Taking the first step can be scary, exciting and lead to greatness. The key is to take small actions daily that add up. A year from now, you’ll thank yourself.

Tomorrow is now. A year from now, where do you want to be?

Taking the first step can be scary, exciting and lead to greatness. The key is to take small actions daily that add up. A year from now, you’ll thank yourself.

When I started my journey as an online entrepreneur, I experienced culture shock. I had spent my entire adult life in a corporate tech position and the lack of processes and systems was mind blowing. I had no idea how much had to be designed, planned and implemented and I got stuck.

Social media seemed so easy, until your audience and followers don’t come. The website was beautiful, but not a lead generation machine and I didn’t know what to say in my e-mail marketing. If failure to plan was a plan to fail, expectations was the atomic bomb that leveled my reality and made getting anywhere just impossible.

I knew nothing about what it would take to build the business of my dreams or how to make the connections necessary. I just didn’t know how to build a business, and I see many other online entrepreneurs experiencing the same soul crushing pain of failure.
And it sucked everything out of me. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I could focus on nothing but my own failure and the feeling that my life was meaningless. May sound so fatalistic, but I thought that if I couldn’t make a living online, I was destined for failure in every area in my life.
I couldn’t have been more wrong, so if you are feeling the same, keep reading because I turned it all around and you can too.
I expected that if I built it, they would come. I expected that my brilliance would shine so bright that the Google Gods would just send people to me. Reality slapped me around for a year before I realized that I had set myself up for failure.

I expected that if I built it, they would come. I expected that my brilliance would shine so bright that the Google Gods would just send people to me. Reality slapped me around for a year before I realized that I had set myself up for… Click To Tweet

People say that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they don’t give credit to the fact that it was being built every day. Every day another stone was put into place and the structure rose. Yes, it took time, but it was accomplished and if the ancient civilizations can build pyramids with no tech or mechanical tools, you can build your business online.

The Reality Check That Changed Everything

I hired a coach. Now before you walk away thinking that she changed everything for me, she didn’t. She was very good but I didn’t understand what she was telling me to do.

Make those deep connections. Speak their language. Show up where they are. Just because you build it doesn’t mean they know who you are, what you do and it certainly doesn’t mean that they trust you. They don’t even know where to find you or how to get where you want them to be. They didn’t know who I was and people do not buy or work with people they do not know.

Seems so simple, but I couldn’t make the connection at all. She told me I was brilliant, told me people needed me in the world, she told me how to reach them but I resisted, backed away, felt like a failure and cried.

Sound familiar?

Are you reading all of the posts online and articles that tell you how easy it is to make 5 figures a month but getting frustrated because you’re lucky if you make 3? Are you following all of the gurus who say how easy it is and beating yourself up because you can’t make it happen?

This is the reality check you’ve been looking for: everything she said was 100% true!

You have to build affinity with your audience while building an audience. Say that 5 times fast. You have to make those deep connections while building followers. You have to speak their language. Find out what keeps them up at night. Solve a problem for them and go where they hang out and let your light shine.

You have to build affinity with your audience while building an audience. Say that 5 times fast. You have to make those deep connections while building followers. You have to speak their language. Find out what keeps them up at night.… Click To Tweet

Visibility is scary. Putting yourself out there and letting people know what you do and how you can help them is terrifying. What if they call you a fraud? What if they tell you that you’re stupid? What if they laugh?

It’s time to get your head together and start with the first step. Simple as that. But how?

First, you have to be crystal clear on who you want to work with. Not just their gender and age range, but what are their hopes? Their fears? What problems do they have? What can you help with? What problem can you solve for them and help them reach their goals?
This requires research. Find out what they like, what books they read, movies they watch, activities they love and what keeps them up at night. Can you solve a problem for them? Package that. Whether you are a coach or online course creator, you must create something they need that produces results.

Run a pilot or beta and see if it works. Ask friends or family to take a look at it and ask questions. Take feedback and make the changes necessary to make it great. Vet your offer. Get your message on point, making sure you are speaking the language that they understand.

Build Your Systems First

Set up your landing pages and opt-ins. Get your website together. Set up your email marketing and automate your sequences. Nail all of the tech so it’s done. Once you do that, you create the time you need to focus on building your empire.

When people come to you and ask for help, set up your booking calendar. If people sign up for the free resource you provide, get that email sequence and automation done.

How will you direct them to your solution if it isn’t in place? Build your funnel. Done is better than perfect. You need to build your list and communicate with them.

Give them valuable resources that lead them to working with you. Ascend them to your higher offer. Map out your value ladder and set all of it up.

You only have to build it once and run with it. That does’t mean that you won’t tweak it, but you need something to tweak don’t you?

Make it easy for them to follow you, contact or book with you and easy for them to buy. That’s what your systems are for – to automate all of the leadership and make it easier for them to make the decision to work with you or buy from you. Simple.

Make it easy for them to follow you, contact or book with you and easy for them to buy. That's what your systems are for - to automate all of the leadership and make it easier for them to make the decision to work with you or buy from… Click To Tweet

Then Take That First Step

Small steps daily are key when you’re afraid, and putting yourself out there is scary. Once you have your message, spread it. Post on social media but make sure it’s about THEM and not YOU. Speak to their pain and offer tips. Become the authority in your field. Let them know that you can help get rid of that pain.

Even if you post on social media just twice a day, you’ll thank yourself. Every day you will build your Rome. Start the conversation, ask questions and provide help.

Do something every day that gets you closer to your goal of being an online entrepreneur. Post about what you do, who you help and why they should trust you. Build affinity with your audience.