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When starting an online business there is no magic secret, there are just two main parts to get right:
1) your business platforms and offering
2) your marketing
Ok, so those two parts are pretty major but that’s cool, you still don’t need to sell your lung to the black market to figure it all out. The ‘secret formula’ isn’t really so secret. It’s just some commitment, motivation and clarity to go through the learning and implementation process. You know, like how we learned to become mums and hit the ground running? We had no idea, but hey, the kids managed to get clothed and fed – we worked it out. And, as time went, we got better at it.
That’s like starting an online business too.
We don’t really know what we are doing at the start, but we figure it out as we go. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly ways we can work smarter, not harder and one of them is finding the info you need straight up without wasting your time jumping through hoops and selling your partner to get it..
So here you go… Want to start an online business?
I’ll tell you how to do it right here with this nifty cheatsheet, don’t forget to save it to your bookmarks so you don’t lose it and you can come back to it whenever you need to.
Step 1: Mindset
Business is just as much a personal development journey as it is a business journey so I always advise starting with your mindset, this is so important to widen your window of tolerance and your window of possibility. Fears, concerns and worries that you have will melt away and you’ll start to see that anything is possible, solutions will crystalise and progress will start to take place. When it comes to mindset there are many ways we can expand this from a scarcity point of view into an abundance point of view and I recommend having a daily practice to learning how to expand, even if it is only just 10 minutes a day and keeping that small promise to self.
Some ways you can do this are:
1. Curating your Instagram feed to show positive, informative and inspiring posts so you feel good and are inspired from your feed.
2. Reading books from successful people you admire to expand your awareness on just what is possible and learn how they became successful.
3. Listening to mindset/personal development/business development podcasts and/or videos to gain insights and intel to use so you can grow.
If you’d like some recommendations pop over to my resources page where I’ve listed my favourite ones for you.
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Step 2: Energy (30 mins)
After experiencing extreme post-natal depletion, burn out and exhaustion plus also running a Facebook group of over 16,000 other mums and also helping hundreds of mums launch their businesses I know that everything starts with our energy. If we are exhausted, we are just not going to commit to launching a business the same way we would if our cup was full. Whether we realise it or not our energy levels impact every layer of our life right down into the little choices we make each day. For example, if we are low on energy at the end of the day when the kids are in bed, we are more likely to watch Netflix rather than spend some time on our business, but if we still do have the energy and are feeling good we are likely to feel excited to get to work and spend some time on our business.
It is important to consider second-tier and third-tier repercussions of our actions too, for example, I am an emotional eater and can easily eat a packet of Tim Tams or a whole pizza, especially when I am stresssssed. But, over time, I have witnessed that whilst this may feel satisfying in the moment it will lead to a host of down-the-line triggers that are not helpful for me, for example, I’ll get brain fog from the gluten and sugar overload, which will mean I’m more tired, which will mean I won’t get up as early as I should, which will mean I feel guilty, which will mean I will be short-tempered with the kids which will mean I feel guilty on top of guilty, which will deplete my energy even more, which will mean I don’t get as much work done, which means I don’t grow my business as fast as I want to.
So, I am not saying never watch Netflix or eat ice cream, I am just saying consciousness around the flow on effect of our decisions is important. There are so many different ways we can boost our energy but it all stems from being conscious of our thoughts and actions and I tend to look for the lowest hanging fruit to give me a boost so I can create more mental space to do some of the bigger things like eating properly, ensuring I get enough water, tracking where my iron levels are at and watching for any vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Two of my easy, daily, quick wins are:
1. Medicinal Mushrooms – I take these every day, in my coffee. Not only are medicinal mushrooms amazing at boosting energy, thought clarity and reducing brain fog they are also known for inflammation reduction, immunity-boosting and anxiety treatment and I can absolutely tell that whether I’m working on business ideas for my clients or negotiating with my three-year twins I am thinking clearer and feel more creative.
Click here if you want to check out the medicinal mushrooms I buy.
2. Cold showers – At the end of my shower I run it on cold for 2-3 minutes and honestly, it has changed my life. Cold water therapy has been scientifically proven to boost the immune system, improve circulation, deepen sleep, boost energy levels, reduce inflammation, improve metabolic function and improve mood. To get started try running the cold water on a level you can tolerate for just 10 seconds and build from there. If you haven’t heard of Wim Hof check him out, he will change your life and this practice has enabled me to be more focused and productive in my work.
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Step 3: Your Why (1 hour)
Your WHY is your purpose, who you are, your cause, what you stand for or your belief. Write down WHY you want to start an online business. This is super important because on your tough days you can remind yourself why it is important to you and that will carry you through to your good days. Stick it somewhere you can see it so it constantly reminds you of what is important to you and helps you stay committed to what you’d like to achieve. Being a mum myself, and having helped hundreds of mums launch their business with our done-for-you packages I know from first-hand experience we all seek similar things. We want more flexibility to be with the kids, we want to feel fulfilled and inspired, we want to be able to attend school and daycare events at ease and make the most of each day as they race past so fast.
If you want to download my worksheets that prompt you to write your why and also take you through the process of mapping out your idea and income streams click here.
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Step 4: Business Idea (5 hours)
Decide on what type of business you’re going to start by asking yourself a few questions:
What are your interests?
What is in your everyday life you like doing?
What is a pain point you can provide a solution to?
What can you talk and write about?
Do you have skills and knowledge you can leverage off?
Rate it all 1 – 10 and choose the highest rating topic. I am also going to share with you a major insight that will save you an endless amount of hours. Most people spend way too long trying to validate an idea and writing business plans that only become redundant. To tell whether your idea can be successful see whether someone else is already doing it, if they are, there is your proof that it can be successful. What matters the most from there is your unique spin on it and how you implement your business and how you market your business. in addition, most people seek external validation for their idea however, the validation should also come from within.
When we quieten the noise around us, regulate our nervous system and find peace within, even if it is stormy outside we can hear the quiet calling of our inner compass that is leading us to where we are to go to live the lessons we have chosen to learn in this lifetime. That may come across as always thinking about starting your business, these thoughts are coming to us for a reason, it may be things in your life are crumbling and pointing you in a different direction, you’re being guided for a reason. Generally, the rule of thumb is – whatever you’re fearing you is calling you to step into it.
If you’re still stuck on your idea and need more support download my free resource on how to find your business idea and my free e-book on income streams by clicking here.
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Step 5: Monestision (2 hours)
This is one of the most important factors, because it is a business, right? Not a hobby. And, we want to ensure we get a return on investment but the cool thing here is a we can get super smart with the business model we choose and how it is monetised. In a nutshell, I highly recommend considering a sell one-to-many model and not a sell one to one model, there are some caveats on that. For example, if you want to offer a service, that’s still entirely possible but also work on building in some passive income streams so you aren’t reliant on just the one-to-one aspect of delivering a service.
Different types of income streams that are more passive than selling a physical product are income streams like:
Affiliates
Dropshipping
Online directory
Digital products
e-Courses
Memberships
Most businesses fail because people don’t position themselves in the right areas of their business and are working in the wrong areas. I always advise my clients they need to be working in the profit-producing areas of their business for the majority of there time and utilising automation, outsourcing and systems to get super smart with your time. Once you nail this you’ll be able to create a snowball effect and scale without capping out on the time and energy you have available.
There are stacks of options and they all have pros and cons, to read more about this to ensure you make the right choice pop over to this link and read my free e-book on passive income streams.
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.Step 6: Business name (4 hours)
Decide on a business name. Use the Thesaurus. Google. Write a list. Mix and match different words and most importantly don’t overthink it. Rate it all 1 – 10 and choose the highest rating name. Then make sure the name and domain are available by heading over to the following:
1. Check the domain is available by clicking here, if it is purchase it straight away.
2. Check the name is not trademarked by clicking here
3. Check the name is not registered by linking here
If you’re stuck on choosing a name ask for some advice or do a poll of the names you’re considering in my Facebook group for like-minded business mums by clicking here and searching for Remarkable Business Mums.
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Step 7: Domain and Hosting (30 mins)
This one is super important to do straight away because you’ve just done the hard yards to get the perfect business name and you don’t want someone else to nab the name or the domain before you, believe it or not, I’ve seen it happen before and it is super annoying!
So pop over to Siteground and register your domain name by clicking here.
You only need the basic entry-level plan to start with. Start with your .com and you can add your .com.au later. If your preferred name is taken, try modifying it, for example, I have businessjumpco.com and www.businessjump.com.au and it hasn’t stopped my business from growing into what it is today.
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Step 8: Branding (1 hour)
Start a Pinterest board and start pinning any colours, fonts, images, and patterns that you like and what you’ll notice is a style will start to emerge, you can then refine this style and use it for your branding and refer back to this board to help you stay on track as you progress to your logo and website and all of your design requires afterwards.
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Step 9: Logo (1 hour)
Get your logo – hack this by going to Etsy and searching the pre-designed logos section, find one you like and then ask the designer to change it to your business name and voila! Don’t get over-fussed with your logo, check out mine, super basic but still my business earned over 1 mil in the first 18 months.
Or if you want a custom-designed logo and someone to guide and help you, we can assist with this so simply reach out to me by clicking here.
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Step 10: Website (10 hours)
Setup your website – Ok so the biggest hack to this is popping over to Elegant Themes and downloading the Divi theme. Honestly, Divi does everything, is super robust, has great support and a mass of creditability as far as themes go, it is WordPress’s number #1 theme for a reason and you can’t go wrong with it. It might take you a minute to get used to how it works but there are loads of Divi FB groups for support, thousands of Youtube videos and endless google search results. You’ll always be able to figure out the solution if you get stuck with a little searching if you’re proactive and good at finding answers.
Pop over and read all about Divi by clicking here.
If you don’t have any prior design experience you need to be very careful that your website does not end up looking rubbish which is possible if you don’t have a design eye as this would totally defeat the purpose and set you up to fail to begin with. Use the colours and style of your logo and refer back to your Pinterest board to ensure your branding is in alignment from start to finish. If you’re stuck on time, or indecisive or want to make sure you get it right first go we do websites for our clients every day of the week and can help you clicking here.
Or if you want some support or don’t have the time to DIY I have a guided e-course and done-for-you packages listed on our resources page so click here and have a look.
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Step 11: Content (10 hours)
Once you have the shell of your website laid out you can add in content and get used to how your website works, you’ll need to write your copy and source images. Once finished go out and ask people what they think of your website to get some validation that it looks ok, if your website looks unprofessional you’ve set yourself up for failure straight off the bat and you need to know straight away so you can fix it. A hack is to find some websites that you like the look of and use a similar layout flow with your own unique branding. If you get stuck on what to write there are thousands of copywriting resources for websites or you can hire a copywriter to write your copy for you.
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Step 12: Expectations (1 hour)
I see so many businesses fail because they don’t have the right expectations or knowledge around what to aim for. With an online business it is all about online marketing and understanding the law of conversations, what your goals are and building your audience traffic and leads to your website and understanding how many people you need in your customer journey to start hitting your conversations.
I share more about this in my free action plan on how to make your first $1000. Check it out by clicking here.
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.Step 13: Audience
Once you are ready to launch the next step is growing your audience so you can build a pool of potential buyers. I assist my clients with an audience > traffic > leads > sales strategy which builds in KLT (know, like, trust) The first step is growing your audience via a few select social media channels and taking the time to learn and master how they work. Treat your early days of launching your business as a learning expedition to figure out what you enjoy doing, what you’re good at and what works for you without putting too much pressure on your yourself. Once you become familiar with your daily tasks you can then start to see what is working and start refining and mastering.
To learn how to get started growing your audience pop over to this link and search for the ‘grow your audience’ section.