Freedom. It is the hottest word of the year.
Mums who have wanted to create more freedom in their lives are now starting to feel the overwhelming need to have more control over how they work, when they work and how they can generate an income with more autonomy and many are now realising an online business is the perfect answer.
However, as a Mum of 4 myself, I know we are all a little weary from the last 18 months and many of us are in survival mode. The good news is though, starting an online business can be easier than you think and can even be the catalyst to transition from simply surviving into thriving.
With some inside knowledge, keeping things simple and nurturing ourselves it is entirely possible to piece together an online business and start generating an income online.
Read on and I am going to share how.
1. Getting Clear
Want to start an online business but can’t think or settle on an idea? Or maybe you have too many ideas? Or maybe you just don’t know where to start? All super common roadblocks on the business journey, and why most people come to me to help them so I know first hand, this is what holds 90% of people back from ever getting started. But it doesn’t have to hold you back. Like I share with the Business Jump Family members before you try to jump into all the businessy stuff – let’s start with nurturing you first.
Check-in with yourself.
Put your hand on your heart.
Breathe.
Allow yourself to settle into your body.
How are you feeling? Tired? Overwhelmed? Low energy? Stressed? Stuck? Confused? Shaky? Ok?
Whatever you feel, don’t push past it. Acknowledge it.
Did you know, it is a fact that when we are stressed out and overloaded our IQ lowers? So imagine trying to do anything productive or meaningful when we aren’t running on a full tank, or think about how much longer it will take you to gain momentum when you don’t have a clear mind and try to just muddle through.
If you are feeling stuck the best thing you can do is backtrack and focus on finding some space in your mind and peace in your body, to allow room for the ideas and inspiration to come to you organically.
Find some time for stillness and make it a daily practice, even if it is only for 10 minutes a day but the key here is to make a promise to yourself and keep it. It could be:
- Breathwork
- Yoga
- Going for a walk/run
- Meditation
- Mindfulness
- Journalling
- Grounding
Choose what resonates with you and what you feel you have the mental energy to commit to and remember the goal is stillness. To find a way to quieten your mind from all of the chatter.
- Next, we want to shift our mindset and energy into a more positive space, I challenge you to start daydreaming of what it is you want. Think about everything that could come true from you starting your online business and then I really encourage you to imagine the feeling as well.
Allow yourself to dream big and breathe in all the amazing outcomes and then breathe out all the fear. Imagine yourself working away doing something that lights you up, imagine yourself getting paid for it. Imagine yourself being able to run the day how you want to run it. Imagine yourself feeling creative, inspired, fulfilled, energised. Allow your body to relax, allow the feelings to grow, breathe up through your feet and out the top of your head, and then back down to your feet.
I like to do this while listening to motivating music which really allows me to tap into the feeling, which is the most important part. Do this whenever you can and as many times as you can, but even just once a day is ok.2. Finally, we want to boost our energy because trying to create a business on top of our existing life does require and ask more of ourselves energy-wise, so let’s fuel our body to assist us and make the process easier.
It could be via:
- Medicinal mushrooms – These are brilliant for enhancing focus and boosting your mood, helping you to power through your day. I have them in my coffee every morning.
- Plenty of water – we all know being dehydrated causes fatigue so this is an easy one.
- Get your iron and vitamins and minerals checked – I recommend doing this by a naturopath, this helped me hugely after my twin pregnancy.
Visualisation and meditation – I’ll sit somewhere quiet, close my eyes and imagine a bright white light streaming down that is full of replenishing energy, I imagine it filtering through my veins and feeling recharged. Studies have proven we can intentionally change our brain chemistry to initiate a more healthy body, mind, and spiritual life
2. Myths
Once you are feeling lighter from the above practices you should notice a shift, even if it is a small one. Perhaps you noticed new ideas coming to you, more clarity, a little more focus, feeling a little more energised.
You’ll know when the time is right to move onto these next steps, and if you don’t – give yourself a gentle push anyway because tiny small steps of action create momentum. As you move forward you may notice some fears and doubts pop up. This is completely normal, our brain is wired to only feel comfortable when we are certain of the outcome, and of course, starting an online business doesn’t offer certainty, it does, however, require us to be brave. Some of those fears and doubts may sound like:
You need a lot of time to start a business:
The reality is, as mums we just can’t work at the same speed or intensity as someone without kids can work and that is totally fine. The key here is to make small commitments to yourself. Even just 10 minutes a day is better than nothing and will build a momentum. Work out the smallest, most simple steps you can and do them bit by bit. Sometimes you won’t feel like doing anything but a simple mindset hack is to say to yourself ‘I am going to work on this for just 10 minutes what you’ll usually find is you start to engage and enjoy what you’re doing and then that 10 minutes turns into 20 minutes.
There is a right time to start a business:
Generally, there never is, we tend to make the time or find a way for things that are important to us. Again, small simple steps. Have you ever heard the saying ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at time’
You have to be passionate about the idea:
A general interest is just fine, you know why? Because getting started is going to teach you what you like, what you don’t like and reveal your passions. The beauty about an online business is nothing is set in stone, you can modify as you go, and anything that you can’t is a valuable teaching lesson.
What if I fail and people judge me?
Do not allow other people’s opinions to be bigger than your dreams. And, what if you succeed and surprise the hell out of yourself with just how amazingly capable you really are?
3. Stay true to yourself
To help you stay on track (because we all fall off the wagon) make some little reminders to help you get back on that wagon.
- 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 and be reminded.
- Create a vision board. We all know about vision boards so enough said here.
- Choose a phone screen saver. Pop something inspiring on your phone so when you look at it you’re reminded that you really can do this.
4. Your business idea
Of course, this is a huge topic in its own right however I want to give you some simple prompts to help boost your line of thinking.
Ask 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?
- Has it been done before (if so, great! This validates your idea can work)
5. Monetisation
Based on your idea above you should have an idea of how you can monetise or if you don’t simply reply to this email and I can help provide some more suggestions, this part is obviously very important and can be the make or break of your business so let’s make sure your idea is in alignment with your income goals:
- Write down how much time you have per week
- Write down what your weekly income goal is
- Work out how long it will take you to deliver your product or service per unit sold
- Work out many units you’ll need to sell in order to reach your income goal
Now, think about how much time you have per week and cross-check it with how many units you need to sell – can you do it in the time you have? Don’t forget though, you want to be working ‘on’ the business for at least 60% of your time, which means delivering your product/service should only be at 40% because that is working ‘in’ the business.
6. Choose a business name
Deciding on a business name can be fought with indecision and analysis paralysis so keep it simple and memorable.
- For inspiration try using the Thesaurus.
- Survey a like-minded FB group and ask for feedback.
- Write down all your names and then rate them one out ten.
- Make sure the name is available by using namecheckr.com
- Make sure the name isn’t trademarked by checking the IP Australia registry.
Don’t overthink it, make your decision and keep moving forward.
7. Create your brand look and feel
Use Pinterest and set up a board that you can pin fonts, patterns, colours, images to and then go crazy pinning. After a while, you should start to see a theme is established from the things you’re drawn to. Check back on this regularly from here on in to make sure you stay on track.
8. Get your logo
Getting your logo doesn’t have to be costly – hack this step by going to Etsy and searching the pre-designed logos section and buying an off-the-shelf one. 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.
9. Design your Website
- Get your domain and hosting from Siteground, go with the cheapest package as you won’t need anything else at this stage.
- Go to ThemeForest and choose a WordPress theme and follow the install directions.
- Add content to your website and get used to how your website works.
- If you get stuck, ask the theme developer for support or Youtube the tutorials.
Takeaways:
- Focus on yourself first, before trying to do any work take a moment to really find some sense of calm in your body first.
- Don’t overthink things, keep everything as simple and uncomplicated as you can.
- Build your energy to help your mind, body and soul be creative, gain clarity and work more productively.
- Start with even just ten minutes a day, something is better than nothing and it will accumulate and build up over time.
- Learn from people who have already worked out how to get to where you want to go and follow what they did.
- Youtube and Google tutorials are your friend and have all the answers you need.
- Ask yourself what support do I need to help me get to where I want to go?
- It does not need to be perfect as you go you’ll continue to refine and get better.
- Find a friend to keep you accountable and do it together.
