Read time: 4 minutes

Knowing where to start is difficult when you launch a new business.

You have a lot of questions and very few answers.

This is where a coach can help walk you through the process.

I used one myself (shout out to Geraldine Carter).

But not everyone can hire a coach to help them with the process.

So today, I’ll run through the steps to go from zero to launch and shed some light on what I’d do differently if I had a mulligan.

Step 1: Give Yourself Time

If I were to rewind the clock, I would’ve started the steps below a year from my targeted launch date.

You certainly don’t need to, especially if you have clients lined up and waiting, but it took me a solid 6-7 months to get traction.

So step 1, give yourself time to prepare.

Step 2: Discover Your Niche

I’ve been pounding the table to niche for a while (podcast episode here and SCFO #012 here).

I can tell you with 1,000% certainty that it makes everything else easier (and more fun) when you find your niche.

A niche helps you:

Become more efficient
Drive more value for your clients, and
Stand out in a marketplace full of generalists.

This translates into greater profitability and fulfillment in your work, all because you hand-selected the type of people you want to work with.

Step 3: Reverse Engineer Results

Before you create your offering, step back and look at your business and life with a 1,000-foot view.

Ask yourself:

What is my targeted take-home pay?
Do I want to create a 1:1 or 1:many offer or both?
How much time do I want to work on my business?

These 3 questions will provide direction for every single business decision you make.

Before you make a decision, ask yourself, “does *insert decision* bring me closer to my goal?”

Without this lens, you risk aimlessly building a Frankenstein of a business you wish you never had.

Unfortunately, it happens far more often than you think.

Avoid this at all costs by setting your intention from the get-go.

Step 4: Prepare Your Finances

The last thing you want when you launch is to feel stressed about money.

This is where a cash runway helps.

Target a 6-12 month cash runway to cover any income shortfall you experience when you launch.

Part of preparing your finances also includes stepping into the income you need for your household on day 1 of your launch.

You can do this in several ways.

Purchase a set of clients.
Apply for a part-time job.
Start your business as a side hustle.
Ask for a tailored work arrangement with your employer.

Each approach has pros and cons, but they’re worth considering to stabilize your income immediately.

***But make sure that all of these align with building towards the results you reverse-engineered in Step 3.

Step 5: Create Your Website & Offer

This is where the fun begins.

Now that you know who you serve and the results you want, you can:

Launch a website
Talk with potential clients
And create a presence on social

In his recent newsletter, Justin Welsh provided an excellent website format.

Getting lost in this step is easy, so don’t overcomplicate it.

You want your site to include a few things:

A frictionless call-to-action
Clear message on who you serve
Pain points and dreams of your target market

Create a menu of services to include on your site and other ways to work with you.

A simple template to follow includes:

Hourly Strategy Session
Half-Day Strategy Session
Subscription Offer (Bronze/Silver/Gold)

Remember your targeted results when you price out your services.

You don’t want to underprice and build a business with below-market prices.

That said, I’d consider taking as many free calls early on to get real-time feedback on services and pricing.

Know that you won’t perfect this immediately (I didn’t).

As with anything in business, action drives results.

Step 6: Build Inbound Traffic

If you want to build inbound traffic, social media is a great place to do just that.

And the best part is that it’s free.

Use social media to:

Build an audience
Create connections
And test out your ideas

Social media is a long game. It takes time for results to compound.

With that said, the sooner you start, the quicker you’ll gain traction.

In hindsight, I would’ve started this process 6 months earlier.

You can even start with a pseudo-name if you’re worried about your employer finding your profile.

What Not To Worry About

Your time is precious.

Allocate as much time as possible with your audience, network, and connections.

That is where you’ll learn the most.

One of my biggest mistakes was spending time on non-revenue-generating activities like:

Perfecting my website
Setting up the perfect entity

Unfortunately, those actions don’t drive business activity, so make sure you consistently get out there to talk with your people.

It can be scary to start, but it gets easier over time, and you’ll learn a lot.

Takeaways

To recap, if you plan to launch a Solopreneur venture:

Give yourself time
Discover your niche
Build inbound traffic
Prepare your finances
Reverse-engineer results
Create a website and offer

Avoid spending time:

Perfecting your site, and
Dealing with administrative items like entity structure

Thank you for tuning in!

See you next week.

How Can I Help?
Book a complementary 15-minute call today if you’re a Solopreneur interested in maximizing financial clarity while minimizing taxes.

SCFO #016: Zero to Launch: A Guide for Solopreneurs