10 Steps to Opening a Successful Online Business

Now that you’ve learned the modern tools and strategies that you can use and help you start your online business, I would like to congratulate you on your decision to start your own online business!

You have separated yourself from your contemporaries who have chosen to remain committed to the 9-to-5 lifestyle and have decided to grab this powerful entity called “life” by its horns and take control of your destiny.

You are among the few, the brave, the proud. The entrepreneur!

Starting any new endeavor is never easy, especially one that has serious repercussions not just on your life but on those who depend on you. The pressures are very real, and they will come at you every waking day of your life as an entrepreneur.

In time, these pressures will just be routine.

For now, however, you must work to ensure that when you cast off your ship toward the journey to financial freedom and entrepreneurial success, it will be smooth and trouble-free.

Here are ten steps to help you launch a successful online business:

10 Steps to Launch a Successful Online Business

1. Create a “Life Flow Chart”

The cost of trying to achieve financial freedom is not quantified through monetary components alone. As an entrepreneur, your drive to succeed will often override your obligations to other aspects of your life, and the consequences can be far-reaching.

Thus, before you embark on this life-changing journey to entrepreneurial success, you must first make an accounting of your life and have a clear understanding of what assets are at stake and the liabilities you may end up accumulating.

A “Life Flow Chart” is an effective way of itemizing your current assets and liabilities. These do not have a monetary value; instead, these assets and liabilities comprise what you have in your life right now.

By making an accounting of your assets and liabilities, you will have a clearer perspective to know what you need to do to improve your personal well-being and increase the value of your stock in life.

• Current realities. This is your current status in life and seeks to answer the following questions:
  • How would you rate your quality of life? Rate 1-10 with 10 being the highest.
  • What makes you happy?
  • What makes you unhappy?
  • Are there things in your life right now that you want to change?
  • How would you describe your ideal life?
  • Do you have a life manifesto?
• Strengths and weaknesses. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is a crucial activity that will greatly impact your business planning and modeling. In a journal, create a separate section for each and go into great detail about how you plan to maximize your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.
• Non-negotiable core values. Your core values determine how you think, react, behave and manage all the circumstances and situations you go through in life. Identify five that are non-negotiable which means under no circumstances will you go against them when making a decision or confronted with a difficult choice.
• Identify purpose and vision. Once you have firmed up your non-negotiable core values, you will gain greater clarity on your purpose and vision. Remember, aligned values, purpose, and vision are critical to ensuring the success of the business because it keeps you on the course.

2. Conduct Research

Before you start a business, you should first determine what that business is or its concept. The process begins by identifying a need for a product or service and the best methodology by far, is to conduct research.

• Market research. Now that you have identified your strengths and weaknesses, and reviewed your life history, you should have an idea of which industries to conduct research on. The purpose of market research is to determine the existence of a demand for a specific product or service by reviewing and analyzing statistics, current market studies, consumer reports, and other references that refer to the current state of the industry. When you have established the demand, you will know who your target market is.
• Marketing study. Once you have identified the need and firmed up your business concept, the next step is to figure out how your business can reach its target market. A marketing study is a crucial component in finalizing your working capital and in conceptualizing your business development schedule.
• Project feasibility. Project feasibility determines the viability of your business and is vital for effective cash management which is highly important for start-up enterprises. There are three (3) important financial reports that must be covered by your project feasibility study.
  • Projected cash flow. A projected cash flow shows you how your funds are moving in and out of your business.
  • Projected income statement. The purpose of the income statement is to determine profitability.
  • Cash disbursement schedule. In conjunction with your cash flow, this helps track obligations and activities for expansion that need funding.

3. Construct Your Business Model

Your business model answers the question, “How do I plan to run my business?” Obviously, you have decided to run an online business which more than likely means you will be home-based. You now have to dial into the details of managing your enterprise. Among the issues you need to address to firm up your business model are as follows:

• Types of products and services offered. Will you offer tangible products? Will you be purely consultative or informative?
• Revenue structure. What are the pricing points that will be used as a basis for determining your rates?
• Internal systems. How do I want to get paid? How do I qualify new personnel? How do I monitor the upkeep of my work infrastructure?
• Contingencies. What are the possible scenarios and factors that could potentially affect my conduct of business and revenue structure?
• Value-chain. Where should I source additional personnel? Whom should I get as suppliers?

4. Determine Your Business Personality

An important but often overlooked aspect of starting an online business is determining the business personality. Most people believe that you don’t need to establish your business personality if you are an online business because you are home-based, and there is no commercially-located and publicly available brick-and-mortar establishment to visit.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the only difference between an online business and a physical business is “location”. Business is set up to make a profit; this means the availability of income and the existence of expenses. Whenever you generate income, you are subject to taxes, and when you incur expenses, you incur obligations.

There are three types of business personalities: sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. Your choice of personality has tax and business repercussions. While I will not expound on the differences between these personalities, I would advise you to assume a corporate identity because the extent of your liability will only be up to the value of your assets.

Should your business fail and you end up owing creditors, they will only be able to run after the company’s assets, not your personal assets, unlike the sole proprietorship and partnership. It will be more expensive to set up a corporation as you have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, obtain the necessary business permits, and licenses, and fund paid-up capital for account opening purposes, but the costs will be worth it to protect your personal assets.

Corporate identity also lends more credibility to your brand. Clients would prefer to deal with entities that have the ability or capacity to scale up operations.

A final note on setting up a corporation as your online business personality: the SEC will require you to indicate a business address in your Articles of Incorporation. If you are home-based, you have to check first with your village association if its by-laws allow residents to open up businesses within the subdivision. If not, you will have to rent out a receiving address in a commercial area. The average cost would be Php1,500-5,000 per month depending on location and coverage of services.

5. Invest in Key Business Assets

Once all the administrative work has been done, you can now focus on the meat and potatoes of your online business. These are otherwise referred to as your business assets, the components that will help you generate revenues.

• Website. First up is investing in the website design services of a reputable agency. Your website is your business hub in the cyber world. It is your “virtual brick and mortar” establishment, where Internet users can find you and business, will be conducted.

For an online business, not only is the website your meat and potatoes. It is also your bread and butter. It will serve as your storefront.

Even if resources are scarce, resist the urge to go cheap on your website. Here are invaluable tips for your website:

• • Hire a reputable web designer/developer.
  • Adopt mobile responsive design.
  • If you are not IT competent, at least learn the Content Management System or CMS.
  • Implement SEO or Search Engine Optimization strategies during the development stages. SEO works to have your website found better on search engines.
  • Plan the content marketing strategy with your SEO professional and content writer.

I have done several website designs and digital marketing for different customers around the world. Investing in a website is a necessity if you are serious about building and growing a successful online business.

• Online business tools. We have discussed these in Chapter 1. In case you’ve to skip it, I recommend going back and reading it. Once you are done, go back here, and you should already have firmed up your tools of the trade.
• Contracts. Even if you are plying your trade online, contracts are necessary instruments to protect your business and as references for disputes arising from the conduct of operations.

From experience, quite some clients; usually from North America, do not have contracts because of the difficulty of enforcing provisions given the international nature of the agreement and they operate through trust.

Nevertheless, always have contracts available for distribution. You have more to gain and less to lose by having them within reach. Here are the major contracts to produce for your business:

• • Service Level Agreement or Memorandum of Agreement
  • Confidentiality Agreement or Non-Disclosure Agreement
  • Employment Contract
  • Statement of Work
• Hardware. Your main piece of equipment and your workhorse is the computer. If you prefer a PC, make sure it is in excellent condition and upgraded to the latest version of its operating system, firewall and anti-virus protection, and programs as mentioned in the previous chapter. Check the reliability of your supporting hardware like your headset or if you are in the transcription business, the foot pedal.

You should also choose a reliable Internet service provider. The Philippines has had its share of Internet criticism in the last few years, but you have to deal with what you have. I would suggest you subscribe to a primary line from a preferred ISP and a backup line from another ISP. Ideally, you should have a minimum of 3MB for home-based operations.

I would further suggest investing in good furniture such as an ergonomic chair because you will be spending the majority of your time sitting down. Also, a large, possibly L-shaped table; one side can be dedicated for handwriting work and reviewing documents, and the other for the PC.

You should also invest in a laptop, notebook, or tablet in case you have to go mobile. The Philippines’ power supply outlook has not been optimistic in years so you should factor in the occurrences of outages especially if you reside in the Southern part of the country.

6. Setup Your Logistical Support

Another overlooked area of starting a business is the importance of logistical support. These are people who can lend your company assistance regarding consultation or performance of work that are limited in scope and duration. Among these are:

• Accountant. If you are not competent in analyzing numbers, make sure you have a reliable and
  experienced accountant to prepare your financial reports and review them with you every month.
• Lawyer. Even if there are contract templates available online, these are mostly generic and will not key provisions that could be critical to your operation. A lawyer can review your contracts, customize them according to your business needs and be available for consultation should the situation arise that merit their advice.
• IT Support. Your website cannot break down. It must be well-maintained and frequently updated to make sure it is accessible.

Keep in mind that these are professionals and their services could be acquired on a retention basis or a per-project basis. Retention would entail you paying them even if they are not working or doing anything for your business.

An accountant would charge between P2,500 to 5,000 per month while a lawyer would average P5,000 to P10,000 per month. IT Support would be lower at Php1,500 per month. Of course, the price varies depending on which professionals or companies you worked with.

7. Create a 201 File

Even if you are starting your online business as a one-man unit, it would be wise to start accumulating candidates for future positions. It helps any expansion plan move further along and builds up your network of contacts.

Your 201 can consist of candidates from the following sources:

• Previous employment. You may have former colleagues whom you feel could be an asset in your
  operation someday. Let them know you will reach out to them should the need arise.
• Referrals. If your friends and associates refer candidates to you, there will be fewer concerns about integrity issues because it is assumed they have your best interests at hand.
• Online sources. You can also acquire candidates through online sources but be mindful of their conditions. Some carry placement fees while some have very strict guidelines on posting jobs.

8. Schedule Your Networking Activities

If there is one activity that never ends the moment you launch your business, it would be networking. The purpose of networking is simple: to increase your connections or the number of contacts. There are two ways to network:

• Traditional networking. This involves leg work. Your objective is to find a venue or forum where you can present your business. Make sure you have enough calling cards, brochures, and a short but comprehensive PowerPoint Presentation ready at all times. Among the most productive events to network are:
  • Trade shows
  • Conventions
  • Business forums
  • Small Business Expositions
• Digital Networking. Here you are harnessing the power of the Internet and capitalizing on the influence of social media. There are several social media networks that you can tap into to increase your number of contacts. Among the most popular are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Opening a social media account is easy and free of charge. But you have to approach these with strategy and purpose because not all social media networks operate in the same way.

Over time as they gained popularity, a self-contained community developed each with its set of nuances. A Facebook community is more informal than a LinkedIn community which is used primarily for professional networking activities.

Social media marketing works because it provides you with the volume and the reach. The challenge is how to connect and engage. Despite working in the comforts of your home, social media marketing requires time, patience, and discipline. You have to be consistent in your efforts to get results.

9. Build Your Brand

Do not make the same mistake as some business owners and wait for traction before you build your brand. It takes some time to build a brand, and your market will not identify your product or service if it doesn’t know who you are. And the reason for that is you are your brand. So, how do you build a brand?

Well, if you went through the process outlined in Step #1 and identified your set of non-negotiable core values you have already started the brand-building process.

Your brand encapsulates your values, purpose, and vision; it represents who you are. By letting your market discover the “who” behind the brand, they will uncover the “why,” “how” and “what” of your business. This is how you build a brand; by establishing emotional connectivity with your market!

When you have a clearer idea of your brand, it would be easier for you to capture its essence in your company or business logo. These are not just colorful depictions of intricately designed symbols. Logos are strong, powerful initiators of brand recall. You need to put thought, purpose, and strategy into designing your logo.

10. Go to Market

Finally, it’s time to take the show on the road! Assuming that your website has been declared fit to go live by your web developer and your online programs are already in place, you can officially launch your online business.

Now that you have officially launched your business, every hour becomes an opportunity to take your enterprise forward. Thus, you must make every hour count and strive to become productive.

Good advice for start-ups, especially for first-time entrepreneurs is to develop a schedule or a routine. Having a schedule helps organize your business because it creates structure. When you have a structure in place, it encourages you to stay disciplined and maintain focus on accomplishing the tasks at hand.

How we set up our schedule depends on two things:

• The nature of your business.
• Who you are as a person.

How you set up your schedule is less important than actually having one. What you need to keep in mind is that your schedule must have the necessary components to make you productive.

Remember that the day you launch your business is the first of many such days. Why? Because success in the entrepreneurial journey will always be fleeting. Not because you can never hope to achieve (you will if it comes with dedication, commitment, and resiliency), but because once you accomplish it, there will always be new challenges to overcome, new goals to reach, and new projects to launch.

Next read: How to Create an Online Business Website