The Old Way of Business and the New Way of Business!

Hey! I hope you've been AMAZING!

The other day I was looking through a box that had some old products from my store- I came across one of my bookmarks that I used to make! These bookmarks were the first products I ever sold in stores, and they went on to sell in three different boutiques here in Baltimore. I LOVED making these! I started reflecting on how differently I run my business in today's world to how I did 13 years ago. The photo on the bottom right is myself and Joel, the owner of a book store in Owings Mills. This picture was taken in 2000. During that time I also had a cleaning business. I remember getting flyers made and walking around hanging them on doorknobs, running weekly ads in the local newspaper, and having magnetic signs on my car. Now, I am not saying that those methods are a "bad" idea or that they won't work...I'm just saying there's another more effective and faster way- using the internet!

Most people today do not go for the phone book or look on the refrigerator for a flyer they saved with the intention of using it. They/We do this:GOOGLE it!!! We look it up on our phones, tablets, laptops, - or whatever other little device are out there. So, you want to GO where people are -which is- the internet! This is called Internet Marketing. Today, this is the way people are doing business. It's the most affordable (many times the start-up cost can cost you $0.00 depending on your product or service),
effective and fastest way to start your business, - and get your service or product in front of as many people as you can. 

I've met so many people who want to have their own business but are afraid of using social media. (Although, that's another topic for another day.) Social media can spread your message faster than 13 years ago when I was walking door to door hoping, wishing and praying a dog didn't come running after us for going up to their door and hanging flyers! In today's world you've got to be on the internet in some way, shape or form! Think about it- for under $20.00 a year you can own a piece of cyber real-estate by having your own website! 

Here are 6 simple ways to start your business in the new world of business.

1. Internet Real-estate. Purchase your domain name, which is the name of your website www.YourBusinessName.com. You can do that through GoDaddy.com .
   
2. Social Media. Sign up for the social media sites that you'd like to use as a way of marketing your products, services and messages to the world. These include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube etc.
3. Marketing. Start MARKETING your business NOW! I can hear you saying, "But Angel, I don't have my website up yet!" And this is what I say to you, again..."Start MARKETING your business NOW!" I meet SO many people who want to start their own business, they know what they are passionate about, but they are not blogging about it yet or on social media sites right NOW sharing their passions with the world. They often say, "When I get my website up I will start telling people about what I do." You don't have to wait until then. As a matter of fact, don't wait until then. You want to start building your reputation on the problem you are going to solve for people in your business NOW! You want to start branding NOW! You want to start sharing your wisdom and advice- NOW! If you are passionate about fashion, make-up, singing, designing...whatever your "thing" is, start talking about it now. Yes, without the website, the business cards and all the other business tools. Of course these tools are essential, but it's important for you to start right where you are! So start your blog, open up your Facebook account, and start sharing your good stuff with the world! 
4. Get your website up and running. You can also do this through GoDaddy.com as well. You can either hire someone to do this for you or you can build it yourself. 
5. Create your first product to sell on your website. It can be an eBook, an audio download, a video series, or whatever you'd like to create. Add this to your website using a PayPal or merchant account.
6. Sign up with an email marketing system. You'll need to have a way to market and communicate with the people who come to your website and are interested in doing business with you. You can set this email marketing system up through Aweber, Mailchimp or Infusionsoft. Being able to capture emails, names and phone numbers off of your site is going to be one of the most important things you will ever do in your business. Ever notice how when you go to your favorite clothing or shoe store today in this new world of business, the clerk will ask you for your phone number or email address? Well, they want to stay in contact with you! They don't want you to just come and buy a pair of shoes and leave, they want your email address so they can continue to market their products to you. Well, you're going to need to do the same thing. You don't want people to just come to your website, like what they see, and you never "see" them again. 

So here are the 6 easy steps to setting up your new business in the new world of business. Get started and come back here, as I want to hear from you! Let me know how this works out for you so far ;)