Before we go any farther, you need to set a goal – just one!
What do you hope to accomplish in the short-term? I encourage you to dream big and set some long-term goals too, but for now, we’re just going to set one short-term goal.
Goal-setting keeps you accountable, and it gives you something clear and defined to work toward. It also tells you if you’re succeeding (duh).
Time-based – set a date for when it should be accomplished
Since Amanda has digital marketing experience, she already had an understanding of what needs to be done to promote an online business and get some sales. So she set a goal of making $1,000 in revenue within 2 months of her launch day.
Here are some more goal ideas you can set:
I want to make 5 sales within 2 weeks after my launch day.
I want to earn back my financial investment (aka ‘break even’) within 3 months of my launch day.
I want to have 50 leads by launch day, so I can use email marketing to turn them into customers.
Notice that all of these are specific, they’re measurable within your Shopify dashboard, they’re achievable, they’re focused on actual results, and they all have a clear ‘deadline.’
Make a financial plan
I mentioned earlier that you really don’t need much investment money to build a successful store. At the very minimum, you’ll need to buy a few things:
About $12-14 to buy a domain name
$39 per month for Shopify (keep in mind you have a free trial)
If you don’t have any graphic design skills, you might want to pay a designer to make you a company logo. You can do this on websites like Fiverr for as little as $5 (beware that you get what you pay for). We’ll cover this on Day 7.
Samples of the items you’ll want to sell – while this theoretically isn’t 100% necessary, I strongly recommend it. This can cost anywhere from $20–100, depending on what you’re selling.
The bare-minimum costs come to about $50.
[highlight]Going back to setting a goal, one idea for low-budgeters is: ‘Earn $50 in 1 month after launch day.’[/highlight] If you have some more money to invest than the bare minimum, but you’re not exactly sure how much to invest, ask yourself:
How much money am I willing to lose without interrupting my life?
We’re trying as hard as we can to succeed, but we have to be prepared to fail. Don’t invest money that you need to pay rent, feed yourself and your family, or handle other necessary bills and life costs.
Especially on your first shot, because there’s so much learning and growth ahead of you!
For those of you who plan to invest in Facebook Ads, remember: more than anything, your first campaigns will be you paying Facebook for valuable data on your ideal audience. And as you go, you’ll be tweaking and optimizing your budget incrementally based on your results.
As you figure out which people are actually buying from your store via your ads – as well as their buying habits, location, and all that fun stuff – you’ll also learn about the ad budgets and strategies that are best for reaching them.
[highlight]Remember when I said we’re going to use a $500 budget? We’ll spend a fair amount of that running Facebook Ads. I’ll show you all about it on Day 16 and Day 17.[/highlight]
✓ Set one S.M.A.R.T. goal that you’ll work toward these next few weeks ✓ Figured out how much you’d like to invest in this new business ✓ Got a better understanding of what you’ll need to spend, and what that money will get you
Now you’re primed for success. See you tomorrow, when we’ll dig into the good stuff and find your products.
