Why you should take your business online
Why you should take your business online
When I transitioned my business from in-person photo shoots to online coaching, memberships, courses, and shops, the number one question I got asked was: “Why?”. A lot of people just couldn’t understand why I was “giving up” (their words, not mine) a thriving photography business to start something new that “surely wouldn’t succeed” (again, their words, not mine). So let’s chat about it. Here’s why I transitioned my business to be *almost* fully online…
my dream life
The very first thing my mindset coach had me do was envision the life I dreamed of, and I quickly realized that it was a life of freedom, not burnout. I pictured being able to travel when I wanted, work when I wanted, where I wanted. I imagined being able to sleep in, set my own schedule, and have plenty of time to spend with my family and friends. I pictured having all the time I needed to take care of myself, my family, my home, while still being able to serve my clients and audience. I wanted to be able to work when my schedule allowed, and when I felt most creative. The previous 10 years of growing my business, though, set me up for exactly the opposite.
I had inadvertently structured my business so that I was only able to make money when I was physically there, and that was typically only on nights and weekends, which worked best for my clients but not for my dream of spending time with my family and friends. I also structured my business so that I was directly trading my time for money, which led to A LOT of burn out, working around the clock to get my client’s work done for them. You can imagine how little time that left me to take care of myself. & any time for vacation/traveling? That was out the window, because my job was seasonal and my busy season was during normal vacation time. I had literally created a job that was the exact opposite of everything I wanted in life.
Transitioning almost all of my business to online helped me to break down the hell I had created for myself and start building my dream life. It now allowed me to set up automated systems that would serve my clients 24/7 when it worked best for their schedule, while I could work on my own schedule. It also freed me up to spend more time with my family and friends, and I now have the freedom to work from wherever I have an internet connection.
my ideal client
After building my photography business over 10 years, I developed quite the passion for business, marketing, and helping other female entrepreneurs to grow their own businesses. However, I realized there were wayyyyy more women than just in my local area that needed my help with marketing & content creation…. But how was I supposed to reach them using the same in person methods I used in my photography business?
Reaching these women all over the country while staying in my hometown was just another reason I made the switch to an online business. I could now teach, coach, and empower these women from anywhere in the world, without having to travel to them. It opened up a world of possibility for how far I could reach as far as my marketing.
my impact on the world
I’m not gonna lie - I have BIG dreams. One of those dreams is to help as many women as I can to create their own dream businesses…. But my original in-person, one-on-one, trading hours for money model was NOT going to allow me to help the amount of female entrepreneurs that I dreamed of helping. Having an online business, though - now that changed the game.
An online business allowed me to help female entrepreneurs in so many more ways that I originally imagined. I could provide online coaching and mentoring for their specific businesses. I could provide marketing tools and templates to make their lives easier. I could teach them everything I’ve learned over the years in the form of online webinars and classes. The best part? I can automate all of this so they are not waiting on me to provide any of this help. They can access it whenever it works best for THEIR schedule, which allows me to impact so many more women around the world than if I were only able to work one on one in-person with these ladies. That’s thousands of more lives I’m impacting as compared to just one, and THAT is what sets my heart on fire right there!
my income streams
I know some people don’t like to talk about money, but if you’re running a business, it’s a necessity in order to function and continue… so I’m gonna chat about my financial situation in the most real and honest way possible. Here we go…..
I look at it like this: the more money I make, the more women I’m able to help because I can reinvest that money into my business to make programs better, and reach more female entrepreneurs who need help growing their business. My old business structure, though, was not set up to scale or grow the way I dreamed of. With my old model, I was literally trading my hours for dollars, which really limited me to how many women I could impact.
Going online changed all of this. Not only did it make my main stream of income easier to scale (being mentoring & coaching), it also allowed me to set up other streams of income that ran fully on their own. I was able to set up a stock shop specifically for female entrepreneurs who wanted images that looked like REAL life, not perfectly styled images. I was able to set up an online shop where I sold digital tools and templates to help women save time in their business. I was able to start a membership where I provided babes in business with a monthly social media content plan. And now I am starting to offer online courses to help women learn the skills they need to take their business to the next level, all on their own schedule. That's 4 extra streams of income that I could have put into place under my old business model. That means I can impact 4x as many women as I could previously. Mind = blown!
Now you don’t have to be like me and go all out with a transition to basically all online. Figure out what works best for your and your business. Some people transition to 100% online. Some split 50/50 , and some just choose to offer one little product online. No matter what your option - I fully believe that everyone has at least some part of their business they can switch to be online!
PS: If you want to learn some of the systems I put into place that helped me take my business online and how I set my business up for massive growth during my slow season, click the button below to access my free 10 day course to learn exactly that!
about the blogger
Hey babe! I’m Courtney Jo! I’m a content creator who coaches babes in biz on how to create their dream life of freedom through content creation, business, and mindset! I’m also an award winning, nationally recognized portrait photographer and I sling some amazing natural hair and skin care products on the side that has changed my confidence and life!w
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I’m Courtney Jo! A business coach, podcaster, photographer and shampoo slinger, with a goal to help boss babes create their dream life through content creation & marketing!
xoxo, Courtney Jo
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