Let’s be honest. Being a businessperson is not all rainbows and sunshine.
Starting an online business is scary. Intimidating. And it can hit you with a brick in the head.
It sounds very exciting but is as terrifying at the same time.
On one hand, you know within your guts you deserve more. You don’t want to be stuck in a job that you hate or do the work that you don’t enjoy at all. On the other hand, you’re confronted with all the risks and fears of starting an online business. Where you don’t have anyone to blame for your failures except yourself.
All the what-if’s start haunting you.
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“What if I’m not able to handle all the pressures?”
You have a longing to be in control of your destiny. You yearn for freedom. You want to pursue your dream. Your passion.
But passion is not enough. If not executed strategically, it will turn into a nightmare.
Without a doubt, the Internet world that we all are living in right now has created endless possibilities for us. The Internet economy is here to stay forever and has already created a dent in our lives.
There is no better time to start your online business. But the possibility of getting crippled by failure is as real. And one major reason for it is:
Information overload
We’re bombarded with information until our desktop or mobile screens start puking information and that’s when overwhelming sneaks in.
We get geared up and start our mad sprint of action.
With no idea of where we’re going and why we’re going. We stay half pregnant. We never seem to get out of our gonna state. We’re always hoarding information waiting for that magical moment when everything will be perfect and we’ll sweep in and take over the world by storm.
Reality check
When it comes to building a business there is no halfway. There is no in between. Either you do it or you don’t.
We tend to ignore the very basics. Not because we want to but because of that monster flying over our heads. The fears.
The fear of failing. The fear of execution. The fear of being judged.
And it’s in that moment when we start listening to that monster that we fall flat on our faces. And we fail. Miserably.
There’s a huge difference between failing while doing something the right way, and failing because you jumped in unprepared for the challenges ahead — Blaine Wilkerson
I jumped in unprepared. I confess.
So, how to be successful in online business?
What are the things that you should do to keep your online business from failing? Well, you already know a lot of to-dos. Thanks to Uncle Google. But these ones are crafted by my own failures.
1. Set goals and hit them
All types of goals.
Yearly goals.
Monthly goals.
Daily Goals.
Now we’ve all heard about the SMART goals. Well, this article is not about goal setting.
When you have targets to hit, your mind knows exactly what to do and it stays focused on its path. And whatever your mind focuses on, grows. The lack of goals and targets will keep you spinning the wheel and you won’t go anywhere. But you already know that too, right?
But why is that despite knowing all this we still fail at achieving our goals?
There are three main reasons for that:
- Lack of faith in ourselves
- Procrastination
- Lack of discipline
You can have the best products in the world but if you have no control over the thing resting in between your two ears, you’ll fail.
It’s not technology. It’s not the lack of skills. It’s your mind that stops you from taking action.
2. Don’t get romantic about planning
Set goals, reverse engineer your goals, make a plan but don’t waste your time on perfecting the plan.
You will be tempted to do that. For sure. But don’t fall for it. Because it WILL NOT be perfect. Ever. It will evolve as you grow. That’s the fun part. You will come across new “killer” ideas each day.
You will stumble upon some new blogs, some new emails that will tell you about that new strategy, that new tactic that gave them the results that you want for yourself. Do consider them. Do apply them but only when you actually get your butt off that couch. Not on paper for God’s sake.
3. Side hustle
You want to live your dream and follow your passion so you quit your job.
How sweet?
No.
Baaaad idea!
I’ve done this and O girl, what a bad strategy it is! Before I knew it I ran out of my savings. Gosh! I should have listened to my father. (Tongue in my teeth).
Go for a regular day job, or freelance, or become an Uber driver. Whatever it is for you, I don’t know. But do it. Not only will it help you pay your bills and have a peaceful mind but you can invest that money in your online business as well.
4. You’re NOT a Super Man / Woman. Accept it.
Don’t try to be a do-it-all-myself person. You CANNOT do it all on your own.
You’re not a techie?
You don’t know how to make a website?
That’s totally FINE!
Go to UpWork or Fiverr and get it done for you instead of wasting weeks on building that eighth wonder of the world, which it won’t turn out to be anyway because that’s not your skill.
[Yeah I know skill can be learned but if it’s not your core strength you’ll never be great at it. I wasted God damn more than six weeks to build my website, which by the way still has a very basic outlook. ]
Don’t bury yourself in the never ending tutorials and waste weeks after weeks on doing something that you cannot be great at. Spending a couple of hundred dollars will save you a ton of time which when invested on your strengths will give you a 10x ROI.
Bet on your strengths. Spend as much time beating on your craft. Don’t waste it in overcoming your shortcomings. Outsource.
5. Don’t behave like you’re standing in a queue at an all-you-can-eat buffet
I know. I know. It’s very tempting.
Resist it!
Do not sign up for one course after another. Purchasing one SaaS product after another. It’s so addictive! Isn’t it? We deem not buying them as the death of our blog.
Trust me it’s not.
I’m not saying those courses make false promises. I’m not saying that plugin that you bought is BS. All I’m saying is, don’t get stuck in the petty issues. It’s not worth digging yourself into something for hours, it may be days like in my case, just to learn how it works.
Those SaaS products, those courses that you don’t even need at the time, won’t get you any nearer to your goal. Don’t waste your time fixing the faucet when the problem is in the well.
First get into the trenches. Get your hands dirty. Learn how the system works. Then decide, not analyze, just decide, if you really need to buy that course or that SaaS product or not.
Don’t waste time.
DID I BEAT THAT HORSE TO DEATH?
Don’t. Waste. Time.
6. Dedicate every single breath on bringing in cash
Cash is oxygen.
When you’re just starting out, your sole focus should be to bring in cash. Learn how to close sales. If you can’t sell, your business will be out of business.
7. Focus on the one thing
Yes, I have the lust for traffic too. But don’t we all have that lust? Aren’t we all greedy?
We want to have it all.
Right away.
It’s that lust that makes us subscribe to a million newsletters of a million internet gurus to seek their enlightenment and very soon we see our inbox inundated with a gazillion “I’ll-show-you-how-I-got-100x-this-and-that” emails.
Each one of them promises to be The Tactic to either make your content the best in the world, to increase your traffic by 100x or to gain 100,000 (add as many zeroes as you want) followers on social media in y number of days or weeks.
Not that they are a hoax but it’s when you mix them up and try to invent your own magical perfect recipe that you set yourself up for failure.
All of the strategies do work for sure but only when you have mastered the basics. You can use them to tweak the analytics but only after you’ve done what is required. My word on that — Stick to one strategy and focus on that.
Turn your blinders on to all the other “ultimate” strategies. Cultivate That One Strategy and give it its due time to blossom.
8. Information hoarding will get you nowhere
We’ve all done it.
We’re all guilty of it.
Binge reading.
Open up a blog, dig into it, right click hyperlink. That opens up a new blog. Dig into it, right click hyperlink. That opens up another new blog. Start reading it and soon we find ourselves trapped in a never ending closed spiral of blogs.
And Oh those webinars. And YouTube videos.
Haven’t you gotten your teeth stuck in the cyberspace for days watching webinar after webinar just flooding your mind with information that you think will make you the perfect entrepreneur?
You still there?
It’s not reading or watching but DOING what’s in them that does what we want. Le’ me say that again. It’s DOING what will give you the results. That will create a dent in your life. Take massive action. Massive with a big M.
9. Speed is the Zen Master
Done is better than perfect.
Get shit done.
Speed is four billion times more important than perfection — Gary Vaynerchuk
10. Make consistency your best friend
This is the Area I have consistently failed at. And that taught me a million-dollar lesson.
The market doesn’t care.
All people care about is how well you serve them only then can you expect a return from them. They don’t care if your mood isn’t good, or if you have a wedding in the family or if it feels like somebody is hitting your head with a hammer.
People love consistency. They just love it.
And that places a great responsibility on your shoulders. After all, you decided to be an entrepreneur. You must be ready to take it. Produce content consistently. Whether it’s blogging or vlogging or podcasting, have a schedule for that.
No matter how great your strategy is. No matter how amazing your plan is. If you won’t follow it with consistency, you’ll never see results. If you treat it like a hobby, it will pay you like a hobby. If you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business.
To sum it all up
- There is no blog that will make your blog perfect.
- There is no SEO tactic that will make your blog rank on Google page one.
- There is no magical trick that will make people wow for you.
- There is no secret sauce to writing the perfect blog.
- There is no ultimate guide that will make you do it right the first time.
- There is no guru who can make your product for you.
- There is no perfect time to start.
- The ONLY person that can make a difference in your life and business is YOU and what you DO with what you have.
- The only perfect moment is right here, right now. Seize it.
- Getting frazzled and overwhelmed won’t give you the results that you want to see.
- Stay calm and focused on one thing. Forget about all those A/B testing, more-complex-than-a-chromosome SEO techniques, and the crazy analytics when you’re just starting out.
- Master the basics and gradually work yourself up.
All you need to do is to START.
Have you ever failed in an online business venture? What did you learn from it and what are your suggestions on how to be successful in online business? Let me know in the comments below!
For more business tips, check our entrepreneurship section and subscribe to our weekly newsletters.
