Thanks so much for watching this production and I sincerely hope it will help you in your future endeavors. I know you've heard me say it so many times (and read it too), but your dedication, discipline and ability to execute will make all the difference.
Three Things to Remember
You will be discouraged and, probably sooner than later, you will also feel defeated before you even start. This is natural and expected, it's also very human. We can dream the wonderful dreams but when it comes to putting transitioning those dreams into something real it can be terrifying.
But! There is a cure for that feeling of defeat! Can you guess what it is..? It's broken record time... but the best way to get over your self-doubt is by doing something. Even the smallest step forward is self-propelling.
For instance: right now you might be making lists and taking notes but you haven't actually done anything substantive. Let's change that! Seriously, right this very second.
Getting Off the Ground
Let's say you might have jotted some notes for a business plan, signed up for a few services and looked online for an accountant and/or lawyer. These are great plans - but they don't amount to executing your vision, so are a few things I want you to do for a first, substantive step.
Register Your Domain
If you haven't picked a domain yet, do it right now. Here's the link in case you forgot. Set a timer and pick something in the next 5 minutes. GO.
Once you've done that, sign up at Cloudflare and have them serve your site for you. You'll get a free SSL certificate which is rad.
Setup Your Site
Now, let's choose a platform for your site. Let's keep you focused - pick one of these:
- Squarespace. It looks nice and keeps things simple.
- WordPress. This is what I use (the OpenLiteSpeed version) for my front-facing stuff. This is a great option as you can use some outstanding marketing tools like Thrive Architect to help you grow your online presence. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however. WordPress is a great pick just to get off the ground.
- GitHub Pages. This is a good option if you like playing with HTML and want things for free (which is good)
Pay for Your Services
I have a simple bit of advice for you on this: DO. NOT. OBSESS. ON. FREE.. This is your business and your focus needs to be on getting paying customers to see you and call you. Do not develop a habit of freaking out over $30/month for a service that can bring in thousands. This is easy to do, especially in the beginning.
Can't Decide? Do This.
Once you've decided on your domain and registered it with Cloudflare, click that link above for the WordPress site and create a $20 image at DigitalOcean. Once that's done and you're into your site, install these plugins:
- Thrive Architect. It's $67 but it will transform the way you think about your site, I promise. You may eventually want to get a Thrive Membership as their themes and marketing stuff is amazing - but for right now let's get you going.
- WordFence. Search for it in the plugins directory. People suck and WordFence is a great way to keep them from hacking your site.
- The Astra Theme. It's free and comes with some starter templates.
Once your site is up, we need a few pages. Things like the services you want to provide, more about you, your resume and your blog where you're going to post professional superstar stuff later on.
This can be super hard to conceive, so click this link and go get started.
Enough Reading! Go!
You can do this. I swear you can. I don't know you personally but I know that our industry needs really good people and if you're watching this you're one of those people.
Only you can make this happen for yourself. Put another way: you are your biggest problem! But I just said you're awesome so get over yourself and get to work!
Good luck!