Below I have offered my no-nonsense thoughts on exactly how you should start your online business, why it’s worth it, and how to course correct when you feel “stuck” along the way.
I would also suggest you read absolutely everything you can on each of the sub-topics I discuss so you have a full and thorough understanding of what’s going to be required to execute real success (and not just have a bunch of followers).
Let’s get started…
Throw Out The Business Plan
Gigantic business plans are something almost nobody does anymore because the business landscape is constantly changing – so your “ten-year plan” will mean absolutely nothing in 10 years.
But at the same time, you still don’t want to run blindly and hope for the best, because that’s a failed approach in the same way. Instead, ask yourself the hard-hitting questions.
8 Hard-Hitting Questions for Success
- What level of income are you looking for?
- Do you want to work part-time, or full-time?
- How much time can you realistically invest each week?
- How do your skills compare to your competition?
- What skills do you need to learn? How long will this take you, and how are you going to put it in your schedule?
- Will a financial investment be required? If so, how much and how will you obtain it?
- What’s your deadline for getting all of this done?
- Upon reaching the destination of the deadlines, what would deem your actions a success at that point and how are you going to measure it?
Learn from the blindness of those before you, ok?
I want you to know that your success will be very different when you know exactly where you are going and have a plan on how to get there.
Those who just wan to get “somewhere” and hope it will “somehow” happen are the people you have never heard of because they have never done anything.
Make a plan, keep reviewing that plan, and make any adjustments along the way if necessary.
Set reasonable expectations in the beginning and work out a crystal-clear plan on how you can reach those expectations.
For example, if you want to start making an extra $1K per month, figure out how many hours of additional work you will need to perform each month or how many products you will need to sell each month to reach that number.
Then, break it down to what time and effort investment you will need to make each day and you will have a much clearer path on the “how” behind your “what”.
Stop Overcomplicating What’s Already Actionable
A lot of entrepreneurs know “what” they want, but they totally overcomplicate the “how” side of the equation.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
Let’s say you want to start an online training program design business. You do your research and you learn everything you possibly can about what it’s going to take in order to be successful in this department (much different than your in-the-gym skills by the way).
If you did your homework, you’ll know that the average rate for an entry level one-time training program design kicks around $100.00, and the average on-going online coaching for a coach who is not internationally known is around $200 per month.
So, if you want to make an extra $1000 per month, you need to have 5 clients paying you $200 per month for your online coaching, or you need to sell ten one-time programs for $100 bucks each – or some combination of the two.
If it takes you an hour to write a program, that’s $1000 dollars for ten hours of your time writing one-time programs. Put another way, you would only have to work an additional 2.3 hours per week in order to make an extra thousand bucks by the end of the month.
Doesn’t seem so impossible now, does it?
And if your clients aren’t needy, the on-going coaching can be much more lucrative in terms of time invested vs. revenue earned.
Starting Off on The Right Foot
Because I’m assuming you’ve done your research and training in order to become not just a good strength and conditioning coach, but also get a feel for what it takes to get online clients every month – you now have a good idea on how to structure a suitable marketing campaign for your “side-business” until you can completely move online.
See how all of this is so different than just announcing on social media that you are making programs online now and just hoping that somehow people sign up?
Your success online starts with:
- Research to determine what niche you’re going to dominate and understanding who your audience is.
- A detailed action plan using the above questions and action steps.
- Taking action NOW!
Fast-tracking Your Success
We all want to get there sooner than later, and although success requires patience, you won’t need as much patience if you do things correctly the first time rather than the fifth time.
If you want to dramatically speed up the process, then learn from the best in your field.
And when I say “best” I don’t mean necessary the most skilled in your craft, I mean the best entrepreneur in your field.
The one who has been massively successful despite everything else.
That’s the real short-cut to success.
Rather then trying to reinvent the wheel by trying things that don’t work and spending months/years of time finding your way… simply follow the lead of someone who has already figured it out.
In other words, invest in real training from real professionals!
Here at Create Freedom we have a number of courses and even personalized coaching available at your fingertips, all created by successful entrepreneurs and not a bunch of wannabe’s.
These courses will make your process so much easier and put you on the course for success in the fifth gear rather than the first.
You can think about it like leap frogging ahead with 15+ years experience right away because that’s how much time we have spent in this online game figuring things out.
Mentors mean a lot, and will save your decades of trial and error and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.
Building A Brand
When it comes to building a brand, this aspect of your research needs to boil down to defining which niche market you want to provide your service in.
You will have much more success specializing in a niche market than trying to dominate everything. Being a specialist beats being a jack-of-all-trades every single day and twice on Sunday’s.
People hire specialists and they buy special products, so spend time on becoming a specialist in the niche you love working with most. This will be one of the most important decisions you ever make in business, and it will greatly influence your success.
With our coaching clients we always “remove the fat” from the market that they want to attack. For example, being a “health coach” is far too general, instead, be the “permanent fat loss specialist for women over 40” – the latter will allow you to succeed on a much, much higher level.
This is something that could be a massive blog all by itself, but the main point where is that you should research what is already over-saturated vs. what areas pose a great need.
Then, fill that need.
Same thing goes for products in this department, not just coaching.
Who Are You Speaking To?
Once you have identified your niche, now it’s time to create your customer avatar.
Take time to write out a bio of your prototype customer.
Demographics, age, gender, interests, needs, wants, pains, financial situation, professional background, dress-code, and language should all be taken into consideration.
Once you have identified this avatar, start tailoring your marketing exactly for this person, as if you’re speaking to them one on one.
The specificity of your message to “one” person in large part will determine the success of your marketing campaign/leads you generate from free content.
Why Should I Buy from You?
You need to give people a reason why you are different from the rest of your competition, this is also known as your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
What makes you unique?
What makes your coaching unique?
What makes your programs unique?
What makes your products unique?
Why should people come to you and not the other million coaches on social media?
Answer these questions from the standpoint of the buyer and not yourself.
What’s in it for them?
The more specific you can be with this answer, the more successful you will be with your USP.
In our business, people buy people – they don’t buy programs.
So, focus on them, over-deliver, and answer the question…
Why should I buy from you?
Final Thoughts and Running Referrals
When you start working online, you have the luxury of outsourcing a lot of the tasks instead of always being the hamster in the wheel.
If you collect a client, you can pass certain services on to your colleagues and/or software programs and collect a referral fee in the process.
You still supervise and approve the results and get paid for your work as well, but you outsource what you’re not comfortable with and collect a well-deserved fee for it.
Everyone wins.
If you get good at this, you can focus on exclusive marketing ads for collecting clients and passing them off to people in your network – constantly increasing your earnings while working less.
I think that’s enough thought and action steps for today. I want to thank you for investing your time into checking out my blog, it really means a lot to me and I hope it will help you achieve more freedom in your life.
Be it more time, money, or travel – or whatever else feels limited at the moment. I hope this blog and all of my previous blogs have helped you turn your passions and talents into a business, and if you’re really interested in taking things up a notch – check out our coaching and all of the courses we currently have available for you.
Dan Garner
