Starting from Scratch: what I would do if I had 0 followers and 0 revenue

If you’ve ever dreamed about starting a digital business (or changing up your current one), but keep putting it in the ‘too hard’ basket, then this episode is all you need to motivate yourself towards your goals with actionable step-by-step tips!

Prefer To Read? Here’s The Blog Version…

Welcome back to the podcast! I have so many things I want to share with all of you today. I feel like my mind has just been all over the place with different thoughts, different ideas, and when that happens, I know that I just need to sit in front of the microphone and let it all out. I think it’s also because I’m getting married in less than a month, and I’ve just been so busy with planning and coordinating, but also with planning where we’re going to go right after the wedding. So we’re gonna go down to Galicia in Spain, so planning everything for our road trip on that end. 

Digital Nomad Society Launches 1st September!

But what’s also really exciting behind the business is we are launching the Digital Nomad Society very, very shortly. I think by the time this episode airs, it will be within the same week. So we are aiming for a September 1st launch, and this new membership is going to be for those of you who either want to be digital nomads and have no idea how to make it work, or current nomads traveling the world who want to meet a group of like-minded digital nomad, online entrepreneurs, travelers, and me up.

I first had the idea for this community because as a digital nomad, a, it’s harder to meet people because you don’t have a physical base or location. But also having been a digital nomad for the past over five years, I realized that a lot of people don’t really understand how it works and they really want this lifestyle, but the logistics freak them out and they don’t know how to go about doing it. It’s really not that difficult when you have a step-by-step action plan. So if this is up your alley, follow along on Instagram, sign up for the email Newsletter, because that’s where I will be sharing when doors are officially open, and we all cannot wait to welcome you inside.

And going back to what I said about not knowing the logistics around this lifestyle, seeing it as a lofty goal or dream in the future, I really have to remind myself this all the time because you only know what you know and you don’t know what you don’t know. And I was at a point where I very vividly remember not knowing. I remember not knowing how to run a business, let alone an online business. I remember not knowing how to be a digital nomad. I didn’t know how to pave my own path outside of corporate and how to find my community and everything that is my reality today. I vividly remember not knowing. And so I want to dedicate this episode to bringing it all back. 

How To Start From Scratch With A Business In 2023

So I quit my job in 2017 knowing what I know now. Obviously, if I started over today, I would’ve probably grown my business a lot faster. I would’ve just been more successful from the beginning instead of taking all of those years trying to figure it out. So this episode is going to be all about Starting from Scratch, what I would personally do if I had zero followers, zero business, zero revenue, zero audience, zero systems, nothing in place. Literally Starting from Scratch.

And I’m going to walk you through the main components of what I would focus on instead of having shiny object syndrome and trying to do it all. And I hope that by listening to this If, you are just starting out or If you want to get started. You will learn from my mistakes and also focus on what is the most important. 

Mindset Shift: Run A Business Like A Business Not An Employee

So the first thing that I definitely recognize the massive shifts and changes in from when I was just starting out as an entrepreneur versus a very seasoned entrepreneur is the mindset of running a business like a business and being a successful business owner. I think if I didn’t have this current mindset, I would be very open, at least to admitting that I needed to learn new things.

The mindset of being an employee is so different than that of an entrepreneur and things like being a consumer instead of a creator, going from scarcity mindset to abundance mindset, going from saving mentality to investing mentality. All of these things you need to learn and be really good at as an entrepreneur because you are running your own business and you need to practice these things in order to make it successful. So another big mindset shift that I’ve noticed is definitely running my business like different departments, having a different department for each line of business and each operation. I remember when I worked for Bank of America and we had so many different departments and so many different hierarchies, and it was a massive, massive trillion dollar company.

But obviously their hierarchies are there for a reason. It’s so that they can continue growing. They have the foundations to scale, and they are efficient for the most part. And If, you are running your own business. You want to model other successful businesses, and so you are probably gonna need to start thinking like a CEO instead of having someone else tell you what to do every day. And If, you don’t know how to do that. Then you can learn. This is something that I address in the Wanderlover Business Academy, and that is the course I created because I know that if you are coming from corporate. You’re probably gonna want to learn how to run a successful online business.

If, you already knew you wouldn’t be researching how to run a successful online business, right? So getting out of the mentality that you already know it all and being really open to learning new things, especially from people who have already been there, that is key. The rest of these tips are honestly going to come from a place where I, I know now as a business owner, I know for a fact that it is easy to make money online. I know that it is possible to make money online. I know that it is very possible to make a lot of money online. There is no doubt about that because I have experienced that. So If, you are still trying to reach that point. I would definitely work on the mindset bit first. 

Focus On ONE Specific ‘Thing’

The second thing of what I would do if I was Starting from Scratch is to focus on one super specific thing that I can help with. And after 30 years of living, I can definitely come up with many things that I would be really good at helping other people with. Not because I’m an expert, but because I am just a few steps ahead of them, whether that is how to record a podcast or how to edit resumes, how to use chat GPT, how to play the piano, how to use Lightroom, how to curate a cohesive Instagram feed.

Honestly, I would just spend so much time brainstorming all the possibilities and then choose which one excites me the most. Knowing that it can always change, your offers can always change, but what I would do is focus on one specific thing and create a one-on-one offer and price it at over a thousand dollars. So a thousand to maybe $3,000. I would price a high ticket program where I can have that large cash injection. And if I was starting from zero audience, I would probably follow demand. I would probably go into Facebook groups and see what people need help with. I would probably reframe or retrain my mind to see opportunities as in who needs help from my circle, from my network, who needs help with what and what I can help with.

So starting to kind of filter out your day-to-day interactions as in how can I make this a business? How can I package this offer and price it and turn it into something super transformational? That’s what I would focus on first. Crafting a high value, high ticket offer.

Pick ONE Social Media Platform To Focus On

Then number three, the third thing I would focus on is picking one platform and organic social media platform that I can then start building my brand from. It’s amazing. It still blows my mind how social media is free. It’s such a powerful tool. You can connect with so many people, so many leads, and it’s just so powerful. So if you had this one offer. I would pick one platform. For me, it would probably be Instagram because I just find it the most intuitive and the easiest for me to use. But if I couldn’t choose Instagram, I would probably go with TikTok, but I would pick one and I would create a reels strategy to direct people to my page and book a free consultation that leads ’em into this high ticket, one-on-one offer that I created.

It is so easy to post a reel every single day and selling in the reel every single day. If I came from zero audience and zero followers and zero revenue, every single reel that I posted would probably be selling something that is just strategically what I would do to get my first client. Because if you’re just starting out, the first client is going to help you build so much confidence, and it’s really going to help you with reinvesting your money into other business operations. And so this third focus point of picking one platform, sticking to it, having a consistent strategy that directs people to your quote unquote funnel that you’re starting to build.

This is really important. And it’s also what I call working in the business. You are the business at this point and you need to be working on the things that’s going to bring in the most traffic. And the other thing about picking a platform and being consistent on it is that you wanna treat it like a business. I probably would share very little of my personal life at this point. Just when you are first starting out, it’s just really important to build a, a really memorable brand that is business oriented and then start adding in bits of your personal life. We don’t want people to get confused of whether this is a business page or a personal page. So if all else fails, focus on the business part first and then add in the personal life after the fourth thing I would focus on. 

Work ON The Business, Not Just ‘In’ The Business

And the fourth thing is working on the business. So number three, in the business where you’re trying to drive leads to book a call and then sell your offer very in the business actions. The fourth thing is to work on the business. So overall business strategy, thinking bigger, making sure the foundation is there, and this includes working on the website, growing your email list. I would create a lead magnet so I didn’t have to be only using reels to drive traffic to my page.

I would be able to then use paid advertising to create a self-liquidating offer so that I can continuously grow my business on autopilot. Of course, when I am working on things like the website and the email list and the lead magnet, I’m not technically making money, right? I’m not directly getting people to book with me. But these are foundational pieces where if you want a long-term sustainable business. You need both. You need to be showing up on social media every day, and you need to be really clear on what it is that’s going to bring in those leads in the long run after you have created all of this so that you don’t need to rely on one strategy.

And this is what I call working on the business. It’s bigger picture. It’s how do we want this to run in one year’s time, in three years time, in five years time? Because I’m at a point now where I know I don’t wanna be on social media every day, and I can only imagine when my life gets bigger and more busy, I’m probably not going to want social media to be the driver of my business. And so what have I done? I’ve created foundational aspects where my business can monetize. I can make passive income. I’ve built all of these systems. So If, you are just Starting from Scratch too. Focus on things that make you sales because they’re going to enable you to have the time to then build the foundational aspects.

Reinvest Your Profits

The last step or the last thing I would think about if I was Starting from Scratch and I’ve done steps one through four, the last step is to obviously make a sale and start working with clients, but I would also reinvest everything that I make. I would reinvest it all back into the business. I would package the one-on-one offer into either a course or a membership. So starting to step away already, right? I have the one-on-one offer, but now I’m thinking how do I package it so I don’t have to rely on private coaching? I can have other income streams that are more Passive, so I would package the one-on-one offer into a course or membership, and then use all of that money to set up the systems and ads to scale so as to direct traffic to my course or my membership, and then start selling that on the back end as well as the one-on-one.

I always recommend starting with a one-on-one service first because it’s usually easier and faster to monetize. You don’t have to go through creating an entire course or membership without knowing your own strengths and your own processes of doing things and guiding a client from A to B, right? So after working with a few people, then you can package everything that you worked with them through into something that is more scalable.

Reflecting Back, What Would I Change?

Ultimately, I have been in this industry for so long, and I would still start with the coaching and content creation industry. It is so rewarding. You can connect with people from all around the world, and there are a lot of opportunities in the online space, but ultimately it is so scalable. Like when you have a personal brand, you can introduce many ways to monetize. You can scale as big as you would like. You have full control over your brand, you’re not working for anyone else. And I think what I really am grateful for is that you’re able to do all of this with a very lean team. You don’t need so many people to be successful. It’s not like you run a restaurant and you need a certain number of staff.

You can operate very lean, you can operate with only contractors, or for the first few months you can be a solopreneur and be completely fine. You can even like continue as a solopreneur if that’s what you really want. There’s just so many different directions and it’s fully customizable to how you want to live and how you wanna grow your business. 

In Summary

So again, starting from number one, just knowing that it is possible for you, adopting the mindset of a successful entrepreneur, knowing it is easy to make money online. It is possible to make money online. You just have to go through what has been tried and tested and proven. Follow a path, If, you don’t know what the path is, I would recommend checking out the business Academy. I’ll link it in the episode description. Number two, focusing on one specific valuable high ticket offer. Number three, having a strategy on one platform that you can drive traffic to. Number four, focus behind the scenes. Work on your business in terms of your website, your branding, email list, lead magnet, and then reinvest everything that you make from the one-on-ones and package it into a course or a membership. And then use paid advertising to scale.

That is how I would go about it. Again and again and again. It has been tried and tested, and if others can do it, you can too. Dm me if you have any questions, check out the resources in the episode description. I’m gonna go for a surf (check out my face digital nomad surf destinations here), and then I’m going to go back to some wedding planning. I’ll see you guys in the next episode.

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