In this episode of Ask Carrie, I’m answering a question I get asked a lot: “How do I come up with an idea to start an online business?”
Now is an amazing time to start an online business!
Given the pandemic and with most people working from home, a lot of people are taking their passions and their hobbies and turning them into profitable businesses.
There are lots of things you can do, so let’s get into it. Here are my 7 tips for actually starting an online business!
Tip #1: Tap Into Your Passions
If you don’t know what business to create, or how to come up with an idea, start by sitting down with a pen and a piece of paper and making a list of what you’re passionate about and what you love. What lights you up? Do you have any hobbies? It doesn’t have to be things that you would actually turn into a business, you just want to get your creativity flowing.
Tip #2: Think Of Your Skills
Step number two is to sit and make a list of the things that you are skilled at. What are you good at? What is your skill set? Think of at least 10 things that you are skilled at, that could include: playing an instrument, a degree that you’ve got, education that you’ve had, a job that you’ve got and a skillset that you’ve learned from a job, or just something that you’ve learned in your own spare time. Make a list and write it all down.
Tip #3: Look Back On Your Experiences
The third step is to think about your experiences: what have you experienced in your life? Has anything happened to you that was really transformational? Is there a challenge you overcame, something that you’ve been through and you’ve come out the other side? What did you learn during that journey that could help other people?
Think about experiences that you’ve had, transformations that you’ve had. It doesn’t have to be some huge, profound thing either, it can be something small. Small things can still make a big difference to people.
Tip #4: Discover What You’re Drawn To
When you look at that paper and at your skill sets, your passions, your hobbies, your transformations and experiences, what do you feel drawn to? What would you love to start a business about? What is exciting? Go with what feels exciting, follow your heart and your intuition, it will lead you in the right direction.
Tip #5: Do Some Research
Once you’ve thought of that and you have some kind of an idea in your head as to what you would love to create a business around, go and do some research. Research what’s out there and research people who are building businesses similar to the idea that you have.
Look on social media, on Etsy, if you want to create an online course of some kind go and look on Udemy and other marketplaces. Try Pinterest, search on Google and find people doing what you want to do.
What do you like about what they are doing? What do you not like? What would you do differently? Explore the idea and see whether this is a popular topic, if people are buying. Like this you can start to validate it and look for signs that you are onto something, and that it’s a really good idea that you would be able to turn into a successful business.
Tip #6: Trust Your Intuition
The 6th tip is to trust your intuition by asking yourself what it is that you want to share. This is going to be your business, your baby. So what do you want it to be about? What do you want to get up every day and work on? Really think about that, even if it takes you a few days or weeks of just thinking about it and playing around with it.
So often, we have these good ideas, but we just think we could never turn that into a business or make money from doing that. In reality, you can make money doing so many different types of things. Sometimes we limit ourselves to what we think is possible, when actually so much more is possible.
Tip #7: Turn Your Idea Into A Product To Sell
Once you have thought about this, you can look at turning your knowledge, your ideas, your passions, your expertise and your experiences into something that you can create and sell.
How can you turn that knowledge, that amazingness that you have, into an online offering? Whether it’s a physical or digital product, a service, a course or a membership site – there are so many opportunities for you to take your knowledge and expertise and turn it into something successful online.
The opportunities are endless – it’s really just about getting your ideas flowing. Don’t limit yourself to what you think is possible, because there’s so much more possible than what we think. So really have a think about that, play around with it and just start working on turning your ideas into a successful online business.
And of course I’m here to help you with that and we’ve got so many resources at the Female Entrepreneur Association!
The best place to get started is our quiz – it’s a quiz that’s going to give you an action plan to help you start your business, so definitely take some time to check that out by clicking below!
