You’ve been working on your online business idea for months now. You have all of the essentials tools you need to launch an online business and maybe a few extras. You’re ready to take the plunge to make your dreams a reality.

There are just a few things holding you back:

Worry and confusion top the list, among the other most common excuses holding would-be entrepreneurs back.

You think to yourself, “Am I doing the right thing?”

Some other questions that come to mind are:

  • How do I know I have a good business idea?

  • Will anyone buy from me?

  • Do I have the budget for starting my online business?

  • Can I really do this on my own?

Before you second-guess yourself, rest assured being a solopreneur doesn’t mean you have to come up with all the answers alone.

Today, we share with you vital details for success, beginning with what you need to know before starting your online business, then covering five proven online business models, and wrapping up with key resources and tools.

Ready to get started? Great, let’s dive in.

What do I need to know before starting my online business?

Before starting your business online, or even your offline side-hustle, the most critical step is to ask yourself the hard questions before launching your business -- like if you're ready for it or not -- and then, if you decide you are, determine if there's a market need for your idea. The last thing you want is to launch a business, poised and ready to go, with no customers in sight.

The best way to identify if you’ve landed on a profitable niche is to validate your business idea through market research first.

(A profitable niche means serving a particular need within a specific, rather than broad, audience.)

How should you conduct market research?

Simply gather data from your audience to find out their biggest problems. Then, confirm that those problems align with your business idea.

It’s easier than it seems. You have two main options for doing research into those problems:

#1. Gather primary data (aka new data) using surveys and interviews

If you have a growing subscriber list or audience, you’re ahead of the game. All you need to do is send an email or publish a social media post linking to your survey to start generating primary data right away. You can also ask to interview people in your target audience.

During your questions, dig deep to find out your target audience’s main priorities, concerns, and the emotion behind their answers. The more you can find out about the people in your market, the easier it will be to create products and marketing that resonates with them.

But don’t stop at just getting primary data. While interviews and surveys can deliver a wealth of fresh insight, secondary data can fill in the gaps and is often far easier to source, which brings us to your second research option.

#2. Collect secondary data (aka existing data) by searching the internet

To build up your secondary data, search the web to find relevant conversations about your business idea on social media platforms, online forums, and discussion threads.

Specifically, use social platforms like Reddit to hunt for data. For example, if you’re looking to start an online business targeting gardeners, try searching terms like “vegetable gardening” to narrow in on your winning idea.

How to start and grow your first online business

As you can see, the Reddit “vegetable gardening” community is 10,500 members large with hundreds of “subreddits” to peruse through. You can find a multitude of questions, concerns, and even conversations to join in a matter of minutes.

Another effective option for finding secondary data is to search for related discussions in Facebook Groups.

For instance, a quick search for “vegetable gardening” pulls up numerous Facebook groups with thousands of members. These make for great online dialogues to read through and join.  

How to start and grow your first online business

Plus, with such plentiful search results for this particular topic, you can tell there’s likely demand in the market. All you have to do is narrow in on the parts of the demand people are willing to pay to have answered.

The key takeaway:

Your job while researching is to find a deeper problem your business solves or adjust course until it does solve it.

Otherwise, pay close attention to your audience’s biggest problems and desires while validating your business idea. They’re the star of your show, after all -- the more of a spotlight you put on them, the more you can tailor your business for them.

Now, once you have a validated business idea in hand, it’s time to decide on a business model.

One of the most profitable and scalable business models is selling info/digital products like online courses, digital downloads, and membership sites.

Selling info products allows you to sell to an unlimited number of customers. Once your product is created and published for sale, the bulk of your work is complete.

Digital products are a great solution for new businesses for a few reasons, but the most important are these:

  1. You have limitless inventory, and hence, earning potential

  2. Once you’ve got your website and product pages up and running, your business is simple to maintain

  3. You don’t have a lot of overhead costs

  4. Likewise, you have minimal (if any) startup costs.

Best of all, however, is the maintenance behind digital products -- after you’ve done the legwork to create and publish your product, your only obligation is marketing to your customers.

Which means you can leverage your time and focus on growing your business rather than getting lost in the administrative minutia.

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In addition to products, there's another way you can monetize your online business.

Sell your services to earn an income

Whether coaching, consulting, or freelancing, service-based businesses are another proven model for new business owners. Much like they sound, a service-based business can fit into any niche, including marketing, writing, virtual assisting, wellness coaching, and more.

Consulting or coaching not your speed? Making money as a freelancer by offering services such as copy-editing, graphic design, and data analysis, is just as lucrative.

This is the gist of it:

Regardless of the business model you choose, there’s ample opportunity for growth online.

What are the steps and tools needed to launch my online business?

Now that you've got your business idea, how do you actually build the thing? This is where an all-in-one platform like Podia can help.

Podia has your website, landing pages, blog, digital products, courses, coaching, and webinars all in one place, so you can build everything you need to run your business without signing up for dozens of different tools. Podia also has email marketing and sales funnels so you can automatically scale your business and stay in touch with your audience long into the future.

You can try all of Podia's features free for 30 days. You can even start making sales during the free trial, which is a great way to get some momentum going for your business.

Your online business venture awaits

Starting your online business doesn’t have to be a spine-chilling journey.

With reliable research methods, proven business models, and effective resources and tools readily available, you can simply review previous successes and follow suit.  

Here’s the rundown:

  • Before starting your online business, you need to validate your idea through market research by collecting primary and secondary data from your target audience.

  • Then, choose the best business model to help you narrow down. We recommend looking at digital products, online courses, or coaching as a good place to start.

  • Save time and headaches with an all-in-one platform like Podia. You can focus your energy on building your products, not managing tech.

So, now you’ve got a trusty roadmap in hand, it’s time to embark on your new journey.

As always, we’re rooting for you.