Think You Have The Guts To Build A Creative Service Business Online? 5 Ways To Find Out

Think You Have The Guts To Build A Creative Service Business Online? 5 Ways To Find Out

With the ton of creative entrepreneurs out there, what makes you think you’re better than them? Here are 5 ways to differentiate your service business.

Think You Have The Guts To Build A Creative Service Business Online? 5 Ways To Find Out

“The internet is one of the easiest ways to make money.”

“You want clients online? That’s easy! Just setup a beautiful website.”

“Once you’re fully setup online, you can make money while you sleep.”

These myths, and more, should have been busted a long time ago…

Why?

They’re just not true, at least for people who run service businesses.

People perceive online businesses as the lazy man’s model to earning a living.

On the contrary, it requires almost the same hustle as an offline business.

The only difference is in the methods used.

Creative services are one of the easiest kinds of services to sell online. This is because the internet itself and the businesses that exist within can’t survive without creative innovations.

However, it can also be one of the toughest. Why? Because everywhere you look, there’s the guy who sells writing services. There’s the professional graphic designer with a hot website. Then there’s the animation expert who consistently pushes out videos with the hope that someone sees it.

So, the terrain is competitive. Not as easy as you may think. And the more reason you should think again about coming online.

But if that’s what you want to do, the question is, “Can you do it?”

To help you answer that, here’s a simple question you should ask yourself…

 

How Can I Differentiate Myself From Competition?

“Being different is always better than better.”

– Sally Hogshead

With the ton of creative entrepreneurs out there, what makes you think you’re better than them? In my own opinion, you’re not better. In fact, there are hundreds that are ten times better than you.

So trying to prove you’re better than the next guy is just a waste of time. And it’s blood draining too.

What you should do is try to be different. Not only in the kind of solution you deliver, but in the way you deliver it. That brings us to the first way to find out if you’ve got the guts to outshine your creative competition.

 

1. You’re Different

Even before making the decision to have a website designed for your business, presently, how different are you from competition? What attracts your clients to you? Do you deliver your services in a different way from the next guy or are you just another kid on the block?

I chose creative services because it’s a business born out of passion rather than professionalism. For this cause, you have the responsibility of infusing your personality into what you do. That is what makes you different.

When you design, when you write, take pictures or think up concepts, do you add a touch of YOU to your service? Even for creativity, I know there are standards and rules to follow. But it also allows you inform your clients through your work that, “Hey, you see this little thing I added, you can’t get it anywhere else like that”.

 

2. You’re Patient

A lot of entrepreneurs want to start making money online the first month they start. Leave that business model to people who aren’t concerned about building solid businesses.

For someone who wants to build a system that consistently delivers clients, don‘t expect 6 figures in your first month, not even the second or third month.  In fact for some, it could take 6 months.

Getting a website up and running is only the first step. There’s the marketing part that scares the hell out of people.

But before marketing, your message will stand you out. You need to be sure of the message you’re putting out there. When marketing meets the right message, you’ll attract the right kind of clients to you.

 

3. You Don’t Give A Damn

Clients will try to control you. Readers will try to critique and insult the content you put online. Google will try to discourage you in search results and even tech issues on your website will almost piss you off.

But will you let all that get to you?

When clients start to micro-manage you, or you sense it early in the project, you have the right to fire them! Not because you just want to but because you know you’ll get more clients.

When readers start to negatively critique your opinion in the content you put online, it means you’re doing something right –  you’ve found your voice and some people don’t particularly agree with it. That’s a good thing.

When Google starts to discourage you by putting your website on page 2 where no one goes, just keep publishing more content. Keep creating content for people and not search engines. When you start building those connections with influencers through guest blogging, Google will have no choice but to rank you higher.

And when tech issues start to piss you off, contact me (well, that’s if I designed your website for you :)).

The main thing is to not allow negativity discourage you. You have a goal – to build a successful business with an online system that rocks! Focus on that and just tweak along the way…you’ll be fine (I’m also encouraging myself as well because I’m still in the race like you).

 

4. You’re A Builder

In the next 5 years, where do you see your service business? Do you still see yourself serving clients alone, or do you see yourself with a team of people serving even more clients? Do you see yourself making impact through your products and trainings, or do you just see yourself… well…serving clients?

If you’re not thinking about different ways to build your business to the point where you do less work and focus on parts that matter, your journey is going to be long and tiring.

From doing one-on-one business consulting, Danny Iny of Firepole marketing now sells premium training courses to people who want to follow his business model. From just freelance writing for clients, Bamidele Onibalusi now has his own product through which he helps other writers earn more.

From just teaching copywriting techniques to bloggers, Copyblogger Media now sells a whole package of products, from hosting to a fully functional digital media platform.

Where do you see yourself in the next few years? If you don’t see anything, think again about why you’re in business.

 

5. You Don’t Chicken Out

Can you finish what you started? Sometimes, you could have the drive and enthusiasm to start on a project, but halfway through, you start to have second thoughts. This happens to all of us.

At this point, what are you going to do? Except you have a valid reason for stopping halfway, perhaps due to lack of finance, or some deep soul searching, you shouldn’t. To climb up a ladder, you have to start from the bottom. And the higher you go, the scarier it becomes because you’re farther form the starting point.

What’s important is that you’re a doer. In the course of building your business, you’ll see different tactics pushed in your face. You’ll see different methods and lots of information that sometimes, you’ll be convinced to just stop everything.

My personal advice – when things start to get overwhelming and seemingly “dangerous”, get a mentor – someone who has done what you’re trying to do. It’ll save you a lot of thought bandwidth (if there’s anything like that).

So, do you think you have the guts to sell your creative services online and build a solid business out of it? Through some personal Q & A, find out how different you think you are from competition.

Are you patient? Do you care more about what other people say about you than what you say about yourself? How far do you see your creative business growing? And, are you willing to see it to the end?

You can be different from the lazy asses and build something successful like the entrepreneurs mentioned above. The question is, “Do you think you have what it takes?” I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

 

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2 Responses on this post

  1. Sure, I have what it takes, Lanre. I can be different, patient, ‘hang in there’, and push through to finish line.

    This post has heightened my quest for creating a difference with blogging.

    First of, I’m in the middle of relaunching my blog (redesigning, actually), and I almost missed the tip on ‘being different’. Now, I know I’ve to avoid contributing to the noise and carving a niche.

    I do care what other people say about me. But that’s if I ever listen at all. Writers are somewhat loners (is that a curse), and listening for critics is hardly a practice.

    And about your blog, wonder where your content spring from. They are consistently awesome. I always look forward to them in my inbox.

    1. Hi Busayo,
      I love the enthusiasm!

      Sooner or later, we all have to leave that crowd of noise. But I know that most of us first start out belonging to that crowd until we get fed up of the noise. While some are lucky enough to carve a sphere of influence from day one.

      Thanks for the compliment :-). I just write what matters to me.

      Thanks for your comment.

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