If you’re smart and want to achieve more in life, you already know that the Internet offers plenty of opportunities to start making an income, do what you love, create products people enjoy, or run any other type of business remotely that will make a difference out there.

You know you want to be part of that, but where do we start?

Where do we find online business ideas, how do we know whether it will work and what are the steps after that?

Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to be that difficult. It is, however, something that will take a lot of time, patience, energy and mistakes on the way. But if so many other people have done it before you, I don’t see anything stopping you from building something profitable online and taking things to the next level expect for your excuses and fears.

Let’s remove these and focus on finding your business idea today, among so many others, so that you can take action sooner.

4 Steps to Finding Online Business Ideas Today

1. List your skills.

It all starts with what you’re good at, what comes naturally to you. That’s what you can eventually master. Because in a world of mediocrity, it’s always great to use talent as the foundation of your business and let it take you to the top.

2. Find your passion.

You should also love what you do. You can’t just browse online business ideas in a field you find boring, pick one and start building your empire.

Instead, you should first niche down, get specific about your interests, hobbies and even what you enjoyed as a child.

Because the online business you’re about to create will take a big portion of your time, you must be committed and give it all your time. If you’re passionate about it, however, it won’t feel overwhelming.

3. Do your research.

Dedicate more energy to that phase as there’s a lot you can be missing which may turn out to be crucial.

When looking for online business ideas, you need to take a look at your competitors, see what they are doing and ask why. Then, comes the market research. You’d want something that will be profitable 5 years from now too.

Here’s the part where you read a lot, talk to people, browse archives and data, and more.

4. Define the problem and figure out the solution you can create.

Every successful business out there, any product people love, and anything meaningful on the market really, is a result of a common problem.

If you’re building a software, it may be a tool to help people be more productive, let business owners communicate with their employees more easily, freelancers get paid immediately, or else.

You may realize that an eCommerce website if what you’ll enjoy the most.

If that’s the case, you’ll want to ask people for feedback on what you’ll be selling and see if there’s potential in it. You’ll want to have buyers before you’ve moved onto creating the product or service, as that’s what takes most time.

Once you’ve found online business ideas, it’s time to take action.

Build the minimum viable product.

In the online business world, you aren’t a perfectionist, you don’t wait for the right time or for when your product has all possible features. Instead, you create an initial version fast, get it out there, see how people react and make changes to improve it.

It’s a process of constant innovation. Whatever you do, make sure you’re building something today and planning on launching it soon.

Start building your personal brand.

If you’re going to become someone online, you’ll need to be known in your field.

Create your website today, be on every social media, join communities and forums, be where your potential clients are, connect with influencers.

To be taken more seriously and not look like an amateur, you’ll need to invest in the design of your website, maybe hire a writer to update your blog, stay up-to-date on the latest events in your field and share your opinion on that on social media.

Create a logo, take professional photos, invest time in your About page, make business cards, start attending events nearby to also connect with people offline.

That’s how you find online business ideas but how you also validate them and start taking action.

What about you? What online business ideas do you have in mind and where will you start?