Starting An Online Business: What do you do first?

If there is one thing that is even harder than starting a business online, I would say that it has to be figuring out what to do first. One sista in my facebook circle sent me the following message:

I’ve been watching a few of your videos and I admire what you are doing. What do I do first to start my business? I write, I’d like to facilitate workshops as well. I do crafts. I have a magazine. I have blogs. I do so much and I need to narrow things down. My audience is to primarily women. As far as getting a license to start a business, what do you do first, so that you won’t get in trouble with the IRS? Do you have a step by step guide? – RWR

My response to you and her:

The first thing you need to do is educate yourself on what is required of the industry you want to get into. My social-sista here has quite a few areas she likes, but the key is to 1st start off with the one that works best for you. While I am big on passion projects, I always recommend you pick the one that is most profitable either because you already have experience in that area, clients from that industry, or there is a big demand in that market.

Listen to my audio, How to Make the Most of your Time Online. In this audio I go deeper into the 3 kind of products that you should be selling online. And of course I shed even more light on the different kinds of online business ventures that exist in my eCourse – StartupSista.com, which includes several eBooks on How to Really Make Money Online.

On the topic of taxes and the IRS again, you need to educate yourself on your industry. I am a web developer/graphics designer. As soon as I made over $500, I was required by law to pay taxes on all money I earn as a self employed sole proprietor. Other than that, I don’t need to do anything else. I use paypal, so I can have an easy to follow record of all my online transactions and can find out what I will owe in taxes and that makes my income tax filing much easier than having to track checks, money orders, or cash.

Depending on your industry, let’s say you want to sell beauty products, to ensure you are not liable for anything your products might do to customers (worse case scenerio) you might want to consider turning your business into an LLC or Incorporate. Great post to read from one of the members on Black Business Women Online about incorporating, ‘Are you official?‘. Again, know what is required in your industry. Do a quick Google search or go to your local bookstore and browse the book shelf for books on starting a business or entrepreneurship.

In addition to creating the StartupSista.com website I also created an audio series for my fellow online entrepreneurs who are coaches, write ebooks, sell information or their services online. This series, the 1st SistaSense Circle I did was entitled ‘How to Increase Your Visibility and Sales Online‘. If you go to that page and listen to our 1st audio conversation, you note I already know you might be stuck right now because you have a ton of ideas but no direction. If you listen to this complete series I talk about how you can get focused. I give you my breakdown of how you can use a blog and social spaces like youtube, facebook, and twitter to market yourself and your business online.

In a nutshell, the first place to start is to choose which one of your many fabulous ideas you want to work on. Preferably the idea you feel has the most profit potential. If you need ideas, download the eBooks included in the StartupSista.com guide. Make an informed decision about what, if any legal or tax laws you need to keep in mind. And then utilize books or resources around you, like my eCourses, to get you up to speed on what Online Business Building is all about.