Are you looking to start your own online business in 2024? If so, you’re in the right place. There are many reasons to start your online business. Whether it’s to get out of that 9 to 5 grind, escape the boss who breathes down your neck, get away from a toxic work environment, or earn some extra income. Whatever your reason may be, you will need some help getting started.
In order to start your online business, you have to set a solid foundation. I have broken the foundation into 5 steps, some of which include: choosing a niche that interests you, finding your target audience, and how you will reach your target audience.
Before you can get started with your online business, there is one important thing that needs to change. This will determine the success of your online business, and this must be changed before you launch your online business. Mindset.
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Change Your Mindset
At first, you might be thinking, “How can my mindset affect the outcome of my online business? It has nothing to do with how I create content or how many sales I get.” If that’s you, I’m here to tell you that is far from the truth. I can give you some firsthand experience.
This isn’t my first blog. In fact, this isn’t even my second or third blog. This is my sixth blog, and the previous five failed. Would you like to know why? I didn’t believe I could truly accomplish the goal I was after. I lacked the motivation and willpower to stick with the blog while no one was visiting or reading the articles.
This time, the circumstances are different. I have no choice but to succeed, and I knew that going in I would need to change my mindset. And this led me to read two powerful books, take an affordable course on mindset, and join a community of successful entrepreneurs.
The two books I read were Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I won’t spoil the books for you, because they both are incredible reads, but Kiyosaki examines the mind of two different men as a child and learns that education does not always correlate to a better life. Hill studied successful people for 20+ years and wrote down the things that he noticed all of the successful people he studied had in order to achieve their success. If you are going to read any books this year, put these two on your list!
There are actually two courses and communities I joined; normally, when you purchase a course, there is a community included with the course where you can talk to other people who are in similar positions as you. The first program I joined was Secrets of Success. Russell Brunson, the founder of Clickfunnels, is also the founder of Secrets of Success. Brunson put in a lot of time and effort to make Secrets of Success possible. I gave a Secrets of Success review here, feel free to check it out! Side note: Secrets of Success was the program that introduced me to Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill!
The second program I joined was the Success Path Masterclass by Entre Institute. Jeff Lerner founded Entre Institute, and his program focuses on your mindset. He provides multiple categories for ways to break down your life, and how to take care of yourself both mentally and physically.
Both books and mindset programs were very helpful to me, you don’t have to join either of them, but I wanted to share what helped me because it may be able to help you as you get started with your online business as well.
Learn a New Skill
More than likely, you will need to learn a very important skill for your online business: digital marketing. Don’t worry, it’s not that hard, and there are tons of resources for you to learn this. You can find scattered videos on YouTube from different channels sharing their digital marketing experience, but more than likely, they are promoting software that they earn commissions from (this is called affiliate marketing, another form of digital marketing).
When getting started, your best bet is going to be to purchase a course from someone who has a proven track record for success and is able to teach quality information for an affordable price. That is what I did, and it has helped me tremendously.
I chose to go with the 15-Day Business Builder Challenge from Legendary Marketer. This course is very affordable; it costs the same as a cup of coffee at your local Starbucks. The value is jam-packed in this course, and you are given a Business Advisor to help you out along the way. Side note: The 15-Day Business Builder Challenge was the program that introduced me to Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
In the 15-Day Business Builder Challenge, Dave Sharpe, founder of Legendary Marketer, guides you through 15 days of crucial information each digital marketer needs to succeed in their online business. I have tried multiple different courses and when it comes to digital marketing, the 15-Day Business Builder Challenge is the best.
Quick side note for the 15-Day Business Builder Challenge. There is an upsell on Day 6 that, if you are serious about your online business and have the funds to start out, I would definitely take advantage of. Legendary Marketer offers 4 different blueprints when it comes to online business. Each of them costs $2,500, which is a hefty price tag. However, on Day 6, you will be offered all 4 blueprints for the price of one. So instead of paying $10,000 for 4 blueprints, you will pay $2,500 for all 4 blueprints along with 7 incredible bonuses.
Full disclosure, yes, I did purchase the blueprints. I wanted to continue my digital marketing education and build on my online business, so I future-proofed myself by purchasing a proven product from a proven company. If you want to get started with the 15-Day Business Builder Challenge, you can check it out here!
Choose a Niche for Your Online Business
Choosing your niche for your online business is going to be the determining factor for how much money you are going to make. Not all niches are created equal, right? There are certain niches where customers will pay thousands of dollars for courses to improve their skills or enhance their business. Other niches are more hobby-based; those niches don’t make thousand-dollar sales. In fact, it’s rare for those niches to make more than $200 per sale.
For the niches that make $1,000+ sales, that requires expertise. You cannot simply step onto the scene with no experience and expect to sell a course priced at $1,000. First, you need to build rapport with your audience. Show the customers that you are knowledgeable in your niche, and potentially show some sort of credentials from an accredited institution or online course that provides a certificate of completion.
For hobby-based niches, you won’t need any sort of credentials, but you will need to show experience and interest in the niche. If you are interested in cars but have never worked as a mechanic, your audience will stick around because, after a few blog posts or videos, they will know that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
The most important thing about choosing your niche is to pick something that you are interested in that also has the potential to earn a decent income – that can mean a side hustle to add onto your day job or turn your blog into a business and make it your full-time income!
Select Your Target Audience
You’ve heard the phrase “the riches are in the niches,” right? Well, that’s true… but there is a little bit more to it. You will need to narrow down to a specific audience inside that niche. For example, I am in the Make Money Online niche, which is a very competitive niche. However, my approach is different from those selling courses and access to communities.
My approach to the Make Money Online niche is to help those who are starting out with their online business, no matter what age, to navigate through all of the showmanship and sales pitches to find out what is actually going to be beneficial for the beginner. Each product I talk about on Entreprehacker is a product I have tried or one I am currently using. My opinions are my own and are based on my experience alone. Giving your original thoughts and original data is the best way to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Provide your audience with real answers, and they will respect you and continue to come back to you.
Your target audience can be whoever you want it to be, but your best bet is going to be people who are interested in the same things you are, or the people who are in a situation that you made it out of. You need to be directly tied to your audience so you can relate with them on a personal level. If your audience can personally relate to you, you can build rapport much easier.
Choose Your Path
Now, the big question: how are you going to reach your audience? There are two major ways to reach people, and those are through blogging or YouTube. Both take time to gain traction, but that is going to be true for any online business in the beginning. Personally, I chose blogging because I enjoy writing much more than being on camera. I have created a YouTube channel that houses some supplementary videos for blog posts and also has some shorts.
The trick is going to be getting your blog or YouTube channel right on the first go around, which can be very hard if you are starting fresh with no experience. I will tell you from experience, that purchasing a course to teach you how to blog or start a YouTube channel is 100% worth it. I cannot recommend it enough because spitballing to see what works is the quickest way to burn out – trust me.
After searching for weeks, I was finally able to find a reputable course that had proven results many times over. Not only from the company’s portfolio of blogs but also from their students who had achieved a full-time income.
The course I recommend for both blogging and YouTube is Income School’s Project 24. Ricky Kesler and his team have done a fantastic job with Project 24, building both a Blogging Course and a YouTube Course for those looking to get started with an online business. Whichever path you choose, Project 24 is a great choice and the only course I recommend for anyone looking to start a blog or YouTube channel. If you are interested in the Project 24 course and community, you can check out the program here!
