Starting your own business can feel like a goliath task. There’s so much to do, so much to think about, and so much that can go wrong. But where there is room for things to go wrong, there is certainly plenty of room for things to go right.
One of the biggest hurdles that any entrepreneur will face on the journey to creating their own business is figuring out just where the best place is to start.
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Even if you have an endgame in mind, and the middle perfectly planned out, the start can still feel like a daunting prospect. So, how can start the process of turning your skills into a business that is going to be profitable?
The options available are pretty diverse, let’s take a look at 10 of the best methods to turn skill into profit…
Find the Market Rate for Your Skills
Skills come in all shapes and sizes; you may be creative, you could have a head for technology, you may be an outstanding communicator, there are endless ways to be skilled. When it comes to business though, you need to make sure that you know how to utilize your skills to start a business and how profitable they have a chance of being.
Determining the market rate for your skill won’t tell you exactly how much you’re going to earn, but it will give you a benchmark figure to aim for, and hopefully exceed as your business takes off. For skills that you hope to charge for, this will also make sure that you aren’t going to be overcharging or undercharging, which will turn away customers and burn you out, respectively.
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It’s pretty easy to do the research when it comes to market rate, simply take a browse around websites that are offering a similar service that you hope to provide and even look at the charges of local businesses if your skills match up to what they’re selling.
Build up Your Presence on Social Media
Social media is big business, no matter if you’re looking at Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Building up a social media presence is crucial for any style of business, and it’s something that you can do right from the start of your business journey.
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Creating a business page is quick and easy, and with help from family and friends, you can make sure that you start off with a good following. An active social media presence will show that you mean business and provide the perfect platform to showcase your skills and chart the milestones of your business as it grows. With almost 1.5 billion Facebook users logging in on a daily basis, you certainly won’t be short of an audience to target!
Design Your Own Website to Share Your Talent
Whether your skills are in writing, product development, design, or somewhere in between, you need a single central platform from which to showcase what your business is all about. This is a place to show the best of your skills, tell your audience who you are, and start converting the first customers over to your business.
Today, there is simply no getting by as a modern business without a good website. Luckily, with the multitude of web design software services out there, they’re also pretty easy to make yourself. Every moment that goes by without a website with your name on it and your skills listed, is a moment that you may have missed out on a potential client or sale!
Develop Your Own Online Courses
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There are countless websites that not only allow you to view courses, but also make your own. If you have a topic area where you are knowledgeable, or you want to share your skill with the world, then developing your own course in drawing, SEO or cpr online is one of the best ways to go about it. More and more services are making the shift to online, offering accessible content that is designed to fit the needs of a target audience – this has led to online courses becoming big business as a convenient educational tool. Teachable, Udemy, and Skillshare, are all popular online course sharing platforms, but there is an abundance to choose from, each offering their own unique features. You could even set up a course on your own website or blog.
Share Your Skills as an Online Coach
If course development is not for you, then why not share your skills as an online coach, trainer, or consultant? This is a great business move for individuals that have skills in communication and are looking for a flexible way to start earning an income from home as their own boss.
Through platforms like myQuest and Coach.me, you can develop your business as an online coach with plenty of room to grow. Using the software available, you can expand to have your own coaching app and fully design your own brand. You can even coach alongside course development, for a duel business model that fully utilizes your skills.
Consider Taking Your Skills to a Freelance Market
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From an opportunity to put your skills to the test in a real-life scenario to the chance to establish a strong client list, the benefits of freelancing are exceptional. Any skill that can be marketed can be used to start a business as a freelancer; that includes writing, designing, developing, and admin work.
If you are good at what you do, then you’ll always be able to find clients that need your skills. Freelancing gives you a chance to develop what you enjoy, and even continue your day job while you build up a good reputation as a freelancer online.
Freelancing has grown considerably in recent years, with an estimated 2 million freelancers working in the UK alone. You can find plenty of freelancer jobs on standard job search websites, but there are also specialist sites you can sign up to, like Upwork and Peopleperhour; where there are jobs listed for every skill from logo design to coding and software development.
Start Writing a Blog
Blogs are one of the best mediums to share what you love, what you’re talented at, and what you’re most knowledgeable about. A blog can be about anything from cooking and gardening to the latest tech on the market and even niche subjects that you think there is a market for. Design a creative blog, develop an informative one, or keep things fresh and informal, the choice is yours.
aNot only can blogs be a business all in themselves with sponsorships and ads, but they can also be used to promote other businesses and share ideas. Audiences don’t appear overnight though, so if you want a successful blog, you’ll need to be willing to put in the time to create consistent high-quality content and stay patient.
Write down Your Knowledge in an eBook
While blogs are a great way to send short bursts of information out into the world, eBooks are the ideal medium to really explore a single topic and keep an audience engaged for longer periods of time. Just like blogs, you can write about any topic and in any format, whether you create a cookbook or develop your own guide.
A big tip for wannabe eBook creators is to stand out from the start. There are more than 5 million eBooks featured on Amazon alone, so make sure that you optimize your title, edit the content, and advertise your eBook on different platforms like blogs or through social media.
Get Creative with Your Skills and Design and Sell Products
Anyone can see their design ideas realized and produce a physical product to sell. If you have a product idea in mind, then it’s worth jumping in and starting the design and development processes sooner rather than later – that includes patenting your idea!
Examples of small design projects hitting the big time are in abundance, with big names like Apple and Mattel starting out small before their products took off. With plenty of convenient online marketplaces, like Amazon, you’ll never have to worry about a place to sell your products.
Broadcast Your Skills by Making Videos and Podcasts
Videos and podcasts are two of the best ways to get your business ideas out there and even turn into a business. More and more people are making money off platforms like YouTube every day by producing content that ranges from gaming channels to music and even cooking shows.
Not matter your skill, if you can communicate well then you can reach an audience with your own podcast or video channel. Despite the number of podcasts and video channels out there, there is always room for someone with passion, knowledge, and true interest in sharing what they know.
Taking your skill to the next level by starting a business can be stressful, scary, and time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. However, daunting the prospect may be, dipping your toes in and trying out one or multiple avenues to turn your skill into a successful business will be your first step on a new journey.