Almost everybody has their mental framework concerning making a living implanted from a very young age. You must get an education, get a job, go to work, get a paycheck. This is how it is done for a large part of the population.
Does it have to be like that?
Not for you!
- You want to be your own boss.
- You want to create multiple streams of income.
- You want to work from anywhere.
- Your solution is to start an online business.
So then – how do you start?
What is the smartest way to develop an online business?
Find Your Interest – It Can Become Your Online Business
What are you really interested in? Do you really know?
Start out easy. Find some paper and a pen. Yes, you can use your computer, but my experience is that old-fashioned pen and paper in some way seems more real – it materializes the words in another mode than on a computer screen.
Make a list of everything you can think of that makes you smile when you think about it. Don’t think too much about it, listen to your gut and just write it down, even the most nerdy and silly things. I’m sure you can fill out a piece of paper pretty quick.
This list will be your point of departure.
Go Deeper – Ask Yourself These 4 Questions
Now you have a list of your interests and it’s time to ask yourself a few questions to expand your list.
1. What are the things you already have knowledge about? It could e.g. be gardening, fitness, swimming, nutrition, computers, knitting, painting and so on forever. I’m sure you can make a pretty long list.
2.What are the things you find exciting and cool, but don’t know very much about? Could it be novel technical gadgets, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether and similar, or faraway places you want to visit? The possibilities are endless.
3.What do you wish existed? Is it a website on a certain topic you wished existed? Some site where you could get the information you seek in a clear and easily understandable way? Most people are interested in learning from others who have the wanted knowledge and therefore can help them by teaching them the skills they would like to learn. This means that you can be that teacher, or you can establish a business catering to that interest/hobby etc.
4. What challenges have you overcome? Has something happened to you that was a great challenge? If so, this is an experience you can turn into something helpful for others.
You Are an Expert – How to Find Your Expertise
But I’m not an expert at anything you might say.
This is only a psychological barrier you put in front of yourself. If you have lived for 20 years, you have 20 years life-experience and are guaranteed good at many things. Have you lived much longer you have a huge amount of expertise in a lot of different fields.
But sometimes all our skills are not obvious to us. We don’t see our own skills as something special. These are just things we can do or know. Nothing special about that?
This is not true. We are all different, and surely you have some skills that I do not have, but would like to obtain.
Do You Know Your Invisible Expertise?
How do you find your invisible expertise?
1. Ask your friends!
- What do your friends say you are great at?
- What do they compliment you on?
- How do they introduce you to other people?
2. When you think back what should you wished you had known at an earlier point in your life? This is part of your expertise and can be the starting point for a business. The knowledge you wished you had when you were younger.
3. What do you love to do if you have a few hours extra free? Read a book, playing video games, playing basketball, gardening, watching tv series? What’s your favorite?
4. What could you talk about for hours at a time? Which topic makes you really going?
Your list is growing.
Analyze What Other People Struggle With
We are all frustrated about something. This is worth exploring.
- What frustrates you?
- What do your friends complain about?
- What have they told you they wished they had or could do?
- What kind of skills do they wish they had?
- What do your friends struggle with that you find relatively effortless?
What comes easily to you can be something other people struggle with, and your knowledge can be incredibly valuable to someone else. We are all different and we can all learn from each other. Teaching is important. To share your knowledge makes the world a better place. Teaching sharpens your skills, so it benefits both you and everyone else. People who have knowledge like to share it. Giving your knowledge away means that the world gains more knowledge, a benefit for everybody. You don’t even have to be the best. It is enough that you know a little bit more than the people you are going to help to achieve their goals.
You now have a huge list.
Self-talk – Use It Strategically
We all know it. How easy it is to talk oneself down.
Who hasn’t said to himself or herself:
- I can’t do that.
- I don’t understand, I don’t have the experience needed.
- I’m not really good yet.
- I don’t have enough experience.
- How would anyone pay for this?
- I don’t have the right credentials.
- My business won’t seem legitimate to others.
Do you recognize any of these thoughts? Sounds familiar? This kind of self-talk doesn’t help us very much. It’s therefore important to use self-talk strategically, that is saying the right things to oneself.
- Other people have built an online business and accomplished great things, why shouldn’t I be able to do the same?
- I will do the work and get the results.
- I remember this guy from high school who wasn’t especially smart, but today he has a great business going – If he could make it, why shouldn’t I be able to make it?
Silence your inner critic. Write every negative thought down even if you find them silly. Then shred or burn the paper. The thoughts are gone. Repeat if they reappear.
None of Your Ideas Are Bad, But How Do You Know That Your Idea Is Really Good and the One to Chose?
You now have a long list of ideas. No idea is bad at this stage. Yes, that’s right. You have no bad ideas, but your ideas can have a different value for other people.
The internet world is huge, and every person connected to the web has something in common with at least a few other fellow humans, so the probability that someone in the world shares your interest is almost guaranteed 100%.
You obviously can’t make a business out of every idea you have so how do you pick the right one? It is very easy to get lost in one’s own ideas. It’s not always easy to objectively evaluate your own ideas. We easily fall in love with our ideas and just see what we want it to be, instead of trying to see it with other peoples eyes.
You need a method you can use to check the viability of your ideas. It is important to clarify how many potentially like-minded people or customers you have before you start out.
Take a good long look at your list. Do you have any favorites? Pick you most agreeable ones and ask yourself these questions:
- If I use this idea what kind of product can I sell?
- Will I be an affiliate marketer or produce my own product?
- Is it knowledge, a physical or a digital product or products?
- What is the prices of the sellable products?
- Is it cheap or expensive?
- What is the demand for the product?
- Can I sell a lot, or is it a product that only a few will be interested in buying?
- Do I want to carter to:
-
- a) a large audience who are willing to use a lot of money?
- b) a small audience who are willing to buy expensive items?
- c) a small audience who buys cheap items?
- d) a huge audience who buys cheap items?
If you take all your ideas through these questions you will get a clear picture of which ideas that will serve your business best. In a way, you place your ideas in the real world and can crystalize which one to chose. This is a good way to justify that you can turn your interest into a viable business.
Most people starting an online business don’t take their ideas through these questions and therefore 99% never succeed because they end up selling low-quality items, to the wrong audience.
So it really is a very good idea to test out your idea this way before you start.
Also get comfortable with the idea of adapting your idea. Be flexible until you click with your audience. You have to adapt along the way, but be proud:
You have come a long way – You have found your niche. Congratulation!
Read my Wealthy Affiliate review here.