Working online at your own time and pace is an attractive way to earn a living, right? No 9-to-5 office desk job, no commute, and you are the boss. There are fantastic opportunities out there, but making a living working online isn’t as easy as you might think. Let’s look at a few mistakes everyone makes when they first start working online from home.
Thinking Working Online Is A Quick And Easy Way To Earn A Living
Many people start with unrealistic expectations, thinking they can start a website or write a blog, add in a few affiliate links and the money will start to roll in. Sadly, that’s so far from the truth that it hurts when you finally realize that working for yourself is not the instant money earner you thought it would be.
Whatever your product or service, there is most likely to be someone already in that sector online and in most cases, there will be huge competition. Don’t let that put you off, because there is a huge market out there, but you need to be aware of the competition and how that affects your success.
Consumers are now far savvier and with easy access to the Internet, they can make informed decisions based on quick and easy research. To be successful working online, you’ll need to build your brand awareness, find the right market, and promote yourself and your services. It takes time, but there’s lots of help and advice out there.
Lack Of Passion
This leads us to the idea of making a quick profit. If you want to work online simply because you think it’s an easy way to make money and there is no passion for the business you are in, then you’re going to struggle.
People buy from people. It’s an old saying but is so often proven correct. How many times have you received a sales phone call and you can tell the person on the other end is simply reading a script and going through the motions? There’s no passion and little interest, so you put the phone down. A lost sale.
The same applies to online work, but showing passion in only the written word can be far more difficult. Your website, blog and social media posts must grab the customer’s attention and make them want to find out more. Your infectious passion for whatever you are selling must entice them in and get them on the first step of your sales funnel.
It doesn’t need to be all whizz-bang and flashing lights. That’s probably over the top. But there must be a hook. Which leads me to the next point.
Selling, Rather Than Adding Value
Far too many people put their focus on selling the product or service, telling anyone that will listen to them why it’s the best, the must-have, newest gizmo on the planet.
In most cases, your customers are going to buy something that satisfies a need. Yes, of course, there are impulse purchases, particularly in the lower price brackets, but these will probably not be repeat buyers.
By adding value and satisfying a need, even if it’s one they didn’t realize they had until they came to your website, the customer will remember you and your brand. The other part of this comes down to the face of your business. Be human and not a selling machine. Offer free advice and help without immediately following up with a “buy me know” type email.
Distractions When Working Online From Home
There are distractions everywhere and I doubt any online worker has not fallen into the trap. Many online workers have a home office.
But worse than that are all the distractions and interruptions right in front of you on the very screen you should be used to produce work. Not only work email but all the social media platforms just daring you to take a 5-minute look that then turns into an hour! It’s very easily done.
The other distractions are perhaps less obvious, with one of the main ones being the “shiny new syndrome”! You’ve found a great social media tool that helps you post on social channels, but then an advert for a brand new system comes along and you spend the rest of the day playing with it, under the guise of “testing”. This can be a real time-killer, and you could likely have finished a whole lot of work in the time wasted playing with new software.
Shiny new syndrome leads on perfectly to our next point.
Trying To Rush Perfection
You want to launch with the perfect product or service, that your customers love and there are zero complaints. That’s often easier said than done.
The problem comes when you keep delaying your launch to make another change and in the end you never actually launch the product or service as you continuously make changes.
This also ties in with imposter syndrome. This applies where you are the product and you have continuous doubts that you are not good enough. You convince yourself that your knowledge isn’t sufficient. It can be difficult to overcome.
Repeating The Same Mistakes
Particularly relevant to social media, where you keep posting the same types of posts with little return. Repeating the same actions but expecting a different result is clearly not going to work.
To overcome this, it’s imperative that you monitor your results online. Did a particular post generate likes and comments? Did your blog get shared? To track these, make sure you set up accurate tracking on all your online activity, regularly review the results and act on them.
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