Are you one of those entrepreneurs that could really benefit from having a website for your business but you still have not got around to it? Do you ever stop to think what is really preventing you from starting your own business website?
Ignoring your passion is a slow suicide, that’s why it is so important to mold your career around your lifestyle, not your lifestyle around your career.
In this article I wish to talk a little bit about the obstacles that many people have to overcome, that are preventing them from even trying to succeed with starting their own successful business around their passion.
#1 Obstacle: “I don’t have a clue how to start and have no experience.”
The temptation for many newbie entrepreneurs is to read, learn, read… and then read some more. They believe that they need to have that whole “building a business website” thing figured out, BEFORE they take any action.
It can become addictive to spend way too much time reading, analyzing everything and procrastinating. Especially, with the wealth of resources and information that is out there today, two years from now you could still be reading and learning and never getting anything done. But … Nothing will happen until you take action.
Unless you step up to TAKE ACTION, two years from now you will still be scratching your head about where to start with NO EXPERIENCE to show for it.
You can truly start to make your dreams come true and create passive income on the Internet doing something that you love, but you have to get started NOW. Even if you don’t see the whole picture, have the perfect plan, or you’re not sure exactly how it’s going to work out. The best way to learn is to learn by doing, and this is especially true with the Internet.
Think about it this way – everybody who is successful online was once in your position–they had to build that first website, write their first article, or put together a product package. Nobody is born to be successful online – you need to passionately work at it, make mistakes, and learn from your experiences.
The truth is that at first a lot of this internet technology stuff may seem intimidating; a lot of the terminology may sound foreign. But that’s normal because it’s new! With time, you’ll get better, and if you work with persistence – you can become really successful! It’s really just a matter of following the steps one by one, and also giving yourself enough time to absorb new material, and pretty soon it will all become second-nature you.
Truth is, you can have your website set up today by following my step-by-step website setup tutorial. So, stop what you’re doing, and put everything on hold for about 30 minutes while you create your first website.
#2 Obstacle: “I have no idea what I could do online or what I could sell. I don’t know what skills or information I have that I could use for profit on my own website.”
First, let’s take a look at your current knowledge, interests, experience, and strengths. Everyone has passions – it may be related to your current profession or business, or something completely different, something that you are really interested in that you know more about than people around you.
Everybody has something that they can contribute to the world in a unique way. For some people, it will be by creating original content themselves. For others, it will be simply by sharing their passion and experience about a particular topic or product.
You may be an expert in that field, have a degree or certification, or not. Even if you are not an expert on your topic of interest and don’t have credentials, you probably know more than 99% of people out there, and you have something valuable to offer, something that comes from your own experience. What you need is to find a way to add value to other people’s lives.
The question you should be asking yourself:
“What Can I Do To Help Make Someone’s Life Better?”
You can write ebooks, provide coaching, consulting or training.
When people go to your site, and join your mailing list, they’ll want to get value in exchange for handing you their name and e-mail address. To be successful, you have to contribute to their lives in a meaningful way.
#3 Obstacle: “There are already other people doing what I want, too many websites, too much information and too much competition…”
Yes, while that’s true and there are millions of websites already out there, and millions of people online trying to sell something, there are EVEN MORE AND MORE people getting online every day searching for new products and information they need.
The beauty of the internet is that it allows to SHARE IDEAS and PROVIDE SOLUTIONS to specific problems. I believe everyone has some unique gift, wisdom or passion to share with the world, and by doing that we are all making the world a better place.
While there is certainly nothing wrong with creating web pages just to sell products or affiliate offers – I have done that myself in the past and know people who are very successful financially doing that – I believe that the biggest value – and satisfaction – comes from doing what you really love.
There is never too much knowledge, never too much valuable information and products. If you can provide VALUE, you don’t need to worry about competition.
#4 Obstacle: “I can’t afford to build a website. It’s expensive and I don’t want to invest a lot of money into something that does not guarantee results.”
It really does not cost a lot of money to set up a business website if you are doing it on your own. Let’s look at the basic costs of building your own website:
- Hosting. About $12-$180 per year depending on the package you choose.
- Domain Name. This is essential. Starts at $9-15 per year.
- Setting up the Blog/Website. You can easily build a site yourself by following my step-by-step tutorial and buying a professionally designed theme for under $100. Custom graphic design is not essential, but if you want something special, look at spending around $500-$2500 in design.
- Mailing List/Autoresponder. Depending on the service you use, this could be free or cost up to $300 per year.
If you compare these costs to other kinds of business ventures, it actually is the CHEAPEST way to start your business. For example, opening a restaurant costs at least $100,000 in startup capital, buying a franchise costs at least $50,000, and starting a mail order business – at least $30,000.
So in addition to the expenses above, you also have to add an important expense, perhaps the most important of all, which is:
Education – You need to have a step-by-step approach that you can use to build your online business. You need the right education. And then you need to continue your education on an ongoing basis. You should plan for this to be a larger expense than all of the expenses I put above, and consider it the MOST IMPORTANT expense of all. Of course, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you may end up spending a whole lot more money. And worse, you may not make any money, so you’ll just waste your time. I am passionate about helping and educating people, so if you need expert help, contact me, and I’ll be your Go to GEEK.
#5 Obstacle: “I don’t know HTML or any programming language, and could not write a line of code to save my life. I’m just not a computer geek.”
In our modern world, you certainly do NOT need to know any programming to build a successful business website. With technologies and tools available today, you can set up a professionally looking website in just about 30 minutes (or a few hours, if you want to take it really slow and easy) WITHOUT writing a single line of code! Yes, it does require some computer skills, but if you can write an email or type a letter on a computer, you can create a website – you just need to know what steps to take and what tools to use.
Or if you are just simply too lazy to do it yourself, HIRE SOMEONE! There are thousands of super excited and passionate web developers like myself and we can’t wait to built your website for you. Just contact us with your vision. We love what we do 😀 and it shows in our work.
#6 Obstacle: “I know nothing about search engine optimization and don’t have any money to spend on advertising and promotions, so how could I get people to come to my website? “
There are many ways you can promote your website for FREE on the Internet: by participating in social media, by commenting on popular blogs, guest posting on other sites, participating in forums, writing articles and posting them on free article websites; making videos and posting them on video sites, such as Youtube.com, and many others.
And let’s not forget about the power of promotion in the offline world – like sending articles and press releases to your local newspapers. I’ll be sharing with you my top ways of getting traffic, and most of them don’t cost you any money!
#7 Obstacle: “I don’t have the time to do it!”
Yes, it does take time to build a successful business website, but probably a lot less than you think.
I recommend that you block some time in your calendar to get your website started. By blocking one or two days in your calendar to do the work, you can get a whole lot more done than by trying to do a little bit at a time. You will be focused on the task and know exactly what to do next. This will help you gain momentum — and momentum is everything.
Once you have your website set up, plan to work on it regularly to add content, promote it, and provide value to your audience. The more time you can spend, the better – you’ll be able to see results that much faster. Use my step-by-step tutorial to set up your website, and start sharing your gifts!
Now, I’m NOT saying that creating a successful and profitable online business is quick and easy, because it’s NOT. But if you work hard, a year from now you can have a popular website and profitable business online bringing you a steady stream income.
