104 Tips For Online Business Owners
153: Running an online biz? Read this.
Welcome reader! Back with another business-oriented post on practical aspects that everyone should understand. Bringing you timeless advice (104 tips) on what it takes to run an online business and what you should not take for granted.
Practical Tips For Online Biz Owners
In no particular order.
Never fall in love with your online business model. What works today might be completely irrelevant tomorrow. Don’t believe us? Read more about the iOS 14 update. Those who have spent some time in this space remember.
No matter what you are trying to achieve. The first thing you should do is test the demand. Checkout page without any stock behind it? Works. Landing page with waitlist? Works. Pre-orders? Works. Whatever allows you to test demand without exposing yourself financially or wasting hours on an idea that doesn’t have product-market fit.
The days when products could sell themselves without marketing are behind us. Or at least until you build enough of a reputation that you don’t need to market anymore. No matter how good your product is. If you are starting from zero you need to market it. Won’t bother marketing? You won’t get far.
The only game worth playing in business is the long one. Can’t see yourself doing the same thing for the next 24 months? Get out of that business.
If you have to choose between connections and quick money. Choose connections.
The #1 rule of running a business and being able to sleep at night in peace comes down to a simple thing. Never sell something you would not buy yourself.
Stop falling for the idea that you need a large team to make your business work. The KPI you want to focus on is revenue per employee. Less is more, as with everything else in life.
Get the best accountant you can. They save money. They give you the tips. They can help you with the things you never thought about. Hard to beat ROI.
Stress management and stress tolerance are key factors in your success. If you can’t handle the stress - you can’t run the business successfully. No idea where to start? Learn how to breathe.
TAM and LTV will determine a big chunk of your success. None of the two should be taken for granted. One will show you the full potential of what you are capable of making. The other will provide a reality check on how customers perceive you.
Running an online business is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because nothing will ever be the same once you make your first dollar. Curse because nothing will ever be the same once you make your first dollar.
When starting your business and being tight on cash, avoid putting yourself in a position where you waste a ridiculous amount of money on tools. Tools are necessary. No doubt. But there are group buy sites that can offer you those same tools for a fraction of the price. A good place to start? Sharetools.
Everything that can be automated should be automated. Workflows, AI, Python or VAs. It doesn’t matter what method you use as long as you don’t have to do it manually - waste your time on it.
"Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men." - Douglas Bader. This is one of the most important things you will read about online business.
Those who are still working for someone else under any circumstances should never fall for the psyop that you should "go all in". Be smart about it. Create a safety net and take advantage of your employer as much as possible before going all in- worth reading.
For those who are just starting out make sure you are running the proper business model and not a vehicle for distribution. Most people get this wrong and end up with something that can neither scale or possess an exit option.
Scaling an online business is impossible without understanding its technical aspects. Why? This allows you to dive into the details. What are the details? Money.
You just have to pay attention to what people need and what has not been done.
- Russell Simmons
The early bird gets the worm. The same applies to business and niches. The earlier you arrive, the more space and market share you can take over.
The easiest way to detect your competitive advantage comes down to one thing: what feels easy for you while others are struggling? There is your answer.
Anything related to blackhat business is a cope. After spending enough time in this space, you realize it is not worth it. Don’t trust us. You don’t have to. The FTC takes care of those.
Sometimes stopping everything and going for a walk is all you need to find the answers you are looking for.
Your first 10 customers should be treated with maximum respect. They are your everything. They have all your answers. They have everything you need to know to make your product even better. Treat them accordingly.
Take care of your payment processor TOS and ensure you stay on top of them. Sooner or later you realize that there is not many of them and that most are mediocre at best.
If the main reason for running your online business is to buy luxury goods to impress others. You will never get far.
Slow and steady doesn’t win the race when it comes to the online (attention economy) world. One with the long game and idea does.
What no one will tell you is that the easiest way to make money with your online business is by targeting the right audience. You know that tech guys are getting paid well. But at the same time, most struggle with loneliness and being social outcasts? It means there is a great opportunity for you. Help yourself by helping them.
Knowing and understanding what it takes to drive traffic to your landing page, product, profile, or any other platform where you can showcase your product is crucial.
If you don’t plan on being the next Steven Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. There is a good chance that your business idea could be executed in the next 72 hours with proper focus and execution. Inventing is often overrated and leads to poor results. The better angle to consider is how you can make already established things more efficient.
Those who are not ready to sell themselves, their story, idea, brand or product are the ones who are not suitable to run the business.
Cash flow, margins, revenue, AOV, LTV, CAC, expenses, and any other metric… Understand all of them + understand the industry-specific ones. The only way you will be able to grow further will be by optimizing and positioning yourself according to the numbers and building based on the data.
Under any circumstances, you should not assume that you are the smartest on in the room or that you know things best. Remember to be a student of the game. Always listen to what others are doing. Not to copy it… But to gain a fresh perspective on problem solving.
The key to winning comes down to paying attention to trends and predicting shifts in consumer behaviour. Wondering where to start? Google Trends and Meta library.
Partnerships are unnecessary and will lead you to either 1) the end of the relationships between the parties, 2) an unnecessarily stressful situation you don't want to be in, or 3) a new enemy. Avoid.
There is no best business model. The best business model is the one you are doing right now. Everything else is a noise that takes you away from your grand vision.
Weekends are the perfect opportunity to get more work done. Forget about taking them off to spend your day watching Netflix.
All operations and tasks that can be performed without involving another human should be performed without involving another human. AI, SaaS or automation workflows (such as N8N). They all work and can save you hours of work and thousands of dollars in the process.