How to Start and Market a Profitable Online Business (Part 1)

I want to thank everyone who emails me or asks me questions on social media; it’s an honor for me to help you in any way that I can. Thank you!

I get two questions over and over again. The first is asking for helping launching and selling ebooks. In case you missed it I wrote a LONG post talking about this subject.

The second question is someone saying that they’re in this situation…………. they describe the situation. Usually these are though situations and my heart goes out because I’ve been there and felt stuck and helpless as well. They ask me what they can do to get out of this situation and chase their dreams.

I find over and over again I give the same answer because it makes sense to so many situations and if you read this blog chances are you’re thinking about this anyway. The answer to most (not all) of the questions is the title of a series that I want to write about in the next few posts: How to start and market a profitable online business.

*Disclaimer*

Before I get into this I want you to know something upfront, this is hard work, very hard. It will also take time and a lot of patience, that’s just how it is. You can do this and you can create an amazing source of income but you’re going to have to be willing to work harder than anybody!

The first part of this series I want to deal with some preliminary things that can be the difference between success and failure so please bear with me. I’ll get to all the good tips and tricks as we move on in the series.

Usually when I tell people this the first thing they ask is “what could I start an online business about”? Good question.

You’re an expert

I heard Brendon Burchard at a couple of his events this year talk about the topic of being an expert and he says there is three types of experts:

Knowledge: You know about a certain subject from experiencing it in your life. Let’s say you went to school for…………. You have done a lot of…………. I would be considered an expert in self-publishing because I have self published two ebooks and sold over 75,000 copies. You have lived life so whether you’ve thought about it or not you do have knowledge about something. You have more knowledge than you even realize and when you sit down and think about it you’ll see.
Research: You have passion about subject and maybe a little knowledge. You then do intense research to find out everything you can about this subject.
Results: You have used your passion and knowledge plus research and have gotten results (like myself with self-publishing) and then you use that to help others.

You can get some in-depth training and learn a lot more than I can teach on Brendon’s YouTube channel.

Whether you realize it or not, you fall into one of these three categories which makes you an expert on………….. I can’t answer what that subject is, you’ll have to take time to think about something you really know and are passionate about.

A good way to determine what’s your topic is to see what people are always asking about. Do people always ask you about……………. Then maybe that’s what you are an expert in.

Whether you realize it or not there are people dying to learn from your expertise on that subject, you just haven’t found them yet. You would be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t) by the things people want to learn or the websites they follow online.

Have you ever heard or read the story of Ana White? It will inspire you! She didn’t realize she was an expert and before she knew it she had a blog that was getting four million visitors a month. I ran across her story as she was featured on problogger.net.

She started out with a passion and turned that passion into an online business that supports her entire family in rural Alaska.

Building your business on the side

So once you have figured out what your passion is and what you want to talk about, it’s time to take advantage of all the amazing tools we have all around us.

First though, building this online business will have to be something you do on the side, unless you have some other source of income that will fund you getting this off the ground. I didn’t 

You could also be in a situation where you were fired or layed off. In this situation I would say unless you have a large savings, that you put either finding work or making money through a side business first (odds jobs that put cash in your pocket), then work on your online business.

You need to have money coming in or you risk turning your dreams of an online business into a complete nightmare! Take care of what needs to be taken care of first, and work on this on the side.

I would encourage you to keep a balance because the temptation will be to work on this project night and day; I’ve been guilty of this myself. So before you start, determine how much time you can spend on this and do a little something everyday.

So I feel like this is a good place to take a break until part 2. I hope you find value in this series. More than that I hope you see that you are an expert in something and that knowledge can help many.

This has got to come from a place of service

I don’t want you to misunderstand what this is all about: helping people. Yes you do want to make money on your online business and possibly turn it into more. However, for me and hopefully for you the first motivation is to use your knowledge to help people change their lives for the better.

That knowledge you have is something that someone else can use to accomplish amazing, life-changing things, the money you may make is just a bonus. I never log on to Amazon just to see how many books I’ve sold, I only check if it’s requested by an interviewer or my publisher.

The thing that keeps me going is YOU! When I get that email from someone saying my books helped them, or a company that says they are hiring more employee’s because my advice has helped them or my coaching clients that are living out their dreams, that’s what this is all about.

The fact that I get paid to do this everyday is priceless. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email me at Kimanzi@talesofwork.com. If you already have an online business then I hope this first part gives you a little reassurance and the following parts give you a few more idea’s.

I look forward to picking this back up on Friday, until then you have some thinking to do! Please come back and bring others that you think will benefit from this series.

Have you started an online business? Have you been thinking about starting one? If you have, any beginning tips?

Any questions you would like to ask me?