A longtime wish
Reading through my posts, especially the first ones, you might be able to tell that having a business and making some money online, with this blog, in particular, was a common theme and something I still aspire to do someday.
The more I research about starting a business and the more I listen to business, self-development, and financial podcasts, the more I resonate with the idea of having something of my own that serves me, that I can grow and scale, that allows me to feel financially free, and is flexible enough to fit into my life, as I mold around it.
I want to have my business, but how? What business model should I follow, and how much should I invest? Just...how??
The first thing that comes to mind is that I need someone to sell whatever I come up with to.
Having worked at start-ups for quite a while now, I understand the principles of a minimal viable product, product-market fit, failing fast and cheap, and A/B testing.
I need something simple to test the market acceptance of, see what needs changing, and test many versions.
I also understand, to an extent, the attention market we are living in now, where you build a community around one or few interests, or content pillars as they are technically called. The people who are interested in the context and come to you are leads, essentially, and will be your best bet when trying to convert sales.
So here is my current scenario:
I don't have much capital to invest. I don't know what to sell yet.
What I do know is that I need to build a following first and I'm doing that, especially through Insta. I also know it might take a while, longer than I expected.
On the other hand, I have close family members who often bring up business ideas. Although that's super helpful, I always feel like it's not the idea that's the difficult part, but the public and how to sell to it. And this is what I'm stressing about.
I thought about partnerships before and still do. I like the idea of sharing the mental burden with someone willing to take risks, grow, and learn as much as you. Bonus points to also feeling a lot less daunting this way.
I also feel like I have the desire in me, a fire almost, pushing me toward entrepreneurship, although I still don't know what my steps would be.
My current options
An alternative route I thought about is making some extra cash as a freelancer consultant, but I haven't been seeing much need or desire for what I can consult on in my circles or research. One option is to do it for the small fashion company I used to work at, as they also signaled to me a few times they would want me back.
Do I start something with my partner, sister, mother, or stepmother? Also would really love to. Starting in partnership with someone makes the whole thing seem less daunting to me. I would love to do it with someone close too, as it makes room for me to be more honest and have frank conversations about how we want to conduct the business, instead of a more distant person whom I wouldn't feel as comfortable with. Starting a cafe with my mom or fashion e-commerce with my sister and stepmother are both open options. Finally, I like the thought of investing in start-ups I believe in through crowdfunding, but I still need to save more money for that. I discovered two crowdfunding companies I really like in my country and am studying them, they have some amazing start-ups in their portfolio.
So, owning a business, right? What are the next steps?
Research my options, first of all. Talk to everyone I need to talk to, look up prices, vendors, and come up with different marketing strategies.
The more I get to know now, the more questions I can ask later.
Time investment is another big one because this can only start as a side hustle.
What about you? Do you have any tips to give me? Articles or posts to check out? Let me know!
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