The Perfect Time to Launch Your Business

Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, we'll be covering: 

- If this is the right time to start your online biz

- How to build trust and connection in your community

- The 2 ways to start making money in your business now 

Is this the right  time to start an online business? 

The truth is, there’s no RIGTH time. People are always waiting until they’re ready, but honestly there is no such thing. There’s that quote - “The best time to start was 5 years ago, the next best time in now.” 

I know things are uncertain right now, but no one can predict the future. Things can still be uncertain three to six months from now, or next year or in 3 years. You can keep trying to time things but then you’ll just be stuck, not taking action or moving forward. 

When people say they’re stuck, they’re not really stuck. You just don’t want to make a decision. If you’re feeling stuck, it means that you’re scared to make a decision because you’re scared it will be the wrong one. But the truth is, there is no right or wrong answer. 

Should I be on Instagram? Should I be on Wordpress? Should I start a podcast? There is no right answer. You just have to decided, test it out and see what happens. You really won’t know what will happen until you try and see what happens. 

And people ask me as if I have the answer. I can share my experience and my results but it will be different from everybody. 

So now let’s talk about what we’re certain about. We know people are staying home, we know that they’re bored, some wanna be lazy and some wanna be productive. Some people wanna learn things and are signing up. A lot of people are on social media because views and engagement is up across the board. 

So if you’re asking if it’s a good time to be posting content - it is. Because of human behavior, you can see everyone going LIVE on Instagram every single day. People have time. 

Now if you’re in the travel or events niche, you have to change the messaging right now. You’re not getting people to travel people right now, you can still talk about it and get people excited to do it when we can all go do that again. 

If you’re just starting out, this is THE perfect time to be getting people’s attention, to grow your community and to engage with them. They’re looking for support, community and accessibility - which you can offer to them right now. 

If John Legend and all these musicians can offer LIVES right now, you can too! 

How to build trust and connection in your community

Show up consistently - When you show up in your audience’s feeds consistently providing valuable content, you start to build trust and connection. 

Engage often - Reply to your audience quickly and offer support and encouragement during these hard times.

Offer support - Schedule LIVES, a virtual hangout, go above and beyond now and people will thank you and remember you for it. 

How to Monetize as an Influencer

So let’s talk about making money right now, there’s a couple ways to monetize as an influencer.

The main ways to make money as an influencers are advertising (which includes brand sponsorships), affiliate marketing, and selling products and services. 

There are brands still working with influencers right now. It’s the perfect time to start engaging with these brands on social media - make sure you’re following and commenting on their content. If you can post organic content featuring them, that works too. Maybe you wanna reach out and do a giveaway collab with them - I did that recently! 

Don’t be afraid to reach out to brands once you’ve built a connection with them. Even if they are not advertising right now, it’s good to stay top of mind and check back in with them in a few weeks or months. 

Also check influencer marketing platforms like Heartbeat, Fohr or AspireIQ to see which brands still have open campaigns. 

If you are able to sell a physical or digital product online, now is the time to do it. People are shopping online more and if you can solve a problem, you should help people. 

If you’re feeling weird or icky about selling right now, you have to shift that belief into “selling is serving.” You’re not trying to sell masks or toilet paper for 10x the price. You’re only selling to people who need what you’re selling. 

You’re also not trying to sell to people who don’t have the ability to buy. There are people experiencing hard time right now, you’re not being insensitive to that by selling. You are selling to those with the ability to buy and also so that you don’t become one of these people who are not making money right now. 

For people who have teams like me, we wanna keep selling so we can pay our team and don’t have to lay anyone off. Any business that can keep selling should - just like restaurants doing takeout and those pivoting to keep things going. Any way that you can keep stimulating the economy is a good thing. 

If you don’t have your own products, you can be an affiliate and sell other people’s products. This is by using affiliate links in your blog or social media posts. 

And  if you have a service you can offer online, you can definitely do that. 

If you’re not sure, this is the time to ask and survey your audience. 

Be creative. 

People are looking to you as a leader right now so whatever you decide to do, the most important thing is to support your community right now. 

Listen to the full episode here:  

Watch the Masterclass

Gwenlane.com/masterclass

Listen to Previous Episodes: 

How to Work with Brands During a Pandemic

The State of Influencer Marketing featuring Tinger Hseih

How to Create Content During a Crisis

How to Pitch Yourself to Podcasts featuring Mai-Kee Tsang

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