Lets Build a Business: 2 The Structure of My Business

Last time we talked about being lost and trying to figure out where to find the path. This time lets break down the structure of the business I want to build, so that I can make smart goals that move me towards that dream.

Identifying The Business

So what the hecking heck is my business anyway. In order to answer that question I should first understand the things I am trying to do. This is just about the same thing as asking ourselves why, but instead I am going to ask myself 'how'?

So why do I want to have a business - well I want to make money. The business can be wrapped in any number of ways, but ultimately it is to make an income stream.

So how do I want to make money. This could be answered many different ways and I think its healthy and helpful to have a multifaceted answer to this question. So I want to make money by having a business that is fun and interesting for me to pursue. One that is helpful to people. One that I can maintain while working my fulltime career role. One that allows me to work anywhere and anytime.

Affiliate marketing seems to fill those requirements.

What Are The Parts Of This Business

Affiliate marketing as I know it, works in the following way:

• As the expert in a specific niche you grow an audience that trusts your opinions.
• You leverage this to promote products you believe in so that your audience can buy them.
• You make a percentage of the sale

I dont need to go into the how here since we all have access to the same training, but we can sift out the main elements of this business structure. I even think you can order them this way:

The Niche:

This is the thing you are an expert on. You have to have a niche to create the content that interests the audience.

The Content

This is the thing that you are producing which demonstrates your expertise or interest in your niche.

The Platform

This is the main spot where you post your content and market the products that you enjoy.

The Funnel(s)

This is how and where you will reach out to build your audience and direct them to your platform. It can be unique content or sub-content that relates to the main content on your platform. The things that are created here all point back to the platform.

The Audience

Some portion of the billions of people on the internet.

The Products

The things that you will present to your audience.

I do think that approaching these parts in this order is important since they build on eachother. You cant have an audience without content. You cant have content without a niche, etc.

So we have the general parts of the business. Whats next, well, lets revisit the reason we are going through this process to begin with: I felt lost because I did not have a clear understanding of my business because when I began I did not have a clear understanding of the business structure.

Now that I have a more clear image, lets think about the dreamy aspects of the business I would like to have. So next up: the dream business.