6 Simple Steps to start an online business in South Africa

Are you living in South Africa, but think its impossible to start an online based business from here?

Actually, it has never been easier to build an online business than what it is today, in 2018, right here in South Africa.  Back when I started my first online based business almost 10 years ago, there were not a lot of up to date training courses, software tools and apps to help you succeed. These days there is a wealth of information available, both paid and free, to help you succeed.  The only thing you need to succeed is to dedicate yourself to your chosen business model, and to dedicate yourself to it until you succeed.

There are literally tens if not hundreds of thousands of online entrepreneurs that are making 6 or more figures a year online. These people come from all backgrounds, languages, countries, age groups.  Some of them have lots of skills and experience that helps them in this path and some have absolutely nothing. The only difference between people who fail and succeed is the WILL they have to succeed.

So to get back to basics, here are the main steps you need to start an online business from scratch:

1. Find a demand

Contrary to popular belief, we do not start with a product. We start with finding a demand. Find a burning need or desire that people are looking for. Something that you can provide a solution for.

2. Find a product to fill that demand

Now that you have decided what people’s needs are, you need to provide them with a solution. This can be in the form of a digital product, ie. a training course, software tool, or a physical product.

3. Source or create the product

This is not as hard as it sounds. When it comes to digital products, you can go to upwork.com and hire people to write content for you, do research for you, develop software tools for you etc.  Or you can create it yourself if you have the skills, or are willing to learn. (google!).  If its a physical product, its as easy as going to alibaba.com or googling “product name”+manufacturer, or “product name” + private label. Finding products really are that easy these days.

4.  Plan the launch and market the product.

This will all depend on your type of product, but you want to find ways to present this product (the solution) to your audience who has the demand for it.  You can use social media, facebook ads, blogging, finding influencers, video marketing, selling on amazon.com, or whatever else you can use to promote it.  If you dont know how to do it, GOOGLE it!  There is a wealth of information on how to use facebook ads, video marketing, etc.  Look on Udemy.com for good cheap courses.

5.  Scale your business

Once you have started to make steady sales, and you are profitable, its time to scale and grow your business.  Scaling means that you are essensially making more sales, while doing the same or less the amount of work.  To scale it you have two popular ways to do it. One is to scale the existing product that you have. Ie. increase the amount of traffic you send, or increase the amount of ways you market it, so increase your sales from the one product. This is difficult to sustain forever, so my favorite method is to repeat step 1 to 4.  Just create MORE products. If you are making a steady income of $5000 per month with one product, just launch 10 products, and make $50,000 per month.  Once you get the system going, you can replicate your success. You really only need to find one thing that works. There are so many different products, opportunities, ways to market your product etc, so if you work hard and obsess about achieving success, you WILL succeed. Then just replicate your success!

6. Automate your business

As your business grows, and earns money, you will find less and less time to handle everything yourself. Its super important that you start automating your business, meaning hire employees that can literally do everything that you are doing.  Customer support, content creation, marketing, research etc.  Then the only thing you need to is manage your business. This means that you will have more time for yourself, and for finding ways to grow your business, while having the freedom of doing what you like doing!

The above steps are very broad, but its really as simple as that to get started.  If you dont know how to do any of these or need help, look for free information, or buy specific courses of software tools or training that can help you with what you need.  If you have the money to invest in it, I strongly suggest finding a good coach to take you by the hand, hold you accountable and help you every step of the way until you reach success. This is a more expensive option, but gives you the best chance of success, if you are serious about making money online with your own online business.

If you need any help or advice, please let me know!