If you had told me that I would be working from home, making a legit difference in the world and not working in an office anymore, I wouldn’t have believed you. Don’t get me wrong, I used to daydream about starting my own business, being able to make money online and becoming location independent, giving me a life of freedom.
But deep down, I didn’t actually seriously think it could or would happen. It was stuck in my head that I was destined for the corporate world for life. I had, after all, gone to school for 5 years earning an engineering degree… how was I supposed to give that up?
I didn’t know how I could actually give up the consistent paycheck, benefits, Roth 401K, healthcare and all the other perks that came with a Fortune 500 company. Never did I think I would be able to make enough money online to replace all that lost income. But now I consistently hit 5 figure months while working from home[or around the world 🙂 ]
Let me show you how I did it so you can follow suit.
Your Big Idea
STEP 1: Find your incredible business idea – This will be specific to you and your passions. Some important things to consider and ask yourself when brainstorming this:
1) What sets you apart and makes you unique?
- Do you have any formal education that gives you the upper edge?
- Any major life experiences that have taught you valuable lessons?
- Have you read any helpful books or learned a lot on a subject that you know inside and out… which could be taught to others?
- What concepts or situations do people regularly ask you about and you love talking about?
- What special training courses are available that you would love to learn and teach others?
- How can you show your authenticity and set yourself apart from products/services that you could also offer?
And if you are really stuck on trying to figure out your skill, then check out this resource that will help you take a more in depth look into what you can do. (Just in case you are one of those people that says, “I don’t have any skills”. Because we both know you do. You just need some help figuring them out.) Download the free guide HERE.
Discover your “Why”
STEP 2: Figure out what you want from your life and what’s important to you – This is a fun part! A streamlined way of figuring out how to make money online is to figure out what you want in life. Make sure you are being unapologetically honest with yourself. You need to have dreams for them to come true! Brainstorm and take down some serious notes:
- Get in tune with what you truly desire from your life. It can be anything from travel, vacation days, reduced stress, more time with loved ones, extra money, mission trips or rescuing animals. (Here is where you start designing your life!)
- You want to make sure your business aligns with what is important to you so that you don’t start something that you’ll regret. Example: if your dream is to have the ability to travel whenever you want, but you open a brick & mortar business where you have to be at the store 6 days a week… then you probably aren’t going to get to travel that much.
Tip: If you choose a service based, online business, you can work from around the world. Plus, you don’t need massive investments to buy a bunch of inventory, rent a storefront or hire employees.
The Foundations of A SuccessfulBusiness
STEP 3: Develop your products and/or services & price them to sell. Write down a high level plan that details your different streams of income:
- Active versus passive income?
- Single stream or multiple streams of income?
- And how much will each cost?
Now is the time to get intimate with your finances in order to get clear on your income & expenditures. You will have to pinpoint and identify how many services/products you’ll need to provide in order to replace corporate income!
Side note: It is not easy, but you can do it. It took many hours of coffee, research, and coaching before I figured it out. Eventually I was able to map out my business plan, how I was going to make it happen, and determine the time frame for delivery.
You are in Control
STEP 4: Develop successful habits. You aren’t in a corporate office anymore with a boss telling you what to do. Now you make the rules and it’s time to step into the leader you were born to be. And these aren’t the typical habits that come to mind. They’re different from what you would expect. If you don’t get these down, then you can’t build yourself a business. Period.
- Work daily on your mindset. Most situations are built on the way you think about, perceive, and react to them. You are going to have days of self doubt and worry. You HAVE to figure out how to stay high vibe & positive. Trust that it will all work out!
- Start every day with PRAYER,VISUALIZATIONS, READING, and MEDITATION. You won’t believe how things will begin to shift in amazing ways! I will be honest, I was a skeptic at first too, but I am living proof that this works!
- Imagine yourself successful and already in possession of your goal. This will translate into absolute faith of whatever it is that you desire.
- Create a productive daily routine that creates consistency and makes you make the most of your time. Block out time each day in your calendar for each task if you need to.
Make sure you…
- Schedule a SPECIFIC TIME EACH DAY/WEEK where you work on your business. Take 5 minutes the day before to plan exactly what you will do when you get home the following day. This way there is no wasted time thinking about what to do next or procrastinating.
- Avoid burning out or overwhelming yourself. Especially while still working your 9-5. Just plan on completing 1 task per day. DON’T have a massive to-do list of 20 items sitting in front of you. It’s going to have the opposite effect and slow you down.
- MASTER your “Money Mindset”. This is how to truly attract wealth and abundance into your life. A huge step towards building a profitable business is to believe that you can, and create that abundant mindset of receiving. Most people’s reactions to receiving money is one of guilt. Or feeling undeserving. If you don’t squash that mindset, you aren’t going to make it in the business world.
Ask Someone Who Knows
STEP 5: INVEST in high-level coaching. If you want to make money online, it would be a lot quicker to ask someone who has already been through it. I invested 10K on my first coach. (Which was super stinkin’ scary and a LOT of money that was so uncomfortable for me to spend). But before investing, I was so OVERWHELMED and ready to give up on my dream of having my own online business!
Don’t let that happen to you!
Within 60 days of working with my coach I went from struggling to know what to do first, to having massive clarity on my path forward. With her mentorship and guidance, I started hitting 5 figure months($15K in March 2018 and $11K while traveling Thailand for 3 weeks in April 2018) only 6 months into my business.
- I could have never earned those paychecks in corporate unless I put in many years of work and I got several more promotions.
- And I could have never traveled Thailand for 3 weeks like I did while working…
This type of income usually comes years later after a lot of trial and error. But I didn’t have the time or energy for that. I wanted results fast. Which is why I hired my coach. (I’m also the type that if it takes too long to do, then I tend to give up on it. And giving up on my business was not an option so I had to hire the best.)
If you have BIG GOALS for your business, (which if you are here, you do) coaching will help you overcome your limiting beliefs, doubts, struggles, technical difficulties and propel you towards your goals MUCH faster than if you try to go at it alone. I have friends who have been working their business for 5+ years and are still making less than $1,000 each month. Is that really worth it?
Not Sold Yet?
- Having someone support you that has traveled the path before makes it possible for you to fast-track your results to making money online
- When I started my business, I had a lot to learn as far as marketing, client acquisition, social media & technology goes. I needed someone to just teach me all of it because the whole “google it” was getting pretty old and tiring.
P.S.If you want to join my private Facebook group community of fearless female entrepreneurs, then click[HERE]. There’s loads of motivational content, support andFREE training+downloads. My goal is to help in your journey however possible, and here is where you can find a tribe of incredible ladies who will support & encourage you along the way!
Have Faith in What you Can Achieve
STEP 6: Stop letting fear get in the way. Fear can be a paralyzing thing, and an inhibitor to your dream of learning how to make money to replace that corporate income. I had to get over my fear of getting visible and allowing my ideal clients to find me. I learned how to speak my truth, be vulnerable & open and show up boldly.
Then there are tons of other fears that come up like: “What are people going to say about my business?” or “What if I don’t make any money this month?”
Push through the fear, stop wasting your energy on these situations that may or may not happen and just do it anyways. I also slowly learned that the people who truly cared about and loved me wouldn’t judge or criticize, they would try to understand and support me in my business. Everyone else’s opinions became insignificant.
The fears that came up while starting my business were ones that seriously helped to have a coach support me. Even though my family was supportive, they didn’t understand some of the things that came up. But someone who has been through it already can guide you through it.
And Then…Ask Someone Else Who Knows
STEP 7: To really get some traction going…OUTSOURCE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Remember those endless days of Googling that I mentioned earlier? Don’t make that your life by hammering through projects that you don’t really need to be involved in. After taking hours to complete tasks (that would take other people minutes) I knew that it was in my best interest to let others take control of certain aspects of my business. This is what ya gotta do:
- OUTSOURCE THINGS THAT ARE VICIOUSLY TIME CONSUMING and do not need your undivided attention, such as the logo design if you aren’t tech or design-savvy.
- Although I tried to build out my website, I found out how time consuming it can be to learn it all and do it myself. I ended up outsourcing it but wish I had done it way sooner! Now, if something is taking me too long, or is sitting on my to-do list for a couple weeks-I outsource it immediately.
- Even though it may seem like you are spending a lot of money, it will come back to you much quicker if you just get it done and keep moving forward.
Establish Who your Audience Is
STEP 8: Get your systems and structures in place, and then invest in Facebook Advertising and Pinterest Marketing. Because of my introverted nature, I invested in these programs. Then once I upped my confidence, I branched out to Facebook and then eventually Instagram.
Outside of the basic marketing systems, I got my day to day systems in place as well which included:
- Scheduling system to book calls in(Acuity/Calendly).
- Payment methods (Stripe & Paypal).
- Social media tools that save me time in scheduling my content(Tailwind, Later, Zapier).
- Facebook Business Page
- Lead Magnets
- CRM (ActiveCampaign)
At the beginning, I will admit the tech stuff scared me and I had no idea what I was doing! I had no educational background in technology, systems, funnels or marketing, and now I absolutely love how the different systems work for me. It’s important that you find the right technology for your business, as most parts will involve technology, systems and programs. If you aren’t super tech-savvy and not sure what you might need to make your biz thrive, re-visit STEP 6 or 7.
You’re on the Path to Success!
When you have an online business it is essential to have the right systems and structures so they can support you.WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER! Systems that will automate the long grueling tasks you do every day will save tons of time and effort. This way you canBUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST and SELL YOUR SERVICE WITH EASE, which will enable you to make money online in no time! Done the right way, this step is incredibly powerful and can be used for any online business.
Next Steps: Download my free guide that gives you more details on how to build your own online business(and start hitting those $15K months!)
Then check out my FREE business tips guide, it is chock full of helpful information to get you started!
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