You wouldn’t have clicked on this post if you’re not so interested in top proven ways to make money from home having an online business or being an internet entrepreneur.
In fact, I’m sure you want to have a side hustle that makes you extra income to cater to your financial needs or even make you rich.
But one unique problem for almost everyone is WHERE EXACTLY TO START.
How Exactly Will I start an Online Business?
That’s exactly the same question almost every Oasdom community member has asked over and over again.
This post is dedicated to helping you understand not just that, but the very basic things about starting an online business.
**NOTE: Try as much as possible to grasp the content of this article and you’ll find it really eye-opening. Most importantly, you may realize that you have misconceptions about so many things
I will answer the question ‘How can I start an online business’ later in this article but first, I realized I need to take everything from scratch.
This is important because it’s so painful that many people still don’t get what being an online business owner or having an online business really means.
Many people have the wrong orientation and expectations, so they make these 10 common mistakes when starting their online business.
So, In this article, I tried as much as possible to explain the following key concepts and I hope to help you have the right mindset of internet entrepreneurship and making money online. [toc]
(You can click any of the links above to take you straight to the section)
So, let’s take it one at a time…
The Real Truth Behind Making Money Online
Few weeks ago, I reached out to thousands of Oasdom community members on what they’ll like to learn and the massive replies had an element of misconception about making money online.
Though it took me about a week and half to reply everyone, it was worth it. Among others, I received questions like:
- How can I make money online without investing anything?
- How can I start making money online very fast?
- How can I know the best online business that pays me more?
- How will I know if an online business is a scam or real?
- I just designed my blog, how do I start making money?
Making money online has been hyped and this has resulted in creating an entirely different mindset in many people.
These five questions above (most especially the fourth) gave me an insight into what many people still think (a misconception) and I’ll do justice to that in here, to help you see the truth behind making money online.
Also Read: 12 paying online jobs in Nigeria for students
Online Business & Online Opportunities are 2 Different Things
If you’re still not sure what an online business is, and taking it for online opportunities, here’s the real truth about it.
Online Opportunities
Online opportunities come and go (e.g ponzi schemes, get rich quick schemes, referrals, promotions etc.).
Online opportunities are not stable, you don’t own them, hence, you don’t control them, and many are scam.
The person or group who created that online opportunity can mess up anytime, make decisions that only suits them, and it will mean that you’ve wasted your own time investing in something (a platform) that you don’t truly own.
The question is, why not start and create your own business online?
Related: 7 Ultimate reasons to start an online business
Online Business
Online business is a business that identifies a problem, creates value, solves that problem and gets reward for it in profit.
Those into web design, graphics design, video editing, etc that have an online presence and making their sales online have a true online business. I’m sure you get the concept.
Online business is all about what businesses do. They sell their products or offer their services. They’re now doing it online and that’s why it’s called an online business.
If for example you are into dry cleaning and you now brought that business online, it means you now have your business online and you’re reaching your customers and getting paid online.
You’ve leveraged the power of the internet for your own advantage, You own the business, you control it and decide it’s future.
To help you get the concept of truly owning a business online, read this short story about 2 young friends who want to be financially free. I call it building your money pipeline.
How to Start an Online Business
If you truly want to start an online business, You need to do these things and you’ll be up and running in no time.
Pay attention to the information in the link above and be ready to start. Only a car in motion gets somewhere, so take the steps and start your online business.
The link here once again: How to start an online business – 7 steps
Making Money Online Today – Online Marketing
Making money online today is now centered around what is called online marketing, internet marketing or digital marketing. This is a multi-million dollar industry guaranteed that you can tap from.
Any business needs marketing. Marketing in simple terms is every activity you put in place to convey to your customers from the first point of getting in contact with your business or product/service, to finally making a sale.
Pay attention to those underlined words. These are the things that every online income earner pay attention to.
So, What is Online Marketing?
Online marketing is an effort to spread the word about your company that uses the internet to reach people.
In short, online marketing is anything you do on the internet to put yourself or your business right in front of people to see or anything you do to grab their attention and hopefully, at some point, get them to buy from you.
Few paragraphs above, I said online marketing is a multi-million dollar industry that you can tap from. Yes, only if you have something to offer.
Look at it this way
If you have a product (either in video format or pdf) that solves unique problems of thousands of Nigerians, wouldn’t you have to market it to get people who need it and are willing to pay for it?
For example, If you have information on “How to get 1 Gig data free from any Network in Nigeria” and you want to sell it, would you just sit in your room and be expecting to make any sale? No!
One of the first things to market will be to broadcast on Whatsapp, isn’t it? I’ve seen a lot of stuffs like that.
Now come to think of it, if you have just 10,000 followers on Twitter of likes on your Facebook fan page and you post that information. I’m sure you’re seeing what I’m seeing.
Now come to think of people with skills (web design, graphics design, video editing, Java programming) or a unique knowledge they’re willing to share free and some to give out for a fee. They have to market online because the internet has no boundaries.
The Key Strategies of Making Money Online
There are about 6 big areas/strategies of online marketing. List below:
- Content marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Social media marketing
- Affiliate marketing: Earning by recommending and selling other people’s products
- Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
- Email marketing
When I say these strategies are big, I mean it. You just have to learn to earn. In fact, I’m also on the learning curve.
So as promised, Oasdom’s online marketing article series will address each of these online marketing strategies to really give you the detailed and comprehensive explanation to get started.
Learn Everything About Digital Marketing In This Guide
If you’re new here, visit our bookstore, download any of our guides and join our online community. In subsequent posts, we’ll work on each of the online marketing strategies with clear action steps.
If It Is So Easy, Why Isn’t Everyone Doing It?
Another misconception every newbie has about making money online is that you just have to do some little work and the money start rolling in. No!
Truth be told, one thing about building a profitable online business is that you need the time. To make an offline business successful you definitely need to put in the work and time, and so is it for online businesses too.
[Tweet “Making Money Online Is Real BUT There’s a BUT to it.”]
Even if you have a clear cut strategy about making money online, following either of the 7 key strategies above, you have to put in the work
Simple doesn’t mean Easy and I think you’ll have to know what an online hustle or being an online business owner really entails.
[Tweet “Simple doesn’t mean easy”]
Thеrе has bееn tremendous рrоlifеrаtiоn оf ‘gеt-riсh ԛuiсk’ internet ѕсhеmеѕ, аnd mоrе оftеn thаn nоt, thеѕе packages аrе dеѕignеd to lurе орроrtuniѕtѕ with thе ‘get-rich’ mеntаlitу into fоrking оut thеir pockets in hоре оf becoming the nеxt ‘big thing’ on the Net.
Cоntrаrу tо this, bеing a ѕuссеѕѕful intеrnеt еntrерrеnеur dоеѕn’t juѕt happen оvеrnight. As is thе same with briсk-аnd –mоrtаr еntrерrеnеurѕhiр, intеrnеt entrepreneurship requires оnе to transform an idеа into action.
Mоrе оftеn thаn nоt, it iѕ a lоng process of реrѕеvеrаnсе аnd рrераrаtiоn, and thе common rеаѕоn for fаilеd online еntrерrеnеurѕhiр vеnturеѕ iѕ mоrе оftеn duе to lаzinеѕѕ. So, if you’re the lazy type, online business is not for you.
[Tweet “If you’re the lazy type, online business is not for you.”]
Alѕо, the lеѕѕоnѕ learned in offline business must bе аррliеd to your online business, аѕ еlеmеntѕ like a ѕtrоng idеа fоr a рrоduсt оr service, solid undеrѕtаnding оf thе product оr ѕеrviсе, thе сuѕtоmеr, and marketing muѕt be fасtоrеd in carefully.
In ѕummаrу, thе ѕtоrу gоеѕ to ѕhоw that internet еntrерrеnеurѕhiр trаnѕсеndѕ mоrе thаn a great idеа, but ѕоlid сhаrасtеr аnd асtiоn аlѕо рlауѕ a рivоtаl role in success.
So if you think everything will just work out, with no set backs or discouragements, drop it. Failure is part of learning. You might fail because you’re just learning. But if you’re afraid to make mistakes, being an employee and not a business owner suits you.
A question might come to your mind.
Why did I let you know about all these?
It’s because I want to be honest with my visitors. In my opinion, the best way to gain trust from your blog visitors is to be 100% transparent and this is exactly what I’m currently doing. Aside from that, I’m also a pretty friendly folk.
The next article will be pick one of the big categories of making money online, till then, ruminate on what you’ve read and prepare your mind to get started.
Want to learn more about online marketing and how to leverage the power of the internet for profit? Join our online community and get access to informative blog posts, ebooks, courses and more.
*It took some time to put this together. Will you take a second to like and share this post? I’d really appreciate it.