How You Can Start An Online Business While Working Full Time
Is there another passion you want to pursue outside of your office job? Creating a side business is a great way to get started doing something you love without making a huge commitment – it's a win-win when it can be your creative outlet and bring in some extra cash! But getting started can be challenging, especially when it feels like you're constantly busy and don't have enough time, to begin with. We'll share five tips to make starting that dream business of yours a reality before the end of the year:
Outline clear goals
Niche down
Invest in your business
Learn the basics of marketing your business
Work on your mindset
Step 1: Outline clear goals
A passionate business also needs to have a purpose. This allows you to create a roadmap so you'll always know what to be working on and when to do it! When you're setting goals, it's important for them to be clear, measurable, and attainable. This doesn't mean you shouldn't set big goals – we just want to make sure your larger goals can be broken down into bite-sized chunks that allow you to track your progress.
So how can you do it? Set an overall goal for the year. This could be something like "I want to successfully launch one digital stationery collection by the end of the year." We can break this down into smaller goals to accomplish each week so that by the end of the year, we'll have a successful launch!
Before launching a collection, we need to set up an online shop, learn how to design a functional digital planner, start marketing and growing our online presence, and pick a niche for our products.
When we break down a larger goal this way, it feels much more realistic! Now we can assign a certain amount of time to each of these smaller goals. This also helps us track our progress because we know that each time we check off a smaller goal, we're closer to reaching our final one!
Psst! We’ve put together a free planner and workbook to help you get started doing this. This is the perfect planner to help you start your digital planner business. Learn more and download it here!
Step 2: Niche down
As we've mentioned, one of the most important steps to successfully starting a business while working a full-time job is by having a clear target audience. We need to bring them to life through an Ideal Client Avatar (or ICA)! There are already so many online businesses out there, so when you're just starting out, it's important to have a clear grasp of what makes your business different. One of the best ways to help your business stand out from the competition is by niching down! A niche is a specific industry that you'll be targeting with your products.
Knowing your niche allows you to know your target audience's struggles, problems, goals, desires, and needs. When you know exactly what your audience is looking for, you can create a product that is perfectly suited to their needs! Now you'll be able to create a loyal customer base that's going to keep coming back to purchase your products – allowing you to create more passive income that allows you to make money through your online business, even when you're at your day job!
How do you choose a niche? Your niche should be at the intersection of three things: your passions and interests, the problem you solve, and the services you offer. This ensures that you enjoy the work you do while still working in a profitable niche.
✨ Read this blog post all about switching, adding, or finding a niche in your digital planning business!
Step 3: Invest in your business
It's hard to do it all yourself, especially when you have so much else on your plate. Don't be afraid to ask for help from experts or hire professional service providers who can save you time by doing the work for you! Starting your own business involves a lot of trial and error, but the help of an industry expert can fast-track your business success so you can start making a full-time income with your online business in a matter of months.
Our signature program, Digital Planner Academy®, has helped hundreds of women to start their own businesses, even when they're busy with their 9-5, are mothers, or are traveling the world. In this self-paced online program, we bring together new & aspiring digital planner business owners to make the best decisions about launching and growing their online businesses. You'll receive a complete roadmap to successfully build, grow, and scale your digital planner business without ever feeling overwhelmed.
We also offer editable templates with commercial licenses that you can customize and sell:
Digital Planner Kits - choose from 10 different Kits that all appeal to different niches so you can create the perfect planner!
Digital Planner Base Pack - a pack of 12 templates for digital planners and notebooks in both vertical and horizontal layouts!
Add-on Template Packs - these packs allow you to take pages from one kind of Digital Planner Kit and add them to another for a completely custom planner!
Graphic Pack - effortlessly personalize your planners with hand-drawn illustrations that bring your stationery products to life!
Canva Mockup Kit - these mockups allow you to easily add your product covers so customers can visualize your products in their lives!
Brand Stationery Packs - take your template kit to the next level with a professionally curated color palette that allows you to create cohesive designs!
Step 4: Learn the basics of marketing your business
Since you're already busy balancing your full-time work with your online business, passive marketing strategies are going to be much more practical than social media marketing and platforms that require an active presence. This is why it's so worth it to spend some time learning about email and Pinterest marketing!
To begin with, there are two email sequences you'll want to create. A sales and nurture sequence can help you to drive sales and nurture leads and email is an essential part of that funnel. Today, it’s important to market through several different platforms. Sending reminder emails or promotional emails helps drive product sales so don’t skip this step!
You can make sales from email as well as social media. Social media is flashier and more image-focused, while email is more like a steady workhorse. That steady workhorse drives sales. People do click through to sign up for courses or buy products from email promotions. Ignoring email means turning away sales and you don’t want to do that!
✨ You can learn all about the importance of Pinterest marketing for your digital planning business in this blog post!
Step 5: Work on your mindset
Entrepreneurship isn't all sunshine and rainbows, there are tough times as well! To create a successful online business, you'll need some time to refine your mindset so you can make it through the hard seasons. Part of working on your mindset includes overcoming limiting beliefs. These are thoughts and opinions that we believe to be facts that hold us back from our potential. They can come in any form from our past experiences, the way we think, or the things that scare us. When we hit a roadblock in business, limiting beliefs can be the wall that stands in between where we are now and the goals we want to accomplish. Some common limiting beliefs can be...
Imposter syndrome
Perfectionism
Scarcity mindset
These three limiting beliefs can affect both your personal life and your business. Learn more about overcoming each of these mindset blocks in this blog post!
A great way to refine your mindset is by surrounding yourself with like-minded people. You’ll find this inside our community that comes with our signature program, Digital Planner Academy®. This is the place to be to learn more about starting a digital planner business from an expert who has helped hundreds of women build their dream businesses. Learn more here!
If you new here and want to know if digital planner design is for you, join our free Facebook group here.
Keep up the hard work!
We're so happy to hear that you want to start your own business pursuing your passion, and now that you've made it to the end of this blog post, we know you're serious about your commitment. Remember, don't give up! There are thousands of entrepreneurs who will tell you that it's so worth it to become your own boss.
And don't forget, we're here to help you every step of the way with our signature program, customizable templates, and our expansive blog!