The road to financial freedom has never been more attainable and exciting. Today, anyone can start their online business and start earning additional income. There are a lot of ideas you can find online on what business to start. But with all these ideas, how do you figure out which one best suits you? What are the steps you need to do to start an online business and manage it while working on a day job?
A. Finding your Niche.
You need to identify which market or niche you want to build a business on and profit from. This does not necessarily mean choosing a trending online business. However, it is important to choose one that you are at least interested in or are really passionate about.
All businesses will have their ups and downs. You want to work on something that is worthwhile for you so that you will not quit the minute you encounter hard times. You want a business that you will not give up on once you reach your target income.
You can identify your niche by writing down the things that you are passionate about. You also need to list down all the skill set that you have. And you can also ask other people what your strengths are or what the things you are good at are.
B. Finding a Problem
After listing your skills and passions you can then check if there is a demand for it. You need to match a problem or a need with your passion or the skill set that you have. To do this, you may conduct surveys on people who are using the product or service. This may be tedious work, but it will give you an idea on what your future customers are looking for, their needs, or their wants. This is especially useful if you are the first to introduce a particular product or service on the market.
You can also search for your competitors online. Your competitors are either companies that are blossoming in the field that you wanted to tap on, or those business that are unsuccessful. Read about them and learn from their stories. Learn what products and or services that these booming companies are offering and how much they are offering it for. Or perhaps, you may want to know how they turn their customers into a fan of their brand.
You need to learn why these businesses are successful so that you can use these as your guide. You can also check ways on how you can improve your business. Check if there are areas that you think they have not explored yet that may bring value to your customers.
You also need to learn why the other companies fail. You want to avoid pitfalls, especially the costly ones. This information is crucial to help your company survive. It may help come up with different solutions just in case you encounter the same scenario in the future.
C. Creating a Product or Service to Solve the Problem
Now that you know what problem you want to solve, or a need you wanted to fill, you can already create a product to solve it or address it.
You can start by listing down possible ways to solve the problem. Write down your ideas. Come up with alternatives if you can. Write down all the pros and cons that you can think of. Ask other people to help you figure the benefit and risk of your product. You can also do product testing or find a way to test your service. The goal here is to come up with a product or service with your customer’s best interest in mind.
D. Choosing the Best Platform for You
Now that you have a product, your customers need to know that you exist. You need to reach them wherever they are. You need social media outlets to reach out and introduce your business to them. Of course, you can try them all but that may cost you a lot. Choosing the right platform will not only give you the exposure you need. It will also give you the results you are looking for.
First, you need to know who your target audience is. You need to know different information about them, their age for example. You need to know in what social media platform they usually connect more than others. You can also check where your competitors are putting their business in.
Next, determine what you are trying to achieve in using the said platform. Do you want more traffic? Do you want to earn more sales? Or do you just want to engage with your customers? So, if you want a platform that would enable you to actively communicate with your followers, do not get a venue where you can’t achieve that.
Finally, you need to consider how much time you will put in working on this platform. Social media is a venue where people interact or get together. And you interact with your customers by chatting, or answering their questions, or replying to comments for example. So, you need to think of how much time are you willing to devote or how much time you have to do this.
E. Managing Your job and Your Side Hustle
Maintaining a day job while working on your side hustle may require a lot of your time and patience. It may be challenging, but it is not impossible to do. First, you need to allot specific time for your business. Put it in your calendar and stick to it. You also need to let everyone in your household know that you cannot be disturbed during these times.
Next, you may need to cut back on your movie time and other leisure activities. Since you want a better life for you and your family, you need to make some sacrifices. Cutting back an hour or two of your spare time and spending it on expanding your business may increase the probability of your business to succeed. And finally, you may also lessen your activities during your rest days.
Starting your own online business is not easy. You may see yourself in very uncomfortable situations. It is not as comfortable as working on your day job. But, you may not earn as much as you can earn in a business as well. Hardships are a part of life. You just need to choose the hardship that you feel may give you more in the long run.
