Online Business Basics – Mastering the Fundamentals HF: 016

Hustle Free Podcast

Online business basics and mastering the fundamentals may not feel very sexy, but it works.

And when it starts working…. it’s super sexy.

An update and listener feedback

We started this episode a little different because we had a funny little incident we wanted to share with you guys. One of the ways we’re monetizing Hustle Free is through our merchandise and store (which is about to launch). The goal of the store is to support the #FtheHustle movement, not necessarily become a massive e-commerce site (although we wouldn’t stop that if it happened, it would just be a quick learning curve).

We’re starting simple: mugs and t-shirts.

We started with one company (we’re using a print-on-demand service, which means when the order is place it is sent to the printing company to print and ship the product to the customer. We’re not stocking inventory), and had a couple snafu’s with the products. First we were sent a wrong mug entirely (not one of our designs), then we received a mug with the logo printed upside down.

We get that this can happen, it’s hardly the end of the world. But add this to the length of time it took to get the order and it’s really not the impression we want to make with our customers.

The funny thing is that I didn’t see the upside down logo. It was when Jon sent me a picture after I sent him his mugs that I saw it (I did check that the mugs were the right size & color, I just didn’t unwrap them from the bubble wrap).

Listener feedback

One of the things I love most about what we do is hearing from our listeners and subscribers.

I recently got an email from a listener, Christopher Wilson (thanks again Christopher) asking about our model for the podcast. When we originally launched Freedom Papers we were going to deep dive on one topic a month. 4 episodes that walked someone through a specific topic that they could then implement (actual tangible strategies that would help build their business).

First, let me say that we’re going back to that model.

We had decided to switch it up because we were concerned that people would get bored with one topic or if they didn’t want to listen to that specific topic we’d lose them as a listener.

While we don’t have definitive feedback on that theory, we do have some feedback that people want the deep dive.

So we’re going back to that model (this is the beauty of podcasting… YOU get to do whatever you want to do in a way that works for you and your audience).

[clickToTweet tweet=”Like a robot we tend to do what we’re told to do. You need to understand the ‘why’.” quote=”Like a robot we tend to do what we’re told to do. You need to understand the ‘why’.” theme=”style6″]

Now let’s talk about Mastering the Fundamentals

In this episode we talk about the 10 things you need to master and focus on to build an online business… that is an actual business and not something you play at.

Here are the 10 things:

• A self-hosted WordPress site (vs. WordPress.com)
• Great content
• SEO & traffic
• Lead magnet & a way to collect leads
• Email marketing
• Landing page(s)
• Lead generation plan
• Something to sell
• Shopping cart
• Social media

All of this was inspired from a few rants that have been brought to our attention (not directed at us, but shared with us from other people).

You need to listen to the episode to hear the rants, but the tone or message of the rants is probably something you’ve heard before (we’ve heard this message before). There seems to be a trending theme with these rants… for some reason these people think that starting an online business is easy. That you should be able to spend some money, follow a course and next thing you know you have a 5 figure a month business.

[clickToTweet tweet=”‘…it was like crickets because no one wanted to risk offending the guru.'” quote=”‘…it was like crickets because no one wanted to risk offending the guru.'” theme=”style6″]

Stay tuned for next week where we’re going to deep dive into the first few topics of the 10 things you should focus on and master.

The post Online Business Basics – Mastering the Fundamentals HF: 016 appeared first on HustleFree.net.