Starting an online business sounds hard. Right?
Actually, starting any kind of business sounds hard.
The thing is though, when you're working for yourself, you're creating a job for someone (you) and you’re building an asset. You’re building something that’s got substance. Something that you might even be able to sell someday.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Starting any business all starts with an idea.
It can even start with the idea that you are going to need an idea.
So, what's the most amazing, fun, joyous, thought provoking thing you can dream up?
Got something?
Yes? Now take that idea and figure out how to sell it to someone. See how easy that was?
No? No problem. We can help with either of those things: the idea or the learning how to create the business.
Human beings overcomplicate and overthink everything.
The truth is anyone can start an online business these days—all it takes is the willingness to trade something you have, do or make.
Whether that’s knowledge, a skill set, something you’re good at, or something you like whipping up, someone out there will be willing to buy it. (heck, there are probably lots of people willing to buy it.)
Lots of people get into business this way—by accident. One day a lightbulb goes off when they realise they can sell X, Y or Z. “Why not?” they think. “What have I got to lose?”
To find an online business idea isn’t that hard… it just sounds hard. But don’t stress there is a solution. And you won’t even need to focus that hard.
The only people we want to focus hard at the moment are vaccine developing scientists in lab coats.
??????(who knew there’s a COVID-19 emoji)
To come up with an online business idea you need to widen your focus for just a little bit (actually it’s about 4 hours). Click here.
Time and time again, I hear small business owners (SBOs) say that one of their biggest fears is that if they contain themselves to just one idea. They’re worried that if they narrow their focus tooooooo much they'll never get any clients. They think they need to compete with everyone on Facecrack, otherwise they'll start to lose their hair, the cat will shack up with the ginger tom down the street, and everything after that will go straight to hell in a hand basket (when did that stupid saying come from?) all because they “didn't diversify.”
Running your own business and having clients means FOCUS. Same deal as our vaccine specialist in the middle this pandemic. Niched, qualified focus.
You want your niche and your business idea to be niched and qualified. By qualified, I mean you want the ones who need you, not everybody out there. You want lots and lots of people all wanting the same problem solved by you.
Just because you can come up with a lot of ideas or you can only come up with 3, DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO TACKLE THEM ALL AT ONCE.
Yes, yes, you can have cake and eat it, too. But not yet. Not when you’re starting out.
And, do you know what happens when people try to put too many ideas into one business?
Confusion.
And no one knows what the hell they actually do. You don’t see Dolly Parton running around singing country + blues + opera + broadway – even if she could. Although I did see her reading stories at bedtime the other day. I think that's OK to diversify after 40 years on the road (again).
If you pick one specific thing to build a business around, it becomes a lot easier.
Sure, you’ll have focus. You’ll get great at it really, really quickly. You’ll make a name for yourself.
Ok… while you're here I want to remind you that there are a couple of downsides to starting your own business.
Every single day you'll wonder if you're doing it right, and then you'll doubt you are. But you can always sit yourself down, and tell yourself to harden the beep up. There's no crying at work (this has always been one of my rules) on entrepreneurship. There’s going to be days you want to murder everyone over the Wifi dropping out or your teenager hogging the band width gaming with 37 of his closest friends from Croatia, US, Italy, South Africa and New Delhi.
There’ll be new shoulder exercises required because those babies have been positioned at ear level for at least a fortnight because of that DEADLINE. There'll be an empty fridge (great way fast track the new fasting fad).
There’ll be that new neighbour who drops by and wants to talk BS for three hours since they think you don't do anything at all because you work from home… all the while the 57 new messages are piling up and then you’ll suddenly realise that you didn't get half the things done on your to do list, which will prompt you to immediately freak out and kick something.
Turns out that this is a normal day for the average entrepreneur trying to keep it together in this crazy, deranged, isolated and quarantined world that inevitably DRIVES YOU BACK TO ONLINE YOGA.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Namaste.
To discover know more about the Online Business Lift-Off Program, or want to see if you’re eligible for our next cohort, head to our Are You Ready quiz today!
If you'd like to take things slowly you can also do our $47 quick course called Online Business Ignition (OBI).
Sharon Langshaw
Online Business Liftoff
Are you ready to start your own online business?
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