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I have given out hundreds of thousands of words worth of free advice and tutorials on this blog and have been fortunate enough to witness so many of my readers start Etsy shops, blogs, and other types of side hustles. Through all of this, there is one thing that those of us who have succeeded do that others don’t, and it’s the only piece of advice you REALLY need to take. In fact, every other piece of advice or I could give you or literal tutorial I could draw up for you is irrelevant if you don’t do this one thing:
Just start.
Do something. Anything. Take the first step. Stop thinking yourself into a circle of paralysis and take some sort of direct action. Imperfect action is better than no action.
I’ve spoken with so many people that have read all the blog posts, watched all the webinars, invested in multiple courses and ebooks, written down all the ideas and plans, come up with dozens of ideas, but they never get anywhere because they never actually start. They trap themselves in the cycle of learning, researching, planning, and “waiting for the right time” without ever actually doing anything directly involving the thing they want to do.
Your first step doesn’t have to be a big one. Here are a few ideas:
Open the Etsy shop (use my link here and get 40 listings free).
Buy the domain and hosting for your blog or website.
Sign up for Canva and make your first digital product.
Sign up for Kittl or PlaceIt and make your first t-shirt design.
Already have a design made? List it for sale. You only need one product to open a shop.
When I see people waiting until they “have enough designs made” or “can afford to invest in advertising” as a reason that they don’t have a shop or website running, I have to physically hold back my desire to shake them while yelling YOU ARE LEAVING EXPERIENCE AND MONEY ON THE TABLE BY NOT ACTUALLY DOING THE THING.
There will always be a reason to wait until you have all the answers. But the truth is, you acquire these answers by taking action and learning as you go. You can always take things down, edit them, adapt, or burn it all down and change course entirely. But at least you have something going. That will teach you more and bring you closer to your goals more than waiting and doing nothing.
Take this post as me giving you permission to start, even if you think you’re not ready.
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