How to Start a Small Business | Entrepreneur Advice

I started this site to help others escape the 9 to 5 and start living the life they want by becoming their own boss like I did. But recently I’ve morphed into somewhat of a social media marketing blog… so back to my roots for a little bit!

A lot of people have twittered & emailed me with questions about how to start a small business. Starting a small business, or big business for that matter, isn’t hard. Really, I swear it isn’t. It just takes two things: 1) A ridiculous, hell bent will to succeed at whatever kind of business you want to start & 2) Persistent, constant action. So whether you are failing or succeeding you gotta keep moving forward. Keep doing and eventually, just basic odds reason, you’ll hit a home run and lots of success will come. But don’t give up. I know it’s cliched to say nowadays but seriously, don’t GIVE UP.

You can realize you went down the wrong path, you can change roads, change business plans, even change businesses… but never let go of that fire inside. The entrepreneur’s ennui as I mentioned in an earlier post, that drives you forward, that refuses to be okay with the status quo and that won’t let you rest until you’ve achieved your goal. So that is my biggest piece of entrepreneur advice, just DO IT. Like the stupid Nike ad says, you have to make massive action to get anywhere. Even little action does something, but massive, risk taking action is the best I’ve found.

Want more specifics? Want examples instead of broad suggestions? Okie Dokie. Get this…

Question: Maren, how do I start my own internet business.

Answer: Buy a website URL, I like 1and1, buy hosting.. I use bluehost. Then find a free wordpress theme and upload it to your site. Sound confusing already? Hire someone on Elance to do it for you for cheap or even better go to WordPress Freelancers and allow experts to bid on your project. What other business takes you less than $100 to start? Internet business, thats right.

P.S. also doesn’t hurt to get your LLC rolling early. If you KNOW your going to be successful in starting your own internet business (which you should atleast tell yourself) you may as well start acting like it. Don’t go to a lawyer, go to LegalZoom & do it fast & for cheap.

Question: How to start a small business or small scale business?

Answer: So you don’t want to take over the world, maybe you just want an extra 1 or 2k a month. Thats fine! You can start a small scale business even easier than starting an online retail business. I started my first small scale business on eBay at the age of 19, it got me through college & gave me enough money to fund the start up of my true calling social media marketing. I have a site dedicated to eBay powerseller tips & even a whole ebook outlining exactly how I made $5,000 a month on eBay selling jewelry for 3 to 7x as much as I paid for it. If you don’t like the eBay model go with a basic Yahoo store or make stuff, candles, jewelry, wooden furniture and sell it out of your home.

Hopefully this entrepreneur advice can help at least start the fire in your pants for entrepreneurial success, it really is worth it people. Even if you just use a small business as side income, who doesn’t need that in times like these? There isn’t really job security anymore, to be “sure” of your income stream you almost have to do it yourself.

Please if you have questions, comments or any other suggestions on how to start a small business or an internet business leave me a comment or shoot me a message. I love to hear what others think of my posts & if they are at all helpful or not. Hopefully they are! Also, anyone out there with an entrepreneurial success story? Let me hear about it and I’ll feature you on the blog!