Whenever I attend events or run my group programs, people always ask me how it’s possible to run a business from my laptop. For some reason, many still assume that in order to run a business you need to do it from an office. I’m here to tell you that anything is possible thanks to the internet.
Of course, being able to run a business from your laptop depends entirely on the kind of business you have. I made the conscious choice many years ago to create a business I could run from anywhere so I started writing. It would be kind of hard to do that if I was a photographer who needed to show up to shoots.
That being said, many businesses can probably be run from laptops. I see writers, designers, financial planners, sales people and trainers doing it all the time. If you also have a business you can run from a laptop, then here’s how to set it up.
Get your payment processors in place.
The first step in being able to run a business from your laptop is to ensure you can get paid online. Whether it’s through invoicing or accepting payments through a cart, you can run payments from anywhere thanks to the internet.
The good news is there are some advantages to doing this. Namely, you may have less fees to pay and you make it easy for people to pay you. These services are also often times for secure thanks to compliance and encryption. Some are even starting to offer blockchain which is very difficult to hack therefore making it extremely secure.
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Figure out your marketing sales funnel.
The next step in being able to run a business from your laptop is to figure out your marketing and sales funnel. In this case, you need to start with the end in mind. Determine what you are selling and then work backwards to determine the different touch points potential customers go through before paying you.
For example, one of my digital products is a course that teaches people how to start freelance writing. They initially get onto my email list by signing up for a freebie where I teach them how to pitch. The landing page for the freebie is often shared on social media via posts and Facebook ads. From there, they may get invited to a webinar or I simply market the course via email.
Figure out the tools you need to deliver.
The final step in being able to run a business from your laptop is to determine the tools you need in order to deliver for customers and clients. Here are a few that come to mind:
- A project management system.
- Payments (which we already covered).
- Marketing
- Social Media Management
- How you are delivering digital products
- A service for calls and meetings.
The systems you need will depend on how your business actually makes money. The key is to determine what those systems are and how they work together.
Final Thoughts
It’s easier than ever to run a business from a laptop thanks to the internet. You no longer need to stick to local markets in order to make money (though there is a place for that). By implementing these strategies you can leverage the internet to make money from anywhere.