The Method

You need to be able to ask people to purchase your product or book your service.

Most people don't realise that this is where it really starts. Up until this point you're just thinking, playing, dreaming. But now it's time to actually give this a go. It's time to go from zero to one.

Depending what your product or service is will dictate what steps you need to take.

Service Business Method

The most simple version of this that comes to mind is a website for a service business.

I would go to carrd.co and make a free website that clearly explains what I do, how much I charge, and make it dead simple for the customer to contact me. If you're low on funds don't spend any money until you've made a sale or two. Use the free version of the website builder and the URL that comes with it and make a mybusinessname@gmail.com email address for now.

golfcourseflyovers.carrd.co and golfcourseflyovers@gmail.com are perfectly fine!

Too often people fuss over these details before getting to the point of actually seeing if they can get a customer. Get a customer first to validate your offer before you start spending on the perfect presentation.

As for charging your customer, in this scenario an invoice works best.

Over the years I've charged over $100,000 through the first free invoice generator I ever found online: https://invoice-generator.com

This part scares people but it really shouldn't. You fill out who the invoice is being sent to (your customer), who it is being sent from (you), you state what services you're performing and how much you're charging for them and then put your bank details down the bottom. You email it to your customer and they put the money right into your bank account.

It's literally that simple.

In summary: Make a quick free website to show available service → take booking → perform service → invoice customer → get paid.

Taking Bookings

Taking a booking can be as simple as displaying your contact details on your website and a customer emailing, texting or calling you and the two of you agree to a time.

The next step up from this would be having a booking form on your website where the customer can input their name and contact details and details of the work they need completed for you to review and get back to them. Most website builders, including Carrd.co, have a super simple form option built in.

There's also the option to take bookings through easy to use software like Calendly. This way you can display the time slots you're available to work and even get paid at the time of booking. This option would insist on your offering being quite productised. It wouldn't work for lawn care because there's too many variables like size of yard and condition of lawn but it would work fine for dog walking or car cleaning where the variables can easily be factored into the booking price.

Unless you're selling physical or digital products through an online store, then you're going to have to take bookings. Whatever system you choose just make sure you're confident and ready. The success of your business rests on your ability to get a customer to contact you and commit to a booking. Oh, and then you have to complete the job!

Physical Product Method

More complex to set up than a service-based offer but much more scaleable once the work is done. The simplest version of this is using Shopify. You can utilise the free trial to familiarise yourself with the platform and start building out your website and making your product available. The idea here is that your products are available to anyone, anywhere, at the click of a button and the money goes straight into your bank account. Shopify have made it absurdly simple for people to get set up and selling almost instantly. Their tutorials are far more comprehensive than my attempt would be so I won't even try. Once you've made an account they'll automatically prompt you to complete whichever task is needed such as connecting a payment method (so people can pay you) and creating your first product.

The simplified process would look like this:

Create Shopify account → Connect payment method → Add product → Make sale → Ship order.

Again, you can use the free domain that comes with Shopify such as cutedogcollars.shopify.com until you're actually getting some sales.