Most just want to make money online, but aren’t creating an online business.
Why even bother creating an online business at all? For me… it’s freedom. The freedom to work where and when I want.
Shocker…
Yeah, I like to work.
It would be too boring for me without it! And there wouldn’t be much meaning to life.
But doing something that you aren’t enjoying. Regardless if it’s a job or any other activity… sucks big time.
Worse is when you are unhappy and don’t see any way out of this situation. Being stuck is terrible.
A decision is always possible, but are you willing the bear the consequences? The bad and crappy reality that will hit you in the face.
Dealing with breakups, bad credit, or being stressed out is hard.
.
.
.
That’s life you have to deal with it.
Welcome to planet Earth… A blue rock floating through time and space.
Changing the perspective will change your life. It’s how you see the world in your mind and that’s how reality will unfold.
How do you see the world?
If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.
Marc Anthony
But why… why bothering to build something on the web. You could do it off-line too. Getting a small office or shop, slapping a logo on the door and defining the opening hours.
Why is the web such a great place to do business? One amazing benefit is that it’s open 24/7 and there are no staff who call in sick. There are a few more. But still it’s a business. There are many things the same as in the physical world.
With no revenue coming in, there isn’t business around for long. Also, the customer needs to be happy. Or they never come back. In the worst cases, they come back with a lawyer. The service needs also to be great. This way, you can minimize solving issues.
There are a ton of possibility to earn money online. A simpler one is to refer to cool products and services and get a commission for it in return. That’s where I settled for now after trying out many other things.
WAIT!!!
This is not about earning money online.
It’s a part of the business, a vital one, but not everything.
There aren’t much business problems that more money can’t solve…
But what if there isn’t more coming in…
When you start out or changed gears on the way?
Somewhere in there, some questions are arising. Or should arise at least. In all the courses I own and training I got, there was never a word about this…
Surprises that can through you back a fair bit. When you have to figure it out in a hurry.
But what is with all the legal, financial and strategic decisions every business needs to make.
Questions like:
- Do I need insurance? If yes, which one?
- How about bookkeeping and tax stuff?
- Do I need to incorporate already, and what entity?
- What is a term of service?
- Are there cookies on the site and do I have to get consent?
- What regulations are in my kind of business?
- How to deal with business finances?
- And what the heck is disclaimer?
- What kind of business do I want?
- Is this the right strategy for me?
- …
And many more… But no one had a practical answer for me.
The classic canned one…
Get legal help or go to a professional…
This didn’t help me at all because what should I ask them? And the ones I talked to had no clue about creating an online business. The ones who knew about creating an online business were just too expensive.
This led me to make a huge mistake by going to the professionals too early. I had no clue how my business should and would turn out. What I really wanted to do and how fast it would grow.
This was also a costly mistake. While writing on my journey, I remembered how hard it hit me after I canceled the business venture and received the invoices.
The plan was to make a few bucks online and call it a day.
The result was many lost bucks and no end in sight.
To be clear, there are rules and regulations that businesses need to comply. The question is when is it a business. Of course, when you make it official, incorporate and get your tax id. Does this mean creating an online business is so easy?
No…
Then you have only a business on paper…
… but is there already an income stream?
Something that pays the bills.
In this case, you just followed the rules.
This is a fine line here…
- To be overly cautious it will cost a bunch of money upfront.
- Not caring can cost a bunch of money afterwards.
- Just relying on others can lead to misunderstandings.
And of course, every situation is unique.
There is no one size fits all here.
The reason for this is that, in this space, the offers out there are from marketers and not from lawyers, accountants or other business agents.
These have different offers for sure. But mostly they won’t integrate into each other. Because every one of these professionals has no clue about all the other parts.
On the next page, there is my journey from the first year where I was failing to create an online business. It’s very personal, and I didn’t want to share it at first.
But this is exactly how life can happen, and there are countless similar stories out there.
Struggling is part of being human, and there is an extra effort needed when you want to have your own business.
For me… it is worth it. Even when it’s hard.
Have fun