Everyone is born with unlimited potential. How you use that potential is up to you and can contribute to success and get you on the right path on How to start an online business.
Let’s unleash that potential and get started building your business today.
I want to take the time to introduce myself, I am Dena Briley and have been a struggling entrepreneur for several years until I found a breakthrough that lead me to a coach and mentor and set me on the right path to success for my online businesses.
Now I am ready to pay that forward and help you find your path on your way to a successful destination.
How To Start An Online Business – Let’s Get Started
Starting an online business
Are you trying to find out where to begin when starting an online business? If so you have come to the right place and I will walk you through many of the aspects of finding success online. Without a direction you may find yourself wondering around endlessly just to get started.
As with any business, starting an online business has various steps that must be completed before getting your business up and running and I will give you an idea of what some major milestones may be for your new business. Oh Yes! Almost forgot have you put a business plan together yet? If Not, find out why you need one.
Get you legal stuff in order
One of the first things to do when you are discovering how to start an online business is get your legal information and documentation in order, this is something I did not realize I had to do in the beginning and ended up running into road blocks along my journey. If you plan on making money whether online or offline there will be legal stuff involved. Find out more about legalities here.
In the US we have to have a sales tax state retail license for the state that you are operating in. You need to check with your state and find out what exactly you will need to accomplish this and get your application in right away.
As far as federal goes it depends on what type of business you are pursuing, most online business do not incorporate or create an LLC until the business grows bigger and you see a need for this. How most small business in the US begin, is by becoming a sole proprietor which does not require getting an FEIN number from the federal government as you would just use your social security number in this case.
If you are someone starting a business outside the US, my advice would be to check and see what you will need to become a legal business in your country.
Another aspect to consider is to get a bank account specific to your business, this way as soon as you start making money you have a place to invest it and that way it keeps it separate from your regular funds.
Determine you niche
Determining you niche is the next step in building your online business this helps you to focus on what direction you are going and what path you need to take.
Depending on where you are on your journey you may be asking yourself, What is a niche? A niche is actually what you plan to do with your business and consists of an idea, service or product. Basically what is your business about and why are you developing it.
Setting Goals
Setting goals will make or break your business. Without goals and determining what roadmap to need you may end up broke, with no traffic and a website that is basically a boat anchor. Goals are important and creating a plan will get you started on the right path to your journey.
Find out more about creating goals here. (link to goal section)
Monetize your business
To monetize your business you will need to find products or services that you want to offer your customers and determine what you will charge for them. This may consist of affiliate marketing, drop-shipping, or selling your own products. The choice is yours.
Build your website
Building a website is relatively easy and most generally there is not much learning that needs to be involved to get your business up and going online.
To start off you will need a url, which is the title of your website, and you can normally purchase from a host for under $15.00, depending on the host. The one that I use is BlueHost.
Another important factor is getting a host, this is a company that stores your website and there are many out there that offer this service for less than $4.00 per month, again I use Blue Host for this service.
I have found that Blue Host is one of the better hosting companies out there as far as price, speed and flexibility.
The next component of building your website is to determine what platform you want to use. Many of your hosting companies have this already build in for you, the majority of websites online today are powered by wordpress, which is a free service, without much of a learning curve.
You basically just pick your theme and you are up and creating your website in minutes.
Start a Facebook Page
You are probably asking why do I need a Facebook page? The easy answer to that is Facebook is one of the biggest social media platforms out there and is capable of proving tens of thousands of leads or more when marketing your business. Set your page up now and start making friends to grow your online business.
Market your new business
Everyone knows that to really get your business up and running you must market your business, without marketing no one knows you are out there. Marketing is an extremely important aspect that you will need to have a successful business online.
Find out more on how to market your online business here. (Link to marketing your online business)
Some of the best advice I have heard out there recently for developing business success and starting down the right path is consistency, be different, be the first, follow trends and never quit.
How to Have A Successful Business –
Is Goal Setting and Strategies Important?
What goals have you set for your online business?
Creating your goals and strategies helps you to understand how to have a successful online business.
When creating goals and strategies we can get a clearer vision of where we plan to go with our business and a roadmap of how to get there.
Why are goals and strategies so important?
Goals and strategies are so important to achieving online success. Starting any business whether it is online or brick and mortar needs an optimal goal to achieve to mark when you have become successful.
Strategies help you along the way to understand what actions you need to take to find success for your business. So as you see goals and strategies work hand in hand to set you on the right path that leads you in the right direction to your final destination.
What is your Optimal Goal
Your optimal goal is more like the big picture of what you want for your business and what success looks like. To determine your optimal goal, you must be realistic and completely crystal clear on what you want to accomplish.
How to set your goals
There is four parts to setting a goal and each step helps you get closer to the goal that you created for a successful business.
Goal
To understand and get clear on a goal you must set smart goals which are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound, without these attributes the goal may be more of a dream than an actual goal.
Dreams do not create success unless goals are set in place to achieve the dream. A goal is the what, such as a goal to have a website up and running by the end of the month.
Objectives
Within the goal you will find objectives this is where the goal is broke down into the smart goal objectives and the goal becomes much clearer as an objective is a measureable milestone within the goal.
An example of an objective might look like the home page for the website will be completed by the end of next week. As you can tell there may be several objectives to obtain the goal.
Strategy
The Strategy breaks the goal down even further by explaining what the plan of action needs to be taken to obtain each of the objectives.
A strategy would look like; Sally needs to gather all the pictures, and information to create the website home page.
Tactic
The tactic is the last step of creating the goal and results in the specific action that is required to achieve the strategy.
When the tactic is completed this means that Sally gathered all the pictures and information and ready to put them in the website.
Breaking your goals down in this fashion you can see how this is more of a smart goal, rather than; I need to build a website.
When your goals are crystal clear and smart the different steps of the goal can be added to a calendar so that you know what needs to happen each and every day and creates a road map for success.
(link to Goal setting and strategies post)
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Coaching and Mentorship
To seek out coaching and mentorship is extremely important when trying to pull ahead with your online business.
A coach and mentor can steer you in the right directions and help to understand and implement many steps of the online business that you will need to accomplish.
Without this you may find yourself not knowing where to turn next or wasting lots of time just trying to find the answer to your online business woes.
Is online coaching right for you?
Many times you feel alone out there in the big world of online business. Learning how to start an online business and running an online business may seem a bit intimidating and overwhelming.
It really does not have to be that way finding a coach to help guide you and someone that understands your frustrations is all it takes to get your online business up and running or to get past that road block that is keeping your from continuing your journey.
Who can benefit from a coach and mentor?
The perfect person that can benefit from a coach and mentor is the person that is ready to find success in their own online business.
This can be you just getting started with a brand new business online or someone that their website has declared stale mate.
As you might see anyone that wants to become successful in an online business can find benefits from having a coach and mentor.
Traits of a good coach and leader
Does your coach have good listening skills and ask a lot of questions? Do your feel like you are in a safe environment with your coach? Do you feel like your coach is a leader?
A great coach is one that listens attentively, yet asks many questions in order to determine what you need as you may not know or understand the next step.
Another trait of a good coach and a good leader is creating an environment of safety, it would be difficult put your business out there without feeling safe.
My Values as a coach and mentor
As a coach and mentor I want to set the tone to make you feel safe and comfortable with me.
I am a great listener and ask the questions that I feel will help and I am ready to get you started on the right path to assist you in finding the right direction in your business.
My thoughts as your coach and mentor is to start where you are and overcome obstacle and fears that may result in running an online business.
What I want to see above all else from my students is success, when you are successful I feel like I have done my job as your coach and mentor.
The reason I become a coach is to pay it forward after finding a coach for myself and learning where my road block existed and what I needed to do to make my business successful.
I found that this work is very rewarding to me and something that I really enjoy.
We Rise By Lifting Others – Ingersol
Coaching – Jump ahead in your business
Coaching can take your business from just O.K. to awesome.
A coach can help develop a learning environment that really puts the students ahead of the rest.
When seeking out coaching make sure the coach is a good leader, authentic and ready to help you put an action plan in place.
A coach can help you to alleviate fear of the unknown and direct you on the right path in your successful journey.
Having a good coach to work with you helps you save time and money in creating your online business and getting ahead faster and more seamlessly.
Mentorship – Scale your business success
What does having a mentor mean to you? I know for me it is someone to confide in when things are not going exactly as planned, someone that you can count on to guide you in the right direction on your path.
Mentorship is finding that leader that will help you discover all your potential and really help you to grow and become successful as a person and as an entrepreneur.
Someone, that will give you suggestions to help guide you along the way. This is extremely important when learning how to start an online business.
The difference between a coach and a mentor
Many people have asked me the difference between Mentorship and Coaching.
Most of the time my answer to that is a coach will work with you to build your business by asking questions and helping to guide you in the right directions.
As a mentor provides a long term relationship with their mentee and will suggest solutions to whatever obstacle the mentee brings to the mentor.
In not so many words a mentor is there to provide advice; however, it is the coach’s job to take this advice and guide the person step by step in the journey.
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HOW TO WORK AT HOME ON THE COMPUTER
Who can benefit by working at home, are you curious if it can be you?
Are you looking to find the solution of How to work at home on computer? If so, you must have a good reason to be checking out this article and more than likely working from home can benefit you.
Find out if you are in one of the categories below or maybe you are just for part-time work that you can do at home.
Maybe you are a mom with children at home and would love the chance to be able to spend more time with them or be at home after school when they get home.
Or maybe you are a bit older and wanting to retire; however, don’t have the type of income to retire comfortably.
You are like many people out there fed up with their current job situation and looking for other alternatives?
Sounds like there are many reasons, that someone just like you, can find benefits in working from home.
You want to work online and you feel you might be ready to take that path; however, work online at home, is it just a dream or a reality?
Work Online At Home - Is It Just A Dream Or A Reality
Many people may ask themselves this very question. It can be a bit overwhelming especially if you are not real sure where to start. Find out more in this article to really find out if this is the path for you and if it is a reality.
Internet connection
The nice thing about working from home on the computer is you do not need many tools to work online.
The basic tools you will need to work online are an internet connection and a computer. How many people can get set up in business with just those basic tools?
This makes working from home so much easier and a breeze to get set up. Oh yes and almost forgot a note pad to jot down notes of course you can always use your computer to get around this, me I like my notebook.
Is this really a business?
Yes! Learning how to start an online busines and how to work from home on the computer must be treated like a real business if you plan to succeed.
The nice thing is you get to set your own hours, this means what time you work and how many hours a day.
That is great news if you are looking for a flexible job that you can work around your schedule. So if you are not that morning person you have the freedom to start your day at 10:00am or even later if needed.
It is your business and with the flexibility of working online the hours and time your work in completely up to you.
Set up your home office
You might feel that you do not have an office to set up shop, and office is nice; however, any area in your home will work.
I have a home office but my office is set up on the kitchen table. Why? Because I like the atmosphere better than stuck in an office all day, it is the freedom of flexibility and working from where ever you feel more comfortable.
How Many hours do you plan to put into your new business daily, weekly?
The amount of hours you plan to put into your business is completely up to you. Decide if you are going to work full-time or maybe you have another job and can only work part-time it is your business and how many hours you work it totally up to you.
Does this sound inviting? I know for me I love the freedom.
Unrealistic Expectations
Many times you may find that you believe that this is a get rich quick scheme, this is an unrealistic expectation.
There are lots of companies out there that may tell you that and if you run into one of these, run for the hills as they are just wanting your money.
As with any business your success depends on many different factors and what kind of training and coaching you get along the way.
Building a business takes time don’t get disappointed by setting yourself up with unrealistic expectations.
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How to earn money from home online
To learn how to earn money from home online you need to understand the different ways to monetize your website and decide which would be best for you and your business. Let’s dive in and find something that may work for you.
Affiliate Marketing Program
So what is affiliate marketing you might ask? I know I had to ask that question when I was just getting into the online world.
Affiliate marketing is where a company offers products or services that you may market on your website and then when sold you get a commission from the sell.
This is normally obtained by creating a link from your website to that of the affiliate, they in-turn make the sell and you never have to worry about customer service issues, return ect… as the affiliate company takes care of all that for you.
Most affiliate marketing programs offer between 5%-75% commissions so getting with the right affiliate program is a key to success. This is probably the easiest and less time consuming way to monetize your website.
Drop-Shipping
Drop-Shipping has it advantage and also disadvantages; however, might be right for you and your business.
Drop-Shipping requires a bit more knowledge of building your website as it will require you to incorporate a store into your website.
This is still fairly easy but some aspects can be a bit overwhelming and tedious. You build your store, add your items and then as you sell the items you simply send the order to the drop-shippers and they send the product out to your customer with you as the shipper.
A disadvantage of drop-shipping also means you are the one that deals with customer complaints or returns.
Normally returns are not too hard except you pay for the shipping for the customer to ship the item back to the drop-shipper or you pass this inconvenience on to your customer. This would all depend on what you have set up as a return policy.
Sell Your Own Products
Selling your own products online has yet another step to that of drop-shipping as you are the one that originally ships the products to the customer, which means you are responsible for all aspects of the sell.
These items can be something that you make or something you stock as a store would. This means providing an inventory and paying for items before they sell.
If you become large enough this would mean needing some kind of warehouse to contain the items and having others to package and ship and may become very time consuming.
Work at home opportunities
What opportunities are out there for you? There are many different work at home opportunities and the demand continues to grow as businesses are contracting out work to people in an at home business setting.
Some businesses are even taking it a step further with allowing their employees to work from home to become more flexible and to boost the morale of the employees. I know I enjoy working in my pajamas.
As you may have come to realize some of the opportunities that come with an online business, as I discussed previously, may result around affiliate marketing programs, drop-shipping, and selling your own products.
Some other Work at home opportunities consist of direct selling, network marketing or trying your hand at Amazon or Ebay.
Direct Selling
Many times Direct Selling takes you back to the day of home parties such as Tupperware or other businesses that require their representatives to book parties with a hostess and then show the product and try to get sells.
This is time consuming and generally works for a while till you run out of people that you can talk into having parties.
Network Marketing
Network marketing or what many people understand as multi-level marketing requires you to recruit people to join your team.
This may result in talking to everyone you know including friends and family and then when they have pushed you aside you are looking at standing in malls, cold calling or trying to recruit the waitress that just served you dinner.
You may be wondering why if I am an online strategist coach and mentor, why I am talking about work at home opportunities that have nothing to do with working online.
The reason is I have found a way to be able to work these companies successfully without ever leaving your home.
So if you are in one of these opportunities or thinking about joining one, I can help you get your direct selling or network marketing business online and get you on the right path to success.
Amazon and Ebay
Amazon and Ebay works a bit differently as you will actually sell items on their platform instead of your own website; however, this is quite similar in how drop-shipping and selling your own product on line.
With Amazon and Ebay you have money up front for products you wish to sell and because they have allowed the bigger stores to sell on their platform it is difficult to compete.
Amazon does have an affiliate marketing program that you can use to link from your site with commissions ranging from around 4% -10% depending on the items sold.
I like the easier and less time consuming option of affiliate marketing and that is what I recommend to most people depending on if it fits within their business model and how they plan to monetize their website.
How to Market an online business
What are the many different ways of how to market an online business? There are several different ways and many of them are free.
The importance of marketing your online business lies in the millions of different websites online and if you are not marketing your business, no one will know how awesome your site is and what you have to offer.
So let’s check out how to market an online business and start building traffic to your new website.
How to get started
How to start an online business involves in learning how to market you business.
Getting started in marketing your business online is taking that first step to get your business seen and the most important part of success on line. The more you can get your business out there the quicker you will likely have success. Let’s explore how to market your online business.
If you are like most people you may already have a personal profile for Facebook, and if you do that is great; however, the best way to market your website through Facebook is with a business page.
The difference between a personal page and a business page is the number of followers that you can have. On our personal profiles we are limited to 5000 friends, where a business page is not limited.
Social Media
There are many other different Social Media platforms that are advantages to marketing depending on what your niche may be some are better than others.
Facebook in general is a great place to start as it is the biggest platform and it is best to master one platform before moving into the others. Just to name a few of the other social media platforms you will find Instagram, Pinterest, Linked In, and of course YouTube and Flickr.
Start a Blog
Starting a blog and writing articles related to your niche helps to get your website out there and seen more often. People are always looking for information and 90% of the time they turn to the internet to find the answers.
If you have an article out there on the subject a person is curious about they will then click to your article and read it providing traffic to your website.
SEO
SEO is search engine optimization and is a must for getting organic traffic to your site.
SEO provides information to google to let them know you are a valid site and working with your blog helps to get your articles index so that they are seen on the internet.
Google provides many tools that can provide you with data that will help you understand how traffic is finding you and then you know where to improve your site. Google Analytics is a great tool to use for this.
Press Releases
Anytime your business does something worthy send out a press release, this works real well if you are marketing local. If people see your company in a headline they will want to know more and go to your site for more information.
Online Communities
Online communities are a great way to get seen if you are contributing information in the community.
Join communities within your niche and jump on and answer questions and ask questions, many of these communities have limitations of dropping links in the community but if you are contributing people will search for you and start frequenting your website.
Email Marketing
Email marketing, is a matter of building your list and as your list grows, then email marketing will really benefit you as you provide information through email bringing those people to your website.
You might be thinking spam or flooding your customers with email, which is not the case, a simple weekly newsletter or special offer is all you need and should not hit the spam folder.
Position yourself more as a friend or a leader in your niche and you will find that you will have better luck.
The power of attraction marketing
Hello, My name is Dena Briley and I am excited to meet you and get to know you.
With most everything you have seen here to market your website, the most important take a way is getting seen.
That is the power of attraction marketing, the more you are seen and the more your business is seen the faster you will establish a following that will know, like and trust you and will take the time to do business with you now and in the future.
Social Media is booming and you can get on the right path by letting people get to know the person behind your products. This can be accomplished by Facebook Lives, tutorials, interviews.
If your like a lot of people that is not yet ready for the camera try doing presentations.
Click Here to Learn About Attraction Marketing from the Pros,
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Where does you Road Lead – Final wrap up
I know this is a long post; however, learning how to start an online business is a bit more than just putting the website online and expecting results.
Knowing the right steps to take and understanding how it works will position your for greater success.
Starting an online business gets us out of those day to day jobs and into a life of more freedom and self-worth.
Working with a strategist, coach and mentor will help you along the way and definitely save time and money, while providing you the right path for your successful destination.
As I said before we are all born with potential, start where you are and let me help you to unleash that potential and become successful in your very own online business.
Where Does Your Road Lead? – Let’s find out together!
Get started on your journey to success Today!
Drop me a comment below or send me an email and let me know what your road may look like or if you just want to connect.
I enjoyed reading your simple guide to starting an online business, you have made it very clear what is involved to start a business online. I agree having a mentor would be a great asset when starting your own business, you can save so much time with a mentor giving you a step by step guide.
Jeff
Hi Jeff, thanks for leaving a comment and yes working with a coach and mentor when starting your business can save so much time. Trying to understand everything when you are getting started building an online business can be quite a task; however, working with others and having the chance to ask questions and understanding which path to take I feel is very rewarding. I am passionate about helping people find success.
Awesome article, Dena! This will surely guide many who are interested to start an online business. And it is a very thorough guide.
I like how you explain how online business is a real business. It truly is. And so true that many hours of work is required to make the business successful. Just like any other business that requires hard work and dedication to succeed.
The part about the difference between coaching and mentoring is very interesting! I never thought about the difference. And you are right. They are different. It is great that you are providing both to newbies. They will surely benefit from you.
You also mentioned online business opportunities. Will you be sharing more about this? Would love to know what online business opportunities are out there.
Hi Tim, thanks for the compliment and I am so happy you enjoyed this article.
I am all about starting where you are as there are people out there just getting started out there in business and also people that have a business up and running and seeking advice to take their business to the next level. This is where treating you business as a real business comes into play, many times when people are building a business online they feel it is more of a hobby than a business and treat it as such; which in-turn, slows the process of finding success. Dedicate yourself and implement your business plan.
Working with proven strategies with a coach and mentor has many advantages and as a coach ready to answer questions and help guide you in the right direction, a mentor will let you think for yourself while giving advice and helping the person understand which path to take.
You shared that you are interested in online business opportunities and within the internet there are definitely a vast range of different opportunities out there ranging from affiliate program, direct sales, network marketing, drop shipping and working with your own products. To answer your question yes I will be delving further into more an more business opportunities in the future and help you to understand what some of the best opportunities are. To find out more and to keep up to date on new and exciting information as it becomes available, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.
Awesome, Dena! I have signed up for your newsletter because I like your website and content. Definitely look forward to receiving updates from you. Please do let me know if you see me on your mailing list?
So glad you signed up for the newsletter and yes I see you on my mailing list. I look forward to working with you in the future and wish you much luck on your online business ventures. If you have any questions please feel free to email me: dena@denabriley.com
This is a well thought out post that offers not only an excellent guide to building your own business, but also wise words about the role of mentor and coach. I have studied varies leadership styles including the coaching style so I especially read your post with interest. coaches help people identify their unique strengths and weaknesses, tying those to their personal and career aspirations. This is why a good coach is key to success. It’s great that you’re giving back by being coaching others.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my article, I really do appreciate when someone takes time out of their busy schedule to leave a comment.
I do feel that giving back to you that are trying to start a business or even those that want to expand their business, coaching and mentorship can be extremely advantages and helps you get a jump start on building a business online. I wish I could have started out knowing what I know now; however, everyone has to start somewhere and learning is just part of the experience. I do hope that I can help people anyway I can and really help to make a difference in getting their business off the ground and see them become successful. As I have said before when someone succeeds I have done my job.
Thanks again for leaving a comment and sharing your wisdom. Stay in touch!