Start a Business from Home 101 {Episode 14}

After building a variety of businesses from home for the past 10+ years, I'm breaking down the basics for anyone who's curious about it themselves! In this episode of Burning Brightly, we discuss the two main types of online businesses, the pros and cons of each, as well as some of my experiences with each one.

If you've been thinking about starting a business from home but struggle to find true (non-scammy!) information about the right path for you, this is the perfect place to start.

Learn from some of my favorite entrepreneurial guides:

Bonnie Christine (teaches how to make money as a surface designer)

Alison J Prince (teaches e-commerce)

Stu McLaren (teaches about memberships)

Amy Porterfield (teaches about courses)

The Rainmaker Family (teach how to sell on Amazon)

Today we're diving into how to build a business from home! I totally get that this can be scary and you don't know what advice to trust; there are so many scams and people trying to make money off you!

I give away free advice about business building every day in FB groups so today is the day I teach you a broad overview of what I know. If you want more of these types of episodes, email me at [email protected] and I'll be happy to do more.

The first thing to know is that there are 2 main type sof businesses from home: product based or content/service based.

A few examples of product based are MLMs, such as selling jewelry or makeup, e-commerce stores on your own website, or selling products on a 3rd party site.

A few examples of content or service based are coaching, selling courses, bloggers or podcasters, as well as designers, financial experts, tech experts and more.

A subset of service based are massage therapists, nail or hair stylists who work out of their home, but we're focusing today on businesses that are largely internet based without foot traffic to you or your home.

I personally have experience with both product and content businesses. I've made money selling products on my own site, on Amazon, on Etsy as well as from content-based businesses as a blogger, social media influencer, course creator and coach.

There are an INFINITE number of ways to make money from home! yes! For real! And many of them make lots of money, enough to support your family and then some.

But only you will know what's best for your time, expertise, and time and money you have to invest.

Products

These are easy because everyone understands what a physical product is and how to get one online.

A few more pros include being able to do it all from home nowadays, plus the ability to create or curate a collection of amazing things.

There are 3 main ways to get products to sell: create them homemade, manufacture them yourself or purchase them wholesale to resale.

Homemade is fun and exciting but requires LOTS or man hours, manufacturing is also a dream come true and much easier than homemade but requires a big up front financial investment.

Wholesale is a good place to meet in the middle (less man hours and smaller investment) but you're limited by what you can find out in the world.

Seeing someone enjoy a product you've found or designed or created with your own hands is such a thrill! It's an absolute dream come true in so many ways.

But there are also downsides... I already mentioned funding your inventory. Even if you're not manufacturing, you need a good chunk of change (several thousand dollars) to buy supplies or wholesale inventory.

You need a place to store the inventory and a way to ship it out efficiently. If you choose to do your own fulfillment, instead of using Amazon or another fulfillment center, shipping can quickly take over your life.

Inventory also ages, especially if you sell clothing, jewelry or other items that go in and out of style quickly. That inventory depreciates and becomes less valuable over time.

If you build a store on your own website then you have to get traffic to it! And that takes a lot of money and work. If you put it on a 3rd party site (Amazon, Etsy, Walmart or eBay) you have to compete with lots of people.

So that's a quick overview of products!

Content

This is absolutely where I encourage people to start when they have little to no money to invest in their business.

YOU become the product and/or your services have to be really good. If you don't have any marketable skills, you'll need to invest time and money into training or education.

However, I see so many people becoming really successful with content businesses with no education or training! They're just sharing life experiences or something they're good at.

If you have a talent in cooking, photography, gardening, cleaning, organizing, parenting, or literally any other skill, you can teach others how to do it.

Creating an online course or membership is currently a phenomenal way to make money for relatively little time invested.

Plus, content businesses or selling digital products (like designs, memberships, etc) have the potential to scale VERY quickly.

I recently watched a documentary on the fabric designer Bonnie Christine (linked above) and how she went from starving artist to MULTI-millionaire by creating a course and memberhsip site.

The sky is the limit, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows. It takes time and effort to build an audience, you have to get the know, like and trust factor before people will give you any money.

The same goes for services you can offer online where you share your expertise with people who have a pain point.

In addition to memberships and courses, you can sell digital products like PDF guides, video series, audio trainings and more. You can blog, Youtube or podcast and make money through ads or affiliate links.

You can even make money just by showing up on social media and getting partnerships with brands.

The fact is, if you have a dream of giving people something they want or need, you can build a thriving business! But mindset is key, as is a commitment to stick with it until you see success.

If you want a place to start, I'll include links in show notes (above) for my favorite teachers to learn about memberships, courses, selling digital products and more. Give them a follow and let me know if you come up with an amazing idea!