Our age is the age of the entrepreneur. Do you want in too? Taking a leap of faith and becoming a full-time, successful entrepreneur can seem like a daunting prospect, but there are many smart ways to control your fears. Whether you are afraid of failure, or just aren’t sure where to start, get some fresh perspective on a potentially challenging situation. Here are six proven ways to start your entrepreneur journey full of enthusiasm and hope, not apprehension!

Visualize your success — starting now

Positive visualization is a strategy that a lot of top entrepreneurs swear by. The idea is that if you concentrate and visualize your success, then you will start to stand taller, breathe freer, and believe in your own ideas more.

• Start small. Try some easy visualization sequences to get your started — it might make you feel slightly awkward at first, but it’s a proven way to invite confidence and success into your life. You can also use visual cues like mood boards to help you ‘see’ success.
• Having a negative mindset will be a huge drain on your energy and motivation levels, so try to find exercises, affirmations, and methods that work for you. Not everyone needs to create a dream roadmap, but a little positive imagination can make all the difference.

Test the waters with your customer base

Jump before you are 100% ready to — you might find that you’ll fly!

Go out there and test your ideas and brand using surveys and questionnaires, and you will quickly start to pick up positive energy from all the feedback. Especially in today’s social media age, there is NO EXCUSE for not testing out your ideas. Create a Facebook page or Twitter poll in minutes, and then outreach it to all your contacts.

Based on initial feedback, you may need to tweak your value propositions or ideas. Take on constructive customer criticism, and use it to grow and refine your business idea. Being out there and having real conversations with people about your business is an amazing motivational kickstarter!

Hang out with the right people

Being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle choice. And trust me, there are people in your life who are going to want you to walk away from it. Whether it’s friends who don’t get why you’re ‘always working’, or an ex-colleague who is seeding doubts in your mind, you need to learn how to block out the negativity. Other people’s negative opinions and thoughts can quickly pollute your own.

You can’t always escape from other people’s toxic opinions, so you need to counterbalance them out by hanging out with people who are going to inspire you during your journey. This could be simply sharing a coffee with a trusted mentor, or meeting with someone who has already made the transition and succeeded at becoming an entrepreneur.

Even if you can’t directly hang out with them, listening to entrepreneur podcasts is a really easy way to get access to positive people fast. Just learning from their experiences, and hearing them describe their journey, will inspire you on your own. Get listening on your commute around town and feel your levels of motivation soar.

Get an entrepreneurial headstart

You don’t have to do things the hard way in 2017 anymore. Yes, starting from scratch is satisfying, but there are so many ways to automate and growth hack entrepreneurial growth. If you are feeling a little unsure, getting a little headstart with your business is a great way to instantly boost your confidence.

• Buy a business that’s already making money and take it on yourself. For ecommerce businesses, browse websites like Exchange, or then head to ecommerce groups on Facebook and express interest in buying a store. Make sure you have a realistic budget in mind, and clarify what exactly you’re getting in the sale — you might have to pay extra for design assets, stock, or supplier contacts.
• Join a course or an online community aimed at people starting their first business. There are plenty of great courses out there that give you an awesome launchpad, but it’s wise to stick to the bigger vendors so that you’re sure you’re getting a good deal.

Start a blog

Blogging is one of the easiest ways to get out there and start testing your personal brand and resilience. Committing to sharing content and developing your blog’s audience are both great ways to see whether you are ready to run the show.

Getting feedback on your content and developing your own readership is a really empowering and positive journey. Many people love blogging so much that it ends up becoming their full-time gig, and there are a ton of cool ways to monetize a blog: from affiliate links to advertising and brand partnerships.

Be honest about your fears

By saying something out loud, we reduce it. If things are playing on your mind, getting them out there in the world can be a great way to put them into perspective.

As a budding entrepreneur, you are probably worried about things like time management, stress levels, financial stability — all of these problems can be managed by breaking them down into bitesize chunks. Don’t worry about the state of your finances ten or fifteen years down the line — look ahead to the next few months instead. Speak to a financial advisor to get some perspective, or go into a bank to talk about funding options if you’re really concerned. (And don’t forget to explore crowdfunding on sites like Kickstarter).

Stress and time management can be managed, taught, and learned. From breaking down complex tasks into 25 minute activity bursts to daily meditation — there are plenty of ways to manage a seemingly endless workload.

Don’t let fear of failure, or fear of the unknown, stop you from following your dreams. Running your own business is full of ups and downs, but it’s a great way to grow as a person. Be ready to square up and face your fears, but also be gentle with yourself. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a successful business!

The two main success metrics for bloggers are: a healthy amount of followers (your audience), and a ton of relevant and engaging content. To succeed at blogging, you will need to be committed to both; always be ready to talk to your audience and answer their burning questions with your content as much as you can. An engaging blog is a hugely valuable PR weapon.

If you feel like you’ve found your audience, and you’ve nailed the content side of things; next comes blogging income and monetization strategies. So how exactly can you turn a successful blog into a source of income? Here are some of the top ways that pro bloggers make money from their blogs right now; see which ones make sense for you….

Blog Advertisements

Advertising is probably the most common way that bloggers make money from their site; and Google AdSense is where many ambitious bloggers start. Google AdSense displays adverts on your blog for which you get paid, but you could also approach brands and businesses for direct advertising opportunities (banners, buttons, sponsored posts etc.).

• Advertising is only lucrative if your blog has a healthy amount of web traffic; you have to build a following first.
• Though this is a good way to make money, be very careful not to make your blog look spammy or unprofessional with adverts crammed in every corner. Make sure they look good and that they fit in with your blog’s overall design.
• Private advertising? You want to advertise brands that make sense for your blog and its audience; don’t be a sell-out and advertise anything and anyone under the sun.

Affiliate Links

Why not add affiliate links to your blog to make some extra money by referring your readers to products and services that you love? Affiliate links can be used either in your content as hyperlinks or added in as advertisements. When you become part of an affiliate program you will be given a unique link that has a code just for you: every time a reader clicks through the link and makes a purchase, the company will pay you a percentage of the sale.

Affiliate marketing is incredibly powerful and lucrative, but be sure that you always disclose any affiliations on your blog. With affiliations, you should be guided by your principles; don’t endorse something you’ve never used.

Offering Services & Industry Expertise

Some bloggers earn money through their blog by offering services like copywriting, editing, or social media management (just three of the most popular services offered by bloggers; there’s plenty more fish in the sea). Selling services is a good way to monetize your blog, and it helps you build up a credible professional brand.

You can also build up your profile as an industry influencer through your blog. Many successful business consultants run successful business blogs and get referrals that way.

Guest posting as an industry expert is another a great way to leverage the power of your blog and its reputation; many people find new clients off the back of a popular guest post. Find out how to get featured on an industry blog and boost your visibility in your niche.

Monetizing Newsletters

A quick and easy way to earn money from your blog is through monetizing your newsletters.

1. Most bloggers send newsletters to their email subscribers outlining new and upcoming posts; so why not include some advertising in your emails too?
2. You could also incorporate affiliate links into your newsletters and share tools and products that you love with your audience.
3. Either way, make sure your newsletters serve a purpose; whether that is to drive traffic to a key landing page, or raise brand awareness about a new service. Don’t waste precious emails without having a proper email strategy. (Here are some email marketing tips for bloggers).

Make it clear to brands how they can apply for newsletter and other advertising opportunities on your blog; a professional media pack is a great place to start. Outline all the different options brands have for working with you, and outline your monthly reach and audience metrics.

Ecommerce

If you are blogging about a niche topic like all natural beauty products, why not jump into the world of ecommerce and open an online store to sell these items directly to your readers? Ecommerce isn’t as hard as you may think; there are plenty of blogger friendly ecommerce platforms like Shopify that will allow you to build and customize a store around a ready-made theme (pretty similar to how you would have customized your blog’s theme). Alternatively, you could also add some ecommerce plugins to your blog if you prefer to keep things as they are.

The biggest challenge with ecommerce will be figuring out what products to sell, and then validating your ideas with your target market. There’s an infinite amount of potential products and niches; you have to find one that makes sense for you as an entrepreneur, and that isn’t saturated already. Spend time brainstorming and coming up with some fresh product ideas.

If you are worried about handling or storing the products you wish to sell, you can always use dropshipping so that the products never actually pass through your hands.

Digital Products

Just like with physical products, you can also sell digital products from your blog. This could include: music, content downloads, cheatsheets, ebooks, webinars, videos, or intro music for films or adverts.

If you are an expert in a certain area, then digital products are a great way to share your knowledge and pass on your success to others. Often bloggers become experts at helping other bloggers grow their following and in turn monetize their blogs. What comes around, goes around in the blogging world.

Sponsored Reviews & Giveaways

Companies often send bloggers products for free to review on their blogs. In exchange for a freebie, you will have to feature the brand in an (honest) roundup or review; sometimes you might even get a payment for raising brand awareness if you collaborate with a brand on a PR campaign.

If your blog has a big following, you can even charge companies to be involved in your blog’s giveaways. Many bloggers use giveaways make money through their blogs; it’s a great way to give back to your readers as well: everyone loves free stuff!

Sponsored Posts

Another great way to make money through your blog is by offering (a select number of) sponsored posts; too many, and you will erode your blog’s readership. For sponsored content, you will be working alongside companies’ marketing teams to write about one of their products or services in an engaging way.

• This is a good tactic if you already have a larger following, as companies will be more willing to work with you.
• Make sure to disclose your relationship with the company on your blog; it can look shady to your readers otherwise.

Blogger/Industry Events

More and more bloggers are hosting events like conferences or blogging networking events to bring the blogging community together. This is a great way to earn some money from your blog and will boost your own visibility within the blogging community itself. Why not hold a local blogging conference and get influential bloggers to speak at the event? Charge a small fee for those attending, and use this to put back into your next event. You can also monetize events with associated podcasts, ebooks, and webinars. Don’t just host an event and leave it at that; make it pay off in the long term.

With blogging, there is no single ‘right’ way to make money. Because online income can fluctuate, it is best to incorporate a selection of income methods to ensure that you are building a sustainable income. Is there a different way to make money from your blog we haven’t covered? How do you make money from your blog? Let us know in the comments below.