“Let’s Take The First Baby Steps To Your Freedom Based Business” by Erica Duran

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Erica Duran, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.

Face it. Nothing is going to happen to move you towards a freedom based business and lifestyle (one that is location and time independent) until you do something.

I know many friends that I see a few times a year. Every time I see them it is the same story: “When I start my business, I’ll ______.“ “When I get a chance, I’ll ______.” “When I find my passion, I will help _____ to _____.“ It has now been over 15 years and some of these people have not even taken the first step!

But the most common question I hear when people are excited about starting a lifestyle business is “Where do I start?” They are completely overwhelmed and everyone is telling them to do something different.

Everyone is telling them to do something different because you can! There is no one right way and that makes it even more confusing and overwhelming!

If the hardest part is getting started, then let’s get that part over with as quickly as possible.

To get started and take the first step, you don’t need a fancy business plan, or even any idea of what type of service or product you will provide. You don’t have to “find yourself” or “uncover your life’s passion” just yet.

Yet there are so many projects and tasks that go into starting a business, especially a freedom based one. You can literally spend years making to-do lists and “getting your ducks in a row.”

I want to provide clear and easy steps that will simplify everything and get your “ducks” soaring in flight, not in a row!

All you need to do right now is DECIDE that you want to have a business that will fit into your lifestyle design.

The rest will come once you get in motion.

Even if you had an awesome idea for a product or you wanted to share your passion with others through a service, most likely when you got it off the ground you would pivot and shift your ideas anyway.

You won’t know what will work until you start and talk to real potential clients and customers.

For those of you who have been in business a few years, like the way things are with your current lifestyle, or you love your job/career and don’t want to embark in a lifestyle business, this article is not for you. I’ll catch you next week.

But, for those of you who are interested in a new lifestyle business or if you already have a business but want to be more location and time independent with it, here are your first baby steps. The steps are in this order for a reason.

There are also little investments along the way with these steps. I find that when people have to invest some money, they are more likely to follow through on their goals.

Note: There are many ways to go about starting a business. There is no one right way or one right order. It is based on each person’s legal and financial situation. But, this is a sequence of tasks that will get you in motion that hundreds of my clients have used to get started with success. Remember, the point is to start. Your path may look a little different.

Here Are My 7 Steps (plus one bonus step) to Starting Your Freedom Based Business and Lifestyle:

Step One:

Hire a Freedom Based Lifestyle Design Coach.

Nah, just kidding! Thought this was a good spot for some shameless self-promotion! Well, it is good if you need more accountability, avoid mistakes and want support and help with all these steps!

Step Two:

Get a Mailbox Service

The next steps all will require you to have an address. Using your home address is not professional or safe.

You might think that choosing a name for the business would be first, but what address would you put on your DBA, LLC or other business entity application? See, you need a professional address first.

A bonus to getting a mailbox service is that they will accept packages for you so they are not sitting out in front of your home if you decide to travel more. And they also will forward your mail to you whenever you’d like, anywhere in the world.

I love my UPS Store “mailroom” team. They send my mail in a big batch once a month to wherever I am staying. That means I only have to deal with snail mail once a month! Most bills and other business is online anyway, so there isn’t really anything urgent or important in this mailbox.

It is great to never have to change my permanent address again! That is a huge hassle if you move often.
My mailroom team even called me once to say flowers were sent there! They couldn’t forward the flowers themselves, but they sent a photo! :)

Step Three:

Purchase a Domain Name

Domain names are cheap. Purchase one.

Remember that these steps are not to set in motion your perfect google-friendly marketing genius of a name for your business. They are to simply get you to do something.

Now that you have your official “business address” from step one, you can use it on your domain name registration. Since it is not your home address, you don’t have to pay for the more expensive private domain registration unless you want to.

It is always a good idea to buy your name as a domain name so if you don’t have any idea for a business name, buy that one. You can have any type of business if you use your own name and you can change what you offer as you pivot without rebranding your entire business.

You pivot a lot the first few years and rebranding is expensive and time-consuming.

You also don’t want anyone else to buy your domain name so reserve it! What if you become a big deal?

You don’t want your future competition to buy your domain name and reroute the traffic to their site, do you?

Another benefit to using your own name is that you don’t have any competition. There is only one you, right?

To purchase a domain name you can use Hostgator.com and if you use coupon code “escapeartist” you’ll get 25% off your hosting package! Your domain has to be hosted somewhere of course and I’ve had an amazing experience with Hostgator after having a really hard time with about seven other hosting companies in the past.

Now that you have your domain name and are hosted somewhere, you might want to start thinking about a website, even if it is only one page.

For help designing a website and optimizing your SEO, you can contact me for a free consultation. Your website touches every area of your business and it demands a good structure and timeline for your entire business operation. It forces you to think about the systems and customer processes when you start working on it.

Contrary to popular belief, you really only need one simple yet well-thought out page to start.

Step Four:

Get Google Apps for Work

You have your domain name so now you can host your email with Google and get many other neat tools for your business. You’ll want to use your domain name to make a professional and branded business email.

Example: yourname@yourdomain.com. My email is erica@ericaduran.co if you want to send me an “aloha.”

Here is the link to sign up for Google Apps for Work.

I’ve used many email hosting services over the years and Google has been the most reliable and is only $5 per user so it grows with you.

Aliases like support@ericaduran.co are free and don’t count as a user.

Step Five:

File a Fictitious Name Statement or DBA (Doing Business As)

Remember, I am not your accountant or lawyer, but when you are getting started, you need to have some sort of business entity in order for you to get a business bank account.

You now have your business address (step one) and your potential business name (step two), so let’s make it official.

If you are using your name as your business name at this point, you can always add other business names to your name registration later.

I have several businesses but they are all under one LLC registration that I DBA off of. For example, “Erica Duran International DBA Fountain of Woof”.

When you are starting out, in most cases you don’t need an LLC. You can always upgrade to that later. For now, we are just making it official – get the least expensive option and that is usually a Fictitious Name Registration or DBA.

Google your city or state name and DBA or you can pay a little more and click here for Legalzoom.com to help you.

Step Six:

Open Your Business Bank Account

Once you have your LLC or DBA paperwork, you can go to your favorite bank and open a checking account for your business.

They may also offer you credit cards for your business. I don’t recommend getting into too much debt to start a business. But if you use them responsibly, credit cards are a cash flow tool or an airline mileage earning tool.

If your bank offers you a merchant account, take their information, but compare it to the many online services. You may need a different type of merchant account if you are taking your business online. This step is beyond the scope of this article so just keep their info on the merchant account for now.

Bonus tip: Be nice to your business banker and bring her coffee. You never know when you may need a small business loan and a little caffeine bribe goes a long way. :)

Step Seven:

Open an ESP (email service provider).

This is different than hosting your business email. This is to host your most valuable asset, your email contact list. It will also keep you safe from the spam laws.

When you are starting out, I would suggest MailChimp.com ‘s free account here: MailChimp.com
I used to use a very expensive email service provider and about six months ago went back to MailChimp and it is so much better than the $300 a month one in functions and simplicity!

Even if you don’t plan to use it right way, you will know that this is checked off your list.

And you’ll have it all ready when you decide to build your one page website (sometimes called a landing page) so you can start building a list of people that are interested in your topic(s).

Although MailChimp is simple and user friendly, it does take some getting used to, so if you have some spare time at your j-o-b, you can click around their tutorials or even ask me for some help getting it all set up.

Step 8: – Bonus Step!

Reserve your handle or name on all major social media sites.

You have your business email set up through Google Apps for Work (Step 4) so you can use this email to open social media profiles that are separate from your personal ones.

Even if you think you won’t be using social media, it is best to claim your handle or names so you can decide later if you want to use it and not be disappointed. Besides, they are free!

So, does this help clear some overwhelm on what you can do first to get started in your own freedom based lifestyle business? Do you see how one step builds upon the previous step? It all starts with getting one little thing, getting your business address so you can apply for all the rest with it.

What questions do you have? What do you think could hold you back? Do you see that you don’t need a ton of research, seminars or “rows of ducks” to get started?

You can simply start, and then your business ideas and niche will come to you if you create the structure to capture them.

Sometimes getting the structure out of the way and off your list will set off a flood of creative ideas for the actual product or service.

In today’s online business world, I believe you should create the basic structure. Your passion and product ideas will change often.

Want to know the BEST way to get started? Book a complimentary “Aloha” Strategy Session with me today!