6 Steps to Transform Your Skill into An Online Business
If you’re tired of working for someone else and want to start your own business, but don’t know where to begin, this post will help.
Here are six steps that will help you turn your passion into an online business.
You can make money doing what you love if you know how to structure it as a business
You can make money doing what you love if you know how to structure it as a business.
The first step is to figure out what services you can offer and who might need them.
Then, create an online presence for yourself, where people can find out about your services. Once people are interested in working with you, find ways of getting paid (through payment processors such as PayPal or Stripe) and keeping track of invoices and payments.
Figure out who you want to serve.
The first step to transforming your skill into an online business is figuring out who you want to serve. This means identifying your target market, which is the group of people that you are going to focus on serving.
Your target market might be:
People who have been looking for a way to become more confident in their cooking skills and are willing to pay $19/month for access to video tutorials on how they can do this; or
Women between ages 45-65 with children under age 18 who want help finding a part-time job so they don’t have as much stress in their lives (and maybe also earn some extra money).
Understand how much work is involved.
The first thing to be aware of is the time commitment. If you're going to run an online business, then you need to be able to work on it consistently. This means dedicating at least a few hours each week (maybe more) and making sure that your schedule accommodates this commitment.
Once you've figured out how much time you can put into your business, the next step is estimating how much money it will take for you to reach success. Remember: there's no such thing as "getting rich quick" in any business venture, so expect some hiccups along the way.
When putting together an estimate of costs, remember that they won't just be monetary ones—there are also non-financial expenses like equipment setup (computers/laptops), web hosting fees, marketing costs (including advertising), etc.
You also want to make sure that when it comes down to it; this isn't just some pipe dream where nothing ever happens after all your hard work.
Decide what kind of business you want.
There are a few options when it comes to starting an online business:
The first option is to start an eCommerce store, where you sell physical products like clothing, software and other tangible items. Amazon and eBay are two popular sites for doing this (and there's even an Etsy for handmade goods).
The second option is to create a membership website that provides content or services to subscribers (like my course on how to build your own course). This could include things like niche websites that teach certain skills; membership sites that offer instructional videos; or even subscription-based email lists where users receive regular updates from the creator. If this sounds interesting then check out Teachable or WPForms as some great platforms which make creating these types of websites easy.
Take time to plan and think things through.
Take time to plan and think things through.
If you're planning on starting a business, it's important to take time to figure out your business model. This includes figuring out what your target market is and who they are. You should also think carefully about how much you will be charging for whatever service or product you plan on selling, as well as what marketing strategy works best for your business.
Lastly, if sales are going to be the most important part of this new startup venture, then making sure that there is a way for customers/clients/patients/etc., find out about it!
Break through the fear of taking action because you don’t know what the outcome is going to be.
Sometimes, when we think about taking action, we get scared. We don't know what the outcome will be, and we're afraid it might fail.
But if you've ever watched a natural born entrepreneur in action, you'll notice that they don't think about the possible outcomes of their actions. They just do them and see what happens.
The reason why they're able to succeed while others get stuck is because they've learned how to break through their fear of not knowing what the outcome of their actions will be.
Remember this: If you're not taking action, you're not really living. You might be alive, but you're not really living.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
When you start a business, there will be times when you are uncomfortable. You have to get used to being judged, criticized, challenged and rejected. You will also likely feel like an idiot at some point along the way. You must learn how to handle all of these things with grace and confidence – or else they will eat away at your self-esteem until it is gone entirely.
In order for someone who's never run a business before to succeed in entrepreneurship there needs to be both trial and error - because when we fail we learn from our mistakes immediately instead of waiting months or years later on down the line after investing thousands into something that failed miserably when we could've avoided it altogether if only we had just tried something different instead!
Prep yourself for success by creating an action plan.
Because you don't know what the future holds, it's important to prepare yourself for success by developing a plan. In this section, we'll walk through the steps of creating an actionable and measurable plan that will help guide you through each stage of starting your online business.
The most important thing to remember is that there is no one-size-fits-all method when it comes to creating an actionable plan. There are many ways in which people can set themselves up for success; therefore, it's important that you find a process that works best for you and your situation by taking time out of your day or week (or month) to reflect on where exactly you want this journey to take you before diving headfirst into all things entrepreneurial—even if those reflections come at 2am!
Conclusion
The only way to make money doing what you love is by taking action. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work out. It only matters that you practiced and learned something along the way. You will learn more than just how to make money, too! You can apply these steps to any skill or talent of yours - whatever it may be - and turn it into an online business.
If you're ready to take action and turn your skills into a business, click here to schedule a free consult. We'll walk through the needed steps together and discuss the right course of action to get you started.