BE REALISTIC:
1: Realize that starting a legitimate business is out of the question until you solve your own financial problems. It was a hard realization for me, but I learned that you can have the best business concept in the history of the universe, but if you can't finance it and do it right, it will never succeed.
2: Sell everything you can sell. Especially obligations that have monthly installments. If it wasn't nailed, I sold it. I lost money on most everything but it was worth it in the long run.
3: Consolidate debt and cancel all unnecessary subscriptions. This has allowed me to lower my monthly obligations, lower interest rates on some debt and pay off larger chunks of debt.
FOCUS ON THE MONEY:
1: Look for a better paying job. We often underestimate ourselves and what we are capable of achieving. Go ahead and see what's available. What's the worst a potential employer can say, right? This is actually how I ended up in Syria. I was able to more than double my salary by taking a position that most people wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I even fell in love with the job, but at first I was just making personal sacrifices to achieve a long-term goal. As an entrepreneur, if you're not willing to make sacrifices, you're in the wrong business.
2: Use a skill, learn a skill, or try something new. Stop worrying about starting a business and focus on actually making money. I've been able to make an extra $1,500 a month writing content for people's blogs, creating social media content, and writing small informational ebooks. Here is a solid hint. If you want to make money, be willing to do the grunt work. Do things that people don't like to do themselves.
It wasn't glamorous, but it accelerated my debt repayment. I was able to get most of my business from joining niche forums and Facebook groups. Here's a solid tip - niche forums and Facebook groups are two of the few places on the internet where you can get those eyeballs for free, but you have to be offering something they're actively looking for.
I had never actually done any of the services I started offering, but with a little practice and learning from people on YouTube, I was able to exceed customer expectations.
STARTING A BUSINESS AND SCALING:
Once you're debt free or close to it and have at least $2,000 to invest, it's time to start your online business.
Here is the process I like to follow:
1: Don't think big corporations. Better to start small and build. Use the new skills you've learned to make extra money during the debt repayment phase and start something you know can be profitable. We all have our dream business, but right now it's more important to start with something low-risk and stable. Learn to be passionate about the process and the business in general rather than a specific idea or concept.
2: Once you have a steady flow of business, learn how to outsource with freelancers. Implement processes to take yourself out of the equation to the point where you are simply managing businesses and dealing with customers. This allows you to continue to earn from the business, but it frees you up to work on the next business.
3: Take the earnings from your first business and invest it in your next business concept. Ideally, you will only invest the profits from business number one into business number two. This allows you to continue to build your personal savings from your day job while allowing you to invest in your online business.
4: Rinse and repeat.
DO NOT RUSH THE PROCESS. ENJOY THE JOURNEY:
Personally, I like having three to five businesses running at any given time. Two or three of them will be low-end grunt work businesses that fund my ideal businesses.
Grunt businesses are profitable because everyone hates doing their own grunt work. This is why people pay to have their houses cleaned and their lawns mowed.
You can easily and successfully scale without having to invest money earned from a full-time job. This allows you to continue to save and grow financially while you build something real.
PICTURES:
Starting a business can be difficult and is a process that should not be rushed. It's actually a pretty simple process if you're patient.
1: Fix yourself
2: Focus on the money
3: Start with something low risk
4: Outsourcing
5: Invest the profit in other business concepts
6: Repeat
In my opinion, this is the one process that gives the average person the best chance of being able to start a successful online business.
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