5 Tips to start an online business in 2018
1. Find things that you can automate.
There are some things that require a human touch, there are other things that don't. Try and find systems and tools and software that can help you automate and help you just take some of this work off of your plate.You need to spend most of your time doing what we call revenue generating activities, things that actually make you money. So, don't get caught up in the things that don't make you money and don't actually move the needle for you.
Examples of this could be maybe it's your bookkeeping, you should use something like Quickbooks from Intuit. Or maybe it's some of your uploads and posts to social media or even your email marketing.
I like to usually set aside an hour or two on a weekend, and do all the content for my email newsletter for the month and then set it and schedule it. By using this automation, instead of having to do that on the fly, in the moment, the day that I want something to go out, I've already given myself the opportunity to set it and forget it. So that really matters. When I want to engage as a human being in social media, I do that and I have the time to do that because I'm not worried about pushing a button for my content to go out.
I use tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule that. So just try and find things that you can automate.
2. Focus on those revenue generating activities.
You should be outlining, you should have a list of things that you do that make you money and then you should make a column and a list of things that don't make you money but are essential to your business. And I would still prioritize the things that make you the most money. So, I would do that top to bottom.
If you find that there are things that make you the most money, maybe you double down on those and maybe you cut a few things loose that only have a small amount of revenue behind them that you won't really miss if you can just double or triple your top-line revenue. This also harkens back to the 80-20 Rule, sometimes 20% of something is where you'll make 80% of your revenue. So I would really concentrate on that.
In this case, that could even be clients, you could actually have clients that might be your biggest clients, what if you could get more of their business? Shouldn't you focus on that instead of trying to get a ton of small clients? So again, focus on revenue generating activities and prioritize them. Tip number three: Invest in yourself.
3. Invest in things that make you faster.
One of the things that I do is I purchase technology and tools that let me cut my time in half. I actually built an entire new computer for my video editing because it was just going to make me faster than with working on my old iMac.The iMac was great, at it's, you know, prime, but now I just needed something faster and more robust. Now it takes me a fraction of the time to edit videos, which means I can make more time for other things, or I can do more content. So instead of pinching pennies, sometimes buying something that just makes you better or faster is the key because you can't get back more time. So you want to save as much of it as possible.
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| 6 Tips to start an online business in 2018 |
4. You should also be investing in things that make you more money.
If there's something that would allow you to make more money or reach more clients, maybe going to a conference, spending $500 to do that puts you in a position to get $5,000 worth of business. I would do that. If you're, like a photographer or something, going to a wedding expo and spending the money to do that means that you can book $5,000 wedding clients. So, just make sure you're making the appropriate investments in yourself and in your business.5. Get organized.
You know, starting an online business sounds great but if you're not organized and you're letting everything be random and chaotic, then it's not going to work out. It requires a lot of dedication and focus and discipline, and being organized and having an organized workspace, and having an organized workflow for how you do things, having processes, that's gonna really matter and it's going to be the thing that makes everything you do in your business less frustrating.6. Talk to and meet regularly with other business owners.
If you can form a mastermind group, I would highly recommend it. This is something that Pat Flynn, from Smart Passive Income, talks about a lot. And it really matters, I remember that a couple of months ago I was in a mastermind and it was only me and two other guys. But, in a very short period of time by being able to talk to each other, share resources and encourage each other, we were able to achieve our goals in record time.And so, we actually dissolved the mastermind because we met the goals that we intended to, and we did it together. So, I would just talk to other business owners, people who've been there, people who might have more experience than you, people who might be at the same level as you, and sometimes you can do this in Facebook groups or you can do it locally with other business owners in your community.
Being able to share information and resources, maybe even you guys are hiring some of the same people to get things done for you.
That could really matter and it could mean that you're going through less frustration, you're hiring better vendors instead of taking risk, and that you have someone to vent your frustrations to and that can help push you. So I would definitely recommend doing that and not isolating yourself.
Saturday 30 December 2017
Business
Investment