There are so many different ways to make money online, and you need to be sure that the business you start is right for you.
To give yourself the very best chances of success, choosing the right one for you is really important.
Before you decide what you are going to do online, make a list of your strengths, talents and skills.
Ask yourself these questions-
- What do you know?
- What skills do you have that you can use?
- What do you enjoy doing?
- What are you good at?
- What are you passionate about?
- What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?
The answers will help guide you down the right path and start something that can build into something big.
Making money online is simple, but it is not easy and there is NO SUCH THING as push button riches. I can tell you right now that it is going to take you time and effort to build a successful online business, no matter what type of business you decide to start.
Don’t be fooled by the get rich quick schemes or easy push-button riches opportunities offered by countless, self-professed ‘Gurus’ stood in front of their Lamborghini or outside their mansion, who promise to teach you the secret to earning huge amounts of money online by following their simple step-by-step formula in return for a fee.
That should come as no surprise, but thousands of people are taken in by these slick sales letters and promises of easy riches.
Think Outside Of The Box
Tony, an old friend of mine, was an excellent car mechanic and his passion and hobby was restoring classic cars, namely Triumph TR’s. He would strip them right back down to the chassis and rebuild them from scratch in his spare time.
As a mechanic, he was limited to how many cars he could repair or service in a day, trading time for money. Like me, he was also getting older and feeling the aches and pains. Bending down over an engine or getting underneath a car was getting harder. He set up an online website offering advice on restoring classic cars, diagnosing problems and also helping people source original parts for their projects.
He knows these cars inside out, loves to talk about classic cars and spends his days helping other TR enthusiasts and also has far more time to work on his own projects. How much better does life get than that?
4. Market Research
Before starting any business, you have to know if there is a demand for the product or service that you intend to offer and that there is money to be made in your marketplace.
You do this by carrying out market research, which is a lot easier than it used to be with the internet and Google at your fingertips. Working out who your ideal client or customer is and the size of the market as well as pricing for your offering is relatively simple but imperative before you invest your time into it.
I worked with Steve Lake, who set up an online ecommerce store. He used to research trending markets for gadgets. He made a small fortune from selling fidget spinners, which was a big trend in 2017. Steve also sells pet products, which is another huge niche. People will spend a fortune on their pets.
5. Outsource
Unlike a traditional bricks and mortar business, with an online venture, you don’t have to go the expense of recruiting or employing and training staff as you grow. We are very lucky that we now live in such a connected world.
Using specialist outsourcing websites like Fiverr and Upwork, there are thousands of people ready and waiting to carry out almost any task that you can think of.
From logo or website design to content creation and even your admin processes and accounts.
You simply register on their site for free and then search the thousands of people that are offering their services at very low rates.
It is not unknown for some people to outsource virtually every part of their business, leaving them to enjoy their days doing the things they love while the money keeps rolling in.
6. Learn How To Market Your Business Properly – Even If You Are Going To Outsource It.
The key to the success of any business is marketing. You need to get customers to your website. The internet has opened up a whole new world of effective ways to market your business these days.
However you are going to market your business, whether that be through more traditional methods like mailshot and newspaper adverts or the numerous ways online like banner ads, pay per click, video or social media marketing, it is important that you understand the basics.
You do NOT need to know the intricacies of how to create and post an advert on google or facebook but you really should understand the difference to help you to make informed decisions on how best to market your particular product or service.
There are hundreds of ways to make money online, and you really do not need to have a lot of technical skills. Anyone can start an online business.
All you need is an idea, a transferable skill, talent, passion or interest.
Every part of the business can be outsourced at a much lower cost than most people think.
You can find out more at askmeanything@smartstartworkshops.com
