You Just Need These 3 Simple Tools to Run a Successful Business
Don’t try to be everywhere
In the first months of running my side business, I over-complicated everything.
I subscribed to more than 10 different tools
I joined 4 social media platforms
I wrote about everything I liked.
I tried to be everywhere.
My business costs also exploded and I soon burned out.
I finally realized that my approach was wrong.
I realized that to run a successful business, I needed to focus on simplicity.
Here I’ll show you the 3 tools you need to run your business.
1. Writing platform
Writing is an essential part of my business. It is my discovery platform.
I experiment a lot with different topics. And I test what works and what doesn’t.
Then I do more of what works.
Blogging 10 years ago looked like this:
wordpress
hosting
themes
plugins
maintenance
updates.
Blogging today?
Substack
This is all you need. One platform to write, build your audience and promote your products.
2. Newsletter
Most digital creators will tell you that your newsletter is your most important asset.
It’s the only thing you really own.
And it is true. To grow your business, you need to build an email list.
There are many great newsletter tools out there.
But there is one popular place I recommend starting a newsletter — Substack.
It’s simple and free. And yet there is already a large community ready to join your email list.
On Substack, I run my bi-weekly newsletter.
Every Tuesday and Friday I share some of the best resources I discovered during the week.
If you want to learn how I run my simple newsletter, you can read about it here.
3. Marketplace
If you want to make money online, you need to sell your products. There are many options:
email courses
ebooks
templates
webinars.
The best part is that you don’t have to build an online store to sell it. All you need is Gumroad. A simple, clean and free platform.
Gumroad charges a 10% transaction fee on earnings. For me, that’s just fine.
Not sure how to sell digital products? Read my latest story on how you can do it:
Most People Don’t Know How to Create Digital Products. Here Is How to Do It
Final thoughts
Most experienced creators say the same thing: Focus on one platform.
I listened to the Creator Science podcast #180: Q&A With Jay. And here’s what I heard:
I wish would have done things a little bit differently.
I wish I wouldn’t have tried to do all platforms all at once so quickly. I’ve been posting on, like, every social platform, doing YouTube, doing podcasting, doing email.
I’ve been doing all the things for forever.
I wish I would have focused on 1 platform in the beginning.
And this is exactly what you need to do.
Thanks for reading!
-Robin