What would you do if someone offered you freedom on a silver platter?
Freedom to do what you want, when you want, with whomever you want.
Imagine spending most of your time working on ideas that excite you! Being able to set your own schedule.
No more Karen from HR breathing down your neck to make sure you're using the right pronouns, lol.
Internet made that freedom accessible to everyone. You can create a product from your expertise and sell it on the internet… and never work a day in your life if you choose to.
You can create a one person business – business from your expertise – in matter of hours if you had to.
Your own business that operates with 90% + profit margin is leverage from the bad economic policies of the government.
You stop worrying about the price of gas, or being able to send your kids to summer camp. You can buy the best quality food, and spend more time with your loved ones.
No more begging for a day off for your kid's first recital. No more skipping dinner with your spouse because some manager wants to have a late meeting.
When I first discovered this opportunity in 2009. I thought I caught the golden goose. I still think that. And I want you to have the freedom I do, because you deserve to get the most out of life.
Why aren't people starting expert online businesses more?
Quite a few reasons:
Fear of failure.
Which often leads to procrastination. Common way people procrastinate on this – doing months of research on how to start a business.
How to end procrastination right this minute: Imagine your ideal life and how would it make you feel. Not the things you would buy. Not the activities you would take. The feeling. The feeling of being able to spend more time with family. The feeling of buying your kids things you didn't have growing up. That feeling, the clarity of that vision will make you jump to action immediately.
Conditioning.
Parents and school condition us to believe education and steady jobs are a path to secure life. They condition us not to take risks and teach us passions are not a source of income.
Misinformation.
A friend of yours once tried to sell her network marketing product at an online marketplace and failed. So it's obvious online business is not a thing #sarcasm
Self doubt.
There is always going to be a limiting belief you need to crush to move forward. Even when you make $1M online, you will have something to deal with in your mind. But that's not a reason to not try.
(Insert your own unique reason.)
So how do you start if you're having all these doubts?
You just do.
You start before you're ready.
Jump into the deep end.
“But I don't have money”… you don't need it!
I am going to give you the exact step by step to start your online business for free. Yes, zero financial investment.
Instead of waiting to invest money – one day – invest what you have right now: your expertise, desire, grit, and time. Imagine what you can create with that type of investment…
How do you start online business for free?
1) Create a product or a service
First you need a product or a service to sell. Figuring this part is free and up to you. You know what you're expert in.
If you're not sure what to choose look at:
– skill are you using at at your job
– things you like to do for fun
– how you use tools that others may find complicated
For example, did you know Miss Excel makes up to 6 figures per day from teaching Excel on TikTok?
If you want to start faster, start with a service and then build a product as you go. You can start this in one day!
2) Create a place where people can learn about what you do
This used to be a website, an expensive one. Now, you can do this for free. You don't need a full blown website, more like a single page telling people who you are and what you do.
You can build this for free with Canva.com or Carrd.io.
3) Create an offer
This is a specific product or service you offer to a specific audience.
The more painful the problem you solve is – the more you can charge for your services. If they have been trying to solve that problem for awhile – it's gonna rain money on you.
Creating an offer doesn't cost anything – little brain power and a piece of paper to brainstorm.
Note that you're not marrying this offer. You can change this any time you want.
4) Take payments from clients
There are several free platforms you can use to charge for your services online. They all have payment processing fees but you pay zero dollars until you make money.
Side note, some of the payment methods let you pay zero fees, like direct bank deposit from the client. And opening a business bank account in a local credit union is – free.
Platforms you can check out are Stripe, Square, Waveapps, and Paypal. You can send invoices or direct payment links to your clients. Cha-ching.
5) Market yourself
You need to put in time and effort to market your business, to let people know you exist.
Using social media platforms is free. You don't need any tools, just write. You can post your writings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Instagram is image based so to post there, screenshot your tweets. Or use Canva to create designs for free, they have tons of templates available.
6) Sales calls and client calls
If you're doing sales calls or delivering services via video, you can use Zoom, they have free accounts. Google Meet is another free option for video calls.
If you want to use voice calls Google has a free phone option – Google Voice.
If you already have a cell phone plan and decide to use it for business calls you may be able to deduct it on taxes (consult your book keeper).
7) Written communication
Written communication is still very important. Sending pitches with email, going back and forth with clients – you can do all this for free with GMail.
If you prefer texting there are many apps on the market now. My favorite is Telegram (I avoid Meta apps when I can).
8) Getting clients
A lot of businesses spend most money on lead generation (getting clients). They pay for advertising plus for advertising agencies to run their advertising.
You do not need this and may never need to spend a single dollar on ads.
Create content for social media – this is how you attract leads. Not only that, but this is how you will build the authority in the industry – showing your knowledge.
When you first start – go on the offensive to find clients. Talk to your friends and ask for referrals. Start conversations with potential clients on social media.
There are so many of us making a living online selling our expertise, that never pay for ads.
9) Sales page
You don't need a sales page if you're selling by speaking to your people. Sales page will be useful when you have a product to sell on a website.
If you decide that you have to have a way to present what you're selling, you still don't need a sales page. You can create a simple Google Doc to send it to prospects who want more information.
You can create a presentation in Google Slides to show it on your video calls.
Or you can turn your presentation into a video and upload it for free on Youtube. You even have an option to hide the video so only those you send the link to can watch it.
10) Scheduling meetings
If you are getting a lot of interest in your services and need an automated way to schedule meetings, you can do this for free as well. Calendly is a meeting scheduling tool and has a free option.
As you can see, you can start and run a business without investing a single dollar into it.
Money should never be your excuse for delaying building your freedom.
People full of energy and determination, built too many great things while having no money.
You need a system, not money
When you see successful people building their one person business, you see fancy tools and costs. What you don't see is that paid tools didn't make them successful.
Clients don't form their opinion on you on account of tools you use. They form in on account of results you bring.
Profitable solopreneurs are successful because they started and kept going when they had no money to invest in those tools. They built leverage through their grit and investment of time.
They built a system and set of routines that keeps them going every day.
I have days when I am not super motivated. Sometimes I take a break, but more often, my routines keep me disciplined to keep going.
They are worth way more than any fancy tool you may think you need. Having a short list of non negotiables you will do for your business every single day is the gold ticket.
Learning is a trap
One trap to be careful about is thinking you need more knowledge. And then some more, and some more again.
If you're an expert in an industry, all you need to know to start is how to help people with your expertise.
Learning everything you can about marketing and sales, before even starting, is procrastination.
You will fall into a trap of learning things you don't need right away. More learning will lead you into the false confidence you're moving forward. It will feel like you're doing a lot because you're learning. Be real with yourself – what is true here, are you taking action, or learning more.
Knowing is not doing.
Some people will persuade themselves they have to be the best in the world to help others. You don't have to be a master in your skill to help people. But you have to show up every day and show them what you can do.
The best learning you can do when building your solopreneur business is by doing. Taking massive action and failing at times will teach you more than any theory. Experiment as much as possible at the beginning, make mistakes, enjoy the process.
Your main goal when you start your business should be to make $1. Because if you can make $1 from a stranger online, you can make $1,000 then $10,000 and then the sky is the limit.
The best time to start an online business was 10 years ago. The second best time is – now.
Let's summarize…
Step by step on how to start an online business for free, from your expertise:
- Pick a skill you are great at
- Put excuses on pause
- Start before you're ready
- Use free tools, lack of resources is not real
- Create systems to keep going
- Don't procrastinate by learning
- Show up every day
- Take massive action
- Fail often
- Experiment a lot
Now go get that first online dollar.
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