6 Ways to Simply START Building Your Business (As A New Entrepreneur)
I talk to many first-time entrepreneurs who are excitedly embarking on their journeys toward self-employment (whether that is part-time or full-time.) The most popular question that I get asked is, “What should I do first?” The next question that I get is, “What should I do with limited funds or no budget at all?”
I get it. It’s very difficult to start a business from scratch and a lot of folks don’t always know where to begin. I often hear:
“How do I get/where do I find clients?”
“What should I post on social media?”
“What offerings should I create? Services, Products, etc.”
“What parts of business should I outsource, so that I can focus on what I have time for and am best at doing?”
The questions can be endless. And honestly, is there even a right answer to any of these? Not really. I’ve been building a business long enough to know that there is truly no overnight success. No magic formula for booking clients or gaining online followers. No “one size fits all” scheme or strategy to have five-figure months or six-figure years. Simply put, what works for some, doesn’t work for others. So, my biggest piece of advice?
JUST START.
If you can get a handle on a few areas of small business marketing using a lot of free tools and platforms, dabble in a little bit of “everything” until you know the FEW things that you should really focus on and that work best for you, BUILD RELATIONSHIPS(!) and make smart choices and investments early on, you are more likely to find success hopefully sooner rather than later. Just remember that business strategy and “success” is defined differently by everyone. Do your best and don’t compare yourself to anyone else. It really is all about the journey and the time goes faster than you think. Really, nothing beats putting in the work upfront (whatever that looks like to you!)
Start blogging! This can also be known as, just start creating content in general! Written blog posts on your website overtime help with SEO and positioning yourself as an expert in your field. But whether you prefer to sit down and write, or post videos — or even share your thoughts and advice via Instagram captions or Facebook posts, the point here is to start putting out content that will benefit your potential audience/clients. The more consistently that you do this, the more that those followers will look for what you have to say each day, week, month, etc. You can become a go-to resource for someone who knows that you have the solutions to their problems (whether that looks like design, marketing, coaching, etc.)
Start posting on social media. This comes from the same vein as blogging. Anytime that you are of service and providing value to your potential clients with words or live videos, you are creating content. My advice? Post anything! Share who you are, what you do, your family, your weekend plans, what you’re working on in your business. I know, you assume that no one cares. Maybe you don’t want to blend too much “personal” into the “professional.” The key here, however, is to be authentic. Let people get to know you. Engage, ask questions. Hop on live videos and answer others’ questions for 30 minutes once or twice a week. Right now, as you’re building your business, you’re doing A LOT of things (probably trying to do “all of the things”) but you might not have the influx and calendar full of of paying clients just yet. So, use your time wisely (now) in trying to land those future clients. They could be just on the other side of your phone or computer screen — or in those “likes” or lists of followers. And, if you’re like me, you will take the content that you create now and repurpose it later (for other blog posts, workshops, courses, emails, etc.)
Start an email list. Use MailChimp, MailerLite (or a similar platform) and start building a list of subscribers, who allow you into their inboxes — (with the helpful content that you create above!) Many platforms are free until you hit a high number of subscribers. Give people a chance to sign up on your website (and better yet, give them something free in return for opting-in) and start connecting with them weekly or monthly. As often as you want! Give away a lot for free, come from a place of service, offer value (in the forms of tips, checklists, free workshops/webinars, links to blog posts, etc.) — this will help prospective clients to begin knowing you, liking you and trusting you. As soon as someone knows, likes and trusts you, they will be much more willing to buy from you — in time. Find out what their pain points are. What solutions can you provide to their problems? Also remember this very important piece of advice: “Don’t build a house on rented land.” No matter who many followers that you have on social media, you need a collection of go-to contacts that you actually own and won’t suddenly disappear if Facebook or Instagram pulls the plug one day. These are people that you can nurture, provide a lot of value to and build long-term relationships with. Many of them will become future clients one day. So, get to know them (and allow them to know you) now! And, export your list occasionally into a spreadsheet document that you can keep (just in case your email platform also decides to go away one day!) Just remember that these are people who are interested in what you have to offer, if they agreed to join your list and receive your emails in the first place!
Start to design a landing page or simple website. You can start small here. Play around with platforms like Squarespace, Wix, etc. which offer handy “drag and drop” builder/tools to help you create a simple website. Again, social media is great for marketing and generating followers (even larger communities) but it shouldn’t be the “be all and end all” for your biz. Again, “don’t build a house on rented land.” Use Facebook, Instagram, etc. to simply attract and drive prospects to your website (which can start off as a one-page site temporarily.) You need to build a mini online home for people to find you, learn more about what you offer (how you can help them!) and contact you. A single-page site is better than having nothing and it can evolve into a larger site overtime. Your website will grow with your business!
Start to create graphics in Canva. You don’t have to be a professional designer to still have and use attractive print and digital visuals and materials. You can start building a library of assets, even using the free version of a graphic design tool like Canva. They have ready-made templates that you can drop content into — anything from Facebook posts to business cards to brochures to presentation decks — and more. To start, just try really hard to use consistent fonts, colors, stock photos, icons and other imagery for everything that you create — even if you are only downloading free imagery for now. A consistent look and feel on a quick Instagram or website scroll looks a million times more professional than an identity that is all over the place.
Start to partner with other entrepreneurs. Find others who are also just starting out or even college students looking for experience and building their portfolios to partner with on things like logo design, photography, etc. — chances are, many other small business owners just starting out are going to need services or products that you offer, just like you will need the same from them. Perhaps you’re not a designer, copywriter, photographer, social media strategist, etc. — but someone on the same playing field as you or even a really skilled and talented soon-to-be college grad is. Exchange services with them. You’ll be making connections with others who might even be future contractors that are a part of your booming team one day and can grow with your brand overtime. The best part? You’ll be helping each others’ businesses to grow!
