5 Tips How to Start an Online Business (+ Work Only 2 Hours/Day!)

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For the longest time, I’ve been wondering how to start an online business that would replace my corporate salary and allow me to leave my job. Matching my comfy paycheck by doing what I loved seemed unrealistic.

Do you also dream about working for yourself … but then drop the thought? Maybe because making money with your passions seems too good to be true? Or you don’t know how to start?

I know how it feels to dream about leaving a soul sucking job to be your own boss, do something you love, be location independent, and feel financially secure. (Today I can add one more: Start an online business that prioritizes time freedom — bye-bye 24/7 entrepreneur hustle mode!)

Too many aspiring entrepreneurs never take the plunge because they don’t believe that it’s possible for them. I had been one of them, postponing my dreams for far too many years.

I worked hard to get here, but eventually I was able to quit my Fortune 500 career and buy a one-way ticket to South East Asia. From there I continued to travel for 18 months to over 25 countries without having to work and without using my savings thanks to passive income streams. Eventually, I was able to build my dream business while living a travel lifestyle.

TIP: If you’re interested to learn the 5 Steps for turning skills you have into a service based online business that makes money, check out my Free Training here.

How to start an online business can be an overwhelming question, with so many puzzle pieces going into it. 

If you’re ready to know how to successfully start an online business that gives you flexibility and freedom, read on for the first 5 steps to build a truly freedom based business.

1. Leverage your unique superpowers when you pick a business idea

Success and failure are two destinations on the same path. The difference is that success is further down the path than failure.

One of the number one reasons why new businesses fail is because new entrepreneurs give up too early before they can reach success. Usually, there are two reasons why new business owners get demotivated:

• They lose interest in their business idea
• They don’t see immediate business results (… leading to frustration and losing interest in the business idea)

To increase your persistence and will to succeed, it is important to pursue a business idea that you’re excited about and that has a shorter time to profit. How do you do that?

You need to get crystal clear about your personal strengths and passions and leverage your unique superpowers. Connecting the dots between the knowledge, skills, experiences, and interests you have collected over the years will position your idea at an advantage as compared to stepping into an entirely new direction.

Ask yourself:

• What am I good at?
• Have I mastered or overcome something that others are struggling with?
• What do I love spending time on?

Think about how you can turn these qualities into value for others. Building on existing skills and interests is easier and faster than starting from scratch. We’ve written an entire blog post about how to turn your superpowers into business ideas here. Our Free Workbook lets you brainstorm on your money-making superpowers with guided questions. Download your Free Workbook here!

Next, how can you make sure that people will pay you for your superpowers? This is what the next tip is about.

2. Turn your skills into an attractive online offer 

The core of any online business is a desirable and marketable offer. To create an offer that your future clients will be happy to pay for, you need to turn your superpowers into value for your ideal clients.

What is value?

If your offer is valuable, it will help people reach a goal that they’re working towards or solve a problem that is currently keeping them stuck. In other words, it will help them gain something they desire (e.g. find their soulmate) or lose something they are trying to avoid (e.g. get out of a toxic relationship).

To create a desirable and marketable offer for your online business.

Think about these questions:

•  Ideal Client: Who are you trying to create value for?
• Client Transformation: Why is your ideal client looking for help — what’s their goal or problem?
• Challenge: What is the obstacle that is holding them back to achieve their goal on their own?
• Your Role: How are you helping them to overcome the challenge and reach their goal?
• Client Result: What concrete result will your ideal client have after working with you?
• Download our Free Workbook for more in-depth questions and to capture your ideas!

After you have answered the above questions, you will have built the foundation for how to start an online business.

However, keep in mind that at this point your answers are based on assumptions … until they get confirmed by your market. How do you do that? This is what the next step is about.

3. Know your risky business assumptions

It’s easy to get lost in a pool of practicalities that go into how to start an online business. Once you have an idea, you’re quickly tempted to rush and work on a website, grow your social media following, or other things that are only secondary.

The key to seeing monetary results fast is to figure out how to attract ideal clients and make your first sales. No customers, no business! While this can feel like a scary and overwhelming task in the early business days, it’s easier than you think to make sure that your ideal clients are as excited about your business idea as you are.

Knowing your risky assumptions and eliminating any uncertainties you have around your offer will allow you to create something that people will be happy to buy. For example, if your idea is to create a food photography course for new food bloggers, you need to be sure that aspiring food bloggers are looking to improve their photography skills. If they don’t, your business idea is not viable and you need to pivot.

Documenting your risky assumptions and validating them one-by-one in a structured way will create focus and combat overwhelm.

Ask yourself:

• What are 1-3 biggest assumptions in your business?
• What do you need to confirm about your ideal clients to feel confident about your offer? 
• What do you need to know to make progress?

In our Free Workbook, you can easily document your brainstorming and keep yourself organized while you’re working out the first steps in your online business. Access the Free Training + Workbook here!

The way to answer the above questions is by getting in touch directly with your ideal clients through market research. Read on below to learn how to do it.

4. Market research is a MUST for how to start an online business

Getting in touch with your ideal clients might sound scary, especially if you are not (yet) confident about your business idea and online offering. BUT, it’s the best way to become confident that you are creating something that people will want to do.

The best time to start interacting with your ideal market is Day 1 in your business (= today!). Don’t worry, you don’t need to worry about perfection. See market research as a way to build first casual connections with your future audience and answer your questions about what they need.

Here’s how to do it:

(Check our our Free Training for creating your first detailed market research plan!)

1. Client wishlist: List 10 people that you know online or offline that fit your ideal client profile.
2. Introduce yourself: Draft up a short message telling about yourself, what you’re working on, the goals of your market research, and why you thought of them as ideal candidates.
3. Specify your ask: Be clear about what you would love them to do, e.g. answer a questionnaire or connect in a 30 min online call.
4. Connect: Send out your message to all people on your client wishlist. Customize the message where needed and follow up if you don’t hear back.
5. Get your answers: Collect the feedback from your ideal client and get your questions answered. Document your learnings and adapt your value proposition where necessary.

Try to keep it casual! Don’t be afraid to be real and think of these connections as dialogues with a friend.

Tip: If you can’t think of anybody from the top of your head (or if you want to expand your list), think about which platform your ideal client is hanging out on. Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are examples of platforms where you can easily get in touch with ideal clients. Next, how how can you reach them, e.g. with the use of relevant hashtags connected to your niche or business idea? Find people online that fit your ideal client criteria and take it from there!

Once you have your answers, it’s time to promote your offer. That’s what Step 5 is about.

5. Set up a simple first sales funnel

Before you freak out about sales funnels, let me calm you down. You don’t need to build a complicated technical business system. A sales funnel is essentially a concrete strategy of how you reach, attract and activate your ideal clients.

There are 4 components to think about:

1. Platform: Where can you reach your ideal clients?
2. Hook: How can you capture their attention? (e.g. with a free training or other gift)
3. Nurture: How can you make your ideal client trust you? (e.g. by showing them your expertise through valuable content)
4. Conversion: What’s the call-to-action you expect from your ideal client and how can you get them to take it? (e.g. buy your digital product, enroll into a program, or sign up for a connection call)

Then: Promotion, promotion, promotion! If your ideal clients don’t know about you and your business, they won’t be able to buy from you. Your job is to make them aware that you and your offer exist and tell them how you can improve their lives.

Don’t worry about being “sales-y”! Remember, you have created something of value for your ideal clients. Help them make a decision of whether your service is the right one of them or not. It’s a service to your ideal clients, not a burden!

Don’t expect that only because you told your audience about your offer once, they will know or remember. Repeat your message every single day!

Excited to start working on your online business?

Access our Free Training & Workbook and get an actionable plan for how to start an online business that gives you creative, location, and financial freedom.

Leaving your 9-5 and becoming your own boss can feel scary and overwhelming. We want to help you plan a transition that feels safe and exciting! This is why we created a highly actionable training that takes you through the steps of how to start an online business — from narrowing down on your marketable superpower to selling your online service.

In the Workbook that accompanies the Free Training, you can capture your answers to critical questions around your business and stay organized.

I’m thrilled to see you start your path to freedom! Access the Free Training & Workbook here.