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I’m old now, I’m 32. But what many of you don’t know about me is I built my first multi-million dollar company before I was 21 years old.
And I built four of them before I was 28 years old.
That’s quick, not as quick as Mark Zuckerberg but still decent enough.
Hey everyone, I’m Neil Patel, and today, I’m going to share with you how to start an online business.
See, there’s a lot of similar things that I ended up doing to build these companies.
It took me a long time to build my first one, but I learned what not to do.
#1 How to Start an Online Business
The first thing that I learned is I need to focus, and you do too. You probably have a lot of ideas out there. But just because you have a lot of ideas doesn’t mean you should go after each and every single one.
#2 How to Start an Online Business
It takes more than 40 hours a week to run a business. You only have time for one, and you need to put in as much time as possible to do well. So if you look at me, everyone’s like oh, you made some money you probably have a chill life now. No, I don’t have a chill life now. I’m not just watching TV shows all day. I don’t even have a TV in my house. Heck, I don’t even have a home. All I’m doing 24/7 is working. Yes, you may look at that, and you’d be like oh, your life is miserable. Well, if you want to succeed you’ve got to do more than everyone else out there. If my competitors are gonna work 60 or 70 hours a week, I’m gonna go work 80 or 90. I’m gonna do whatever it takes to beat them. I don’t care, that’s how badly I want to win. And that’s why you need to put in more than 40 hours a week into your business.
#3 How to Start an Online Business
The third thing is, business doesn’t sleep. When you’re sleeping, someone else is awake competing with you. You want to do well? You’ve got to figure out how to work 24/7. Yes, you’re gonna be asleep. You need your rest. If you don’t get enough rest, you’re not gonna be productive. But, you can have a website, an online business that’s continually promoting and selling for you. If you look at all of my businesses none of them are retail stores. Why I hate retail. But, I love the internet. Your internet, your website is, or not really your internet, but your website is your store front. It can continually sell for you over and over again even when you’re sleeping. That means you can make money when you’re sleeping. And someone in a different country could be buying your products and services. So have your 24/7 salesman, which is gonna be your website.
#4 How to Start an Online Business
The next tip I have for you is to focus on one product or service. Everyone, even if you’re in eCommerce, you’re like, oh I gotta go sell 20 things or 100 things. No, you don’t, just sell one product. Yes, you’re focusing on one business. We already got that out of the way. But, within that business one product or one service, that’s it. Not two, not three.
Focus on one product, one service. Then, when your growth flatlines then expand into more products or services. The next tip I have for you is adapt super fast. As for me, I’m a quick executor. I keep executing, I keep testing things out. And when things go wrong, I adapt fast. If you don’t adapt, you’re going to get your butt handed to you.
You don’t want to be the loser. You want to be the winner. And to win, you’re always gonna be competing with that next 16 year old or 14 years old who are building a company and is gonna hustle harder than you. So you know what? Keep adapting, never stop. The moment you stop, you’re gonna get crushed. The last tip I have for you and I learned this one the hard way is listen to your peers. See, my mom and dad would give me advice about entrepreneurship when I was younger and they’d be like, oh you’re investing in the wrong stuff. Don’t trust these people.
And I’m not saying they were always right. And your peers won’t always be right. But they have feedback. Listen to it, I’m not saying you have to take their advice each and every single time. But keep your ears open and listen. And if you’re unsure if their advice is right ask other people. When you get multiple opinions you’ll figure out the right decisions to make. As you’re getting the feedback you will improve, and you’ll increase your odds of succeeding.
#5 How to Start an Online Business. BONUS!
And I know I already said that was the last tip but this is the bonus one. And this is one that has really helped me. See, as an entrepreneur you are going to fail.
Don’t give up when you fail. Keep getting out there and working hard and you’ll succeed.