When starting a business, it’s sometimes hard to know what to prioritize, and it can be overwhelming to go it alone. But there are strategies you can use to avoid common pitfalls.
My mission is to teach people how to make money from their passions. It’s what I did: I went from living on food stamps to setting up two online businesses.
Today I run a music blog, The Recording Revolution, and an entrepreneurship coaching business. I only work five hours a week from my home office and make $160,000 a month in passive income.
Here’s what I tell my 3,000 clients to think about in the first 30 days of starting a business:
1. Be clear about how you want to spend your time.
Many new entrepreneurs I meet know only one thing: how much money they want to make.
While that’s a good starting point, it’s incomplete. Your business should serve your life, not the other way around. So make sure it aligns with your hopes, dreams and goals.
Ask three questions to get clear on what kind of business and life you want:
- What does a perfect day look like for you? Don’t just think about your typical work day. Consider other life activities you want to fit into your day, such as exercising or spending time with family.
- How many hours do you want to work per week? You don’t have to follow the standard 40-hour work week. Knowing exactly how many hours you want to work helps you prioritize tasks.
- How important is free time? Some people don’t mind taking time off as long as they love what they do. Others appreciate longer leisure time. In order for money to flow in when you’re not working, you need to have some sort of passive income stream.
2. Simplify your business model.
When I started my music education business, people told me to test my sales pages, have launch parties, and pre-record some ads to grow.
Instead of stretching myself doing things that didn’t make sense to me, I kept it simple and focused on three things: creating weekly content for my blog and YouTube channel, growing my email list of that audience and promote the paid products I created for that list.
If you’re just starting out, develop content around your expertise to grow an audience. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can iterate and design new products as you go based on what your customers want more of.
3. Cut unnecessary daily tasks.
Identify which daily activities will help you earn more. Don’t waste time and burn yourself by focusing on unimportant tasks.
It can feel good to go to inbox zero or change the color of the buttons on your website, especially in the early days when you want to feel like you’ve accomplished a goal. But none of these things will make you any money.
Before starting a new task, ask yourself three questions:
- What is the expected result for running this task?
- Does it make more money?
- Can I point out a direct correlation between performing that task and earning income?
- What is the cost of doing this instead of anything else?
