what to focus on in the FIRST WEEK of starting an online business
You’ve made the decision to start a business (congrats!), but you’re wondering, “Now what?”
The decision to start is one of the most important you’ll make – but it’s not the only one. There’s much that goes into getting your business off the ground and growing it to earn the income you want.
Over the past 15 years I’ve started 10+ different businesses. Looking back, I have lots of thoughts about what I wish I would have done first and what I found to be the most important things to do early on in my business.
Today I want to share with you six of those key actions that will give you a jumpstart to go from wondering what to do next to knowing how to grow a successful business from day one.
#1 get super clear on what you’re selling
It’s surprising how many people start online businesses without knowing exactly what they are selling.
Now, if you crochet stuffed animals, or you’re a bookkeeper wanting to sell your services, then you know what your product is. But for some, it’s a bit more complicated because they don't already have something tangible to offer.
And when you’re unclear about what you’re offering, it can lead to confusion and missed opportunities.
Let’s look at the two business owners I mentioned above: one who crochets stuffed animals and one who offers bookkeeping services.
The first knows exactly what they are selling—handmade, unique, and custom plush toys. This specificity allows them to target parents, gift shoppers, and collectors with tailored marketing messages about the quality and uniqueness of their products.
The bookkeeper, on the other hand, is selling professional expertise and peace of mind. They can highlight their ability to manage finances, ensure compliance with tax laws, and free up entrepreneurs to focus on growing their businesses. By being clear about their service, they can attract small business owners who need reliable financial management.
If you start a business without a clear understanding of what you’re selling, you’ll likely spend more time trying to figure things out instead of making progress. On top of that, instead of moving forward with purpose, you might find yourself constantly pivoting and second-guessing your decisions.
If you’re unsure about what you’re selling, spend some time today answering the following questions:
What problem does my product or service solve?
Who is my ideal customer?
What are the key features and benefits of my offering?
How is my offering different from competitors?
What are the tangible and intangible values I provide?
Getting super clear on what you’re selling is not just a good practice—it's essential for the success of your business. It sets the stage for everything else you do, from marketing to customer service. So, before you go any further, make sure you have a detailed understanding of your product or service. It’s an investment of time that will pay off in the long run.
#2 pre-sell your product to gauge interest
Now, you may think that the next step is actually creating your product or building out your services. And you do need to do that, but it’s better to determine if your product or service is valid in the marketplace before investing too much time or energy into creating it.
You can do this in one of two ways:
Launch a beta version of your prodcut - You don’t have to create the ultimate version of your product before you take it to market. What’s the simplest version you could sell? Consider creating that, first, to test drive your idea sooner rather than later.
Pre-sell your product and deliver it live - if your idea is a digital course or a coaching program, this is a great option.You’ll pick a date that the class or coaching will start, then you can choose to either host the training sessions live on a video conferencing platform or each week you can record the next set of lessons and deliver them in real time.
The second option is one of my go-tos for digital course creators because it brings a lot of benefits. Surprisingly, this way of live pre-selling often enables you to sell for a higher price than you’d be able to had you pre-recorded the entire program. That’s because many people find it more valuable to get in-the-moment, live, hands-on training from the coach themself. You can also make money sooner rather than waiting to sell until you create the full product.
#3 set up a way for people to buy your product
When I started my first online business about 8 years ago, it was so much more difficult. I had to work with the clunky backend of WordPress (they’ve come a long way since then), try to create a makeshift cart with PayPal, or I else fork out thousands of dollars to hire a web developer.
Now there are so many easy and affordable options for shopping carts, including Thrivecart, SamCart, System.io, course platforms such as Teachable, and Shopify that enable you to simply set up your product, connect it to a payment processor, and sell it.
The main thing you need to do in this step is to decide which platform you want to use for checkout.
#4 organize your business finances
One thing I wish I did from the beginning of my business is to organize my systems as IF I had a large team behind me. Because, in creating systems that can scale, my business could grow with them and I’d know exactly where everything fits – everything would have a place.
An important piece of this organization is your business finances. Starting from day one, you want to ensure you set yourself up right so that you’re not scrambling at tax time to find what you need.
Two essential things you need to do in the beginning:
Open a business bank account - separation of your personal and business finances is truly important so you know what’s coming in and going out and where it’s flowing from. When all business money flows into one central hub (sometimes from many places), you’ll be able to keep an accurate record of your business’ health.
Create a bookkeeping method - whether you choose to use an online resource such as QuickBooks or Wave Accounting, or to go simple with a manual spreadsheet, it’s important to track all your income and expenses so that you can create profit and loss reports and have everything ready for your accountant.
Even before you earn your first dollar, you can get these systems set up and working for you. If you want some help with this, check out my free video and simple bookkeeping spreadsheet: Bookkeeping Basics for Small Business Owners.
#5 tell people about your business
You’re now clear on what product you’re selling, you’ve determined you’re going to make a pre-selling effort, you’ve set up your cart and payment processor, and you’ve organized your finances. Now it’s time to actually tell people about what you’re doing!
You want to tell them:
About your business
How you can help them
About the product or service you sell
One common thing that holds people back is starting too slowly. They give themselves too much time, they slowly get the word out, and they’re left frustrated because it doesn’t seem to be working.
I’m not a fan of hustle culture as a long-term MO, but when you are just starting out, sometimes putting a little hustle in your step to get your first few customers pays off in the long run. Not only will it build your confidence in what you’re doing, but you’ll also gain social proof, testimonials, and your first dollars you can then invest back into your business to grow it even more.
Here’s how I recommend doing this:
Set a specific launch date for 1-2 weeks into the future for people to pre-buy your product.
Make a list of people you can tell about your product – this needs to include both people you think would be interested in what you’re selling and people you don’t think would be interested. Why? Because those who aren’t interested may know someone who could be. This direct-connect method pays dividends because, even if no one comes to mind initially, that “wrong” person may refer someone to you down the road.
Create a marketing plan to tell at least 5 people about your product launch every day. This can be done multiple ways, from personal reach-outs to social media posts to emailing your list. This is going to build consistency and keep you going for the launch.
Create tools to share your business. These include your website, social media platforms, or creating long-form content that gets noticed. This fourth step won’t immediately generate customers, but it lays the foundation for long-term growth.
#6 officially register your business
The final thing I’d do early on in business is make it official by registering your business name with your state. Some may think this last step should be the first one, but in my opinion it’s best to test your idea with a mini-trial before committing.
You can find out more details about the requirements in your particular state on the IRS website.
These 6 steps we talked about today create an incredibly strong foundation to grow your business on and will set you up to earn more.
get super clear on what you’re selling
pre-sell your product to gauge interest
set up a way for people to buy your product
organize your business finances
tell people about your business
officially register your business
But this is just the groundwork. Once you have set up shop and validated that first business, then automating your processes for selling and delivering your products will help you create the income you’re looking for. This is where $100K Funnels come into play.
If you’re interested in seeing the behind the scenes of a $100K sales funnel from start to finish, then I invite you to watch my free $100K Funnel Breakdown training.
In the training, I dive deep into the sales funnel processes and walk you through the backend of every step of the sales funnel that sells my courses day in and day out – even when I’m away from the office. We’ll cover how I get leads, my exact webinar framework, and the keys to sales emails that convert.
Head to https://gillianperkins.com/breakdown to sign up for the free training.
the 100K FUNNEL BREAKDOWN
In this free 4-video training, I'll teach you how to easily scale your course to $100,000+/year with one simple funnel. I'll take you through my entire funnel so you can see how it automatically turns a lead into a paying customer, break down the Win/Win webinar strategy, walk through our evergreen sales emails, and explain the big-picture strategy and how you can implement this whole system into your business. Register for the $100K Funnel Breakdown below!
