Been feeling the itch to tear yourself away from your 9 to 5 job?
Have you been drawn to the idea of becoming your own boss and walking away from your current position and say, see you later I'm going to the beach!
Ready to learn how to start an online business and make money doing what you love?
You can do it… but ONLY if you commit and hustle!
I am currently in the process of building my third 6-figure+ online business and today you will learn the inexpensive way to start and make money online the fun and helpful way!
You are going to learn how to avoid the top 3 mistakes I made and everything you need to build your own successful online business is in this post!
No gimmicks. No bull.
Let’s get started.
The Hard Truth About Starting an Online Business
The internet is full of fake gurus who try to make it sound easy. They’ll offer to sell you subscriptions or software packages that will promise to make you BIG money in weeks or months.
They all claim to have the ‘secret formula’ for getting rich quick. That’s the drug. That’s what everyone wants.
But you need to learn some straight, hard facts.
- First, it takes work to start an online business. There are no shortcuts.
- Secondly, there is nothing more rewarding than branching out and doing your own thing!
If you love the idea of working for yourself and chasing your passion, AWESOME! That is a worthwhile dream.
But it is important to understand that you will only lose money and gain confusion if you take the road promoted by these fake gurus.
There is a saying… it takes 10 years to build an overnight success.
Maybe a little long, lol
But… the good news is you will learn the secret to “earn as you learn” in this post!
The 3 Crucial Decisions Every Successful Entrepreneur MUST Make!
There are only THREE things, three keys to achieving success in the online business world.
Both my wife and I have gone through these.
In fact, every single person I know who has achieved noteworthy success online has launched, implemented, and adapted these three keys to success for an online business.
Jason Hornung, one of the great Facebook advertisers in the world, runs $10,000 a day in Facebook ads for his clients.
He makes them millions of dollars by utilizing these three decisions.
And it’s about time for you to do it too!!!
Maybe you have already made one or two of them. But you have to make all three if you actually want to succeed.
And I’m talking LONG-TERM success.
Not just a one-hit-wonder kind of a thing.
The game plan is to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for you and your family so that you can build a life on something that can pay your mortgage, upgrade your lifestyle, and basically allow you to live a better life than you’re living right now.
You don’t want to make five grand here, ten grand there, and then lose everything overnight, either!
Don’t shoot for that methodology.
So here’s what I'm talking about….
It’s easy to want to quickly move on to the next business model if you don’t see results right away. But that mindset isn’t going to get you anywhere.
How to start an online business and make money?
Get started on the right foundation, the 3 decisions that every successful online business has to nail down to launch the right way.
Decision #1… Focus on Being Patient
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past decade, it is that patience is a requirement when it comes to starting new business ventures.
You cannot sustain a business without patience!
Plenty of people dream big about building a successful online business… but few people are willing to have the patience required to stick with it.
You must have patience not only with the challenges, but also with the process, the required adaptations… and with yourself.
Also, just because you’re starting now doesn’t mean that you’ll be making 6-figures in 6 months!
We live in a world filled with fantasies of instant gratification. And the fake online business gurus perpetuate this in the online arena by trying to make it look easy...as long as you buy their 3-step lesson plan.
Why?
Because they know that you desire this so much that you will literally pull cash out of your wallet to make it happen!
Don’t fall for that!
You'll learn how fast I made it to 6-figures below, yours might be quicker, yours might take longer, cultivate patience, my friend.
The race is a marathon, not a sprint.
Small, consistent steps are how online business success stories actually happen!
Decision #2… Commit to One Audience and One Business Model
Coming alongside people on a journey is what makes you valuable as an online entrepreneur.
Here’s the real deal… the more you can help people to solve their problems, the more value you will add to their lives. That is how you connect and build your audience, the stage one goal of a successful online business.
Do what you love. Do what you’re passionate about. Commit to helping people, and the money will follow.
Choose your niche, this should be something that you want to keep talking about for the next several years.
The more narrow you get with your niche, the more focused your solutions are going to be. And there is true power in this.
Get clear on your approach.
You also, however, need to get clear about your business model.
Are you going to start selling information products? Do you want recommend products on Amazon? Do you want to sell physical products?
Hone in on your business model, choose ONE model that has a proven online business success record.
This is what you need to know to actualize your idea into something tangible, more on this in a bit.
Decision #3… Give More Than You Ask For
The third commitment that you have to make is to your audience. Do not forget this… that people do business with people they know, like, and trust… period!
Who would you rather do business with? Some random guy online who is constantly trying to push a product down your throat, or someone you know, trust, and believe in… who has helped you to solve numerous problems already, and added a lot of value to your life?
Your job is not to get… your job is to give!
This is the true path to success. Focus on that, and the rewards will most certainly come! You need to decide that you are going to give more than you ask for. This means that your first priority with your audience is to build a relationship with them.
Let me repeat… your first priority is NOT to sell things! It is to HELP YOUR AUDIENCE BY GIVING TO THEM!
The law of attraction is real, your future customers are real people, and they will want you to be real as well.
Despite what many people may believe, the information age is coming to an end. The new frontier lies in relationships and attention marketing.
The Best Risk I Ever Took For My Business
The best and worst thing about online content is that it can come in many different forms. It can also be published on many different platforms.
Are you worried that you may not be great at generating quality online content? Well… check out the video that ‘started it all’ for the Miles Beckler brand!
I hate to say that it was horrible… but…
That video was published on 8/22/2016, I laugh at it now.
But the only way you’re going to skill up at anything is to be willing to take action!
That was the start of my fist growth hack 90-day challenge. It was actually a bet… a bet I didn’t want to lose... and I gained more than I could have ever imagined from it!
It literally changed my life!
I figured out that the best way for me to deliver content to my audience was through video. So that’s what I did… over and over and over again, every day!
Here is video #89 of the 90-day challenge, not the quality of videos I am creating today but a significant improvement!
My blogging skills did not come until later though, after I started an email challenge for myself. I wasn’t good at writing emails at first either… but I learned. I had to ‘skill up’ to get it done!
My wife has crushed her online business with a blog and I thought that was the best way to do it but I could not blog consistently.
The point that I’m trying to make here is that everyone has a content creation muscle inside of them. You just have to figure out which one yours is and develop it to bring it out!
You just have to practice!
Forget being perfect. Don’t overthink it. Your venture is going to be unique in its own way, and that is awesome!
You just have to stick with what you start, and learn how to do it right through practice, work, adaptation, and consistency.
Important Question to Ask and Reflect on - The Key to Success
You have to ask yourself… what is going to set you apart in your online business?
The first part of this is to be yourself.
There is nobody else out there who is offering exactly what you are offering. You have a personal perspective that makes you unique. Understanding this is how you differentiate yourself from all competition.
A podcast or YouTube channel is perfect for this, no one talks like exactly like you, no one communicates exactly like you and that is a great thing!
We all learn from different teachers, that is why it does not matter if the area of business you have an interest in has a bunch of competition.
When you’re talking about what you love, everything you do, from your content to your email marketing is going to speak volumes about who you really are. And your audience is going to pay attention to this.
So keep this question at the forefront of your mind, every single day.
- How can I help my audience today?
How to start an online business?
Content is king for any online business. And of course, your preferred style of communication is going to be different from someone else’s.
This is where self-awareness comes in.
Starting an online business is actually really simple. You figure out a rough idea of what audience you can best help and what content production path you want to start with to connect with those people.
Start with the digital piece of content you’re best at, written word, video, or a podcast and stick to it until it is second nature, this first business step will take about three to six months to dial in.
If you’re good at getting together with friends and talking for hours, launch a podcast. If you’re good at teaching others on camera, do YouTube videos.
If you’re good at writing and love to communicate through the written word, start writing a blog.
The first online business goal is to break away from creating zero content and turn from being a consumer to being a creator.
Do you want to know the absolute best way to get started?
How I made 6-figures in less than 2 Years
The Miles Beckler brand is my 3rd successful online business.
It took me 17 business attempts and 15 years to make my first 6-figures, 5 years to get my next business to 6-figures, and less than 2 years for the third. I’ve learned more lessons than I can count.
But the good news is that now I know what works, you can avoid a BUNCH of those mistakes!
The largest, most detrimental three mistakes most make are later in this post so you can definitely avoid those!
Everything you need to overcome any online business obstacle is on this blog and my YouTube channel for free, so feel free to use the search field whenever you get stuck!
The best way to get started is how I began my third business.
Create one piece of content, every day, for 90 days straight… without missing a single day!
This will help you to get started, learn about yourself, build good habits, and give you a bunch of practice!
3 Steps to Start and 3-Mistakes to Avoid
Step 1 - Become an Affiliate Marketing Ninja - How to Earn as You Learn
Ohhh, make money, I almost forgot on purpose.
Because the truth is, if you do not have at the foundation the commitment and philosophy above, you will not make money online.
Why?
Because you earn income by people buying products, services, courses, memberships and more.
If you don’t connect with people, there is no one to earn money from.
Making money is genuinely simple, you recommend a blender to 500 YouTube subscribers, a few of them buy the blender, you get a commission from Amazon for the referrals.
You recommend the best how to start a blog and crush it course to 100 people on your email list, a few of them buy it, you earn commissions.
This is called affiliate marketing, but in order to utilize it you need to have a few people in your audience.
I don’t even want to give you this post because you need to quit researching and start publishing videos, blogs, or podcasts but I can already see the comments.
How do I do affiliate marketing?
This blog has more affiliating marketing questions answered than you have but I don’t want to tell them to you because of the conundrum.
The Online Business Conundrum
Listen very carefully to what I am about to say.
An online business may feel like a conundrum because...
Every time you meet and beat one challenge, two more are going to fly up in your face.
But don’t back down. These challenges make you stronger, and the knowledge you gain from them is invaluable.
I’ve had many, many years of experience in the online marketing game. Trust me… you don’t need a bunch of advanced or expensive products promising you quick results. Don’t get sucked in that game.
Just like you have made mistakes in life, know that bumps, obstacles, and mishaps will occur in your business but you will overcome if,
Step 2 - Determine How You Will Grow an Audience to Monetize From
The only way to manifest your desired future is to choose a platform and begin creating content. You also need to grow your audience around search engines instead of social media.
Social media is beneficial, but it does not have the shelf life (how long the piece of content you create continues to be seen by people) of continuing to work for you after 24-hours or so.
I launched my online business on Youtube, because I quickly found that I did that best. And I haven’t stopped making videos since! I still create 3 videos a week on YouTube.
- These are my results after creating YouTube videos for a year straight before I added on blogging,
- blogged for 6-months before I started a podcast,
- then had all three running on almost all cylinders for another 1.5 years!
Consistent Action is What Will Separate You From The Rest
I cannot stress this enough… consistent action is how you succeed. This is the work that you have to put in.
It isn’t easy, but the results are worth it.
After you complete a 90-day challenge, take what you learn and do another one.
You will soon find that with each 90 day challenge, you will gain new followers and learn valuable new lessons.
In 6 months, you won’t even recognize your online business!
You’ll be building a following, getting feedback, and hearing from your audience.
Step 3 - Create an Offer - And Make it to Die For!
As you continue to put in the work, you’re going to get an even better idea of what your audience wants. You’ll figure out what your audience is interested in, and will be able to start collecting information to create your first free offer and start to get leads!
This could be a guide, a free video, or something that goes deeper to give them more of what they’re really looking for.
Then, you offer them this content for free, in exchange for just one thing…
Their email!
This is how you will start to grow your email list.
Your Email List is the Life and Blood of Your Online Business Success
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Email is dead. Your email list is going to be the most important asset that you will ever build for your online business… because this will literally become your potential customer list.
This is a list that you will build with hard-fought effort. This will not be a list that you ‘purchased,’ to market to people who don’t know you or care about what you are doing.
This will be a list of people who are actually interested in what you are offering…
It is called a distribution channel.
Learn how your distribution channel is the key to consistent and the largest possible amounts of cash flow for your online business in this video.
Like I said before. When you offer real value to your audience, the money will follow!
Start creating content, becoming a creator instead of a consumer and avoid these three mistakes and you on the successful path!
Mistake #1: Focusing on choosing a product first
If the product is your priority and your audience comes second, then you’ve got the game 100% backwards.
You have to flip that around because that’s not how you create a successful long-term business.
Instead of thinking you want to sell this thing or that thing, dive into dropshipping or FBA or whatever, think first:
First you need to consider who your audience is and what’s the best way to journey with them and help them out?
Your audience is the core of your business, and you have to get this important element nailed down more than anything.
Putting Your Audience Second ONLY to Your Product
Figure out who is your audience, those you can provide the most assistance to.
How can you help them, what can you deliver and how do you do it?
The most value to this comes from the inside, comes from your story, your past experience.
If you’ve been making money and doing something that you’ve been rocking out for 20 years straight, the odds are you can go make money on your own doing that same thing.
If you’ve been working as a chiropractor for someone else’s practice for 20 years, you could definitely go create your own business around that and make money doing it.
That’s not even a question.
The idea is if you have professional experience in something for a long time, many people get to the point where they don’t want to do it anymore, they get sick of it and want to try something new.
But that’s all wrong.
That’s really where the money is, and that’s the easiest way for you to transition into a business by leveraging something you’ve done in the past but do it in a different way.
So figure out that thing you have a story around. Maybe it’s collecting gemstones, gemstone jewelry, remote control planes, drones, cooking, weight loss, etc.
What have you created in your life? Who do you think can benefit from it?
Again, the whole idea here is not to focus on the product first but the people who can benefit from it.
No randomly choosing products. You have to love the audience you’re being of service to. Love the niche that you’re in.
Mistake #2: Not creating content for both audiences
Next big mistake - you are not creating content for both audiences.
Both audiences???
Yeah, so in your online business, you have not just your human audience but there’s another thing that deeply affects your success if you’re targeting them, too.
Humans and Algorithms are Your Two Audiences
So number one audience is the people.
That’s the audience you’re being of service to, obviously.
The content you create must actually help them. If it doesn’t, then you only end up annoying them because you’re just pitching nonstop, not delivering the goods and engaging them.
You’re never going to stick around doing it that way.
Your second audience is the algorithm.
We live in the age of the internet, so you have to remember that you’re always working with an algorithm whether you realize it or not.
You deal with YouTube algorithm, Facebook algorithm, Google algorithm, Pinterest algorithm, whatever platform you’re on, especially with SEO and content writing.
So you have to have these two audiences in mind with almost every piece of content.
It’s part science and part art, and you just have to glue the pieces together to elevate your online business.
Mistake #3: Focusing too much on the selling game and that’s it
This whole strategy will greatly impact your success and it’s called the pre-eminence strategy.
The Strategy of “Pre-Eminence”
So this strategy is straight out of Jay Abraham’s playbook.
It’s old school stuff and basically what this means is that everyone’s trying to sell, sell, sell.
Every video ends in a pitch, every video goes to a pitch.
It’s all about the sale every single time.
Emails are selling, Facebook live has to be selling, everything needs to sell at every single moment in time.
There are a time and place to ask for a sale, but this can not be your number one focus.
Create a fluid rhythm, something like give, give, give, ask then give, give, give, give, ask.
Whatever your content platform, emails, YouTube, a blog etc.
Create three helpful emails delivering value, then send an offer email.
Next round or set, create and send four helpful emails, then an offer email.
How to start an online business that makes a profit?
Here is what you do need.
You need to...
- Be patient
- Commit to helping people
- Be ready to give more than you ask for in return
- Pick One publishing platform and stay committed
- Start creating content
- Adapt and learn
- Remember why you started in the first place
Launch a podcast, YouTube channel, or blog, put your head down for 6-months and don’t look up!
If you have any questions or comments on how to start an online business and make money, hit me up in the comment section below. I’d be happy to help.
