Getting Started With Your Own Online Business


If you’re even a little bit curious about how to start your own online business, you’re definitely not alone. That first step can feel massive, but launching something online has never been easier to tackle.

A laptop, an idea, and the right know-how can get you moving in the right direction.

How Online Businesses Work (and Why They’re Worth Considering)

Online businesses have changed the game when it comes to what’s possible with limited resources. Whether you want to run things full time or as a side project, it’s eye-opening what can be done from home. The online business world covers all kinds of things from selling products and offering services, to building your own brand through content, consulting, or creating software.

Flexibility and low cost are huge advantages. No rent, no major overhead, just your time, effort, and the willingness to learn. The biggest challenge is knowing where to start, and then picking the right path for yourself as you go along.

Many folks stumble in the beginning. Frankly it can be tough to know where to start. There are so many products/services out there….and plenty of outdated courses and programs. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

Internet tools continue to improve, letting you automate repetitive tasks, reach audiences in creative ways, and adapt fast when trends or needs mix it up in your chosen space. The AI world has opened up the doors to opportunity as well, new found creativity, more efficiency and production than ever…and more opportunity than ever.

First Steps for Launching Your Online Business

There’s no magic formula, but I always suggest breaking things down into doable chunks. Here’s a straightforward path:

  1. Pick a Direction: Decide what you want to do; what are you passionate about? Is there a topic, an activity, or a product or service you can’t stop thinking about?
  2. Set Up Your Website/Socials: Usually this means building a website or starting a social channel to showcase your business.
  3. Get the Training and Resources: You’re WAYYY more likely to see results if you learn the basics and connect with others who are on the same adventure.
  4. Drive Traffic and Build Your Audience: Attract people to your business so you can grow and earn. With people (an audience), you have opportunity (passive income).

Each stage is easier if you have a place to learn, ask questions, and get help with practical steps. If you’re wondering where to find a community and toolkit all in one, Wealthy Affiliate is a solid spot to start.

I happen to own it. But before you think I am biased, realize that I also happen to mentor people like yourself DIRECTLY within the platform on a daily basis.

Now I want to breakdown the process for you, it’s 3 steps and I think steps that everyone can understand.

STEP 1: Choose the People You Want to Help

This is where a lot of people freeze.

It can feel like you need the “perfect” idea, but honestly, your first pick doesn’t have to be flawless. Some folks kick things off by solving a problem they care about, or by focusing on something they’re already into…from fitness, tech, travel, pets, you name it.

Others look for gaps in the market after a bit of research. Both paths can work well, and there are many tools out there that can help you refine the process.

Wealthy Affiliate Business Search

There is a tool that I use to efficiently help me narrow down my ideas. This is included for FREE within Wealthy Affiliate, and can efficiently take any “broad” idea you have, an help you narrow it down to a tangible starting point for your business. Again, no experience necessary.

You can get access to this tool with a free Wealthy Affiliate account. I recommend that you grab that so you can follow along with me here (and also get a ton of training.

It helps to count up your hobbies, skills, work experience, or even things friends always ask you for help with. Once you’ve got a few ideas, check that there’s actually an audience. Use Google search, online forums, or see what people ask about on social media. Careful research helps you spot a direction that feels promising, but don’t get stuck overthinking it. Taking action is the best way to learn.

If you’re struggling to narrow it down, ask folks in online communities or on forums for feedback. Sometimes, outside perspectives help you make out what you’re best suited to focus on. Remember, you can always switch things up if your first idea doesn’t pan out—lots of successful entrepreneurs have started with one idea before finding something that truly sticks.

STEP 2: Getting Online – Why a Website is Still Critical.

Think of a website is your online headquarters. It gives you control, professional appeal, and opens up tons of options for making money: selling products, blogging, offering services, or even building your email list.

These days, you don’t need to know how to code from scratch to set one up. Platforms like WordPress make it easy to create something clean and easy to update, and websites just like this one can be up and running in minutes.

Wealthy Affiliate (where I built this site), provides a website builder and free hosting, so you can get your business live without jumping through tons of setup hoops or paying big fees. Following a checklist of PROVEN steps saves loads of time compared to trying to figure out every detail solo.

Website Platform

So think of your website as the main hub.

All your other online efforts, from (social media, Youtube to email marketing) can point back to it, bringing visitors and potential customers into your world. There are 5 BILLION people online, and there are many ways you can get traffic to your website.

STEP 3: Earn Money.

The last step, is to earn revenue. Once you have a website in place, you can start seeking out products/services to promote, earn commissions from, and to become profitable online. There are close to 600 MILLION Products/Services that you can promote as an affiliate, every major brand, and ever minor brand.

And you can get these hand fed to you through. Here is an example of just a few affiliate programs, that I get laid out for me within my Business Hubs I build wi thin Wealthy Affiliate. These are “niche specific”, and because I coach Youth Basketball, I have a website dedicated to this.

Here are some products and brands I can promote in this niche alone.

Opportunities Affiliate Marketing Basketball

Again, you don’t have to worry about this or do the time-consuming research. This is taken care of for you within Wealthy Affiliate, when you build a Business Hub, you are going to get these instant insights and access to these affiliate programs.

There is a great deal of opportunity in any and every niche.

If you’re still in the “where do I start?” phase, Wealthy Affiliate is worth checking out. It’s got training, live support, website platforms, AI platforms, , and the kind of community that answers newbie questions quickly.

Lastly, I Want to Give You a Little “Pep” Talk…

I was in your position at one point. Not knowing where to start. Unsure where to start…and unsure of myself. But I did one thing, and it’s the only thing that I feel really differentiates me with those that are not already highly successful online.

I took action. I failed. I succeeded. And continue to take action over and over again.

And as I moved forward, I started finding things that worked, and the things that didn’t. Here I am 22 years later full time online…and I know YOU can be in my exact position. Thriving online…it’s why I named my website this after all.

The road can feel bumpy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t smooth it out along the way and totally remove a few common hurdles:

  • Too Many Choices: Jumping from idea to idea and never finishing anything is a trap. Following a proven checklist (like those at Wealthy Affiliate) helps you keep momentum and make real progress.
  • Learning Curve: You’ll run into new tools, terms, and marketing lingo. Regular training and bite-sized lessons are your best friends; grab them whenever you’re stuck, and don’t pressure yourself to solve everything at once.
  • Traffic Struggles: No visitors means no business. Focus early on learning SEO basics, sharing content on social media, and asking for feedback from other business owners. Courses and step-by-step action plans available at Wealthy Affiliate truly give a boost here.
  • Dealing with Tech: Don’t let tech stuff slow you down. Most issues have an easy solution once you ask around, and the Wealthy Affiliate community is packed with troubleshooting help and practical tips.

Keep your focus on one step at a time. It’s much better to move forward slowly than to spin your wheels overthinking every option.

I hope to see you inside the community, and help you get started with your very own niche business.

Cheers,

Me

Kyle Loudoun
Founder of ThriveWithKyle.com
Founder and Community Member of WealthyAffiliate.com

PS. Leave any questions or comments that you have below, I will do me best to get back to you within an hour…but sometimes I can take up to 24 hours (I am a busy guy lol). I would love to hear from you!

8 Comments

  1. Online business has never felt more achievable than how it’s laid out here. I really appreciated the breakdown of the three core steps especially the emphasis on choosing the people you want to help. That mindset shift makes the process less intimidating and more human-focused. It’s refreshing to see an approach that encourages imperfect action rather than perfection paralysis.

    The mention of Wealthy Affiliate’s tools, especially the Business Hub that helps match niches with affiliate programs, sounds incredibly useful. As someone who has brainstormed countless business ideas, having product research and monetization guidance in one place would save so much time and energy. How long does it typically take a beginner to see their first sale or income?

    • Glad you enjoyed the breakdown.  It isn’t that complex at the end of the day, the complexity comes with the small steps you take on a daily basis to build out your actual business and when you move from the income to the “growth” stage of your business as new logistics are introduced.

      As for success and how long that takes, it really does vary.  There is no cookie-cutter response to this  Some people earn in the first month, some take a year.  For me, it took 3 months to get my foundation in place and make my first sale, but by the year mark I was earning a passive 6-figures.  

      I think that is common to see a flow like that, you have to build a foundation before you can earn (and understand what you are doing), and once you get the formula for success in place, you can scale rather quickly.   I hope you find this helpful Ravin!

  2. Thank you for this, Kyle. I’ve started and stopped more online projects than I can count: affiliate sites, blogs, and even a few social media channels. Each time, I hoped it would finally click, but I always seemed to stall out somewhere between setup and gaining traction. Lately, I’ve been wondering if this is really the right path for me after all.

    Your post reminded me why I started in the first place: the dream of building something meaningful from home, something that could support my family and provide flexibility. However, I’m still unsure about how much time and effort it realistically takes to start seeing results. How critical is it to choose the “right” niche from the beginning?

    I’ve invested energy into ideas I thought would work, only to realize later that they weren’t sustainable or didn’t resonate with an audience. I’m hesitant to go through that again. Maybe I need a better system and support this time around.

    • The key is “not stopping” until you reach success.  So many people jump from idea to idea whenever they feel fatigue, which is natural.  It is the least path of resistance.  However, those that have staying power in any niche and business and give themselves time to flourish, are those that do exactly that. 

      There is no right or wrong in my opinion, you have people making money in the most obscure niches, and you have people failing in the most lucrative niches. 

      It comes down to your focus within that niche, and the sustained focus…which is where passion comes in.  It isn’t a requirement to be passionate to thrive at something, but it can help as it allows you to stick with something much longer when you enjoy what you are doing (if that makes sense). 

      You have a support system within Wealthy Affiliate and if you ever need a hand directly from me with any of your campaigns, I will be happy to help Alice!

  3. Hello Kyle!

    I really appreciated this article — it’s full of encouragement and solid steps for someone like me who already has an online business but still wants to grow it more thoughtfully. As a stay-at-home mom, I need strategies that are effective but not exhausting, and this guide delivers both vision and practicality.

    What really resonated most was your emphasis on building something that genuinely serves people, not just chasing trends. That helps me keep my focus when I start doubting whether what I’m doing is meaningful. Also, your breakdown of the stages — from setting up a site to creating content to driving traffic — gives me a clearer roadmap to measure progress, rather than feeling like I’m floundering.

    I’m curious: when you first started, did you try a few niches or pick one you were really passionate about right away? And do you have a rule of thumb for how much time you’d recommend dedicating each week in those early months without burning out?

    Thanks so much for writing something that feels both aspirational and doable. I’m leaving this with ideas I’m excited to try.

    Angela M 🙂

    • If you can help people, you can build a successful business in absolutely any niche.  If you look at any successful business, you will see these virtues at the core of it.  

      When I first started I was mostly in the PPC world, so I tended to bounce form idea to idea.  I was probably operating within 5 or so niches within my first 2 years, and I was for the most part very successful within all of them (everything from health/dieting, to voIP, to people search look-ups, to hosting).  

      I realized that i could take my formula of helping people, offering them valuable information, and then making product/service recommendations that would further help them could take me far within any niche.  And then we applied this same principle when we started at Wealthy Affiliate, and here we are 20 years later. 

      Glad to hear this gave you some good insights and ideas Angela!

  4. This guide is incredibly empowering for anyone feeling overwhelmed about starting an online business. I love how it breaks things down into manageable steps without sugarcoating the effort required. The part that really stood out to me was Step 1: Choosing the People You Want to Help such a helpful mindset shift from chasing “perfect ideas” to solving real problems you care about. That approach alone can ease a lot of the pressure and get people moving.
    How might someone best test whether there’s a strong enough audience for their chosen niche before building out a site? And what’s the best way to stay motivated through the early stages when results are slow?

    • Glad you enjoyed it Marion.  The thing is, over all the years that I have been in business and as much as the technology has changed, the process of a building a business hasn’t changed much.  

      You have a niche, you have an audience within that niche, and you have products/services that you can promote to that audience. 

      The way that you attract people to your business has changed, and with over 5.6 BILLION people online now and 100’s of millions of products/services that you can promote as an affiliate marketer (and that is just ONE of many business models), the opportunity continues to grow. 

      So I guess that answers your question, there is no audience that is too small or two niche.  In fact, you are better off going with a niche audience that is more narrow (keto dieting and fitness), than going with something that is too broad (like health and fitness).

      As for keeping motivated, realize that any and every project that you start is “incomplete” at the beginning.  The fact that you got started in the first place is more than most, and then realize that the time and energy you put forth now pays off down the road and often times forever.

      I hope this helps you out, and good luck with your online business!

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