Posted by Nadia on Nov 14, 2012 in Digital Entrepreneurship | 1 comment

“OMG, I WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR! I GOING TO QUIT MYJOB AND FINALLY TELL MY BOSS TO SUCK LOLLIPOPS! I’M GOING TO BE RICH BY NEXT MONTH. YE-HA SKIPP-IDDY-DO-DA-DAY!”

Okay, woah there, buddy. Let’s calm down. Don’t get so excited that your head pops off. Being an entrepreneur is a risky thing. 95% of entrepreneurs fail. Why? Because that attitude right up there, as well as not being prepared enough.  So, for the record, don’t quit your day job.

The Transition to Entrepreneur

So, you know what step one is right? Don’t quit your day job. Second? Starting the transition. Before you get into building a business and getting it vamped and shiny, you need to understand a thing or two about what you’re doing. So, here are the things you need to take care of.

Your time. There are only 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. And you’re probably sleeping half that time. With all that’s going on in your schedule, can you block out a minimum of 5 hours per week to dedicate to this? If it can’t seem to fit. Ask yourself if you would like being exactly where you are, on whichever path you’re on, 1 month, 3 months, 7 months, or a year from now? NOW try prioritizing it into your schedule. Because if you do no work, you get no perk.

Your motivation. Are you doing this for the right reasons? Just so you know, the wrong reasons are money, getting rich quick, and purely for escape (as in you just want to escape, you have no idea what you’re doing, so you plunge into entrepreneurship because it sounds cool).

Your support/accountability system. Do you have people rooting for you? On the flip side, many wise entrepreneurs suggest not telling people who are close to you of your aspirations if you know they won’t have your back. Instead, find a select few (1-2 people) that share your views about entrepreneurship (maybe create an online support group). You can tell your family and friends later on, when YOU are fully solid on your ambitions and nothing can waver you.

Research. You have to understand business and you have to understand where your strengths are. Finding the match between the two will help you pick the right service/product to offer.

The key is to keep it on the side, for now. It’s like a new born baby. You don’t just thrust it into the real world and say farewell. You raise that child and prepare for its growth. Oh, and the perfect phrase to plug in here too: BABY STEPS! BABY STEPS! BABY STEPS!

Take your time. Do small things, consistently. Then, you’ll see real progress.

Another reason to keep it on the side is that if it goes south, then you won’t being going with it!

Action Steps:

1. Start saving some money. Before you take any sort of action or buy anything, you should have $500-$1000 specifically saved for your entrepreneurial ventures.
2. Create an accountability group. List and contact 3 people who’ll support you and keep you on point.
3. Look at your weekly schedule. Block out a total of 5 hours of time throughout the week. Try to make it each “session” at least 30-45 minutes long. Dedicate those hours to entrepreneurial research.

If you feel like you need an in-depth process on how to tackle the transition to entrepreneurship and understanding what it entails, my new book, “The Actionbook to Entrepreneurship ” comes out on November 6^th. It’s packed with guides, worksheets, and action steps. ALL KILLA, NO FILLA! Coming FREE to all my subscribers because I love you guys!

What do you need help with the most in regards to shifting gears to entrepreneurship?

Posted by Nadia on Sep 24, 2012 in Digital Entrepreneurship | 4 comments

Just like in the tangible world, the online world has plenty of scams. You know those pop-ups that bombard you saying you can make $500 in 20 minutes, sounds like a catch and it probably is. It makes you think making money online is a bunch of rubbish. But the truth is you really can make money online and there are plenty of ways to do it.

Allow me to list the ways:

Flipping Sites/Domains: This is the same thing as flipping houses, but with websites. You can buy a site and “fix it up” or build one yourself and then sell it for a larger sum. If you’re good, you can sell sites or domains for thousands to millions of dollars. Want to know some real amounts people sell their sites for, check out https://flippa.com/.

App creation: iPhone and Android apps are starting to get pretty competitive, but you haven’t missed the boat yet. Build an app that people want and sell it and you could be easily make thousands of dollars. Do your research first though.

Advertisements: Another option is to put advertisements up on your online property, like your site. You can sell space individually to businesses or use Google’s Adwords. Depending on how many people go to your site, you could make a pretty dime.

Affiliate Marketing: This is something I do myself. It’s like getting credited for recommending a product to a friend. Basically, you refer someone to a product, and if they buy the product you get a commission. I made my first $100 online this way.

Selling Your Own Products/Services: Create a product or service and sell it online. You can build informational products or tangible products and sell them online. Or you can sell a service. I’m a copywriter and have a copywriting service that I offer. The trick here is making something people actually want to buy.

Those are a few ways to make money online. The more creatively helpful your approach, the more you’ll make. If you really want to make good money online, you really have to care about the people you are serving.

Want me to write an article on the specifics of how to get started on one of the above? Let me know in the comments. 

Posted by Nadia on Aug 3, 2012 in Digital Entrepreneurship | 14 comments

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

UPDATE: THE WINNER IS RAZAN SALIH!

The epitome of it all: Waking up to $1000’s of dollars of cash in your account. You made it in your sleep, of course, all through the awesome, high quality, products you sell online. Your workplace is anywhere you are and, right now, you’re in Madrid, Spain. “Why Hello, new day,” you say, “What’cha got for me!?”

The reality is: IT’S POSSIBLE. You think I’m crazy? I swear it is! It’s been done multiple times by multiple people. Who do you think the founders of Google, Facebook, and Instagram are? They’re digital entrepreneurs. You’ve already been lured into the world of digital entrepreneurship.

The catch? It’s a lot to learn, takes time to grow, and you need to fail a little before you succeed (usually). But, I mean, that’s the same with learning how to walk and you did that quite well, didn’t ya?

Business has evolved from the ol’ Ma and Pop shops. Internet and business have collided. I know what you might be thinking, “but only scammers do business online.” But, let’s think about it. There are scammers in traditional business too, aren’t there? Just like there are good and bad people in the traditional business world, there are good and bad people in the world of the internet.

So, business on the internet? Seems cool. But there are a few basic things you need to start a business:

1. A solution to a problem. (ex. A solution to getting organized)
2. A medium that contains that solution. (ex. An e-book)
3. A place where customers can find your solution. (ex. your website)
4. A way for people to pay you for that solution. (ex. Paypal)

The way you package those four points to your potential customers will determine your success. It’s as simple as that.

Now, how to do you tie your dream or passion into your business? You find a problem that needs solving in the area of your passion. Here’s an example:

In The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau, a man named Gary Leff is mentioned. He’s really good at figuring out how to take advantage of using his frequent flier miles to get trips for him and his family, a true travel hacker. Getting flier miles and using them are two completely different things, mind you. When his friends found out about his skill, they asked for his help. Being a good sport, he helped them out. Word spread. Now, Gary has a consulting business where he helps plan your trip with your own frequent flier miles. Guess how much he makes? He brought in $75,000 last year and is on track to top six figures annually. And it’s just his part-time gig, which he does for fun. He’s also a CFO for two university research centers. That’s multi-passionate.

(The GIVEAWAY of the book, The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau, is still going on until 11:59pm tonight, so SUBSCRIBE before it’s too late! The winner will be announced as soon as the deadline arrives!) THE WINNER IS RAZAN SALIH!

Have you ever had an idea to improve or alleviate a problem? Maybe even had the idea for a solution to something, but you later saw a company “copy” your idea? (When I was little, I thought erasable highlighters would be a great innovation, but a few months later I saw them in stores, ever have that experience? I felt like I got jipped.)

Let me know in the comments below!