Some basic assumptions before we start:
- This is a business that will be built on the side (part time; meaning you’d be working full time Mondays to Fridays) so let’s assume you can put in 4 hours on Saturdays and 4 hours on Sundays (total 8 hours a week).
- Because this starts off as a part time business, it doesnt make sense to rent a space like a shop or office because we’re only dedicating 8 hours per week on Saturdays and Sundays combined. So this will be a service that will be provided at the clients home, our home or their offices.
- We’re aiming for delegation and automation so we’re prioritizing more for freed up time.
Generally to build a side business that can be automated into 2 categories for me:
A. Building A Physical Service Business Into An Agency
This is the easier option because it’s very convenient, here and now. See most adults can understand what a massage therapist does, and they can make a snap decision to try and to keep having massage.
There are dozens if not hundreds of services that people are willing to pay for, which includes tutoring, personal training, music teaching, massage, therapy, etc.
In this video, we will be using the example of massage therapy as main focus. It is very easy to pickup massage therapy, and you can train and learn within months or at most a year.
The biggest question that people usually have is “how do I get my first client?” – for such questions, the general answer is that the simpler to understand, the easier to get client.
Eg if you provide a $100/hour massage versus a $10000 website production, it’s soooo easy for clients to decide on the $100/hour massage compared to the $10K one.
To start the ball rolling, say you’re a newbie massage therapist, just make an offer. Assuming your competition offers $100/hour, you can adopt the same pricing strategy BUT offer a free 30 minutes trial.
Send out this offer to all your friends, family etc via whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram etc and say that it’s totally no obligation, those who like the massage during the trial, they can opt to extend another 30 minutes that is paid ($50) and/or pay during the next session at rate of $100/hour.
That’s it.
You can join paid networking communities like BNI as well and other options, but do this first.
Once you get your first client, do your best, and ask for referrals. Repeat until your part time hours are filled. 8 hours a weekend x 4 weeks x $100/hour = $3200/month. You can already hire your massage therapist hiree.
Once you hire your first employee, you’re already an agency. Rinse and repeat ie get more clients, hire more. Rinse and repeat.
This is generally the same process for most service business as they transition into an agency.
B. Digital / Online Business (Product)
Digital or online business is the direction that I’m moving towards, and it typically entails
1. Creating your own products
- ebooks such as massage books for specific conditions
- audiobooks ie converting massage books into audio versions
- tutorials
- courses – video courses to help people visualize how to exactly do it
2. Selling other people’s products (affiliate marketing)
- related, relevant and high quality products
- massage therapy business examples:
- clients may ask what massage oils or lotions to buy
- what massage beds is best
- which pain relief gels are best etc
and you can recommend them and if they buy through your links and recommendations, you may be paid by the company
3. Content creation (blogging, podcasting, video)
These refer to blogging (writing on websites), podcasting (creating audio interviews and podcasts) and videos (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) for marketing and branding purposes
Remember your goal, which is to start a business on the side, build and scale it up to a profitable agency and buyback your time as you hire and manage employees.