Starting a Web-based Business With No Experience

Regardless of whether you’re exploring starting an online business because of the economy or because it’s something you’ve always wanted to do, the first steps can seem a bit overwhelming.  Sometimes the hardest part of starting an online business for some people is deciding where to begin.  There are so many interesting possibilities and ideas that could potentially make  great online businesses.  Where do you begin?   Let me suggest 3 steps to get you pointed in the right direction.

Create A Plan

Are you the sort of curious person that loves to explore online businesses?  Often, having too many choices can be as much of a problem as having too few.   Consider what you’re natural personality is.  Are you carefree and artistic or disciplined and analytical?  An outgoing  people-lover or a bit of a loner with a curmudgeonly wit?  Regardless of your personality type there is an online business that suits your personality.

For example, the carefree and artistic person might find a calling as a solo web designer.  The disciplined analyst might be well suited to as a freelance web analyst crunching web traffic numbers for other businesses.  While the outgoing people-lover might be the next Twitter guru who could teach us all a few new tricks in her webinars.

Rather than experimenting with everything under the sun, take stock of what are the best parts of “you” and begin building your web-based business from that.  And then commit to it.  Are you a health nut?  Find health and fitness affiliate products to promote.  Are you addicted traveling?  Blog about how to travel safely in a post 9/11 world.  By narrowing your focus, the intensity of your business planning takes on a new dimension.  The energy you would have spent pursuing a myriad of other ideas is instead focused on how to develop that web-based business choice that reflects you.

Activate Your Plan

How much is a million dollar idea worth?  Zero, if it stays only in your head.   A great plan with no action is worthless.  You must act!  Calvin Coolidge said, “We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.”

Whether your web-based business involves affiliate marketing, Ebay, pay-per-click (PPC), or one of the hundreds of ways to make money online, you must take the first step.  Act!  If you don’t understand a facet of the business of your choice don’t let that keep you from taking action.  Find someone who is doing well in your field of interest or niche and study them intently.  Inject yourself into their online world.  Register on their website or blog.  Study their communication responses, their offers, observe how they distinguish themselves from the pack.   Begin to think like they do.  Then adopt their best practices to your enterprise.

Make a Good Plan Better

Anyone who’s spent any amount of time online has seen how quickly the internet has evolved.  Likewise, your plan needs to keep pace with the changes around you.  Netflix, is a good example of a business that stays ahead of the curve of demand for video products.  Their business model challenged the notion you had to drive to the video store to rent a movie.   Instead they set up a subscription service where they mailed DVDs direct to customers at home.  Blockbuster, the king of video rentals, found itself playing catch-up.

There is no plan being used right now that couldn’t be made a little better.  Ask yourself everyday, “How can I do or make ‘X’ just a little better?”   Conduct experiments on how to deliver better service or a better product to your clients.  There’s always a way to improve and become better at what you do.

To sum up:  a) get laser-focused on your business idea, b) take action now, and c) do what you do well today and find a way to do it better tomorrow.  Begin with these three things and you’ll be off to a solid start with your own web-based business.