An Introvert’s Guide to

STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS

© 2015 by Rebecca Livermore and Professional Content Creation

 An Introvert’s Guide to
STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
Grab a pen and paper or open up a Word doc so you can jot down some notes as you work through this
10-step plan for building the online business of your dreams.

Step 1: Determine Your Why

It’s important to have a strong “why” for starting a business. While making money is one motivation for any
business, in and of itself, it’s not enough. Your why should get to the heart of what you want to accomplish
as a result of your business. For example, for me it’s freedom, and a way to provide and care for my family.
Knowing your why keeps you going when the going gets tough and helps you know which opportunities to
say yes or no to.

Step 2: Find a Profitable Niche

Your niche should fit with your passions, interests, and experience. But in order for it to be profitable, it
has to be something people are willing to pay for. Because of this, when trying to determine your niche,
check to see if other people are making money in that niche, and then consider how you can add your own
unique twist.

Step 3: Start a Blog

Your blog is your home base for your online business. It’s where you’ll build the “know, like and trust” factor
with your fans and customers. It’s also where you can sell your products and/or services.

If you don’t yet have a blog, check out my post, A Complete Guide to Starting Your First WordPress Blog.

Step 4: Grow One Social Media Channel

Initially focus on just one social media platform. Once you get the hang of one platform and have a decent
following there, you can add new platforms.

The platform that’s right for you depends on your own preferences, as well as your specific product or ser-
vice. For instance, if your product or service is very visual, then Pinterest is a good platform. If your primary
audience are business people, LinkedIn may be the best fit, etc.

Step 5: Set Up an Email List

It’s been said that the money’s in the list. It’s also been said that if you don’t have a list, you don’t have a
business. While that may be overstating it a bit, it’s important to start building your email list from day one.

My top two recommended email service providers are GetResponse and AWeber.

© 2015 by Rebecca Livermore and Professional Content Creation

 An Introvert’s Guide to
STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS

Step 6: Develop Your Own Products or Services

Depending on your niche, you may or may not be able to sell affiliate products. While selling the products
of others is fine, selling your own products or services is more lucrative and satisfying, and you have more
control over them.

Step 7: Set Up Payment Processing

PayPal and Stripe are both popular payment processing options that only cost you when you actually
make sales, so they are a great way to start.

Step 8: Set up Product Delivery

If you’re selling products rather than services, you’ll need a way to deliver those products. If you have a
physical product and don’t want to bother with shipping, Fulfillment by Amazon is a good option.

For digital product delivery, I recommend this eStore plugin or OptimizePress. OptimizePress is best for
membership sites and can also be used for creating sales pages, landing pages, etc. Just be aware that
OptimizePress has a somewhat steep learning curve, but is great once you get the hang of it!

Step 9: Create Systems

Systems are step-by-step instructions for anything you do regularly for your business. For instance, you
may have a checklist that needs to be followed each time you publish a blog post, send a newsletter, or
package a product.

You can document your systems using a paid service such as Sweet Process or a free service such as
Google Drive or OneDrive. Doing so enables you to share your systems with others.

Step 10: Hire a Team

Bootstrapping it is all well and good, but there comes a time when you’ll need help if you want your busi-
ness to grow. Some good places to start are Fiverr (for very small projects) and Upwork for one-off projects
that are more complex.

For more tips on blogging and business, visit ProfessionalContentCreation.com

© 2015 by Rebecca Livermore and Professional Content Creation