Best of Ep 10: 3 Things You Need To Have A Successful Online Business

Are you tired of the daily grind and dreaming of starting an online business? Want to set your own schedule and work from wherever you choose? Are you dreaming of having the freedom to travel to wherever you want?

Maybe you have a business but haven’t seen the success you wanted. Maybe you don’t even know where to start.

What do you need to kickstart your dream of working for yourself? Here’s what you DON’T need: a large following, a website, an email list, the perfect Instagram feed, or a sales funnel.

In this episode, I share valuable insights on entrepreneurship and three essential tips for a successful online business.

• Don’t wait until you’re 100% ready because you never will be! 
• Be willing to invest in yourself.
• Take massive action - don’t let anything stop you from achieving your goals, no matter how many times you ‘fail’ along the way.

With the help of these self-improvement tips, you’ll learn what it takes to beat self-doubt and step into your next level. It’s time to learn the three things every entrepreneur needs to cultivate a successful online business!

If you know that you’re made for more, and you’re ready to commit to yourself and commit to your business and make your dream a reality, then you won’t want to miss this episode!

Transcript

Lindsay: 0:09

How many times have you thought about quitting your job and starting a new life? Hey, i'm Lindsay, the girl who actually did that, and now I'm on a mission to change the 9-5 narrative that dreading Monday and working for the weekend is normal and acceptable. My goal is to help you see your potential beyond your credentials, gain clarity on what it means to live life on your own terms and build the confidence to go after your dream career. I'm here to prove to you that it's possible for you to do work you love, make a positive impact on the world, make even more money than you're making right now, and live a deeply fulfilling life. So let's dive in. Hello, my love, happy Monday. I hope you're having an amazing day.

Lindsay: 1:04

So today I thought I would talk about the three things that you need in order to have a successful online business. So if you're someone who has been dreaming about working for yourself and making money online so that you can set your own schedule, work from home, work from wherever, have so much freedom, travel whenever you want to and just live your best fucking life, then this is for you. And before we get into it, i have to let you know I decided to open up two spots for my private one-on-one coaching and I want to work with you. If you are someone who has been dreaming of working for yourself, so maybe you've had this dream for months, but you haven't started your online business yet. Or maybe you have started it, you've started your side hustle, but you want to finally go all in on it so that you can be able to fully support yourself and quit your nine to five and make your dream life a reality. So I want to work with you and help you overcome all of the self-doubt, all of the anxiety, all of the fears that come along with making this type of move in your life. Because I've been there And from what I have seen and what I'll talk about in today's episode, what's going to matter most for your success is your mindset, is overcoming all of those limiting beliefs that are telling you why it won't work, that are telling you you won't make enough money, that are saying who are you to start a business?

Lindsay: 2:48

who are you to ask people to pay you for this? you can't do this right now in this economy. Who's going to pay you? what if you fail? what are your parents going to think? what if people don't support you, like all of the mental drama. So if you know that you are made for more and you're ready to commit to yourself and commit to your business and make your dream a reality and start moving toward this life of freedom that you know is possible for you, then I want to work with you. So you can go to Lindsay Hansencom, slash apply or click the link in the show notes to apply for private coaching. I'm only taking on two private clients for this month. That is all that I have the capacity for right now, so don't wait to apply. If this is something that you're interested in, don't wait. Spots are going to fill out fast. Okay, any questions? you can send an email to infoatlindsayhansoncom or find me on Instagram or LinkedIn and send me a DM. Okay, so let's dive into three things.

Lindsay: 3:57

You need to have a successful online business And, to start, i want to talk about what you don't need. Here's what you don't need in order to start making money online. You do not need a big following, whether that's Instagram, facebook, youtube, your podcast but, like you, don't need a big following. When I started my business, the only platform I was using was Instagram and I had less than 200 followers And I got five clients in my first month. You don't need a big following. You don't need a website. I still don't have a website. Like you don't need a website. You don't need Facebook ads. You don't need an email list. You don't need perfectly edited photos and videos. You don't need to have the best marketing strategy and sales funnels and all of this shit, like you. Just you don't need those things. So if you are someone who's very wrapped up in, i need to grow my following or I need to hire someone to edit all my videos and pictures and I need to start a podcast and I need to hire someone to create my website and I need to invest in ads. Like you don't need any of that shit. I'm not saying don't do that stuff. If you want to, that's great, but if don't let those things hold you back, don't not start your business because you don't have a big following. Don't not post something on Instagram because it's not a perfectly edited, professional looking photo. Don't not start making offers because you don't have a website yet. Okay, those are the things you don't need. Here's what you do need. Number one you need to be willing to start before you feel ready. You need to start before you're ready. Okay, if you are out there and you're waiting to start your business and you're waiting to make an Instagram post and create an offer and start coaching people or selling your product or whatever type of business you have, if you're waiting until you feel ready, you are never going to get started. You're never going to feel ready. This is something that you learn as you go. It's something that is outside of your comfort zone, so you're not going to feel ready. You just have to start. Like nothing in me felt ready to quit my job and launch an online fitness coaching business when I was not even certified as a fitness coach yet. I was not ready. I was not ready. I didn't do it because I felt ready. I did it shitting my pants, fucking terrified, because I knew if I kept waiting, i would be waiting forever. You have to make the Instagram post before you're ready. You have to put yourself out there and make offers to people Before you feel ready. It's going to be really fucking uncomfortable at first and the more you do it, the more you're gonna get used to it, the more you're gonna learn, the more things are gonna start to click and start to work, but you have to start before you're ready. And here's how you know if this is where you're stuck. If you have been dreaming about working for yourself and launching your business And making money online for months or years even, but you haven't started yet. You still haven't started. You haven't made any offers, you haven't gotten any clients, you haven't made any money. It's still just a dream. If that's you, then this is where you're stuck, and you might be Thinking that you need more knowledge first. You need to learn more things first, whether that's knowledge about how to start your business and start making money online, or Knowledge about whatever your area of expertise is like. If you want to be a coach, you feel like you need some sort of certification first, or you need to learn more about coaching. Learn more about Fitness if you want to be a fitness coach. Learn more about life coaching if you want to be a life coach, like whatever, and Like yes, if you need a certification to do what you want to do, then get the certification. But that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do right now to start. Before I had my personal training certification, i was posting on Instagram letting everyone know I was gonna be a fitness coach, posting my workouts, posting my food, posting things that were helpful to people, because You already have enough knowledge to help someone. And even if you can't Take on clients yet because you do actually need a certification, then great, get your certification. But in the meantime, that doesn't mean that there's nothing you can do. That doesn't mean you can't start today, right now, okay, and most of the time You don't actually need a certification. It's just a matter of you not feeling qualified, you not feeling ready, and you feel like, well, once I'm certified, then I'll feel ready, but you're still not going to. Once you have a piece of paper that says here, you are now qualified to do the thing, are you still gonna feel ready? No, like once, just because I had my personal training certification, i still had never trained anyone in my life like I still didn't feel ready Just because I was able to pass a multiple choice exam about Personal training, like it's not gonna make you feel ready. You're not gonna magically feel ready once you have that piece of paper, right? so if this is you and you are spending all of your time Doing their research, following all the people who have online businesses and seeing what they're doing and learning from them and listening to all the podcast, listening to this podcast, but you are not implementing any of this knowledge, you're not taking action. You haven't actually started yet. Then this is where you're stuck. It's because you're waiting to feel ready, and that day is not coming, sis, you have to start today. You have to start right now. You have to make the Instagram post. You have to let the people know that you want to be a coach. You have to just do the thing. Anything. Start today. Okay, so that's the first thing. You need to have a successful online business. Here's the second thing you need You need to invest in yourself. I do not know a single Successful entrepreneur who does not have Her own coach, who has not invested tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars Into herself and into her business. And I'm not saying you have to put down a hundred thousand dollars today and invest in a coach, but what I'm saying is, if you're not willing to invest in yourself, in your business, in your own personal development, especially if you do want to be a coach, you're gonna keep yourself stuck for a really long time. And so here's how you know if this is What's been holding you back. Right if you consume all the free things, all of the podcasts, all the free challenges, but you never take that next step and put money down and hire a coach or sign up for a course or a program Or whatever you feel called to do. Right if you're willing to consume anything That's free but not willing to put money down. And then you're going to stay stuck. Because true transformation, true up leveling, getting to that next level of Yourself, moving into your highest self and where you want to be in your life and in your business, can only happen when you have skin in the game. And I'm not saying don't consume the free things, like, yes, learn from the free things, but understand that That's not what's gonna actually push you to your next level. And if you are always saying, well, i'll hire a coach once I'm making more money or I just can't afford it right now, that is backwards thinking that's going to keep you stuck. And I've been there like I get it. I mean, there were a lot of times where I was like I just can't afford it right now, but once I'm making more money then I'll hire another coach. But the thing is what I needed to do in order to reach that next level where I was making the amount of money I wanted to be making was hire a coach. Like it was not okay, i'll make more money and once I'm making more money I'll hire a coach. It's like no girlfriend, you need to hire the coach so that you can step into that next version of yourself and be at the level where you're making that amount of money. Like that's how you get there, it's not what you do after you get there, it's how you get there. And once I realized that, i realized that the idea I couldn't afford it right now was just alive from my ego. It was an excuse. It was me keeping myself small because it was scary for me to invest that money. But once I did it once I hired my life coach and I was really fucking terrified and uncomfortable with the amount of money that I invested to hire that coach it all made sense. I was like, oh, this is exactly what I needed to do to get to my next level. And if I had kept saying to myself I can't afford it right now, i'll do it once I'm making more money, then I would have stayed at that small level of not making enough money to afford a coach. Quote unquote afford a coach And just the transaction alone. Before we even started coaching me. Putting that money down, that was a really uncomfortable amount of money for me And feeling like I was, i could literally feel myself like stretching. I felt like I was stretching myself. I was pushing myself to my next level because I was getting outside of my comfort zone and making that investment and saying yes to myself and betting on myself, and I was literally telling my ego listen, bitch, i don't have time for you today. I'm done listening to you. I'm done letting you keep me small. I'm going to my next level. That's the only option, because there's no way in hell I'm putting this much money down and not seeing a return on that investment. The best thing you can ever do is invest in yourself, whether you want to be an entrepreneur or not. It's the best investment you're ever going to make is on yourself and your own personal development. But especially if you want to work for yourself and especially if you want to be a coach or if you are a coach, this is so fucking important because how can you expect others to invest in you if you're not willing to invest in yourself. Right. It's like you can't afford not to hire a coach if you're feeling stuck right now, because until you invest in yourself, until you stretch yourself and get out of your comfort zone, you're not gonna reach your next level. So it's not a matter of waiting until you're at your next level and then making the investment when it feels comfortable. It's about making the investment because it feels uncomfortable and therefore it's going to stretch you into your next level. Okay so, number one start before you're ready. Number two invest in yourself even when it feels really uncomfortable. Especially when it feels really uncomfortable. Basically, all you need to have a successful business is be willing to get really fucking uncomfortable all the damn time. That's really it. In case you haven't caught on, these are not three practical things that you need, like a website and a perfect Instagram feed and an email list, and that's because the practical things are never a solution. They really are not. Like, yes, learn about marketing, learn about selling. Yes, the more people you reach, the better, because you have a service or product that can help them. Like, yes, do the practical things. But the practical things are never going to get you to success if you're not doing the inner work. If you're not investing in yourself, if you're not working on your own personal development, if you're not working through the underlying limiting beliefs that are telling you it's not possible, if you're listening to your ego, that's telling you not to do this because it's scary and it's uncomfortable. In all the mental drama, if you're caught up in all that, it doesn't matter what practical things you're doing. You're never going to reach the level of success that you want. You just won't. It's a combination of both. The practical and the thought work always. So here's the third thing that you need in order to have a successful online business, and this might be the most important one You need to take massive action. Massive action means you decide what your goal is and you just keep going until you get there. It's actually really simple in theory, but it can be really hard in practice. So you decide what your goal is. My goal is to be able to fully support myself with an online business so that I can quit my nine to five and work for myself and have freedom and all the things right, and then you just don't give up until that is your life. That's it. That's massive action. It is just a matter of not quitting. It's a matter of not quitting, no matter how many times you fail, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how impossible it seems, no matter how many times you make an offer and no one signs up, no matter how many sales calls you get on and the people say no, no matter what, you just keep going, you pivot, you learn from whatever you did that didn't work, you try something new and you keep going until you get there, no matter how long it takes. And the biggest reason why people don't achieve their dreams is because I think we live in a world of instant gratification, right, and so we have an idea of how long things should take and we think I should just like start my business and it should just work and be successful right from the beginning. And if it's not, then I just wasn't meant to do this, i wasn't made for this, it's not gonna work, i should just give up, right. But that's not true. There's no universal law of like how long it should take until you're successful, and if you don't have a successful business after two years, then it's just not in the stars for you. You should give up. Like. There's no timeline on this. There's no like, okay, try four different things And if they don't work and you don't have a successful business yet, then it's time to quit. Like no, you just keep going until you reach your goal. That's it. Successful people are not successful because they never failed. They're successful because they were willing to fail. They were willing to fail massively and every single time they failed They continued to get back up and keep going, no matter how much they wanted to give up, no matter how easy it would have been to give up. I can't tell you how many times in my business I felt like giving up, like I felt like nothing was working. I was putting in a hundred and 50% effort just to see zero results. It wasn't making enough money to support myself and it would have been so much easier To just throw in the towel and go back and get a corporate job and say, oh well, i tried that online business thing and it didn't work. So how You know if this is where you're at is maybe you put yourself out there And it backfired, so you haven't tried again. You know You made an Instagram post about the fact that you're a coach and no one messaged you to sign up for coaching. You Launched your program and no one signed up. You or maybe you got applications, but everyone said no, that it was too expensive. You don't have any clients, right? if you tried something, or maybe a few things, and they didn't work and so You haven't tried anything again. This is where massive action comes in. You have not failed. It's not that you're not meant to be a coach or have an online business or whatever it is you want to do. It's that you thought it should have worked the first time you tried, or the first few times you tried, and it didn't. So then you think it's time to give up. But that's not true. If it, if you're not at your goal yet, it's because you haven't tried enough things. You haven't stayed in the game long enough. So what can you do differently? What can you try next? and maybe that next step is investing in yourself, right, but here's what you need to know the person with a successful business is not the person with the most knowledge. It's not. I know plenty of Seven figure entrepreneurs, seven figure business owners, who never even went to college or dropped out of college. It's not that you need a business degree or a master's degree or some type of certification. All you need is A willingness to get out of your comfort zone. Start before you feel ready. Invest in yourself and take massive action, because the girl who waited until she felt ready never started her business in the first place. And the girl who wasn't willing to invest in herself Stayed small. She stayed stuck forever, maybe making a little bit of money and enough to get by, but never going beyond that. And the girl who wasn't willing to take massive Action gave up at the first sign of failure, gave up the first time something didn't work, or she looked stupid And wasn't willing to get back up and try again. So if you know you're made for more and you have been keeping yourself stuck, either Not launching your business because you don't feel ready, or maybe you started and you had some success, but now you feel stuck. You feel like there's something blocking you from reaching your next level, you're not seeing the results you want, you're not making enough money to fully support yourself yet and you're ready to go to that next level, then I want you to apply for my private coaching. Like I said, i'm only taking on Two badass women who are fully fucking committed to up leveling and making their dream life a reality. So, if that is, you go to Lindsay Hansen, comm slash, apply or click the link in the show notes, and I cannot wait to work with you. I appreciate you so much for tuning in today, and if you know someone who Has an online business or has been talking about starting an online business and working for themselves, please share this episode with them. You can always take a screenshot and post it on your Instagram story. I love seeing that you're listening and be sure to tag me at Lindsay M Hansen. If you want to a Libre review, you can go on to Apple Podcasts and do that. I, i love you and I will talk to you next week.