Every time we turn on the news or read the newspaper there is a story about the declining health of the economy. We have two choices. We can either do nothing or we can take action. Doing nothing increases stress and feelings of hopelessness while taking action gives us hope and energy.
This is the perfect time to turn your passion or expertise into a part-time business. A business allows you to supplement the income you earn from your job and take control of your economic destiny. In addition, you could even aim to grow your business so that the business income equals or surpasses your job income. Once this happens consistently, you can decide whether to stay in or leave your job. The ultimate in job security is when you don’t need your job income anymore.
Here are three ways to start a part-time business.
1. Coach Part-Time
Coaching a few hours a week is a great way to start building your coaching business. You could coach clients before work, after work, or on the weekends.
Even though there are no current regulations stating that a coach must be certified or even have coach training, it’s beneficial to at least have some training. Listening and asking questions are essential skills for any coach. Clients hire you because they want results. Good coach training gives you the skills and confidence to support your clients more effectively.
You may be thinking, “But coach training is really expensive!” Given that the investment for most accredited coach training programs is between $3900 to $10,000+, consider starting with an introductory course. Introductory courses are more affordable and can get you started.
As I mentioned previously, clients hire you to get results. What results can you support clients to achieve? If you were tired of your job and were considering a career transition, which coach below would you choose:
1. a coach who supported clients to get get their dream job in 60 days? or
2. a coach who supported clients to obtain life balance, better relationships, better health, find a career they loved, as well as (whatever you said you goal was goes here)?
What’s that saying? “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Being a ‘master’ in your niche also makes it easier to market yourself as you’re only aiming to find those who are interested in your specific expertise.
2. Sell Information Products
You can turn your hobbies and expertise into information products and sell them online. For those who want to become a coach, information products on your niche topic are a way for prospects to get to know you, your style and your expertise level. These products are part of your sales funnel.
Before creating a product it’s important to do market research to find out if there is a hungry market willing to pay to buy your product. You need to know who your market is, how big the market is, what their most pressing problems are, and whether there are products already offering solutions to your market’s most pressing problems. Plus you need to know how to find them so you can determine the best way to get your solution in front of them.
3. Sell Other People’s Stuff
Affiliate marketing is when you sell other people’s products or services and receive a commission for a sale or lead. This is a great way to test a market without creating your own product. If you find that the market is healthy – ie. people are buying – and there are needs that have not been addressed in other products, you may want to create your own products.
There are several places online where you can find products or services with affiliate programs. When you find a product you like, you put a line of coding on your website or blog. You may want to write a review about the product and recommend it to your site visitors or ezine subscribers. It’s not advisable to choose and promote a bunch of products you’ve never used, especially if you’re recommending them to your list! As you send out ezines or articles, the people on your list get to know and trust you. When recommending a product or service to them, it has to be a high quality product that you truly believe will be of benefit to your readers. One of the best ebooks on this topic is the Super Affiliate Handbook
In summary…
Whether you choose to coach part-time, sell information products or sell other people’s products, there are things you will need to learn in order to do so. These include, but are not limited to, how to drive traffic to your website or blog, how to write and structure ‘sales’ content, how to entice people to join your list, and more. Don’t let that scare you off though. I didn’t even know what an ebook was before I took a 4-hour teleclass on creating and selling ebooks in 2001. I didn’t know how to write html code, use pay-per-click search engines, write a sales letter etc. I was even convinced, due to an experience in 1st year university English, that I couldn’t even write! I did it, and so can you.
The three options I’ve shared above are just a few options for starting a business. You could have an Ebay or Yahoo! store or be part of a network marketing company etc. There are many ways to get started. I shared the three that I know and have experience with.
If you are serious about taking control of your financial destiny, you need to know where you want to go (your vision) and why that’s important to you. Knowing those two things will keep you going when you get frustrated and want to quit. And there will likely be times like those! It’s time to take action!
Ready to take action? Check out these business building resources and coaching resources to learn more about getting started in these businesses.