Do you ever sit at your desk at work and dream about kicking your chair back, marching over to your boss’s office, barging in the door, and shouting “I quit,” marveling at the look on his face, and the mix of shock and indignation, a look you’ll savor in the weeks to come? Do you simmer in frustration whenever a superior at work tells you to do something that you know to be foolish or inefficient? Do you just wish, every day, that you could assign your own hours and work whenever and however much you felt like? If so, there is a way out. This way is one that way will take you on an entrepreneurial path that sees you taking steps towards creating your own online business.
The Benefits of an Online Business
The reasons for and benefits of starting an online business are plentiful. You can work anywhere, as long as you have a connection to the internet, the business will be open 24/7, the startup costs are minimal, there is potentially a much larger customer base and many more. Additionally, the need to hire employees can sometimes be nonexistent, as you can outsource almost any required work to a variety of freelancers, whom you can find over the internet.
A big benefit to an online business is that you have the freedom to sell whatever service or product you can think up. There is room for everything imaginable, and the internet is full of places to market and sell your wares. It just requires time-in. Blogs, for example, have become a raging phenomenon in modern culture, and some of the most popular blogs on the internet generate hundreds of thousands of dollars every year while attracting hundreds of thousands of readers of visitors each month.
An online business can also carry certain tax exemptions; if you establish yourself as an LLC for example, once you meet a certain income level, you can withhold certain things against your taxes. Your computer, the area or room in your home you use as your office space, a portion of your telephone and internet bill, a portion of your rates and electricity costs are just some of the expenses that are tax-deductible.
The great thing about an online business is how easy it can be to get it started and to keep it going. And perhaps just as importantly, is the fact that it can be worked on at any time and from anywhere, which then allows you the flexibility to continue working on your day job to continue bringing in an income to pay your bills, while you continue working on your online business until the point where it begins to bring in revenue.
Last but not least, an online business has the benefit of providing you with additional source of added income that you can While working on an online business while working a full-time job is doable, it can nonetheless be difficult. The reasons and benefits of going through that difficult and manifold. Some of which we shall discuss below.
But first, how exactly do you get there?
While it will never be easy to launch a successful online business, the steps involved can be narrowed down to just a few general guidelines.
The first of which, is to maintain your focus. Not only with a niche market, but also with who you, as a company are, and who you plan to serve. Don’t get lost trying to explode your outreach to as many people as possible, as you will likely lose what makes your business attractive. Stay focused on who you are.
Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to build an audience. Social media creates the possibility of audience building, but it is not easy to build a large following. You must get yourself out there; work with other websites, appear on podcasts or radio-shows, run social media accounts that target your intended market. Tweet/post consistently, providing interesting content that will pull people in. A social media account with a large following alone is enough to be internet-successful. There are numerous amounts of people who get paid simply to post pictures of them advertising certain companies; the more followers you have, the higher the price you will demand. And even if you do not leverage your social media for advertisement purposes, if you can use it to generate interest around yourself and your own company, you have achieved your audience. Just keep in mind that running a social media and gaining a large following is not something that will happen overnight; it must run in tandem with your business and website, generating buzz and curiosity and pulling people in.
Once you have your website up and running, and your twitter account up and tweeting, you have to develop a plan to make money. What products or services will you be selling? At what rates? Through what platforms?
And once you implement that plan, you enter the realm of trial and error, likely resulting in more error than success. Find out what works, and scale that. Test everything (sales, offers, bundles, promotions, etc.). Be patient, wait and see how the market reacts to certain steps you take.
Once you begin to grow, find new ways to scale yourself, through partnerships with other websites, partners on your own website, etc. The right online business is incredibly scalable.
If you jump into this world, build your company, establish your vision and your social media, master the market, and learn the art of patience, you might find a quickly growing income to be lining your pockets. And once you reach that point, you get to kick your chair back and leave your day job, turning instead to the growth of your online business, allowing you to spend more time with your family than cramped behind a desk.
If you are in the process of, or thinking about starting an online business and need help with formally registering the business entity, something which is strongly recommended that you do, feel free to get in touch with us. We are a team of Business lawyers with the necessary skills and experience to advise and guide you on the best way to go about starting your online business.
