4-Day course with Penelope: How to start an online business

This course includes four days of video sessions and email-based course materials. You can purchase this course for anytime, on-demand access. The cost is $195.  

Sign up now.

This course is a peek into the inner workings of my life; how I figure out how to make money no matter what situation I’m in. My personal life shifts quickly, in big ways, and I have had to be able to shift my financial life to keep up with that. Most of my tactics for financial survival have been quick launches of online businesses, one after another, depending on what my needs are in that moment.

I’ve launched plenty of online businesses over many phases of my life. I’ve launched an online business when I had no experience and learned everything about online marketing from a book. I launched an online business when I had unlimited time to invest in making the business huge. And I’ve launched an online business while I’m homeschooling, and all I really want is five minutes’ peace.

It’s been a long, interesting road, but now I know: there are five types of online businesses that work, and in this course you’ll know what I know from that long road as I teach you what works. And what doesn’t.

I’ll show you how to figure out which type of business if right for you. And which ones aren’t.

I’ll show you the tactics it takes to launch an online business, but I’ll also show you how to tailor the process to your strengths and your passions. You’ll be surprised by how much control you can have over your life once you know how to launch an online business.

Day one: Find the best business for you to launch

An online business is very low-cost to start. There is almost no overhead, you do not need investors and you can build your business at whatever pace you want. Which means you have a lot of choices—so many that it’s hard to know how to start.

Everyone has different reasons for wanting to start an online business. This session will help you find the business model that will actually help you build the life you want.

Do you want to earn some extra spending money on the side? Do you need a great job on your resume? Are you bored with your life, or looking for a new project?

This session will cover:

  • The 5 types of online businesses that work
  • The online business that best leverages your particular strengths
  • The type of online business that will meet your financial goals

Day Two: Make a launch plan

One reason an online business is so low-cost to launch is that you can customize your business to play to skills you already have. So much of success comes from self-knowledge. The more clearly you understand your strengths, the more smoothly your business will operate.

I’ve spent years testing launch plans, and I’ve made all the mistakes so you don’t have to. In this session you’ll learn best practices for people who are just like you. Once you have a blueprint for a successful launch, your confidence will increase and so will your productivity; there’s nothing like a clear, tactical plan to make you go after your dreams.

This session will cover:

  • The launch-plan template I’ve used many times for my own online businesses
  • 7 Low-cost ways to make your site look great from the start
  • How to shut down the noise and outside pressure and focus on the essentials of launching

Day Three: Make your first month great, and then you’re home free

 What you are really after is a sustainable online business, one you can count on to make money. To that end, we’ll focus this session on crafting systems that create customers.

I will show you the quick, free system I’ve developed for testing online business models, so you can find a system that works for you. We will explore the most popular strategies for drawing customers to your site, and teach you how to convert website traffic to paying customers.

This session will cover:

  • Proven systems online entrepreneurs use to generate sales
  • Tactics for pinpointing the weak spot in the sales process and fixing it
  • Methods for evaluating success; how to turn failures into success in just one day

Day Four: Live Q&A

This session will be a live workshop where I help you vet your ideas (so you know what businesses won’t work at all), and find the best business to launch. During this live Q&A I can give you direct feedback and answer any questions you have about running an online business.

Sign up now.

25 replies
    • R Lloyd
      R Lloyd says:

      TC – Once you sign up for the course, as you get closer to the date, you’ll start receiving emails from Penelope or one of her partners. It will have your login info and other details. She’s absolutely awesome and I highly recommend her courses – this will be my fourth!

      Ro

  1. Annie Kip
    Annie Kip says:

    If you are looking for a swift kick in the pants to get you moving in the right direction – Penelope is the person to see. Her courses are terrific! If you are looking for gentle guidance, this is not the place. Penelope is unafraid to tell it like it is, push you out of your comfort zone, and make you see things differently.

  2. Tara Sayers Dillard
    Tara Sayers Dillard says:

    You go girl. Loved the course I took from you.

    Oddly, I started an online business that is thriving without knowing I was doing it. Began my blog to show current clients pictures.

    Instead it has become a business with clients all over the country, speaking gigs….

    How fast things are changing. For the better.

    Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

  3. Marcus
    Marcus says:

    Sounds fantastic, starts at 8 PM EST / 5 here in SoCal. My question is; how many hours per day?

    This will be great. When people ask how I got started can I say, “I was tossed in the Trunk and driven around for four days. When I got out I knew I had to do ‘THIS’ before I died.” I know, somebody has probably already thought of that one, but I do think it’ll be great.

    • Penelope Trunk
      Penelope Trunk says:

      Oh yeah. I forgot to put the 9pm in the 8-9pm est part of the post. So I’m adding that. Thank you for the reminder.

      Penelope

  4. Sharon Bennett
    Sharon Bennett says:

    Did you hide a coupon code somewhere? I’m in anyway but struggling to save$$ so just wondering if I missed it – been reading your blogs for a number of years ….

    • Penelope Trunk
      Penelope Trunk says:

      There’s no coupon code. I just lowered the price on the course page for the next seven days. So you can just go there, click, and buy. So easy!

      Of course, I see now that it would be really good marketing to have a $195 on the page, and then it’s crossed out and there’s a $147. There should be a big red star or something. And there should be a discount code that sounds really exclusive. I can see there are all kinds of marketing things I am missing here…

      In the course we will talk about doing what you are great at, but for now, let me just say that I like teaching the courses so much more than I like creating pages to market the courses.

      Penelope

  5. through my autistic eyes
    through my autistic eyes says:

    Making money online is best for aspies because this eliminates the need to interact with people. It’s also what many neurotypicals want, to work their own hours at their own pace, at a subject of their choice, their own interest.

    There are many opportunities today that weren’t available before the invention of the internet. Thank you for those ideas and tips, because working outside the home can get exhausting rather quickly.

    • Gayle
      Gayle says:

      Wow…I had never heard the term “neurotypical” before, which means of course, I had to google it. As a not insignificant side note, I am almost at the point of clicking the “buy” button for this course. Holding me back is that I have always started businesses based on “my interests,” lots of “lifestyle stuff” that ends up being a money pit…and not sure whether I am ready to truly change my ways LOL.

  6. Lindsey
    Lindsey says:

    I remember when you wanted a $10,000 La Cornue stove, and I had a $6,000 Lacanche on my wish list. Then I saw a picture of a beautiful French range IN YOUR KITCHEN and mine is still on the wishlist!

    Maybe that means I should take this course. :)

  7. Imran Soudagar
    Imran Soudagar says:

    In the past few years there has been an increase in online courses which teach how to start online business. I think this attitude of people is good since a lot of new people will learn the art of starting their own online business and hence improving the over all quality of online material.

    • ruo
      ruo says:

      it seems like the mom and pops kind of store that created physical communities 20 years ago have now re-appeared online in the form of bloggers, etsy stores, and pinterest.

      i’ve learned more practical stuff from the web than i ever did from school. for free. :)

    • Karelys
      Karelys says:

      Becky, as an INFJ female I found a way to care more for money by getting clear on what I wanted to do in life and figuring out how much I need for it.

      And then I was the breadwinner. That’s an awesome way to realize that it’s little tweaks here and there that will position you to make better money.

  8. Fatcat
    Fatcat says:

    Becky, I had no idea that was one of the INFJ traits! This explains so much.

    So one hour of class each evening plus I’d assume some homework?

  9. Sophie
    Sophie says:

    Hi, I am interested in taking the class. However I am not available at the time the class is offered. If I purchase it and watch the video later, can you answer my questions through email or phone all?

    • Penelope Trunk
      Penelope Trunk says:

      You can watch all the classes on video, a few hours after they happen live. And you can submit questions via email, to me. I’ll either answer them to you directly or I’ll cover them in the course.

      Penelope

  10. Mazid Umar
    Mazid Umar says:

    Hi,

    Great  post.The best thing which I like most in your articles is that really growing in online businesses .And all points are very informative and well define about how to grow up business.

    Thanks for posting:)

    Regards,
    Mazid Umar

    • Lily
      Lily says:

      Saw your site, Ryan. Re: perfectionism — check out @levelsio on Twitter, young Dutch guy launching 12 startups in 12 months (while traveling). Yeah it’s gimmicky, but he had the same problem with perfectionism. The publicity forces him to follow through.

  11. Lily
    Lily says:

    Hey Penelope! Nice feel on the Quistic site. Saw you put up an explanatory video. Have you thought about giving a class away for free or putting up one video so people can see how amazing it is? Word o’ mouth and all that. Otherwise people may balk at dropping cash for pre-recorded lectures.

    Just brainstorming on how to get your amazing product into more hearts and minds. (Sue me for flattery, I’m practicing my people skills.)

Comments are closed.