Many people think that starting a business means that you have to completely give up your job, however the great thing about an online business is that you really can do it in your spare time. You can get it up and running and generating an income level that allows you to feel comfortable enough to leave your job. In this post we’re going to share with you how you can start an online business in your spare time.
Decide on a niche
The first step in starting any business is to decide on your niche. Your niche is the area of specialization that you focus in that helps you to stand apart from your competition – for example you could be a copywriter who focuses exclusively in the travel industry or who focuses on a specific type of copy – for example, marketing copy. Being a specialist and having a niche makes it so much easier for you when you do things like market your business and speak to clients about how you can help them than it is if you’re going to be a generalist.
Decide on a business model
Your business model is simply the way that you deliver your services to your client, for example a membership model would allow someone to sign up and pay a monthly subscription fee and access a prearranged amount of services or products. You can also do things like a one on one service model with things like copywriting, coaching or consulting. Choosing a business model is not as difficult as it seems, and it’s always about what works for you and your goals as well as your lifestyle.
Choose your services
Your services are key to bringing your clients in and are the reason they hire you. So, for example, you could be writer who writes for companies to create high-quality website copy. Or write for travel companies to create amazing blog posts that drive traffic back to their sites and encourage people to book with them.
The best way to get started with deciding on your services is to pick what you’re good at and what you know you enjoy, but also what you know there is a gap in the market. Or perhaps you have a service that you can do better than your competitors. It’s also a good idea to start with perhaps 1-3 services and then build on it instead of trying to create a massive list of services and risk overwhelming your clients.
Set your prices
The next step is to set your prices – it’s important when setting your prices to do this right at the beginning so that when you do start to attract inquiries from clients, then you know exactly what to tell them instead of just picking a random number and then risking that you could either out price yourself by aiming too high or risk seeming unprofessional by aiming too low. There are plenty of resources online for helping you to choose your prices and it really always depends on what feels right for you – there’s no right or wrong way to do this.
