Many people who want to work from abroad have the dream of having their own online business. It gives you complete freedom to decide where you work, how long you travel and therefore where you want to work. You don’t have a boss telling you what to do and you don’t have to go to an office. Wonderful! Being an online entrepreneur is not all sunshine and roses. It’s hard work, risk-taking and a lot of uncertainty. But when you succeed, it’s great. These 8 steps you need to take if you want to make the switch from salaried to online entrepreneurship.
The ideal scenario: making your passion your job
Many successful entrepreneurs say it is crucial to have a great passion for your work. Only then can you have the perseverance needed to run a successful business. If you are doing something that suits you and that you find genuinely interesting, only then can you be successful and persevere. Because for any business, whether it is an online business or not, it takes more than 100% commitment to make it successful.
In my case, my out-of-control hobby turned into work after about 3 months. Then still in addition to my salaried job. I have always traveled a lot and had a passion for discovering the world. When I went to spend the winter in Spain, obviously with the permission of my then boss, I wrote a LinkedIn post about it that went viral. That was a green flag! As a result, I started writing blogs about my process of working remotely. After more and more inquiries and requests, my social media and website became more and more professional. I also organized workation trips, right up my alley as an event manager who loves to travel.
Tips before you get started as an entrepreneur
1. Provide a financial buffer
I had a good financial buffer, so the pressure wasn’t too high right away. Although to this day I haven’t used anything from that buffer. But it gives peace of mind when it’s there. I myself had 4 x a monthly salary, about €12,000. Work out what your monthly fixed expenses are and calculate what you need.
2. Validate your idea first
Make your first money without quitting your job. I’ve done this myself. The best way to know if your idea works is to have someone pay for it. A first client, a first job, a first payment, that changes everything. It is then no longer an idea, it is a business.
3. Know your niche and your customer
Be specific about who you help and with what. Online business works best when you can answer one sentence: “I help [specific group of people] with [specific problem].” A niche is not a limitation, but acceleration. The more specific you are, the easier customers will recognize you.
How I Built Working Remotely
When I really started to build Working Remotely and register with the Chamber of Commerce, I worked my ass off. In the build-up phase, you don’t suddenly make enough money to replace your income. So I worked all evenings and weekends on my own business. Until I really couldn’t anymore, and felt I had to make a choice. After 4 months of Working Remotely and combining salaried employment, I quit my job and jumped into the deep end.
High turnover says nothing yet
You see more and more others passing by on social media claiming to be online entrepreneurs. Still, it’s not that easy. Don’t mistake the half-truths being told either. You don’t see the hard work, costly mistakes, not making enough sales to really make a living. Also remember that a high turnover is no guarantee of success, it is the profit (turnover minus costs) that counts.
Finding your way from salaried to online business
4. What to do after the jump
And then suddenly you have no colleagues, no boss, no meetings, no slack notifications. Just a laptop and the question: now what? That moment can be quite overwhelming. That’s another reason why it’s nice if you’ve already built something concrete, so that you can give all the time and attention to that very thing.
5. Structure without a boss
Your daily schedule that you know as a salaried employee falls away, but provide your own structure. Choose working hours that work well for you. And for your new clients. This requires discipline and personal responsibility.
6. Surround yourself with like-minded people
The first few months were tough. Not only financially, but also mentally. You miss the obvious social contacts and someone to spar with. And you have no one to tell you what is a priority. What helped me was hanging out with like-minded people. In my case, digital nomads, online entrepreneurs and freelancers.
My online revenue models
For an online business, there are many different revenue models available. I personally like many things and find building my brand the most fun. So I chose to collaborate with permanent freelancers on different parts, so I don’t have to do the execution myself and can focus on strategy. Of course, you can also choose to focus on one product or service. The advantage is that all profit is for yourself.
Also an immediate lesson for you: work with the right experts! Think of a developer for the website, SEO/AI marketer and someone for customer service. You can’t do everything yourself, but certainly shouldn’t want to. The time, energy and frustration it sometimes takes me to figure something out is not worth it. Outsourcing costs money, but then it gets done better and I can focus on other things.
7. Earnings models of my online travel platform:
- Branded blogs: brands pay to share a sponsored blog on my platform
- Social media collaborations: a post on Instagram or LinkedIn for a fee
- Accommodation placement: posting a kind of advertisement of a location
- Affiliate collaborations: I get commission on sales of certain products/services I mention on my website and/or social media
- Google Adsense: often forgotten, but you receive income from Google ads running on your website
- Corporate travel: I organize trips for companies together with a colleague
- Campaigns: remote work marketing campaigns for (travel) brands
- Online products: sale of an Ebook and online course on remote working
- Webinars: online webinars on remote working, some paid and some free
- Coaching: fully online I help people to also work remotely from abroad
Being visible online
8. Your online visibility needs to be strong.
The hardest part of doing business online is being found. In employment, you have colleagues, a company name and a reputation that comes along automatically. As an entrepreneur, you start from scratch. You need a website with good information and a strong social media profile, which are your business cards. What has worked for me: a well thought out content strategy, lots of hours on LinkedIn, understanding SEO and GEO, building a mailing list for a newsletter, seeking out the media with expert articles. This builds your reputation and customer base.
When will you start making money with an online platform?
The short answer: if you are a specialist in a particular field, and have a good reach. And there is no magic formula for that (even though some would have you believe that, because that’s what they sell a course for). It’s a sum of:
- Sharing expertise
- Being authentic
- Have market knowledge
- Have sufficient coverage
- Be able to sell your product/service
It’s a combination of being an expert, building authority and being able to reach enough customers. In the beginning, your services are often free, or you offer a product for purchase price, that’s the reality. Because you are not yet offering enough value to get money for your knowledge. But that moment comes when you become the expert in your field. For most online entrepreneurs, this takes between 6 and 18 months before it replaces real income. Popping together a website with AI with lots of information, but no personality and therefore no credibility, won’t get you anywhere. These often spring up like mushrooms, but die a quiet death after only a few months because it’s about more than just technical tricks.
The lessons I learned while employed
I, too, worked for many years simply as an employee. With great pleasure. During my studies I actually shouted that I wanted to work for myself, because I am too stubborn for an employer, but still I worked as an employee 3 times before it came to that. I wouldn’t have missed that for anything. It’s also quite nice to just get a steady salary every month, and not have any uncertainty about your income.
The experiences I gained were immensely valuable. I learned how to work together, how to balance different interests, how relationships work in a professional organization, how to deal with customers and all the unwritten rules in business. I also always learned a lot from the managers and directors above me. I found their methods and mindset especially interesting.
My first boss was a pretty tough businessman, at the helm of a large family business. He used to say, Assumption is the beginning of ruin. Sounds a bit dramatic, but it’s true! This also got me into plenty of networking even as a youngster of 23. In fact, I had to represent the company at networking events. It was terrifying at the time, because I was the only blond girl among a clique of 50-year-old men. And grueling, because this was often until 11 p.m. so made long days. But I learned through this that networking is crucial and hard work doesn’t hurt.
My last job was at the largest marketing blog in the Netherlands, which also organizes events (that was my job) and provides training on marcom. There I was already given all the freedom to work where I wanted. I also learned a lot about marketing, blogging and social media. Super valuable knowledge that I now apply every day in further developing Working Remotely.
Getting started as an online entrepreneur
Now that I am writing about this I notice that I have so much more to say and lessons I want to share with you, but that is impossible to do in one blog. Would you like to start your own online business, but want my expertise and guidance in this? Then I would love to help you with 1-on-1 coaching. I will help you with the start-up and/or expansion of your online business, so you, like me, can work wherever you want. As a digital nomad, you can open your laptop abroad instead of in an office garden!
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