Taking Your Business Online

Your head may be swimming with ideas of The Benefits of Going Global…but just how do you do it, and how can you get started, NOW??

I’m a dive-in-head-first kind of a gal, so I took to the road and then figured everything out. The benefit to you is that I am going to share my experience of what I did, but give you even more information of how I could have done it better. When you decide to go global or become a digital nomad, there are things you need to keep in mind.

These were some of my major concerns before I took off, and they may be some of yours, as well. For example: how will you transition your existing client base; what niche are you going to focus on; how can you position yourself as a global expert; what are some ways to build trust with an online audience; and, how can you share information with potential clients?

All good questions and ones that I had to answer myself. Here are some steps on how you get there.

STEP 1: Train Existing Clients:

Let your clients know that the change is coming, but ease it into conversation. What you don’t want is panic. You want to be able to tell your clients that they will still receive the same level of commitment and compassion that you have been delivering all along. If anything, you will have more time because you won’t have to be running around everywhere.

Figure out your departure date and work in some transition time to train your clients on any new modes of technology that they need to learn;
Remember-change is scary for most people so they will need to feel overly confident that you will be there to help them transition;
If you can, offer them an incentive to stay on with you. I increased my consulting hours and gave my clients the same price so they could feel like I was more available.

STEP 2: Focus on a Niche (long-tail theory)

When you determine that you want to go global, you are best to find a niche. Why is this? Well, before, you were just competing in your own town. Now, you are online, and the big global conglomerates will bury you! You don’t want to even begin to compete with their size, budget, or search engine results. What you do want is to find a specific area of your industry that you specialize in and segment the market.

One approach that points to this is the Long Tail theory. The Long Tail Theory in statistics looks like this:

Essentially, what we are looking at is applying this curve to any given market. About 80% is going to be the mainstream market. This is going to be very difficult for a solopreneur to break into. Mostly the companies that can reach these markets are conglomerates or corporations. What we need to do is move away from the mainstream market and down the tail to identify a niche. It will be much easier for you to establish yourself as a dominant leader in a smaller community.

Similarly, if you are trying to position yourself as an expert, it is much more attainable to go further down the graph into a niche market. You can easily carve out a particular area that you are excellent at and more easily stand out to a specific audience the smaller. Why compete with the big dogs, when you could be dominating a smaller market and positioning yourself as an expert?

STEP 3: Position Yourself as an Expert

You position yourself as an expert by doing what you preach. You can build trust with your audience by inviting them to get to know you on calls, interviews, speaking engagements, newsletters, and blog posts. Make yourself available to your audience and know your niche. This will help your audience to know that you understand where they are coming from and that you are an authority on the subject matter.

When people see you as an expert, you are less likely to have to ‘sell’ anything to them. They already respect and appreciate you and are ready to hear more. Other experts begin to take notice of your work and you can begin to reach out and contribute to their audiences, as well. I do this frequently, and recommend that you do too.

STEP 4: Building Trust & Sharing Information

Once your audience knows you as an expert, it is time to ensure that you build trust into the relationship. Even if this is an online market, you need to make sure that your audience trusts you. Because your audience may never meet you in person, it is more important than ever to be consistent and transparent online. Let people get to know you by being available and consistently providing quality information. We will go into this more in the next post of Building a Global Audience, but for now… just make sure to commit to sharing the very best information you can find.

People are seeking out your services because you have answers they need. If you can consistently provide valuable information, they will begin to trust you. Now that you have a niche, this makes providing and creating information much easier. Your audience is looking for something specific, and there you are, ready to give it to them!

In summary, you begin to position yourself for going global by prepping your current clients, determining your niche, positioning yourself as an expert, and consistently building trust by providing quality information. This will get you started and prime you for the next steps (and the next post!) Building a Global Audience.

Looking forward to your comments and questions!