Overwhelmed by the Complexity of Online Business? This May Help

Know one of the most common issues we see from each year’s new crop of Teaching Sells students?
“I’m worried because …”
“I’m getting a little freaked out because …”
“I feel like everyone has already beaten me to the finish line …”
“When I look around, I feel overwhelmed and behind …”
“Everyone else seems to have it figured out and I feel kind of lost …”
Chris Garrett and I teach a series of group coaching sessions when we bring in new Teaching Sells students. It’s our job to get our folks out of that overwhelmed state, and moving forward. And as each new group gets settled in and starts to approach the material, we hear a lot of versions on this theme …
“I’m scared.”
Well here’s the good news.
If you aren’t at least a little freaked out about your business (whether it’s a thriving concern or something you’re just getting off the ground), you may not be paying enough attention.
It’s ok to be nervous, worried, anxious, or just … confused.
Guess what? It’s overwhelming
Website design, content marketing, social media networking, product design, audience development, the global market, payment gateways, security, sales letters, launch plans, evolving technology …
Overwhelmed yet? Well, of course you are.
Because if you try to tackle all of these things at once, you’ll choke. No human being can process all of that.
But the good news is, each of those complex topics can be broken into relatively simple best practices.
Challenges can be overcome. Problems can be solved. Solutions get put into place. One at a time, just in time to tackle the next one.
You know (because you’re smart) that there’s no such thing as an overnight success. All overnight success, at least in business, is built on a not-so-glamourous foundation of learning and work.
In order to make it all add up to something, the first thing you need to do is make sure you’re actually on a viable path. Chasing down rabbit trails gets old fast.
And the second thing you need to do is …
Do a little today, do a little more tomorrow
Know what’s important to work on this week to move your business forward. Work on that. It may not be particularly comfortable or sexy or appealing. That’s ok.
(It could even be really fun. Even better.)
When you get lonely and frustrated, find a community of fellow lunatics business owners who can help get you over the rough spots. You may find some partners who are good at the stuff you would love to quit doing. A coach is great too, someone who cares about your success and will help keep you focused and accountable.
Work on today’s task today. Work on tomorrow’s task tomorrow. When you get a little bit off the path (you will, everyone does), forgive yourself and get back to doing today’s task today.
“If you can move it an inch, you can move it a mile”
We had a wonderful Teaching Sells student who said this in the forums in the early days, and ever since she did, I’ve repeated it pretty much every year to our new students.
Don’t try to figure out how to get 10,000 subscribers. Figure out how to get 10. That will show you how you get 100, which will give you some important insights to how you get 1000. From there you’re off to the races.
A lot of the teaching Chris and I have been doing for the past couple of years has revolved around the principles of “Lean” development.
You’ve probably heard of the Minimum Viable Product. Chris created a module on it for us in Teaching Sells … how to focus your efforts on a small, well-focused product that will test your market and teach you what you need to move forward.
This year, we’ll be adding new modules on the Minimum Viable Audience, Minimum Viable Website, and Minimum Viable Launch.
Why? Because those are the tricky spots where people tend to stumble, or freeze up, or get scared.
Do it once, do it small, and you’ll learn things you never would have imagined.
Then look at what works, and do more of that.
Observe. Implement. Observe some more.
This is almost the exact opposite of what most people think entrepreneurs do. This is the opposite of Shark Tank, the opposite of raising millions of dollars (and giving your dreams away) to fund an unprofitable idea.
Teaching Sells is coming …
What’s Teaching Sells? It’s Copyblogger’s comprehensive course on how to build an online-based business from scratch. There’s no “one size fits all” — in fact, we have 10 different business models that can be mixed and matched to find the right fit for you.
It’s that “viable path” I talked about earlier … the shortest distance that we’ve found to build a real business online.
You can get a more complete description here: What is Teaching Sells?
We launch Teaching Sells about once a year, and we’ll be opening it up for new students a few weeks from now.
If this kind of “viable path” sounds interesting to you, go sign up for the Teaching Sells email list now.
Whether or not you decide to join us for the full course, we’ll be sending you a bunch of good free stuff, including:
Our free report on The Online Education Revolution: Will You Lead or Watch?
New case studies from people who have built or grown businesses using the Teaching Sells methods
A downloadable 20-Part “Process Map” that gives you all of the points on that path I mentioned
A seminar with me and Brian Clark on How to Solve the Traffic Problem
And a whole bunch of articles on how you can ride the current trends and create something epic
I think you know by now that we want you to be successful. If you’re successful using our products, well, that’s even cooler.
All you need to do to join us is drop your primary email address at the Teaching Sells page, and we’ll get you rolling.
Look forward to seeing you there.
About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on Twitter and Google+.