3 Must Do’s when Starting your Online Business

When I first launched an online business 3 years ago, I struggled most with figuring out where to start and what to do first to actually “get” clients. I think most people have an idea of what they want to do, but they don’t have the business experience to know how to build a successful business.

There’s so much more that goes into running a business than the actual work that you wanted to do in the first place. It’s why so many people don’t actually make it in the entrepreneurial world. They don’t know about or think about the other things that you need to do to actually be successful.

If you’re just getting started in the online space, or you’re looking to start an online business, here are three “must do” things when just starting out:

1. Get Clear on your Service Offerings, Messaging & Ideal Client

Clarity is oftentimes one of the hardest parts of building your brand. I get it. You “can” do so many things, but that doesn’t always mean you should. Start out by asking yourself what you WANT to do vs. what you CAN do and really focus on those 1 to 2 things in order to not confuse your audience. Then, create a persona or avatar for your ideal client. Know who you want to work with and then your messaging will become much more clear. While your service offerings can always evolve, it’s nice to start out with a smaller focus to draw your audience in and communicate who you are and what you do easier.

2. Set up Foundational Systems and Processes

It truly amazes me how many people do not have any sort of systems or processes set up in their business. I have come into so many 6-figure and 7-figure businesses where there is nothing truly set up or documented for how they do things. So can you be successful without them, sure can, but I promise you that if you set them up from the start you’ll actually save yourself so much time and stress in the long run. So what systems and processes should you establish first? My top 3 are: Asana for project management and process documentation, Dubsado for contracts/ invoicing and overall client onboarding (and hello automations!), Acuity for calendar automation and scheduling. For more of my top recommendations and details, click here.

3. Show Up Consistently 

If I could give you one tip, and only one tip, it would be to be consistent. Show up EVERY SINGLE DAY. Show up on social media, show up to work on your business, show up for your clients, and most importantly show up when you think no one is watching. Contrary to what social media and “society” may lead you to believe, building a successful business does not happen overnight. It takes the relentless hustle of showing up day in and day out for people to start to notice you, build trust in you, and want to hire you. Keep going when it feels hard, and keep showing up when it’s easy. Deliver massive value and I promise you will be on your way to having the successful business you desire.

If you’re willing to do these things, you will see success in your business. It may take time, that’s why consistency is probably the most important of them all. But I promise you will get there. If you want additional support in your business, I strongly encourage you to hire a business coach. They’ve done it before and they can help you work through the strategy AND the mindset blocks that come with owning your own business. If you’re interested in learning more about coaching, book a discovery call with me here.

---

Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a wife, stepmom, dog mama of three furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

What actually is the backend of your business?

Launching a business is overwhelming, scary and filled with lots of unknowns. In the same breath, it’s exciting and fun to focus your attention on something you’re truly passionate about. A lot of the time, we are the person that does it ALL. We are the creator, the manager, the finance team, the assistant, the marketing person, etc. because we have to be scrappy to start, right?

At least that’s fairly common at the start of any small business. We really just fly by the seat of our pants, take action every single day and look up to others for advice, support and examples of what to do next. But then we get to a point where we really are DOING IT ALL and we truly don’t have time for that. You now have clients/customers and revenue coming in and more of your time is taking up serving your clients and doing the thing you were so passionate to do to begin with that the other stuff takes a backseat, or eats away at the valuable time you could be using to maximize your influence and grow your brand. It happens to us all.

It’s at this point you look to start outsourcing. Maybe your social media, or your design work, but really you’re still managing those people and even that can be a lot. This is where I come in as an online business manager (OBM). Not only do I manage all the things that are taking up all your time, but I create efficiencies and set up processes that help your business run more smoothly. In short, I help you get your shit together, because let’s be real, it’s all over the place as you’re trying to get everything done.

But what exactly IS the backend of your business? What does that mean?

The backend of your business is essentially what is done “behind-the-scenes”. It’s what makes your business function. This would be your admin work, accounting, communications -- think COO (Chief Operations Officer) level in this corporate world.

So, yes, you have a backend to your business, but what you don’t realize is there’s likely a much quicker, more effective way to organize your backend, and you actually don’t have to be the one to manage them either.

Some examples of these include:

Setting up automations for things like contacts, scheduling appointments, invoicing, onboarding clients, etc. This saves you so much time because you literally set things up once and you don’t have to do the back and forth through emails with people for all of these things.

Create and manage project timelines for upcoming launches, events, new programs, or overall business planning for the year. Timelines usually include all the details around what’s needed for email marketing, social media marketing, logistics of what needs to be set up, created, purchased, etc.

Content creation and execution. Content can seem super overwhelming. I broke down how to make content creation easier in a blog post here. But that being said, this is a part of your backend business in terms of creating this content.

Project management and organization. There are so many different tools out there to organize your to-do’s, but I always recommend Asana. Asana simplifies and organizes your to-do list to where you can even set weekly recurring tasks. Project management is so important once you are out of that “entry” entrepreneur phase and are doing #allthethings.

Other backend business things include:

• Client onboarding

• Email marketing

• Budget/finance management

• Inbox management

• Facebook/Community group management

• Managing your team or vendors

There’s so much work that is done behind the scenes and can either be automated, optimized or managed by someone other that you, the business owner.

Now that you have a better idea as to what the “back-end” of your business includes, would an OBM be the right fit for helping you to manage some of these things and create efficiencies in your business?

---

Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

How to Use Asana for your Business

Do you try to keep everything you have to do in your head, or written down on a million sticky notes cluttering your desk?

This was me for so long. Trying to remember everything I needed to do, but inevitably something would fall through the cracks because I either didn’t write it down, or it got lost in the colossal mess on my desk. I really like writing things down, but I finally had to admit to myself that my old system of “organization” was simply no longer working for me.

Being a busy entrepreneur, I always had an idea in my head or something I needed to get done for myself or a client. My head was filling up with stuff to always “remember for later” instead of allowing me to focus solely on what I was doing at the time. Finally, I started putting EVERYTHING in my calendar. Personal appointments, workout classes, client calls, scheduled work time blocks, etc. This significantly helped, but still what to do with the other “tasks” that needed a home so to speak?

One day, I was introduced to Asana and it totally changed my life. It’s quite possibly the best thing that’s ever happened to my business. Here’s 4 reasons why I love Asana and how it can help you stay organized in your business:

1. Easy project/client breakdown

   I love how simple it is to have a project for each client I work with. These projects can be organized in either list view or board view. List view is more task oriented in my opinion, while board view is more visual. I use list view the most and load in all my to-do’s for my clients and then each day work off of my combined “My Tasks” list that Asana compiles for me. In each project, you can then further organized by section and add specific tasks to each section of a project.

2. Collaboration with others.

   If you have a team it is SO simple to add them to your Asana account. You don’t have to worry, if you want to keep certain projects private or even a personal project you can do that as well, but otherwise you can use this to assign tasks to your team members. Asana lets you add up to 15 people with the free version. People can also “follow” a specific task if you want them to stay in the loop of when a project is complete, or any comments/questions about the task. It really simplifies collaboration among your team, or your clients. I also use Asana with a couple clients for approvals and collaboration or certain campaigns or projects.

3. Recurring Tasks

   This is seriously GOLD. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. If you have a task that you do every single day, week or month, or bi-weekly, etc. you can simple set your task to repeat for a certain day(s) and even time if wanted. Once you check it off as done for that week it’ll repopulate with the next day/week’s due date. For example, I have a weekly task to remind me when to write these blog posts, and weekly recurring tasks for my VA to schedule them to my social channels. I love that I can just add it once and be done and don’t have to worry about re-adding it to my to-do list weekly.

4. Document your processes/create templates

   Creating and documenting processes can be annoying and frustrating. Especially when people don’t follow them, or they get misconstrued. I love creating templates in Asana that I can customize for each specific thing such as onboarding a new client or team member, or a process for content creation and approvals, or a detailed launch strategy. You can also lock down your templates so no one can alter them by mistake.

There’s so many other reasons why I love Asana, for one, it’s FREE. Sure there’s a paid version, but I’m telling you that you really don’t NEED it. I can still do everything I need to do successfully with the free version. The timeline and forms options are only available in premium, which the timeline feature does intrigue me because currently I create those in Excel. So if you want to upgrade, you absolutely can and you’ll get even more features.

You can also color code EVERYTHING, which being super Type A, I love that! It integrates with SO many other programs such as Slack, Google Drive, Toggl, etc., sends daily “to-do” emails, allows me to see my tasks at a glance for the day, gives you multiple workspaces per client, etc. I’m clearly a bit obsessed, but for good reasons! Feel free to send me an email at Katelyn@Katelyhehamilton.com, or connect with me on Instagram or Facebook with any questions! Also, I’d love to hear from you if you love it as much as I do!

If you haven’t checked out my latest FREE offer, the Get Your SH!T Together Strategy Workbook, you need to head here to get it NOW. It’s the exact process I walk my clients through to help them determine what automations they need in their business to achieve their short and long term goals, and ultimately grow their business.

---

Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

My Exact 3 Step Process to Helping my Clients Get Results

What do you have a process for in your life? Do you have a morning routine? Or a certain way you do your laundry? What about how you do your hair? Often times even those who like to fly by the seat of their pants have more routines or processes in their life than they realize. Many have turned into habits and have become second nature.

If we didn’t have processes in place in the day-to-day world things would be mad chaos. Can you imagine going to a restaurant and just having a free for all on food? No system to order, make food or deliver food? Someone that just walked in could walk out with your meal for free. Traffic would be a mess without traffic lights and we would all be mad.

The way I wrangle in my crazy, free-spirited, creative entrepreneurs I work with is through a 3-step process. This exact process is what I take my clients through when we begin to work together. I start out all of my working relationships with a 90-minute strategy call. I truly believe that at the heart of your business success is a well thought out strategy. This process gives my clients clarity and direction for our work together.

Here is my three step process to creating a killer business strategy:

1. Brain Dump

   For those who aren’t familiar with brain dumps, I use them for just about everything in my life. All it is, is a list where you literally empty your brain so that it no longer is holding space for things like “call the groomer Friday” or “email that lead back” or your latest program idea or book chapter or item to add to the grocery list. I usually have an ongoing one for my biz and one for my personal life. These usually then get put in my Asana to-do list at some point. But the point of doing a brain dump with my clients is to get all of their ideas out on paper so that we can organize them and prioritize them based on their goals.

2. Identify Your Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

   Goal setting is so important because it gives you something to work towards in your business. Most clients I work with have goals, but they haven’t broken them down into short-term or long-term goals. This matters. If you want to make 6-figures in your business in the next 3-months will require very different actions than if you want to make 6-figures in the next year. I define short-term goals as what you want to accomplish in the next 1-3 months, and long-term goals in the next 4-6+ months. This is where that brain dump list comes in handy. You can pull ideas off of this list and categorize them into that short or long term goal list based on how quickly you want to accomplish them. I typically recommend starting with your long-term goals and then determining what needs to get done in the short term to hit those goals.  

3. Reverse Engineer Your Goals to Create a Strategy

   As you’re listing out your short and long-term goals, I use a strategy called reverse engineering your goals to then create your strategy to achieving said goals. To do this, you start with where you want to be 12-months from now. Look at those long-term goals and then break those down to figure out what you need to hit at months 8, 6, 4 and 1 to make that long-term goal possible. Often this is done with income goals, but this can be done for courses you want to launch, or a next step you want to take in your business such as offering a new service. I then go a step further in helping my clients identify what tools, systems, people, etc they will need to put into place to help them reach these goals. I help them organize, prioritize and strategize to get to the end result of a kick-ass strategy that will help them to focus on where they need to go and leave me with the execution of those back-end items.

If you want to dive deeper into this process, I’ve created a FREE workbook for you where I talk about each step of the process in greater detail and ask you questions so that you can feel clearer, more organized and on your way to a killer strategy for your business.

Download your free workbook HERE.

---

Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.