Something a little longer than usual today, but I promise it’s worth it…It's my guide to building an online business from 21 years of experience. I’ve liberally scattered share buttons if you get anything from it please consider using them!
I’ve been an online marketer for over 21 years. When I started, I struggled to build my online business for almost a year. Exactly a year to the day I started, I was still earning just under $15 a day.
Eight weeks later I was earning $180 a day. Nothing had changed apart from the fact I stuck with it. I had wanted to give up so many times and probably should have. 15 years later I am glad I stuck with it.
This guide is designed to help you get started and earning quicker. This is the type of thing I pass on daily in my community, The Systematic Marketer Inner Circle. It’s a friendly place to gather if this article resonates with you. (It’s free to join)
“The best time to start online marketing was 21 years ago. The second best time is now.” — Me, stolen from a Chinese proverb
This guide is a quick no BS guide to building your online business. It comes from 21 years of working online and coaching others to make an online income.
There are no shortcuts, loopholes or ninja tactics. If that’s what you are looking for please stop reading. You need to start with realistic income expectations. Set yourself simple targets and try to beat them.
Choose Your Business Wisely
Choose something that fits in with your skills and your lifestyle, recently I’ve seen 2 people complain in forums about the business they have built.
The first created a YouTube channel but because the topic was “Car Mechanics 101” each video took 15–20 hours to complete. That wasn’t sustainable.
The 2nd built a large email list but hated writing emails, because of this, she hadn’t sent an email in 2 weeks. That’s not a business; it’s an unused expense.
“The biggest mistake people make is flitting from one thing to another.”
Focus...
If you have 6 hours a week free, choose something that you’ll enjoy doing in those 6 hours. If you don’t like writing... don’t create a blog or a newsletter.
Focus on One Thing
When you’ve chosen your business, you need to focus on it 100%.
Create your offer, find your audience, then be relentless in engaging with them. The biggest mistake people make is to flit from one thing to another, hoping that something will click for them.
Everything will work if you apply yourself to it.
“Most online businesses flatline for 3–6 months. Most would-be marketers give up before 3 months.”
If you look at YouTube channels, blogs or most online businesses, most flatline for up to 6 months before getting traction.
Unfortunately, most people will give up after 3 months and try something else for another 3 months. Then give up again. You must stick with whatever you do so ensure you have a great offer.
The Offer Is The Key
If you’ve got traffic and your business isn’t working then there is only one thing wrong, your offer. Change the positioning of your offer, don’t be too hasty to change the price, it’s rarely the problem.
A great offer will always convert to the right traffic.
The days of throwing up a few blogs with recycled content or AI-generated content and earning a living are long gone.
If you hear anyone talking about their amazing system that generates passive income, walk away.
“Passive income doesn’t exist, it’s a myth that’s been peddled to gullible marketers for far too long. Just like non-online businesses, income needs to be earned with sweat and hard work.”
Building a passive income is a myth, it’s 99% certain that it won’t happen. Every online business needs constant input, whether it’s building your list, creating regular content or posting on social media.
Choose wisely, and you can build any online business in less than 75 minutes a day.
Look for an income that is reliable and repeatable, monthly commissions or subscriptions are a great source of income that will give you stability while you build your business.
I would recommend building your main offer around monthly recurring income if possible, there is nothing like knowing you have a regular income in the current financial climate.
“Those that publish can succeed. Those that don’t publish can’t.”
Try to do something every day to advance your business, create an article, create a video, create a social post, send an email… do something every day.
I challenge myself to create and publish 5 articles each week that will help grow my business. In addition, I try to add Videos, emails or Substack notes, they all count and help growth.
Everyday we get bombarded with ads for tools that make marketing easier. You don’t need most of them. Most of the techniques you need to market online are ones you learned in Kindergarten.
Basic Psychology
Remember when your best friend had something you wanted in their lunchbox and you offered them something from yours BEFORE you asked for the thing you wanted?
That’s the Law of Reciprocity in action.
Wordsmithing
Using words to convey your story. Don’t just write emails or articles, tell stories.
We’ve all listened to and told stories, translate those to your posts and emails.
“Build your business using free tools and by mastering a few basic skills and techniques.”
Build engagement with your audience before you try to sell to them. That’s it, there is nothing more!
You can sell to an engaged audience with nothing more than a post and a payment link. No sales page, no membership site, no webinars. I 100% believe that you can build your online business by just using some of these basic skills and tools that are available to you for free.
Medium, Substack and Gumroad provide everything you need to create content and find an audience Google gives you everything you need to create offers and free guides, Reedsy give you the ability to create books, it’s all there, just waiting for you to use it.
You already have and know everything you need, you just need to dust it off and use it.
Choose your business carefully, craft an offer your audience needs, focus on engaging with that audience using the skills you have and present them with a well-crafted offer.
Identify the problems people have, this is the “itch,” it’s your job to provide the “calamine lotion.”
That’s how you succeed and make money online. It’s not complicated, it’s not difficult. It just takes time and effort and a determination not to give up.
Time + Action = Profit
“Be honest with yourself, are you prepared to stick with your business when you want to give up?”
Step 1 is to look for a business that will fit in with the time you have available.
Step 2 is to find an audience that you can engage with.
Step 3 Find an offer that will appeal to that audience.
Step 4 Constant action no matter how small is better than no action.
Step 5 Be honest with yourself.
Is your business realistic given the time you have spare and your skillset?
If not, walk away now and start over with something that is realistic and that you’ll stick to.
“No man is an island. Never be afraid to ask for help or advice.”
I’ve mentioned this before but it’s worth mentioning again, it generally takes around 3 -6 months to get traction for an online business, unfortunately most people give up before 3.
Create a plan to move your business closer to your target every day, you may not see any immediate improvement but it will come.
In your plan your targets should be realistic, not: “I want to earn $10,000 a month by this time next year,” but: “I want to get 1 subscriber a day for the next 7 days,” or “I want to sell one course a week this month.” That will allow you to surpass and increase your targets on a regular basis.
Important: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
This is taken from a forum post I made…
“It’s ALL about the OFFER, nothing else matters as much.”
Pick one thing and stick to it for at least 6 months it normally takes that long for things to work or for you to master them.
You don’t need half the tools you’ve bought. (If you are a newbie, you don’t need expensive tools like ClickFunnels, SamCart or an expensive autoresponder!)
Communication is the one tool you should master. I know marketers who make 100K+ a year with a social post and Messenger or a personal Gmail account. I once I sent personal emails to 40 subscribers and generated a conversion rate of nearly 50% on a mid ticket item. I also know several marketers who only have a Facebook group and a PayPal link or a $9 skool community and yet earn a full time income. It’s all down to communication with their audience.
The OFFER! It always comes down to the OFFER. If you don’t have a good offer or don’t understand your offer you’ll never succeed. Your offer will dictate who your target audience is, it will dictate the messages you put in front of that audience. It will dictate your success.
All successful campaigns are temporary, so never get comfortable. There is always something around the corner that will cause you problems, so expect them, take them in your stride and move on.
Take Action
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell
That’s it, build a daily habit and a system that works for you, as you get better at it add a few more simple things, if something isn’t working, drop it and try it again later. If something is working or you enjoy it ..stick with it.
Remember to keep things as simple as possible, you don’t need expensive tools and you simply must not jump from shiny object to shiny object.
We’ve all done it and I can tell you from experience you’ll never succeed by changing your business all the time.
Ask Yourself: Do I want an online income or an online business, and proceed accordingly.
Thank you for reading this, I sincerely hope you apply what I show you and succeed online, it can be a great lifestyle.
If you need any help or advice, please contact me I am in the community every day, or you can pick up one of the last launch copies of Write To Earn (and I’ll include the next quarter’s module for free)
Paid subscribers also get access to all my communities, courses, and books. included
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