3 Steps For Starting A Business Online: Decisions That Lead To Success
Estimated reading time: 8 Min
Online resources and social media networks means it’s never been simpler to start your own business online. Here are 3 steps for starting a business online.
In this post, we’ll walk you through what you need to consider before starting an online business.
It doesn’t matter if you have little experience or are a seasoned pro with lots of offline businesses under your belt.
Why start an online business today?
There are many reasons why starting an online business is a smart idea.
Here are a few of the main benefits:
- You can work from anywhere in the world. There’s no need to commute to an office or sit at a desk all day.
- You can make your own schedule and in most situations work at whatever time is convenient for you.
- With the right mindset, owner’s find that online businesses are scalable. They can reach potential customers worldwide so you can grow them as large as you want with the right amount of effort. You don’t have to worry about expanding into new locations or hiring new employees there.
- You can test different business ideas with very low risk. I.E You can start small with a low-cost online business and see how it performs before you invest more. If it fails, you’ll only lose a small amount. If it succeeds, you can always scale it up with more investment.
- People buy things online every day. It’s become one of the most popular activities on the planet. This means there are millions of potential customers who you can reach with your products. And thanks to social media, you can often reach them for free.
- You can learn new skills and build your personal brand at the same time. Starting an online business will challenge you, teach you new skills, and give you a chance to improve your personal brand.
- Starting your own business is a great way to build confidence, relieve some of your anxiety, and boost your self-worth. You’ll also have the satisfaction of knowing that you are in control of your future.
Here are 33 Compelling Benefits Of Online Business.
What is an online business?
The easiest way to start understanding what an online business is is to compare with an offline business.
So what are the main differences between the two?
- Offline businesses have a physical location.
You can walk into a sandwich shop and purchase a sandwich. You can visit a furniture shop and talk to the owner if you have questions about their products. - This is not as easy with a purely online business.
They usually show images and sometimes videos of specific products. Most though have a robust returns policy. - Offline businesses have higher start-up costs.
An offline business will require a physical location (such as office space, a storefront, etc.) to operate. So they need to pay rent, utility bills, hire staff, and more. An online business, on the other hand, can be operated from your living room with a laptop and an internet connection. - Offline businesses typically transact in cash or cards.
The sandwich shop usually takes cash and gives you a sandwich in return.
With an online business you can either accept online payments or have a payment processor take care of that for you. - Online you can arrange delivery of physical products and deliver digital products such as eBooks, Videos, Music, online courses etc.
Without an online presence, offline businesses are unable to deliver digital products over the internet.
Characteristics of a profitable niche
All businesses, whether online or offline have to find their niche.
A niche is a subset of a marketplace. It’s a group of people interested in the same topic.
It identifies the type of people or interests of people who might become your customers.
Choosing your niche and related products is one of the most important steps in starting a business.
You will likely be dealing with the topics that interest this group of people for the rest of your life, or at least your business’s life.
So you need to be sure that you’re making the right choice.
The right niche will have a few key characteristics:
- For a business to make a profit, the niche (group of people) need to be purchasing products.
- It will ideally need to be a topic or business area that you are at least interested in. The more passionate you are about a specific subject, the easier it will be to stay motivated.
Choosing The Right Products To Sell
The right products will have a few key characteristics:
- The products that you choose need to solve problems. This can be anything from back pain to a lack of engagement on social media. If your product solves a problem, people with that problem will be willing to buy it.
- Ideally, the products that you choose need to have a high demand. If there is a constant demand for your product, it will be much easier to sell. You’ll also have more flexibility with your business as a whole.
- For your business to be scalable your product also needs to be scalable.
For example, if you’re selling home made candles, you may become a victim of your own success if you can’t keep up with the demand. Your product needs to be able to be produced in bulk to make it scalable and easier to sell.
For this reason, many online businesses sell digital products such as courses, eBooks, software, bots, or software as a service (SaaS). Digital products cost hardly anything to reproduce and distribute. - Ideally, you need to be passionate about your products. They’re going to be a huge part of your life and will require quite a bit of work. If you don’t care about your products, you’re unlikely to succeed.
The benefit of starting small and cheap
Let’s say you have a house worth a million dollars and you want to sell it.
Would you put up a “For Sale” sign in the front yard and expect to sell it for the full price?
Probably not.
If you took that approach to sell it, you’d expect to get less than the full asking price.
This is exactly what many people do when they start their own online businesses.
They put up a high-price “product for sale” sign and expect to get the full price.
This is a mistake.
I’m not suggesting you sell a valuable product for much less than it’s value.
I’m suggesting you start small, offering a product at a price that delivers great value and that doesn’t cost you much to deliver.
You have the opportunity to get your business off the ground without going into substantial debt.
This is the best way for a small start-up business to build a strong brand that customers get to know, like and trust!
You can learn from your mistakes over time and iron out the kinks in your business plan.
It’s easiest to attract new customers when you have a small product that isn’t very expensive.
Then when you build more confidence in your knowledge of an opportunity, add new and more expensive products
What you should know before starting an online business
Before you actually start your online business, there are a few things you need to make sure you’re prepared for.
These include things like taxes, hiring employees if necessary, and more.
Small businesses, in particular, have more things to consider than meets the eye before they actually begin operating.
Here are a few things that you need to know about before you get started.
- You need to have the right equipment.
You can’t start your online business without the proper equipment. You need a computer, internet connection, and software programs to make your business successful. Before you actually start your business, make sure you have everything you need. - You need to have the right environment to work in.
Do you have a room in your house where you can work without being distracted?
Do you have a quiet place where you can take phone calls from potential customers without interruption, if appropriate for your niche? - You need to have the proper licenses and permits.
Running a small business comes with regulations. You need to ensure that you have the proper licenses and permits to operate your business. You don’t want to get fined or shut down because you’re not following the regulations set by your country, county or city.
I recommend becoming familiar with at least the 4 Cornerstones for starting a business online.
3 Steps For Starting a Business Online in 2024
There are three main steps to starting an online business. These are:
- Market Research…
Know your competition, your customers (niche), and the market as a whole. You want to make sure that you’re entering a market that has demand. - Create a Business Plan…
Figure out what your business is trying to achieve. That means, exactly what your business does, who it does it for, how you’re going to do it and a good idea of what financial results you expect. You need to have a plan before you start spending money on your business. Your business plan for starting a profitable online business need not be complicated. - Launch Your Business…
When your winning business plan is ready, get going!
This is sometimes the hardest step for many people. Since we’re talking here about building a business online, you can be learning as you build, although there will always be more to learn
Summary
Starting an online business can be a great way to make money from home.
You can work whenever you want, manage your own schedule, and make as much or as little as you want.
A big attraction of being online is that you can manage your business wherever you have access to the internet.
The first step to starting an online business is to choose a niche that you want to be known for.
You want to make sure that you’re passionate about the business area and products, and that you and your products solve a problem.
You also want to ensure you have the right equipment, space, and necessary licenses and permits to operate your business and the confidence to get started!
Once ready, follow these three steps above to get started with your online business.
Now… I’d love to know how you get on… please let me know in the comments or via the feedback form.
Wishing you the very best…
🙂
Richard
