So, you have a side hustle or business idea…
You have tons of motivation and drive – but you have absolutely no idea where to start on your solopreneur journey… trust me, I’ve been there.
Before you dive head over heels into self-help books, endless internet scrolls, and countless podcasts, I’ve done all the research for you!
Starting up my digital marketing business took years of studying and research.
To save you some time, I’ve created a list of my top 5 tools that are the key to jumpstarting success on your solopreneur journey.
5 Tools You Need To Start Your Solopreneur Journey
1. A WEBSITE THAT TELLS YOUR WHY
Before even setting up your social media accounts, I highly suggest creating your website. The main purpose of any social media is to drive traffic to your website because you can control all the information displayed on it.
While hundreds of website platforms exist, I love using WordPress! It’s simple enough to navigate that you can teach yourself how to do pretty much anything.
The platform has hundreds of free website layouts to choose from, so you’re sure to find the perfect design for your brand. Plus, you can add plug-ins for email subscription pop-ups or your Instagram feed.
You can access all this and more with a WordPress business package, and still save thousands of dollars on web designer fees!
2. A WAY TO SCHEDULE AND TRACK YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
As a solopreneur, you don’t have a lot of time to always be posting on social media or tracking your analytics. That’s why picking a social media automation tool for all your scheduling and analytics needs is imperative from the get-go!
One platform that I’ve been using for years is Social Report. I’ve stuck with this software because it allows for previews of what your posts will look like AND provides complete analytics reports of all your connected social media profiles.
Plus, you can use Social Report for less than half the cost of most major scheduling platforms, and I don’t know about you, but I love a bargain.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS THAT GENERATE LEADS
Now that you have the perfect, affordable social media scheduler, it’s time to create posts that will actually generate leads for you! Like I said previously, as a solopreneur, you don’t have a lot of time. Which is why I do a little thing called batch working.
Batch working is a time management method where you do all of one type of task at once. So in this case, I would create all my social media posts for the upcoming month at one time. This allows you to be more strategic with your campaigns and what you’re trying to sell.
When creating your posts, it’s important to include specific parts like links & CTAs to ensure every post is doing it’s best to boost traffic! That’s why I created my Social Media Organic Engagement Survival Guide, so you can get my exact formula to writing lead-generating posts – without spending a dime on advertising!
4. A STOCKPILE OF BRANDED GRAPHICS
Every female boss who started their brand from the ground up will tell you that you MUST get your branding together from the get-go! When you have a cohesive branding plan across all your platforms from the get-go, then brand awareness and retention are increased, making it simpler for potential customers to remember you.
Now, not everyone is a graphic designer, and not everyone can afford a graphic designer at first – and that’s okay! When I was first getting started, I used tools like Creative Market to help me pick out gorgeous graphics that I could customize with my own colors and fonts.
One platform where cohesive branding is especially important is on Instagram. Having posts and feeds that not only coordinate in content, but also in color and fonts is crucial to growing your account! Start out your feed with this BOSS Social Media graphics template from Creative Market.
5. A PROFESSIONAL EMAIL ADDRESS
Sometimes the hardest part of starting a business is getting people to take you seriously! When you don’t have tons of testimonials or case studies built up, you have to do a lot of reputation building yourself, which can become exhausting.
One way to show you mean business is to buy investing in a professional email address. What I mean when I say professional is that you should create an account that uses your business name after the “@” sign (Ex: sarah@hansencollective.com). Doing so will instantly boost your credibility and retain a lot more leads.
My favorite business email platform is through GSuite. I enjoy using GSuite because it’s super affordable and comes with Google Drive and a ton of cloud storage. Plus, it has built-in “reminders” that guide you to follow up emails if you haven’t heard a response in a few days. Brilliant, right?
IN CONCLUSION…
From my personal experience and through all the ups and downs of starting a business, I know these 5 tools are essential to get started on the right foot. If I can give any last words of encouragement, it would be to take every day of your journey one step at a time. The lowest lows are just cues for the highest highs, and everything falls into place when you work on it every day.
Hansen Collective combines modern digital marketing strategies with custom content to boost the online presence of small businesses. Through the use of calculated content strategy, we’ll curate the best social media marketing plan that works for you. Our goal is to help your brand better communicate with your audience and create profitable social platforms.