Making your first $500 is the hardest.  But if you can master this first milestone, then there is no reason that you can't eventually make $1,000, then $5,000, then $10,000 and so on.  Here is an easy guide to getting started.  We're going to start with the basics and if there's any part of this that is too easy for you, then just feel free to skip over that part.

Step 1:  Make a List of Your Skills

You might think you are average, and what do you have to offer people?  Well, what you might think is a very normal skill or talent might be super freaking rare.  For example, I used to think that writing resumes was about the most boring and stupid thing on the planet - anyone could do it.  But then as I talked to more people, they looked at me like I was crazy when I said resumes were "fun."  I didn't realize how hard it was for people to write about themselves and take their everyday work experiences and turn them into cute little bullet points.

So you can start by making a simple list of your skills.  Think about what are the things that people typically call you or ask you for help about?  Amongst your friends and inner circle, what are you weirdly good at?  What are the things that you find easy, but other people find hard? 

My sister in law Kim is an excellent baker; it's just in her bones and last Christmas she made the most amazing Swedish-inspired cinnamon bread.  She has a PhD and is a former professor, but I swear if she ever opened a bakery, it would sell out.  Me, on the other hand, I can't bake a cookie to save my life.  Whether it's Powerpoint or public speaking or baking or marketing strategy or screenswriting or blow drying your hair, make a list of the stuff you're bizarrely talented at.  There's a business somewhere in there.  

Step 2:  Package Your Offering

So there are two categories of things you can sell.  You can either sell a product (a digital product or physical product, but it's something where you don't have to be present for the consumption of) -- or a service (which is essentially your time, and that is either a flat rate or hourly fee).  In the beginning, it's easier to sell services because that's something you can sell one to one.  You can be on a free consultation call, quickly build trust, and then sell an hour of your coaching or consulting easily.  The problem with selling your time is that it doesn't scale, and the only way to make more money is to either charge more (which becomes an exclusivity problem where you might feel like you're only helping the rich get richer) or get more clients (which becomes a bandwidth problem because there are only so many hours in the day).  

A lot of people approach figuring out what to sell and overcomplicate things.  Just think of it like a 1950's hamburger menu.  Maybe offer three options: small, medium, and large.  You can get a burger with fries, and a Coke.  That's it.  Write up your offering, especially if you're doing consulting, like a dead simple menu.  You want an hour of coaching?  That's $250.  You want a coaching package with three sessions?  Then great, that's $250 x 3 plus a 10% discount.  Easy.  

You need to assume that people want your help.  In the beginning of my coaching career, I was so nervous about if the potential client liked me, and saying the right things, and "making the sale" - but the reality is most people literally told me, "I've already looked at your website, I'm ready to buy."

Step 3:  Create a Simple Website So People Can Pay You!

Create a way for people to pay you!  I think it's important that you're fairly transparent about pricing.  For me, I had a website with every single product listed, with prices.  I had other coaches tell me that was crazy, but people were very quick to buy - so it worked for me.  In the early days, I created a simple website using SquareSpace (I later moved to Shopify which this website is on when I started doing more products, and it's better for eCommerce but I think uglier overall).  I downloaded free images from Unsplash, paid a local photographer $300 to take headshots, and that was it.  There will be processing fees when you accept credit cards, and there's no way around that.  But a professional website that has a "Services" page, an "About" page, and an "FAQ" page is pretty much all you need.  Here's what my old website used to look like:

Step 4:  Give People a Taste 

This is is if you're starting by selling services.  You'll want to give people a taste of what you can offer.  You can do this by offering a Free Consultation on your website.  You can use a system like Calendly or Acuity Scheduling, where people can book 20-30 minutes of your time.  Be sure to ask questions in the intake, so that you know who you're meeting with and you get a sense of what their issue or circumstances are.  Basically, why are they coming to you, and what kind of help are they looking for?  I've experimented with all kinds of free consultations.  I've done totally free, I've done a $20 paid mini consultation, I've done a $50 initial consultation that can be applied to a future session.  

Personally, I like the free consultation (just easier, more low-key, which means I'm more relaxed and on), but you need to do a few things to be successful.  You have to have serious, kind of scary language on there about your cancellation policy and if there is a no-show then they won't be given an opportunity to reschedule.  Also use those auto-schedulers to the max, and send a reminder email 24 hours before and 1 hour before the session.  I also used to personally email them at least once before, "hey, thanks for signing up for the session - looking forward to it," and if I got a response, great, and if I didn't then I'd be on high alert and send another check-in before I would just cancel it.  

I think the way that you have to look at it is, they're getting a free consultation, and you're getting free practice at learning how to close clients.  The only way you ever get good at closing is by doing it, probably at least, 25 times -- or if you're really good maybe you'll master it in 10.  

Another way you can do it is to have a bi-weekly or monthly "office hours" (these days if you're on social you could even just do TikTok Live) so people see you in action.  Or if you want to be more formal you could set up a Zoom group meeting or Calendly group meeting (where you can say, maximum amount of attendees is 12 or whatever) and run your own free webinars.  This sets you up in a position of authority. 

If you have no idea what kind of webinar to run, just do a question that you get all the time.  And the point of the webinar is to answer that question.  Of course, at the end of the session you have to plug yourself and say, "if you found this useful, I am open to one-on-ones or I'm running this program that you can check out here."  Group environments, if run correctly, can create a lot of positive goodwill and especially if they witness you managing the group with care, there is a lot of trust that builds up!

If you're nervous about sales, download my step-by-step Guide to Free Consultations PDF, including sample scripts to use during sales calls HERE for $12. 

Step 5:  Build Your Social Media Following 

Pick a platform that you are interested in, and start posting.  A lot of people get freaked out about social media because they worry about what other people will think.  "What will my friends from high school think?" Once you get good at social media, your friends WILL see it.  Some of them might be really supportive, others less so.  It doesn't really matter.  Social media isn't for them.  It's for your audience, which is most likely not your friends and family.  Being seen by people you know in real life is the cost of running a successful business.

You might also get comments like, "oh that's cool that you're doing social media, I could never do that, I value my privacy."  These are just uneducated comments.  Think about it this way.  In the olden days, if you wanted to launch a brand, you had to hire a PR agency for their relationships with traditional news media.  Your PR person would then pitch the story to the magazine or news outlet, who would then (if you're lucky), share the story with the greater public. 

Social media lets you skip all those steps and talk directly to your audience.  Content these days are based on interests; that's why your FYP and feeds are so scarily accurate.  They know, based on your likes, shares, and how long you watch a video -- what other videos you're likely to enjoy.  This means as a brand or small business owner, you can find your audience much faster and more accurately than ever before.  Plus, social media is literally FREE.  You don't have to pay Instagram or TikTok or YouTube Shorts to post; they need you and your content.

When it comes to content, again, think about it from the audience perspective.  What are the common questions that you get asked?  How can your knowledge help them?  What are the things that you learned along the way that helped you, that you can now share?  If for your first 20 videos, all you did was answer one viewer question per video, I bet you one of those will take off.