I’ve always been interested in building an online business that would support me in retirement. But as I got older, it became more important to me because I wanted to know that my retirement would be secure. So, for the past five years or so, I’ve been working hard building a profitable company from scratch. Now, after about $400k invested and three full-time employees, we’re finally starting to see the fruits of our labor pay off financially. While our revenue isn’t quite at where we need it yet (we expect another year or so before we hit six figures), what’s exciting is that now that our expenses are under control and we have a solid team in place—one capable of handling growth while still providing excellent customer service—we can start thinking about other things like how much money goes into savings every month!
1. Decide what you want your business to do for YOU
You’ve probably heard the saying: “It’s not about the money, it’s about the journey.” Well, that may be true for some people, but for many of us it’s both. The money can help us get to where we want to go and provide experiences that enrich our lives.
But before you even think about starting a business or making any significant investment, you need to ask yourself what your goals are in life? What do I want out of this venture? What do I hope my business will accomplish for me personally and financially? Do these goals align with one another or are there conflicting objectives (e.g., am I looking for more freedom vs security)?
These questions won’t necessarily yield answers right away – they’re meant more as thought starters than definitive statements – but they should guide decisions throughout all stages of building your company: from choosing an idea through execution and beyond into retirement years
2. Identify your audience
Identifying your audience is an important part of building a business. You need to know what they want, what they need and how they will benefit from buying your product or service.
You can begin by researching your audience through surveys, interviews and focus groups. Then use this information to develop personas that represent different segments of people within your market–these are fictional characters based on real data but who have been simplified for easier understanding (i.e., “Jane” is a 35 year old woman who works as an accountant). Once you’ve created these profiles, it will be easier for you as an entrepreneur to make decisions about how best serve each type of customer in order maximize sales growth without losing sight of their overall needs
3. Find the common denominators in their problems and needs
When you’re listening to your audience, they’ll tell you what their problems are. But they also have needs and wants. So it’s important to ask them what they need and want as well as what their dreams are. You can even ask them about their aspirations–the things that inspire them in life–and hope for the future (which may or may not be related).
4. Make sure your product will solve the pain points of your customers so that they’ll be willing to pay for it
One of the most important things you can do to ensure that your business is successful is making sure that your product solves a problem. If it doesn’t, then why would anyone buy it?
In order to make sure that your product solves a problem and isn’t just an unnecessary luxury, ask yourself these questions:
- Is there a need for this type of product?
- Does my target audience have this problem right now?
- Are they actively seeking solutions for this problem (or could they be)?
5. Plan for growth and expansion
- Plan for growth.
- “Growth” is not just about the number of people you serve, but also the quality of service they receive and how they feel about it. It’s also important to consider whether or not your business model allows for expansion in other areas, such as adding new products or services, opening another location and offering online shopping options.
6. Start small, but don’t stay small forever
- Don’t be afraid to grow your business.
- Don’t worry about the competition.
- Don’t worry about making mistakes, because you will make them–and it’s OK! Mistakes are how we learn and grow, not just as individuals but also as businesses.
- Don’t worry what other people are doing, because they’re probably not doing anything that you should be emulating anyway (especially if they’re successful). And even if their strategies seem similar to yours in some ways, there are always going to be differences between any two people or companies–you have your own unique story and perspective that makes yours special; don’t let anyone else’s distract from that fact!
Building a business that can support you in retirement is possible but you need to plan ahead.
Building a business that can support you in retirement is possible but you need to plan ahead. You may be thinking: “I’m not ready for retirement yet!” or “I don’t even know what I want to do when I retire.” That’s okay! There are plenty of things that we don’t know until we get there, and it’s important to acknowledge how much our lives change over time.
However, if you’re serious about making sure that your life has purpose after work and money isn’t an issue (because who wants those things anyway?), then building a business now will give you the opportunity to try out different ventures while also earning enough income so that when it comes time for retirement, all those hours spent working won’t feel like wasted time at all!
We hope that this post has given you some inspiration and ideas for starting your own business. We know it can be daunting to take on such a huge project, but we also believe that anyone can do it if they have the right mindset and attitude. If we’ve learned anything from building our own company over the last few years then it’s that anything is possible if there’s enough determination involved!
