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Being an online business, I spend a bit of time on social media in groups. I think one of the most common questions I hear is ‘How do I create an online business without spending a lot of money?’
It’s what everyone wants to know!
I have to admit that I was in that category too! I knew I wanted to create my own business and income that was also location independent, I just didn’t know where to start!
This is my journey to being a social media manager. There are so many options out there when it comes to starting an online business, this is just one of them!
Like so many business owners, the desire for me to create my own business was so that I could be home with the kids. After all, we had already committed to homeschooling them, so someone needed to be home!
I was heavily pregnant with my second baby and thinking about how I was going to create my business, it was all-consuming really. I spent many hours thinking and dreaming about it.
What the hell was I going to do?
There were so many options out there, I was really overwhelmed! The fact that I wanted to be location independent eliminated many of the options though. I ruled out anything that involved shipping and holding a physical product (also truth be told, I had already dappled in that and I knew it wasn’t for me). After spending many hours researching I decided that freelancing was where I wanted to go. It appeared (and I have to agree now) that it was the fastest way to earn an income online. The only problem, I didn’t know if any of my skills would suit!
I am a chiropractor by profession, not a very location independent job! The idea then surfaced that I could provide support to others in the health industry. I knew how hard it was for so many of them, they were not very technical savvy, and that’s putting it nicely!
Social media had always been something that I seemed to understand and enjoyed. For some reason, I seemed to be the person that other colleagues would come to for advice and help. I don’t know how that happened but it did!
I thought, perfect I’ve got my business model. I’m good to go! We all know it doesn’t quite work like that! How on earth was I going to get this thing off the ground!
Again, I started researching. A lot! I wanted to know everything about social media but also about how to run and structure a social media business. They are two very different things and I wanted to master them both!
The courses I took to become a social media manager.
The first course that I decided on was The Digital Picnic’s ePicnic course (they do also have in person workshops but being rural and very pregnant, I couldn’t make it to them). Their course is really designed to give business owners the tools to do their own socials, not specifically for social media managers. I do now know quite a few people that have used the course for that purpose though. I really learnt a lot from them and would highly recommend their course.
In their course they cover all the major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and You Tube), email marketing and blogging. I’d say the course is great if you don’t have a great understanding of how social media and blogging can be used for your business.
On top of that though, I needed something that was more about running the business. How to write proposals, how to get clients and how to get paid for it! After all, that’s how business works!
The course that really helped me in this area was the Social Monkey Business ecourse. The course is really in depth and gives you so many tools that made this process much easier. You learn how to structure your business, you’re given templates for everything you need (proposals, contracts, emails etc) and there’s a great community associated with the course. The support you need when diving into business is there!
There you have it, the two courses that I’d suggest you start with if you want to become a social media manager and turn it into a profitable and sustainable business. I have to also add that within 3 months of launching my business, I was at capacity. I do truly believe that the skills and confidence that I gained from the two courses played a huge role in that!
Of course, there are more things that you need to do to get your business up and running! You can read my step by step guide to starting your own social media management business here.
