Product Seller Track

Aug

2018

How Can I Accept Online Payments?

Payments usually come in three forms: cash, check, or credit.

If you’re selling online, you want to be set up to take online payments via credit (or debit). Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for a check in the mail and then wait for that check to clear.

That might be a long wait.

How do I collect online payments?

There are several payment processors that can collect your money online for you. Some have transaction fees, but processors some have ways to avoid those fees. There are even some tools designed to help you take online payments for specific kinds of sales, like event sales.

If you’re planning to sell subscriptions, as in charge people on a recurring basis, you want to make sure your payment processor does that as well. And if you’re into discounts, you need to find a service that allows for coupon codes.

You can check out a few with a quick online search, however the results might get overwhelming (we have a list for you in Side Hustle Business School).

Before you start looking anywhere, make a list of the things you want your payment processor to do, then see what’s available to you.

Keep learning

If you’re not sure which tools to use or how to go about dealing with transaction fees, Side Hustle Business School‘s three guided learning tracks (the Freelancer Track, the Content Creator Track, and the Product Seller Track) have lessons that will help you make these decisions.

Once you figure out which tools to use, you’ll also need to make decisions about how to interact with you client when you’re accepting payment from them. The moment that the transaction happens is critical because this may be one of the few times you have your client or customer’s undivided attention.

You can use this time wisely.

Aug

2018

What is a Point of Sale?

Simple answer: the point of sale is the place where a customer or client pays for products.

Checkout lanes, ticket booth, “buy now” pages on websites—all points of sale.

Point of Sale in a non-physical space

If you’re a freelancer, your point of sale might be less of a place and more of a time.

Meaning, the point at which you’re paid for your service might be during a particular phase of your project and may not have to happen at a particular place.

You might be paid by check, cash, bank transfer, etc. And, depending on your setup, you might have multiple point of sale options for different clients.

Why is this important?

Only a few of the people you reach with your marketing are actually going to buy from you. You want to learn as much as you can about them. When they’re handing you their money is the right time to get the information you need.

In a nutshell, selling helps you refine your marketing for the next sale.

Cha-ching!

How can I learn more?

All three of Side Hustle Business School’s guided learning tracks (the Freelancer Track, the Content Creator Track, and the Product Seller Track) have an entire section on establishing your point of sale, accepting payments from customers and clients, and using your results to create more effective marketing strategies.

You can take a peek at those lessons in Side Hustle Business School’s free trial here.

Aug

2018

Do I Need to Brand My Side Hustle?

Everyone and everything that makes money has a brand. Your side hustle is no different.

You can sell t-shirts, be a freelance designer, or an up and coming blogger—or have any other hustle for that matter—and probably not get very far without a clear brand.

Can you think of any successful business, side hustle or not, that doesn’t have a brand?

Right.

Do I really need to build my brand if I’m not a big company?

Only if you want people to choose you over someone else. So, yes. 100% yes.

If I can let you in on one secret about big companies, it’s this: they only work on their brands to get you to buy their product over someone else’s. They want you to feel good about their products and, if you’re interested, their companies.

You will need to think like that about your side hustle. In fact, you may need to put more effort into your brand right now than you might think.

You see, those big brands already have many customers all over the world. You don’t. They’re working on maintaining and growing their brands. You’re working on building one. Building a brand requires a lot of thought.

You have a lot of room to create something special. No one knows you yet, so you really have freedom to create and define who you want to be. Larger brands don’t have a lot of room to create because customers already have expectations for how a brand will engage them. Their job is to make sure that every move they make going forward is an expression of who they want their customers to believe they are.

Your job is to build to solid foundation of who you’re going to be to your future customers. Use that to your advantage.

What happens if I don’t get my brand right?

Toil and turmoil!

Kidding.

On a serious note, your brand is the reason that people will or won’t trust you. We don’t spend money on things we don’t trust. We don’t hire people we don’t trust. We don’t answer the door for people we don’t trust.

So it really is important to start your brand on the right foot, even if you don’t get it perfect the first time around. You may make some mistakes and do some things that contradict your brand, but you won’t even know if what you’re doing is right or wrong if you don’t have some basic principles for your brand.

Lucky for you, when you’re getting started, your brand has a lot of room for growth. You’ll be able to try things out and constantly refine your brand by removing what doesn’t work and by doing more of what does work.

You’ll be several steps ahead of the game if you have a clue where to start when launch your brand.

Get Schooled

Each of Side Hustle Business School’s learning tracks (Freelancer Track, Content Creator Track, Product Seller Track) has lessons that help you build a strong, authentic brand. The “How Do I Brand It?” lesson is a perfect primer on getting your brand in order. As you work through the lessons in the Creating Your Platform section (available on each track), you pick up the tools to create a clear brand that people connect with.

Where can I find this lesson?

This lesson is available on Side Hustle Business School’s Freelancer Track, Content Creator Track, and Product Seller Track. You can get started with Side Hustle Business School here.

Aug

2018

Do I Need to Speak Differently Online and Offline?

Do I need to speak differently online and offline?

New entrepreneurs as me this all the time.

On one hand, you want your customers to see you as a professional that they can trust—a professional who seems just like “the big guys”. On the other hand, you don’t want to come off as fake or pretend to be someone you’re not.

So you get stuck in this back and forth battle between wanting to be yourself, but also being afraid that “yourself” isn’t professional enough. You just can’t seem to find a solution you feel good about.

A “happy medium” seems out of the question.

Where’s the balance?

The trick to finding that balance is having a strong understanding of the kind of person you’re talking to and clear knowledge of how to connect with them.

It’s really hard to do this if you don’t know much about your audience. There are ways to be a real human being in business, but it’s almost impossible to get right if you don’t know who you’re talking to.

It’s even harder to get this right if you’re not comfortable sharing parts of yourself publicly—not because you need to share everything, but because you won’t know what to (and not to) share.

How do I decide if I need to speak differently online and offline?

Once you’re clear on who you are and who your audience is (and expects you to be), you should have enough information to develop a voice that works both online and offline. You can still choose to speak differently online and offline, as there might be parts of your audience who you speak to online, but never engage in person.

But…this can make more work for you. The ideal is to develop one voice that works everywhere you go.

How do I find my voice online and offline?

If you’re struggling with finding an appropriate voice online and offline and wish you had a solution already, you should check out “Should I Behave Differently Online and Offline?”, available on each of Side Hustle Business School’s three guided learning tracks (the Freelancer Track, the Content Creator Track, and the Product Seller Track).

In the lessons that follow, you’ll learn how to increase your reach (the amount of people seeing your message) and how to get more traffic to your website.

Aug

2018

What Kind of Content Should I Create?

This is a tough question to answer because there is no one right answer.

Some people will tell you that you must create video. Some say that blogs are better for SEO. But where does that leave podcasts with over half a million shows in existence?

Well, the right answer has a lot more to do with your business or side hustle than it has to do with what everyone else is doing.

Do I need to create content if content creation isn’t my business’s focus?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Content marketing is a great way to get free attention—which is why so many companies have blogs. If you decide to create content for your business, then you’ll need to figure out which kind of content is best for your brand.

If you decide not to create content, you may be missing out on a major opportunity to draw attention to your platform.

What should I be talking about?

However, you want to make sure you’re drawing the right attention to your side hustle. It’s not enough to just create content. You need to create content for your target audience that’s relevant and establishes you as an authority on your topic.

This is the case no matter which form of content you choose to create.

For example, if you sell fashion, you want to create content around fashion or around the topics that the people you sell fashion to would care about—as long as it solidifies your place as an expert in what you sell.

Choose your content

Side Hustle Business School’s “What Kind of Content Should I Create?” lesson will help you decide which kind of content is best for your, your audience, and your brand.

Beware: this lesson requires you to honestly consider your skills, commitment, and level of discipline.

Where can I find this lesson?

This lesson is available on Side Hustle Business School’s Content Creator Track and Product Seller Track.

How do I collect online payments?

Keep learning

Point of Sale in a non-physical space

Why is this important?

How can I learn more?

Do I really need to build my brand if I’m not a big company?

What happens if I don’t get my brand right?

Get Schooled

Where can I find this lesson?

Where’s the balance?

How do I decide if I need to speak differently online and offline?

How do I find my voice online and offline?

Do I need to create content if content creation isn’t my business’s focus?

What should I be talking about?

Choose your content

Where can I find this lesson?

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