Now is a great time to start a business! Today, I want to cover why it is a great time to start a business and then how to actually do it. 

There are two big trends happening right now:

1)You can have a global impact. I live in San Diego and my first sale came from a woman in The United Kingdom. I have women from all over the world on my lives and in my membership sites. I’ve raised thousands of dollars with women around the world to build a classroom for kids in Kenya.

The amount of impact we can make together helping others around the world is limitless. Can you imagine if we are all using our strengths and passions, are happy and fulfilled and doing what we love? Do you even know the impact we can make together? I’m excited just thinking about it.

2) Women want the freedom to do what they love, and to work when they want. It’s all about freedom to spend time with the people we love and freedom to do the things we are passionate about. Now more than ever for women it’s possible. I was supposed to back to maternity leave after 6 weeks. My daughter still couldn’t eat at 6 weeks. She had a tongue tie and I was pumping every hour and barely hanging on by a thread at 6 weeks. There is no way I was ready to go back to my cubicle life. I called HR and told them I wasn’t coming back and was going to grow my business instead.

I needed the flexibility to be a mom. I needed the flexibility to feed my daughter. I needed the freedom to work during nap time and not worry about calls from my boss and client while I was changing a diaper or if I didn’t show up to a meeting on time. There are more important things. I designed my business this way. From the very beginning, I knew park days with my kids was my vision.

I struggled for many years to get pregnant, including having three miscarriages, my babies are everything now because they are miracles and they are my absolute priorities. I knew from that positive pregnancy test that I was forever changed and I needed to design a business around spending as much time as I could with my babies. When my pregnancies came and went and didn’t end up lasting, it pushed me harder and harder to make my dream business happen so that someday, somehow, however, I would become a mom, I would be able to spend every minute with my future family. Life is precious. Family matters. Every single minute with my kids matter because it all goes way too darn fast and it can be gone in a second. ❤️ I love you Mila and Sienna.

I’ve also worked from around the world on my business. I’ve worked from New Zealand and Australia and was flown to Brazil for my first international speaking event. We can work from anywhere with our phones and laptops. It is possible. Millions of people are doing it, so stop thinking you can’t do it too. If I can do it, you can do it.

There is nothing about me that makes me better or more special than you. Remember, I was the shy girl who prayed the teachers would never call on me and had no idea that I was good at writing, speaking, or reading. I was not the smart one that was supposed to be a success. But here I am.

Three Tips to Get Started On Your Own Business Today

So for those of you that can’t handle not knowing what you need to do first. Here are three tips to get you started.

1. Do market research: You absolutely need to figure out the problem you are solving and that means getting inside of the minds of your customers. You must know what they are thinking and actually think their thoughts, even before they do. You should identify their challenges, fears, goals, struggles, and dreams. Do a survey or interview your ideal clients. You’ll learn so much and this is so important.
2. If you had to make $100 tomorrow, what would you sell? It’s all about the action here, so we can’t think or debate too long on the first step. What you start with probably won’t be where you end up and it’s important to get the cash flowing in and to start testing the market. What works and what doesn’t? You’ll never know if you don’t put an offer out there. It won’t be perfect. It might not even be created yet. But if someone is willing to put money down on something, you’ll get into action and make it happen now, won’t you?
3. Offer free sessions. I’m always being asked how to start. Start with helping someone you know. Who needs your service or product right now? Start helping them for free. I know free gets a bad rap but I wholeheartedly believe in it for a few reasons. First, because it helps you get your systems and process together. You may not be perfect when you just start, so it helps you figure out what you really need to do and know. Second, it builds your testimonials and social proof. When people are ready to buy from you, they have to know like and trust you. They have to know that your service or product actually works, so they will want to see that you have done this before for other customers and that you have other happy customers. This is why testimonials from others are so important. So, in the beginning, offer your service for free to people you need your help in exchange for a testimonial. That’s a win-win if you ask me!

How I Started My Business at Classy Career Girl

1. I produced blog content consistently. I answered questions. There wasn’t a week that went by that I didn’t have a post up. I wrote about what I was excited to write about. It could be getting out of debt or the Insanity workout challenge or how I felt about my miscarriages. Often it was tips and articles about my day job. How to handle work trips. How to nail an interview. Mistakes you are making on your resume. I would do this on the top of my day job and sometimes if I was lucky I could get out a few posts per week.
2. I engaged with others on social media. I used whatever social media platform was popular at the time. It’s always changing. When I started in 2011, Twitter was popular. Eventually, I also added Facebook and Pinterest, and Instagram. I think my ability to learn new things really helped. I just dive in and start doing it. I will figure it out. Don’t count on someone else to do it for you. I’ve had interns who do my social media, but engagement is always best when I do it myself. I know my brand and my vision for CCG better than anyone.
3. Eventually, I created my first online course. There were four people who joined that first course called The Get Unstuck Bootcamp. From there two people upgraded to individual coaching with me. I sent out an email for the course and the signup link was buried in my email. I’ll never forget sending the email and going to my day job. I got the first sale while I was in my cubicle. I wanted to jump up and down when that Paypal order came through. The bad part was that the course wasn’t created yet so I had to get my butt moving to make that course happen!
4. I started an email list. I’ll never forget the feeling of that first person subscribing for my 30 Day Networking Challenge Guide. It was a topic I had written about and lots of people enjoyed it so I started on MailChimp and just started growing my email list.

If you are waiting for the right time to start your business, you may be waiting forever. Now is the right time to start! You can do it! If you have any questions, shoot me a message on Instagram, I love answering questions and chatting with you all.