Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you’re restricted to opening a retail store or working as a tradesman. Especially not in this day and age.
The internet offers a wealth of opportunity when starting your own business – often with little or no cost.
And by focusing on your strengths (or enrolling on a specialist course), you’ll slowly be able to build a roster of clients for an online business.
These are the kind of things you could look into:
1. SEO consultant
If you know the ins and outs of search engines, have skills in platforms like Google Analytics (or are prepared to learn about them), then a job as an SEO consultant could be the one for you.
Some owners of smaller companies have no idea how much of an impact SEO can have on their business, so there’s plenty of custom out there.
Educate these business owners on the power of SEO, help them transform their website (and web rankings), help them read and use their analytics data in the right way and use keywords to structure content and help get them more traffic.
2. Business coaching
Do you possess a great deal of business experience and knowledge? Have you been the boss of a big firm for a fair few years? If so, business coaching could be the way forward.
You could use your skills to help new business owners and entrepreneurs develop their own ideas and show off your knowledge of various online systems to help them build their presence and corporate brand.
3. Specialized retailer
Becoming an online specialist retailer is easier than it sounds.
Make sure you’ve got a niche product which has been well marketed and you’re a dab hand at SEO, and you’ll be well on the way to success.
There’s a customer base for pretty much everything these days too, from novelty diet foods to old fashioned wooden toys, you’ll sell it.
Simply set up an online store (to reach customers who are looking for a particular product) via a web hosting service – with integrated shopping cart – and seek out a vendor which will ship the products to customers on your behalf.
4. Social media consultant
Larger companies usually hire an agency or full time staff members to take control of their social media accounts, but smaller businesses don’t have that luxury.
With so much to do, smaller businesses are often too busy to look after their Twitter and Facebook accounts, especially when it comes to developing a particular social media strategy for themselves.
As a consultant, you can develop the strategy for them, determine the best tactics moving forward, post schedules and content and add to their followers.
5. Web design
There’s nothing worse than a poorly designed website and it will usually kill credibility and loose a business their custom.
So that’s where you come in! If you know some HTML and have a good eye for design, you could launch a service to create attractive, easy to use websites for small businesses.
Put your skills to good use for business owners who want to take their online presence to the next level. Build a comprehensive portfolio, create your own website and show it off…. You’ll eventually build a steady stream of clients.
6. App development
Mobile applications, or apps, are more popular than ever.
If you’re a coder at heart and have a great idea, you should run with it and create an app.
If you just have an idea and don’t know the ins and outs of how to turn it into reality, there are plenty of software developers out there who you could collaborate with.
Just attend local networking events and tech conferences and speak to as many people as possible. You never know who you’ll bump into.
