7 Steps To Start An Online Business With No Money
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Many people tell me that they cannot start a business because of the following reasons:
They do not have enough money
They do not have enough time
They do not know where to start
Those are just limited beliefs that we have been taught in order to remain in the corporate world and say yes to everything we are asked to do.
So, with more than 8 years experience working in the social media industry helping small businesses promote their business to the right audience and having worked online for myself since 2015, I wanted to create this quick guide for anyone willing to start a business but are facing the road blocks mentioned above.
If I’d have to start from scratch today with no money, here is the strategy I’d use.
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Define my assets and my market offer
First, I’d need to evaluate how much I can save by cutting off all membership contracts I have and don’t need. Goodbye Netflix, goodbye gym, goodbye coffee shops, etc…
Second, I’d need some cash for the marketing later and a few automation tools. So I will try to sell as many things around my house I don’t necessarily use that could make me up to 500 bucks. And I can also try doing some freelance work using website like Fiverr, upwork, Airbnb experiences etc…
Third, I’d need to find something I am really great at, combine it with something I am really passionate about and target a specific niche in order to find my market offer. Let’s say I’d like to help people take better travel photos with their smartphones for instance! (wink wink)
Use Social Media as my main medium for promotion organically
Now that I have an idea of the offer I want to promote, I need to figure out where my ideal clients hang out online. Are they on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube? In my case, I am targeting people willing to take better photos and share them online, so Facebook and Instagram are the obvious places to use.
I would then create an Instagram account and a facebook page. Write a bio that defines who I am, what I do and what I offer. I will make sure also to buy a domain name that will match with the name of my accounts on social media.
And I will post up to 9 photos on Instagram to make the account look like it is not brand new and with photos showing smartphone photography tips, before/after and best applications to use.
Use Facebook groups
Then I will use Facebook group in two different ways. The first, to create a community of people interested in learning how to take better photos using their smartphones and where they will be able to exchange advice, share their snaps and why not meet up if they live in the same city.
The second way would be to join other Facebook groups with a similar interest and be as engaged as possible on every post sharing valuable advice to attract people’s curiosity about who I am and connect with me on Facebook. It is a great way to attract new prospect to your Facebook group organically!
Then I’d use the poll option in the Facebook group I created to understand people’s struggle in taking good photos so that I can tailor my content to their needs. This will also be the perfect marketing material to setup my marketing campaigns, the copywriting, the sales page, etc…
Use Automation
Once I have all the material I need, I will need to use online tools to automate the customer journey from the moment they become aware of my brand to the moment they get interested in my offer, join the community on Facebook, get familiar with my product and buy my course to become better at photography. I will also need a platform to store the content of my course and that will be safe enough for the content not to be stolen and to facilitate the online payments.
I have personally used websites like Teachable to host my main courses and Skillshare for my mini courses.
I can use the online tool Clickfunnels to create a sales funnel, send automated messages to prospects and create a membership area where the training videos will be available. And I will leverage the Facebook group as the platform for Q&A and follow up with clients. I’d need to setup a Stripe account and link it to my clickfunnel account to receive the payments.
Content Creation
Now that the skeleton is built, I can start to create the content. I will create videos and pdf supports for each video that provide a summary of each lesson the client could use as a cheat sheet. As it is a topic I know well and already know the struggles my ideal client face, I already know what to talk about in my training. In terms of material, I’d just use my smartphone to record the videos and maybe invest in a cheap lavalier micro on amazon for a better quality.
I’d use free softwares like iMovie or windows movie maker to edit the videos.
I’d use Canva to create the cheat sheet in a PDF format.
Once everything is ready I’d upload the content in Clickfunnels.
Pricing
There are several possibilities here. Either start at a low price, say a fixed price of $97 until I get enough great testimonials and build up the brand authority. Then I’d be able to increase the prices to $197, $497 or why not $997!
Or offer a membership plan with a monthly fee of $47 or $97 max!
Marketing
And lastly marketing, I would do it in 2 ways. Organically first and then with paid advertising.
First, leverage the community of people already in my facebook group. Those are my warm leads, they already know me, they already know what I do and I would have given them so much value already that they could not say no to that offer if they can afford it.
If I get 10 people out of the 500 members of my community buying the training say at 97, I have a profit of 970 minus the Clickfunnels membership of $97/month and the micro I bought! I have a margin of say $950!
I’d then re-invest that money into Facebook ads to scale up by leveraging the facebook pixel, custom audiences and lookalike audiences. I’d use a lead magnet to attract my ideal customers and get them into my customer journey machine already setup.
My business is now running on automation 24/7 and I just need to create content on a daily basis, which means doing what I love and I am good at in order to nurture my audience and find new prospects. And also monitor my Facebook group to keep the members engaged.
It will require some time and knowledge to set it all up and make the market research but then the business would run and I would not have invested hundreds or thousands before starting to run a profitable business!
I hope that this case study showed you how simple and cheap it can be nowadays to start a profitable business and that it is reachable to any motivated individuals.
Now, I can understand that it is a lot of information to take in and that if you have never been exposed to this type of content, it might seem overwhelming, but trust me I was in your shoes and it is not complicated as long as you have the right guidance.
I learned everything I know today from one of my mentors, Russell Brunson. He is one of the best when it comes to internet marketing and starting an online business from scratch. Joining his mastermind groups aren’t cheap, but, he wrote a book “Dotcom Secrets” where he shared all his knowledge that I now consider my “marketing bible”. If I ever have a marketing question in my mind, this book is my reference to get all the answers I need.
The book is free, you just need to cover the shipping cost if you are interested in getting it. But, believe me, this will be the best investment you will ever make if you want to better understand how to be successful online and run a profitable online business. Just click here or on the image below to order your free copy.
If you’d rather need some help on how to setup everything I just mentioned, you can also book a call with me for free and I will help you setup a roadmap to help you get the results you need for your business.
Or, if you are a visual learner like am, you can click here to register for a free 1 hour social media web-class where you will learn the basics of social media marketing and how to use it the right way to promote a successful online business
If you found this article helpful, make sure to like it, it actually makes a difference. And if you know anyone who is thinking about starting their online business or are struggling getting clients for their offer, feel free to share this post with them.
