Sunday Scribbles

What You Should do NOW if you are Just Starting Your Online Business

If you are just starting an online business, you should be doing THIS now.

James W Hart

Mar 27, 2022 • 24 min read

I’ve talked previously about how important it is to share what it is you are working on.

This week I want to take a little different perspective on that, which is that you should be writing AND publishing every single day.

This is a variation on what is known as the “Law of 100”.

The Law of 100

Earlier this week I posted a video that discussed the “Law of 100” as a way to remain consistent in your efforts to build something new, or learn a new skill, or even to develop a healthier lifestyle.

The Law of 100 says that you must choose a minimal daily action and do that action for 100 days.

So if you are interested in growing a YouTube channel, you should work on the channel each day for 100 days.

If you want to build a website, you should post something to that site everyday for 100 days.

If you want to create an online business, you should work on that business everyday for 100 days.

But there is a problem with this law.

When you are taking these actions in a vacuum, it doesn’t provide a mechanism for external feedback.

The Problem with Working In Isolation

So for example, let’s say your goal is to work on your business for 100 days. You will learn an awful lot about building your website, but how will you know whether your target audience will ever purchase a product from you? How will you even know what they want?

If your goal is to build a YouTube channel, and you plan to release 1 video a week for 100 days (approximately 14 videos), your audience won’t be large enough to provide meaningful feedback on what you are working on.

You can’t work in isolation. You need to get feedback from an audience.

Which begs the question, what do you do when you don’t have an audience, as most people don’t when they are just getting started?

There are two options.

You can buy an audience.
You go where the audience already exists.

Buying an audience means that you pay to get your material in front of people. A great way to do this is on Facebook - you can post regularly and then boost your posts. The posts that get the most traction will provide you with feedback that you have good ideas.

But that is expensive, and for most people starting out, buying an audience is not the best option.

So let’s move on to option #2...

Go Where the Audience Exists

I’m going to suggest that the better method is to go where the audience already exists.

The best place to do this is Twitter.

You may not have an audience yet, but if you start to write and engage online with other people on Twitter you will slowly start to build a following.

Even if you don’t have an audience, the algorithm will share your tweets to other people that are likely to engage with you. You will receive almost instantaneous feedback about whether your ideas are worth exploring or should be dumped in the trash.

This rapid-fire feedback is what you need to iterate and do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

And the best part about this is that you can repurpose your best performing content on your Blog or even in your YouTube videos.

My Strategy

During this past week, I started engaging on Twitter in a way that I never have before.

I’ve published essays as well as Twitter threads.

My goal is to publish a 300-500 word article every single day and provide as much value and actionable content as possible.

I’m not posting quotes.
I’m not posting simple, one-word tweets.
I’m not posting images of what I ate for lunch.

I’m using the platform to share tips and strategies about things I’m working on and learning with regards to online business.

This week, I’ve published several articles about growing on YouTube because that is something I’m interested in and passionate about. If they don’t get much traction, I’ll move on to something else. If they do, I’ll keep writing about YouTube.

And slowly, I’m starting to see results, even in the 5 days I’ve been using this strategy.

Here are some of the Tweet Threads I published this week:

❤️ My Favorite Things

The following links may contain affiliate offers. This means that if you choose to purchase a product using one of the links below, my website will receive financial compensation. Although it won't cost you anymore to purchase through our link, it will help our blog continue to produce regular content. Thank you for your support!

📚 Book - Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt

🐥 Twitter Thread - How to Grow on Twitter by Sean Anthony

📱 Productivity App - Typeshare.co is the app I’m currently using to create Atomic Essays and Tweet threads. It makes it incredibly easy to share what you are writing to multiple online platforms, such as Medium, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

🖋 Quote of the Week

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice needed to choose a path. She asked the Cheshire Cat which direction to choose. The cat asked where she was trying to go, but Alice replied, “Anywhere, as long as I go somewhere.” The cat replied, “If you don’t care where you’re going, it doesn’t make a difference which path you take.

Jaime Tardy, The Eventual Millionaire