Thinking about starting a business from scratch? Whew. Get ready to buckle up. I started freelance writing here and there many, many years ago. I didn’t start making a full-time income online until around 2017/2018 — which was a few years after getting started. That’s not to say you can’t make things happen a lot faster. In fact, I surely hope that you do.
I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning years and wasted a lot of time, money, and resources doing things the longer way.
However, if I was starting a business from scratch today, there are a few things I would skip and a few things I’d jump right into getting set up. If you’re wondering where to start or where to focus in order to start making money online and gain the most traction, here’s what I’d tell ya to put your energy into in the beginning phases.
Where to focus when starting a business from scratch
Develop a website.
You need a platform to communicate what you’re all about. You need something in digital form that tells people who you are, what you do, and what you have to offer. It’s a good idea to have a page you can send people to learn more or to take the next steps towards doing business with you.
I found that what happens when you don’t have a website is you’ll end up having a lot of back and forth communications with people answering the same frequently asked questions, getting more information from them, and giving them more information about you, maybe even collecting information so you can send an invoice. Or whatever the case may be. The point is, by not having a website up, it’s costing you in sales and in time. Time you could be spending making even more money or doing whatever else matters most. Because when you don’t have a website, there is the potential to miss out on sales when you’re not “on” or available to answer your inbox at whatever time the person has an inquiry. This is fine if you only service a handful of people at a time, but it’s not sustainable and it’s not scalable if your goal is to grow.
Have a client intake form.
When you are servicing clients online, there needs to be a streamlined process in place for collecting the information you need about them or from them in order to determine if you can service them. For example, if you have a service-based business, there’s some general information you’ll need to know about a person in order to understand what they want, where they are, where they’re trying to go, and if you’re able to support them in their journey of getting from point A to point B. Even if you’re in the product-based business, you’ll still need to know certain information from your client like the size, color, quantity, or other customization specifications they prefer.
Some people call it a client intake form, some people have an application process, some people collect this information upon booking a consultation call. Whatever process you decide to lean on, it’s helpful to be able to learn as much information about your potential client as possible so you can know if it’ll be a good fit for the both of you and so you can know how to go about processing their order.
Go by a sales script.
If you’re not comfortable or confident in knowing how to lead a sales conversation, then it’s a good idea to go by a sales script. Having a sales script in front of you while you’re on a client call is going to help you stay on track, on topic, and pull out the information you really need to know about your client so you can tell if you’ll be able to help them with the deeper challenge they’re ultimately facing.
I was fortunate enough to have a mentor around when I was first getting started that was able to help coach me around feeling comfortable leading a sales conversation over the phone and knowing what to say. It can be nerve-wrecking if you’ve never done it before or if you’re never had to host a sales call. And you can end up wasting a lot of time chatting with potential clients about their weekend plans or the weather wherever they are in the world. Or worse – letting them waste your time rambling about whatever they feel like chatting to you about during your short time together. Instead of letting your potential clients take the lead, use a sales script that’s going to help you take charge of the conversation, get the information you mainly need to get, and create the space so the both of you can ask the questions you need to ask to determine if it’ll be a good fit for the both of you. Selling over the phone is something that you can only truly master with practice, but while you’re practicing, start off with a sales script at least until you’re comfortable.
Create pre-made proposals/ invoices.
Having something ready-made that tells your potential clients what you have to offer, the details of what it entails, and a link to buy now is super helpful and will just save you a heck of a whole lot of time. This can be something on your website page or it can be a document you update from time to time. It just needs to have information your client needs to know about your offer, the duration, estimated time of delivery, cost, and whatever other terms and conditions may apply.
I’m the type of person who likes to see everything in writing to be able to tell if it’s something I want to do or not. Many other people are like that too. Rather than spending hours at a time after each call you have customizing a proposal for them, start from a template that’s been pre-made to help you collapse time and make things a lot easier for you and for them to buy. What your proposals and invoices really are in essence is a super spelled out description of your products and services. You’ll need to know this information anyway. And if you can put this information up in written form that your potential clients can review either as a proposal, invoice, or website page link about the offer, then you’re off to a great start.
If I was starting a business from scratch, here’s what I wish I knew
That’s it! After getting these things set up, the work really just comes down to creating content to help drive traffic back to your website and servicing your clients once they’ve gone through your onboarding process. Getting this part fine-tuned is establishing a big chunk of the fundamentals. I feel like many times people try to overcomplicate things when it comes to starting a business from scratch, but you can let it be this simple because it IS. As long as you are confident and competent in what you’re doing, you have the keys to being successful at whatever you set your mind to do. Did you know that?
I love hearing from readers. If you found this blog post helpful (or any of my others), let me know in the comments or over on Instagram.
Truly wishing you all the best.