When it comes to starting your first business there are TONS of things you could be doing to get your business off the ground.

Like, getting active on social media, designing a website, hiring a coach, writing content, hosting webinars, going to live events and (does this list ever end...?).

But there's one problem.

You can't decide what to do, when to do it and how to make it happen. You think you need to tackle everything at once to be sure your business is in for the long haul.

You will need to bring in the big guns to do some HARD work but, you don't have to do it all.

Do you mind if I break it down step by step for ya? Okay, okay, let's get into The 3 Things To Know When Starting Your First Business.

1 | Battle Your Mindset

If you don't know by now, I'm a huge believer in creating a positive mindset. This was an important step for me as I transitioned from a brick and mortar owner to an online business owner.

And let's me set the record straight, it was no easy task.

Related: I shared my 3 steps to conquering your mindset in this post

But the one point I want to touch on today is, the belief you have in your false-self.

You might be thinking, "What is this false-self you mention?" Let me break it down.

The ‘False Self’ is the limiting belief of who you have found to be true due to the negative repetitive nature of your thoughts.

This False-Self believes that all the negativity in your life is true to you - even if there is no direct correlation.

In short, the false-self is YOU! It's a piece of you that you created.

Have you ever watched a show on TV or listened to lyrics of a song and immediately imagined your life played out as the song illustrates? Or maybe you started to embody the characters you see in magazines or TV shows.

This is your False-Self taking over.

Most of the time this is done subconsciously and it’s one of those things where you aren’t aware until it is brought to your attention.

So, how does this play into entrepreneurship, you ask?

As a new and aspiring entrepreneur, disconnecting your false-self from your true self and acting on what you know is TRUE to you is what you have to focus on as you're striding through this entrepreneur marathon.

The "6-figure incomes", Instagram lifestyles, thousands of email subscribers and perfect office spaces can and will affect how you interpret your success IF you aren't aware of your true self.

If you aren't consciously aware of the power your mind possess. 

Because if you aren't careful, those stories, successes, experiences, and social media fame will shape your thoughts, which defines your actions and ultimately becomes who you are.

Accept that you don’t know, you aren’t there and you’re still hustling. And understand you're very well capable of making it happen, achieving big results and finding out exactly what you need to know to the success YOU desire to be true to you.

Maybe that's a yearly vacation, 4-hour work week or making your first $1, $100, $1000.

You may be a newbie today, but tomorrow you could be someone's guide to do exactly what you do.

Make a declaration today to start practicing good mindset techniques as you're starting your business so by the time you are growing and launching, it's a daily habit.

In my Spark To Launch mastermind academy, I have a mini-course on mindset where I dig into the depths of mindset and how it connects with you personal & business life.

2 | Start Where You Are

I am a huge believer of starting small and building your way up. You can go slow or you can Usain Bolt your way to the top, but starting where you’re comfortable is the key.

If you're in this phase of starting your business, there's no reason why you need to go and build a whole team or recreate the wheel when you don't know what you're doing…yet.

So in order for you to be certain about...

Who your business is serving, your brand, and the what, how and why of your business, you want to start with what works for your budget, lifestyle and the time you have available to produce the best results in the shortest amount of time.

Then build upon that as you start growing your business.

I talk more about this is in my Mastermind Academy, Spark To Launch, but I want to share with you some of the main steps you should take as you are beginning where you are while starting your first business. This is also great for those with tight/DIY budgets.

1. ONLY create content that matters

In short, this is answering the most important questions, the who, what, why and how of your business.

2. Invest in an email marketing platform that you can maintain

I recommend Convertkit and I go in-depth about the 20 reasons Convert Kit is the best email marketing platform in this blog post.

If you are on a tighter budget, My second and third recommendation is Mailerlite then Mailchimp. Mailerlite is free up to 1,000 subscribers with the use of email autoresponders. This is key to building an relationship-driven email list.

3. Maximize Your Online Presence

That does not mean a branded website built like the PRO’s. It does mean whatever you can afford to start building your foundation to getting visible and heard in your niche.

This could be your email marketing provider's landing page software (ConvertKit & MailerLite both have these options), a blank Wordpress page, a Squarespace cover page or tools like Thrive Landing Pages, Leadpages or Instapage.

No need to wait to wait weeks or months to get visible when you can start where you are and build from there. These tools will allow you to build multiple landing pages to start building your email list and getting your content seen.

4. Create Freebie + Core Offer

This is the core of your landing pages - to direct your audience to download/participate/watch your freebie that is a direct reflection of your core offer.

Your freebie is the entry point to your core offer.

Now, is the time to starting thinking of what products or services you want your core offer to be and finding ways to create a 'quick win' for your audience. Something they can apply and immediately feel like they accomplished it quicker, easier, safer, better to get the results they needed.

5. Build Your First Sales Funnel

My 'Simple Sales Funnel' guide gives you the steps, strategy & tools to get your first funnel going in as little as a week. 

Here's the most basic sales funnel order of events: content >> freebie >> tripwire >> 2nd offer >> core offer!

I share more about these exact steps in my '5 Steps To Jumpstart Your Business' online video training. Register for free below!

Step 3 | Experience

Now you may say, "How will I have experience if I’m just starting?" 

This is how you do it. 

You gain experience by going out there and testing. If you already have the knowledge, the skills, and you already know your stuff then, you just need to get people to back you up on it. 

So what do you need to do go out there? Get involved in social media, be visible (engaging in Facebook groups, online forums, Twitter chats, Periscope broadcast, YouTube, etc) and offer a beta test or free offer in exchange for honest testimonials.

Offer your services (or product), give them exactly what they asked for and more, allow them to start seeing results quickly (this is that 'quick win' I mentioned in step 2) then ask for feedback and a testimonial in return.

Now, you can use those same testimonials on your website or sales page and through every other marketing channel to validate your expertise.

BOOM! 

Your credibility is tried, tested & true!

Now, get out there, get visible, gain experience, build testimonials then leverage those to become the entrepreneur you are called to be. 

This is part 1 of a 3 part series going into the 9 steps to know when starting (we covered), growing, and launch your first business.

Stay tuned. In the meantime...

Get immediate access to starting your first business and dive into my FREE training on the
'5 Steps To Jumpstart Your Business IN A Weekend'