4 Years Of Online Business Knowledge In Under 5 Minutes

I just passed my 4th year as an online entrepreneur.

It’s pretty crazy to look back on the past few years and everything that’s happened.

I’ve dropped out of university, moved countries, built a 6 figure business and grown my audience to over 500,000 people.

It’s wild and I’m eternally grateful for all of the support.

And to be honest, it’s wilder to know that the first ~18 months to 2 years of my journey I was fucking about with no plan, being inconsistent, and holding myself back.

So really, you could say I’ve done all of this in 2 years since I set out to do it properly.

Either way, again, I’m grateful for you and your support.

And so to “celebrate” my 4 years online, I’m going to give you 4 of the best bits of online business advice I’ve learned over the past few years.

Let’s get into it.

A Business Only Needs 2 Things

How many people do you know who have, at some point, planned to start a business?

I can almost guarantee there’s been a good few.

Now, how many of them actually started that business?

I can almost guarantee that the answer is none of them.

And one of the main reasons people never start their business is because they overcomplicate things.

They try to solve problems that they won’t encounter until they’re 5 years in and think they need all these different things.

When really, a business only needs 2 things;

• Something to sell

• Someone to sell it to

Until you’ve figured these out, nothing else matters.

These 2 things are your business, right now it doesn’t matter how the backend of your business looks, what your website is like, what your mission statement is or anything else.

In business, especially when you’re starting out, don’t try to solve problems you don’t yet have.

Solve the problem in front of you - and for almost every new, fresh-faced entrepreneur that problem is that they don’t have something to sell or someone to sell it to.

Figure them out - because that is all your business needs and if you don’t have them, you don’t have a business.

Don’t try to solve a problem you don’t yet have.

Sell Painkillers, Not Vitamins

Something to sell and someone to sell it to.

It sounds easy to figure out, but it can be tough.

One bit of advice I’d give you, well actually, 2 bits of advice I’d give you here are this;

• Start with the market

Anybody can think of a product or service to sell and then try to sell it.

But if the market isn’t there (ie. nobody wants to buy it), then you’ve just wasted your time, effort and potentially money in building that product or service.

If you start with the product, you’ve no idea if anybody wants it.

So instead, start with the market.

Find the type of person you want to help (the market), figure out what problems they have and then build a product or service to solve that problem.

And if you don’t know how to solve that problem, either choose a different market or learn how to solve the problem - because every problem has a solution, you just have to figure it out.

That’s all business is, it’s selling something that solves a problem to someone who has a problem.

Whether it’s fitness coaching for someone who wants to get in shape or clothes for someone who wants to dress better, you’re in the business of solving problems.

But if the person you’re trying to sell to doesn’t have the problem you’re solving, they won’t buy.

So start with the market.

• Sell painkillers, not vitamins

With that, you want to solve a problem they currently have.

People don’t want to buy vitamins (to prevent problems) because they’re not currently experiencing the pain of the problem and think they’re immune to it.

People will however buy painkillers (to fix the problem) because they’re experiencing the pain right now.

A massive difference in a painkiller product and a vitamin product is the urgency.

A painkiller product is a need to use and a vitamin product is a nice to use, for example, a course showing online coaches how to limit their churn might be a painkiller, but a scheduling app for online coaches to boost productivity might be a vitamin.

The main thing with this concept is to;

• Choose a market with a painful problem

• Solve that problem

• Sell them that solution

If it’s not a problem that is painful, they will be less likely to buy the solution.

Of course, this rule isn’t always strictly true because people do buy vitamins and it can get a bit loose with commodity products like clothing brands were it might feel like you’re not solving a problem

But even then, you should still try to solve a problem - maybe how the clothing fits, maybe the quality, the style, the community of people who wear the brand or potentially all of them.

The more painful the problem you solve, the more money you’ll make.

Build A Personal Brand 

The future of the world is online, there’s no denying this.

And with people moving online, they’re shopping online.

With people shopping online, they’re buying from people that they know, like and trust, over some random brand.

In other words, people are buying the brands they respect.

By building a personal brand, you have 2 main advantages;

• You build authority

You do this by creating content that shows that you know what you’re talking about in your “niche”.

This way, when it comes to selling something in your niche, people will believe you can help them.

• You build a traffic source

Remember, a business needs 2 things - something to sell and someone to sell it to.

By building a personal brand, you build the people you can sell to, your traffic.

The even better part about doing this with a personal brand is that everyone wins, those who want to buy will buy and those who don’t, won’t.

Everyone still gets value either in the form of the product they purchased or your free content.

If you launch a business without a brand, you either have to rely on word of mouth to get customers or pay for ads.

If you launch a business with a brand, you send your followers to your product.

And with the future moving online, a personal brand is the biggest advantage in building free traffic that already knows, likes and trusts you.

Your Business Is A Reflection Of You

This is probably the most important piece of business advice you can ever get.

Your problems will be reflected in your business.

Whether it’s bad habits, a poor identity, an inability to do the work, limiting mindsets, addiction to instant gratification or anything else - these will all reflect in your business and hold you back.

For example;

If you can’t do the work you know you need to do and choose to either procrastinate, do less important work or just fuck around, then your business won’t grow.

If you have an identity that thinks money is scarce and there’s not a lot of it out there, then you will subconsciously sabotage yourself and prevent your business from growing.

If you have an addiction to instant gratification, you’ll get distracted when you’re working and jump from shiny object to shiny object, preventing your business from growing.

Every business problem you have is a personal problem being reflected in your business.

As such, if you want to solve a business problem, you need to solve your own personal problems.

Think about it. How can you expect to run a business effectively, if you can’t run your life effectively? You can’t.

Your business is the result of your thoughts, actions and decisions - hence if you want to improve your business you need to improve your thoughts, actions and decisions.

As I’ve said before, your goal might be external, but the work is always internal.

You must become the person capable of achieving your goals, of running that business.

Which of course, is easier said than done

So if you want the step-by-step process to becoming the person you need to be, click here.

Until you solve your own problems, your business will always suffer.

— Ross

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