Nothing is more exciting than starting your own business. You get to become your own boss and enjoy all benefits accrued to you alone.
Even though that is true, many aspiring business owners never start out because they don’t know where to start. If you are one of them, don’t fuss. You are on the right page.
In this article, we’re going to walk you through everything you need to know about starting a service business so you can avoid making gross mistakes that others make as they start out.
Let's dive in.
Why Start a Service Business
We can all agree to the fact that everyone has a skill that they can use to generate income.
You may have acquired it through courses, or it may be in you in the form of natural talent.
Either way, skills are valuable assets that you can sell as services to generate some extra income on top of what you currently make. And the best thing about it is that it will cost you absolutely nothing.
Yes, you read that right.
With the number of successful business owners rising, there is no reason why you shouldn’t give it a shot. Many have tried it out on legiit, and some have managed to become successful to the point that they are now making a whooping 10K per month!
What are the benefits of starting your own service business?
There are many ways you can benefit as a business owner. For instance, as we mentioned earlier, you get to take control by becoming your own boss.
As a boss, you could decide and outsource all your gigs or hire full time employees to work for you. Whichever way you decide to do it, you get to receive your freedom of time back, allowing you to focus on other ways to grow and expand your business.
Besides that, you also stand to benefit in the following ways:
* You get to escape your 9-5. (Don’t rush with this step. Only quit when you are sure that your business has picked and that you have enough savings to sustain you for the next few months)
* You get to increase your income, thus helping you attain financial freedom.
* You get to work flexible hours.
* You get to network and interact with other successful business owners who may be instrumental in the success of your business.
* If your business service is based on your natural talents, you get to earn by doing what you love.
What Service Business Should You Start?
You could sell literally anything, provided that it is something useful.
To identify a service business, you can start by identifying your skills and natural talents.
Next, find out how your clients can benefit from them. Once that is done, set up a relevant service and describe it fully, elaborating on what it is all about and how buyers will benefit from it.
This will be your selling point, so make sure you understand your buyers well.
You also wanna be careful to remain relevant to the marketplace you are in. For instance, you can’t sell laundry and dry cleaning services on a platform that is all about marketing and SEO.
Instead, you want to create services like article writing, graphic design, social media management, and any other related to marketing and SEO.
How To Start a Service Business
Before you start marketing yourself as a specialist in a certain field or niche, you need to do a couple of things to lay the groundwork. Some of them include the following:
Choose your service
You don’t need to struggle too much on this. Finding a service can be as simple as identifying a problem that most buyers in a certain niche have and creating a service to help them solve it.
Once you identify one, know what clients will expect from you, and thats it.
Learn the Skill
If you are entering the service industry, the only way your business can succeed is through repeat business. Therefore, if you are to work with already established businesses, some of which are already successful, you need to learn a skill.
Start with the basics and strive to get experience by applying what you learn.
There are a ton of resources on the internet that you can use to develop your skill further. Even better, you can enroll in a course and equip yourself with the skills necessary to survive and become successful in your niche.
As you learn, you ought to know that you will need a couple of other skills too. For instance, skills like proper time management and communication skills.
Without these, you won’t be that efficient, forcing your customers to go away unsatisfied, never to return again.
Get Experience
This is the most interesting part.
This is where you get to put your acquired skills into action. This is where you build efficiency at the skill you just acquired.
As you do that, make sure to give your best, no matter how basic whatever you are doing is.
You may have already started getting a few clients who accept beginners. Make sure to follow their instructions to the latter, and who knows? You may end up closing your first client on a retainer basis.
In your quest to build experience, you can join relevant social media pages and groups where you can get advice and interact with others who sell services similar to or related to yours. That way, you will benefit in so many ways, including:
* Through various discussions, you get to see the common types of problems that clients face.
* You get to network with other sellers who can help you improve your skill.
* You get to contribute to discussions, and in most cases, that’s how newbies land their first clients.
* You get to know how the market works and what you can use to grow your business and take it to the next level.
Find Your Niche
The greatest mistake we see new sellers making day in day out is trying to be a Jack of all trades. They wanna sell everything in a desperate attempt to land their first client.
Don’t do that
You will be surprised that clients are willing to pay top dollar to specialists in a certain niche rather than work with generalists.
It only proves that you are not confident in what you do. You don’t want clients seeing you that way, do you?
Craft a Strong Offer
Once you choose your niche, you can now craft a strong offer in readiness to start your marketing campaigns. At this point, you are almost ready.
The best way to craft a strong offer is first to understand the client you are looking forward to working with. You could create a customer avatar to help guide you on what to include in your service to make it as useful as possible.
Don’t freak out if you haven’t built out your avatar yet. Here are some of the things you need to know to help you build one for your business:
* Your ideal customer’s age
* Their gender
* The language they use
* Where they are located
* Their education level
* Their occupation
* The niches they operate in
* The average income they get from their business
Find Clients
At this point, everything should be set. You are now ready for your first gig.
However, clients won’t just come to you magically. You need to start marketing yourself out there on various platforms if you are to land your first job.
Your marketing doesn’t need to be that complex. As you start out, you won’t even need a website. You probably won’t even need it anywhere in the future. Ever.
Instead, you just need to be where your clients are. That’s it.
That is why at Legiit, we allow sellers to get started as soon as they set up their services.
The marketplace has a facebook group comprising buyers and sellers where you can market yourself as a seller on Mondays for free.
It may take time to land your first client but think of it this way. Buyers are also people just like you, and they need first to get familiar with you before they can buy from you.
Sure enough, some may buy from you the first time they see your service posts, but that rarely happens. This only means that you must contribute to conversations and make yourself as useful as possible.
That way, you get to identify clients that need your help, and who knows? They may end up buying from you.
Service Business Examples: Frequently Asked Questions
What are the steps to starting a service business?
If you are starting out as a beginner, here are some of the steps you can follow:
1. Choose your service
2. Learn the Skill
3. Get Experience
4. Find Your Niche
5. Craft a Strong Offer
6. Find Clients
This is literally everything you need to do to set up your service business. And remember, a high quality service will fetch you high ticket clients. So, make sure that your input is as valuable as possible.
How can I start a service business with no money?
Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses, you won’t need any starting capital to set up your service business. With platforms like Legiit, sellers get to set up their services and immediately start advertising them on the community’s facebook group for free.
It will only cost you your effort and time, which you have to sacrifice at the initial stages if you are to land your first client.
How do I start my own product and service business?
To start a product and service business, you first need to research your market and find out who and what kind of products people need. It is advisable to do this first to avoid spending too much on producing products that people don’t need.
In addition, if you are to include physical products, you must devise ways to ensure a constant supply. Otherwise, you may frustrate clients with shortages, causing them to recognize you as an unreliable seller.
In the long run, if you are considering to scale your business, you should also consider outsourcing some of your services. It will help you serve more customers and get more stuff done.
Which are examples of a service business?
There is a wide range of service businesses you can get into, depending on the industry or niche you are in. For example, in the business and marketing industry, there are services like:
* Search engine optimization (SEO)
* Writing
* Graphic design
* Consulting
* Lead generation
* Market research
* Programming
* Content creation
* Audio services
How can I start a multiservice business?
As mentioned earlier, clients are willing to pay top dollar to sellers who are specialists rather than generalists. Therefore, if you want to sell multiple services, you can do it in either of two ways.
First, you could sell different categories under the umbrella of your main service. For instance, if you sell writing services, you could offer product descriptions, home pages, and product reviews.
On the other hand, you can decide and set up an agency where you have specialists handling the different services you offer. The downside to this is that it may require you to have some starting capital.
Final Thoughts
Starting a business isn’t easy. However, with proper guidance, anyone can realize their dream of becoming a business owner regardless of their age, gender, or income level.
That is why Legiit has remained to be home to many sellers. We give every seller the opportunity to start their business and advertise it for free.
Whether you plan to start a side hustle or a full-time business, we have you covered.
We offer tons of valuable resources which can help you as a business owner to start and scale your business to the next level. If this is what you have been looking for, sign up with us and get started today. It is absolutely free.
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