In today’s episode, I’m sharing with you how to start an online business quickly.
When I talk about quickly, I mean super quickly…
If you are in the early stages of startup, or you feel like you’ve been in business for a while but you’re just not getting that growth, this is going to be a super juicy episode for you.
Let’s dive on in!
One of my favorite things to do with online business owners is to help them to get super-profitable as fast as possible with as few bells and whistles as possible.
I am a lean business specialist.
I absolutely love helping people get rid of all the barriers between them and the money that they want to make.
We put so many barriers between ourselves and our income goals.
We tell ourselves that in order to make that much money in online business, we need to have X, Y, and Z. Honestly most of those things we do not need.
In this episode, I’ve got four strategies for you to start your online business super quickly.
I’ve also got a free resource for you that will go into even more detail on the strategies and the practical ways that you can attract and convert clients super quickly and super easily without needing all those shiny objects and giant audiences.
Let’s get started…
1. Focus on sales first and foremost
I know that for most people in this space, you didn’t start a business to be money hungry. I totally understand that.
We have a lot of hang-ups when it comes to sales, marketing, money, and income.
Ultimately, if you want to change people’s lives, you need money to do that. If you want to reach and serve thousands of people, the most expensive part of your marketing is reach.
If you want to change people’s lives – if you want to see people get amazing results – the fastest way to do that is to have them buy a service from you.
They need to invest in order to have that buy-in.
If they are investing, they are creating more and more opportunities for you to reach and serve more people.
We need to let go of some of those hang-ups around sales and marketing.
If you want to get your online business set up and flourishing quickly, focus on the sales.
Put your income goal at the top of the list.
Having 15,000 followers on Instagram means zilch to your business startup if you are not making sales.
15,000 followers on Instagram does not automatically equal sales. In fact, followers on social media is one of the least reliable predictors of sales in your business.
You can have thousands and thousands of followers on social media, and struggle to monetise that audience effectively and get that audience converting.
I’ve worked with dozens of clients over the years who come to me with that exact problem.
They’ve spent four years building this ginormous following, and they’re still not bringing in a few thousand dollars a month consistently.
They really struggle to get that audience converting into sales.
You can spend years building up an audience and not making money from it. But if you want to grow your online business super fast, the best place for you to focus is on making sales.
That’s the first strategy to start an online business quickly
2. Sell VIP one-to-one services
When it comes to that early growth when you start an online business, the best place to focus is selling VIP one-to-one services.
There are so many people that come to me and want to sell a $97 self-study course. They have bought into this belief that selling courses and passive products is the best possible way to grow their business and grow it quickly.
But the average conversion rate in selling something that’s low-ticket and low-touch is under 1%.
In order to make a sale of a $100 product, you need 100 leads for that product.
Whereas in order to make a sale of a VIP one-to-one service that’s high connection, high touch, you’re going to need to have a sales conversation with three leads.
In most cases, one out of three sales conversations results in a paying client.
When it comes to making those early sales when you first start an online business, do you want to need 2,500 people in your audience to make $2,500? Or do you want to have five people in your audience to make $2,500?
That’s actually the equation when it comes to selling VIP one-to-one.
When you’re selling VIP one-to-one, there are fewer leads required, higher conversion rates, and lower tech needs as well.
In order to make those sales, you DON’T need a:
- Course platform
- Website
- Sales page
- Big following
- Lead magnet
- Mailing list
In order to make sales VIP one-to-one, you need three things:
1. Something to sell
2. A way for people to pay you
3. A way for you to deliver
That is all you need.
Inside my Take Off program, we have people who have had $10,000 months without a website, without a large audience, and some without a mailing list.
The way that they’ve created that is by just having those three things:
1. Something to sell
It can be a VIP one-to-one package, or 12 sessions over six months. It gets people from where they are to where they want to be through a high-touch one-to-one coaching and mentoring model.
2. A way for people to pay you
You can start a PayPal account for free.
PayPal has automated invoicing already installed there. You can send people an invoice via PayPal, they make their payment via PayPal or credit card, and PayPal takes their fee.
Thank you, PayPal, for letting us be able to charge money without having to have crazy technology-based invoicing systems.
That’s part of the cost of service.
3. A way for you to deliver
You can deliver via Zoom.
In order to have a $3,000 package sale, you need to invest in having a paid license in Zoom… and nothing else. Nothing else!
You don’t need tech stuff set up, and you don’t need a website.
Honestly, so many people put these barriers in front of them and then recognise that all of those barriers that they had to overcome, were built in a time when they had no understanding of their audience, they had no clarity of their messaging, and actually, they’ve built a website with messaging that doesn’t resonate or do anything.
They’ve built a large audience of people who aren’t actually their ideal clients.
They have built all of this technology and created all of this stuff around them, but they still don’t have paying clients.
I’ve had people come to me who’ve spent over $100,000 on building an audience, building a website, building a mailing list, and building funnels, and they still don’t have a consistent flow of clients.
The things that we use to get them that consistent flow of clients are mostly not the things that they’ve built.
I had someone come to me who had spent $30,000 on a website. I went and read every page of her website, and I still didn’t know what she did.
She may have been in the life coaching space, but I had no idea whether she could help me or not.
That was because that website was built based on her theories alone.
She hadn’t worked with enough clients.
In most cases, the way that you develop and create highly resonant messaging is through having conversations with your ideal clients.
It’s about listening more than you speak.
It’s NOT making assumptions about what people value – it’s asking questions about what people are valuing and prioritising.
In order for you to have those conversations, the fastest way to do it is to work with them as your clients.
You don’t even need an audience.
You already have enough connections and audiences that you can borrow in order to get those sales coming in the door and really develop your service and your resonant messaging.
Really consider what it is that you’re going to be selling, and where possible, focus on VIP one-to-one services, especially when you first start an online business.
3. Ignore all the shiny stuff
This is easier said than done, but in most cases, that shiny webinar that convinces you you need this 14-step funnel that will make the sales for you is simply preying on your resistance to sales.
Start an online business and say no to distractions in business start-up
It’s making you feel like it would be easier if you just outsource everything to pre-written content.
It’s trying to convince you that the way to make sales is through getting further and further away from the sales process rather than leaning into it.
In most cases, in order for those automated, shiny things to work, you need to have the capacity to buy a large audience.
If you do not have a large budget for your marketing, then your ability to buy that audience is going to be minimal.
Try not to get all caught up in building shiny things, getting into the multi-author books, or creating and publishing a book as a very expensive business card.
I know so many people who created a book as the first thing they ever did in their business.
They paid $20,000 to self-publish a book on a topic that they thought their business was going to be about.
They then worked with 10 clients, and all of a sudden, they realised that book has nothing to do with what it is that they’re working on.
Now they have cupboards full of books that have nothing to do with their business.
The book did nothing for them.
It had an early peek of sales to their friends and family, but no one actually read it. They would have been far better off investing that money into high connection, high conversion strategies, or holding on to it until they had something that they knew they could rely upon as a deeply resonant message.
Then they can spend the money actually recruiting an audience with something that works.
There are so many people that get caught up in thinking that there’s a shortcut to growing their audience – to getting those sales coming through.
We just get sucked into all the shiny stuff.
The number one message I get from people when they join the Take Off program is that they wish they had found it sooner.
They wish they had found it before they spent all this time and money getting sucked into shiny things that ultimately don’t bring them any closer to their business growth.
Those shiny objects don’t help you to build your solid foundations.
The solid foundations are:
- A clear niche
- Deeply resonant messaging and a value proposition that people can buy into
- Offers that convert
- High connection, high conversion marketing strategies
Those four things are far more likely to get you big, chunky sales in the short term in your business than any of the funnel building, book publishing, high reach, but low conversion strategies will.
4. Focus on high connection, high conversion strategies
High connection, high conversion strategies are where you are building one-to-one relationships as much as possible.
You can do that with strangers on the internet, you can do that through your existing networks and connections, you can do that by jumping in and joining high connection group programs, or working with a mentor who connects you in with people who are in your niche.
Those low connection, high-risk strategies for people in startup are often high cost, low return.
I hope this is getting you excited about the possibilities for your business.
You may have thought that you need a website first, or you needed a big audience or lots of qualifications… but now you know that you can actually make sales WITHOUT putting all those barriers between you and making sales.
If this is something you want to dive deeper into, I have a great free resource for you…
It’s called Fast-Track Your Startup.
It’s a free training that you can access instantly that goes through the step-by-step strategy on how to go find those high connection leads, and how to start having those sales conversations and get money coming in faster WITHOUT putting those barriers between you and the sales.
You can grab this free training here: CLICK ME
I’d also love to know what you’re going to get done as a result of this episode. What are you going to do that is going to bring in those sales short term? And what barriers are you going to let go of?
Slide on into my direct messages on Instagram or Facebook, let me know and I’ll give you any tips I can.
Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode on how to start an online business QUICKLY.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
