How to Start Your Own Brand and Digital Business from Scratch 🚀

(A Step-By-Step Guide)

Building a brand from scratch in 2024 might sound daunting, but with the right steps and tools, it's absolutely achievable.

The digital opportunity is a hotbed for ambitious entrepreneurs looking to make their mark. In this era, personal branding has become paramount, serving as the cornerstone for successful ventures, especially in the competitive realm of online business.

If you're contemplating how to build a personal brand and leverage it to launch a business, clothing line or just have fun with apparel and products you can sell & wear, this blog post is for you. I am going to share the simple process that I did that helped me create a brand I love, my own personal branded products, and have a whole bunch of fun while doing it.

LET'S GO!

Before we dive into the steps, we must first discuss a mindset shift as you get started with your personal brand and online business. One that took me some time to make, but it was necessary.

You must take on the mindset of an entrepreneur, a business owner. If you want a great foundational book to help with this mind shift, read The E Myth by Michael Gerber

If business is new to you, you must understand that starting your own brand will require your personal resources. It will require your time, money, and energy. Don't scam yourself selling yourself the idea that business is just a scam or only for the lucky people. You believe that because you have been conditioned to be an employee and victim.

Starting your own brand or business WILL COST MONEY, TIME, AND ENERGY. Money, time, and energy outside of what you are already spending it on.

If you take money that you are currently making and invest a percentage of it into your brand then continue to do this until forever, you will succeed. If you stop learning, stop investing, tell yourself limiting beliefs, and quit, then YES you will fail and scam yourself out of an incredible opportunity and a WHOLE lot of fun.

The entrepreneur journey is the best self-improvement and personal growth journey you can go on. It also comes with the game of marketing. You must love the game and wake up, learn, improve, and play it everyday.

To give you an overview of what costs will look like for you, here my costs on a monthly basis:

• ChatGPT - $20

• VidIQ: $49

• Klaviyo: $20

• Printful: Free but costs to order products/samples

• Shopify: $29

• Zipify Pages & Blog: $97

• CapCut: $8

• Facebook / Instagram Ads - Pricing Varies

Total Expenses: $223+ p/m

Not a whole lot for running a business. The investment you make now will pay you dividends in the future.

Let's get started on how you can create your own brand with the exact way I did it and continue to grow my brand.

Step 1: Download The Vertex Blueprint & Get Clear on Your Brand

The Vertex Blueprint will help you set up your brand for success. It is a must! It will help you get clear on everything from your vision and goals to whom you serve and what you offer. It allows you to set the intention forward with a 10,000 foot view.

It is a foundational workbook that I not only built for myself but I use in helping all the brands I have had the opportunity to help grow. You will also get access to your own copy to ALL my working documents, Facebook & Google campaigns structures, Email systems, and other process and systems that I use to grow my brand and partner brands.

ACTION STEP: Download the Vertex Blueprint

Step 2: Dive into Ecommerce with Shopify

Shopify, I believe, is the easiest way to get started with your own ecommerce and digital business. It starts at $39 per month and I am on the basic plan currently because thats all you need to get started.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE:

1. Sign Up with Shopify

• Sign up for Shopify- get your first 3 months for $1

• Click on the "Start free trial" button.

• Enter your email address, password, and store name.

2. Configure Store Settings

• General: Update your store’s contact information.

• Currency: Set the default currency for your store.

• Time Zone: Ensure you have the right time zone for order tracking.

3. Choose a Theme

• Go to the Shopify Theme Store.

• Browse and select a theme you like.

• Click on the theme, and then click "Add to Theme Library" to install it.

• Go to your Shopify admin dashboard, click on "Online Store" then "Themes," and "Customize" to make adjustments to your selected theme.

4. Customize Your Theme

• Adjust the layout, colors, fonts, and other design elements to match your brand.

• Add slides, banners, or other graphics as needed.

• NOTE ON LOGO: Keep it simple. The best brands in the world have a simple, one color logo. The logo can evolve over time, dont spend too much time on it. I created my first logo in Canva, then payed $80 to a professional on Fiverr to upgrade it for me.

5. Set Up Your Domain

• If you have an existing domain, you can connect it to Shopify.

• Alternatively, you can purchase a domain directly from Shopify or from third-party registrars.

6. Set Up Online Payment Gateways

• Go to the "Settings" option and click on "Payment providers."

• Choose your preferred payment gateway like Shopify Payments, PayPal, etc.

• Enter the required details to activate the gateway.

7. Configure Shipping Settings

• Go to "Settings" and click on "Shipping."

• Set up your shipping zones, rates, and methods based on where you'll be shipping products.

8. Adjust Tax Settings

• Under "Settings," click on "Taxes."

• Configure tax settings based on your country and state regulations. (Shopify will often set default tax rates for you, but you should verify them with a tax professional.)

9. Add Products

• We will add product through an Shopify App called Printful (it's free) - discussed in Step #3 below

10. Test Your Store

• Before launching, place a test order to ensure payment and checkout processes work smoothly.

• Verify that all links, products, and graphics load correctly.

11. Remove Password Protection

• In the Shopify dashboard, go to "Online Store" and then "Preferences."

• Scroll down to "Password protection," and click "Disable password."

• This will make your store live to the public.

12. Launch Your Store

• With everything set up and tested, you're ready to go live!

• Share your store link on social media, email newsletters, and other platforms to attract customers.

13. Set Up Email

• Sign Up for Klaviyo

• Follow Instructions to integrate Klaviyo with your Shopify Store

• This helps you host new prospects and customers emails

Step 3: Harness the Power of Print on Demand

Print on Demand (POD) is the easiest way to start creating products with your brand and logo on it.

There are more PROS than CONS when it comes to using POD to get started with your own brand.

PROS - You do not need to purchase a large order of inventory, you hold no overhead, you can get samples easily, you can customize hundreds of products, and you can create brand new products over and over! It is a TON of fun and low cost. This is also known as dropshipping!

The only CON is with some products, customization is limited. Printful does an excellent job with its personalization and customization options. Just some products, which is very few, you are limited.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE:

1. Sign Up Printful

• Sign Up for Printful

• Click “Start Selling”

2. Connect Your Store

• From the Printful dashboard, click on “Stores.”

• Click on “Choose Platform” and select Shopify

• Follow the on-screen instructions to connect your Shopify store to Printful.

3. Create Products

• On your Printful dashboard, click Product Templates. Then click "Create Product Templates"

• You'll be shown a range of products (t-shirts, mugs, hats, etc.). Select a product category and then choose a specific product from that category.

4. Design Your Product(s)

• Click “Design” on the product you’ve selected.

• Upload your design by clicking “Upload File.” Ensure your design meets Printful’s recommended dimensions and resolution for best results.

• Adjust the placement and scale of your design as desired on the product.

• You can also use Printful's built-in text and clipart tools to add or modify designs.

• Have FUN!

  
  

5. Select Product Variants

• After designing, choose the colors and sizes you want to offer for the product.

6. Set Pricing

• Printful will show you the base price of the product. Enter a price for your store, keeping in mind the desired profit margin.

• Use the KEY METRICS worksheet from the Vertex Blueprint files.

7. Order Samples

• Click Create Order

• Choose Sample Order

• Select templates of the products you want to order. Note: it may take a few times to nail down finding the products and designs that you love. Don't worry. I am still always testing new products and sometime I don't like them. It's just the name of the game.

• Hit ORDER!

8. Push to Store

• Once satisfied with the product design and pricing, click “Proceed to Mockups.”

• Choose the type of mockup images you want to display in your store.

• Click “Proceed to Details” and fill in product details such as title, description, and categories/tags. You can use product descriptions Printful creates or create your own with ChatGPT.

• Finally, click “Proceed to Pricing." Input your prices, review everything, and then click “Submit to Store.”

• The product will now be added to your Shopify store, ready for customers to purchase! 🥳

9. Review and Test

• Visit your eCommerce store to ensure the product looks correct and the description, pricing, and images are displayed properly.

• Consider placing a test order to verify the product's print quality and the order processing flow.

Step 4: Engage Content Marketing

Congratulations, you now have a brand! Exciting isn't it!

Now the DIGITAL MARKETING game begins.

If you ever see me, LIKE EVER, there is a 99% chance I'll be wearing some NewHeidts gear. I'm a walking billboard for NewHeidts because I love the game and have fun. You can start marketing yourself by just wearing apparel or having products with your logo on it. I get asked all the time what the logo is for, then I make a quick plug!

Now for digital, I have gone ALL IN with YouTube. I believe the opportunity there is greater than any other opportunity there is right now because it can open the doors to unlimited opportunities.

My content marketing process goes like this. Topic Research, Keyword Research, Blog Post, Video Script, YouTube Video, Amplify with ads. If you want a more in depth explanation of this process make sure you read/watch 7 Steps To Supercharge Your Content with ChatGPT.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE:

1. Sign Up To VidIQ

• Sign Up for VidIQ.

2. Connect Your YouTube Channel

• Once logged in, connect your YouTube channel to VidIQ. This will allow VidIQ to access analytics and other channel data.

3. Use the VidIQ Dashboard

• The dashboard gives an overview of your channel's performance. Look at metrics like views, subscribers, and watch time to understand your audience's engagement.

4. Keyword Research

• Use the "Keyword Inspector" tool to research keywords relevant to your content. This will help you identify popular search terms and related keywords.

• Understand the competition and search volume to pick keywords that are valuable yet achievable.

• Bunch keywords together on topics for your blog post and video that you will make.

  
  

5. Write Blog Post

• Sign Up for Zipify Pages

• Create a Blog Page Template that you can use.

• Develop your Big Idea Topic, talking points and the keywords you researched. Then use ChatGPT to help write a blog post.

• Use this Prompt: Act as a world-class educator in [TOPIC/NICHE]. Take my Big Idea, talking points, and keywords listed below and write me a comprehensive and clear blog post. Highlight key quotes and though-provoking ideas by making them bold font. Then write me a META Description. Write in a confident tone and informative writing style. 

  BIG IDEA:

  TALKING POINTS: 

  KEYWORDS:

• Write, edit, and review the blog post to give it your own voice.

• Put a "Newsletter" Sign Up form on ALL blog posts. Start growing an email list.

  
  

5. Create Video

• Take your blog post and plug it into ChatGPT. Rewrite the blog post to a video script. Read through the script out loud and make adjustments to make sure it sounds more fluent and coherent as you speak.

• Make sure your script ALSO INCLUDES THE KEYWORDS throughout.

• Now you have a script to shoot your video from.

• After shooting, I use CapCut to edit my videos.

6. Publish Your Video & Blog Post

• Before uploading a video on YouTube, ensure it's optimized for the platform.

• Use VidIQ's scorecard to check how well-optimized your video is. This includes title, description, tags, and more. This keeps you on track to make sure you can hopefully rank a video.

• Include your primary keyword(s) naturally in the video title, description, and tags. They are already in your script and blog post, this greatly helps SEO across you blog and YouTube channel.

7. Track Competitor Channels & Analytics

• Using VidIQ's "Competitors" tool, keep tabs on channels that are similar to yours. This will give you insights into content trends and successful strategies in your niche.

• This can also help give you ideas, but make sure you do not copy content. Create stuff that interests you!

Step 5: Leverage Digital Marketing to Amplify Visibility

This is where you can start growing your audience and

A note for Facebook /Instagram ads: One of the most common things I hear before starting with a new client or partner is that "Ah, I tried facebook ads. They didn't work for me." I then proceed to ask them how much they spent. They say $500. I say no sh*t it didn't work. You gave up too soon. You have to play the long game. Depending on spend, the first first months are all about buying data and learning. Remove the instant gratification, keep learning, and play the long game!

Imagine investing $500 in the S&P 500 and the first two months, returns are in the negative. It would be not a good idea to to make a reactive decision, pull that money out and say the stock market didn't work for me. It would be a smart decision to invest more because the stock is "on sale" and you start learning more because eventually it is going to go up.

Meta is still the KING when it comes to Ads and reaching brand new customers. But before you can begin spending money on Meta, you can organically post content on social platforms.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE:

1. Share and Promote

• After publishing, share your video and/or blog post across other social platforms. I embed the video in the blog post (exactly like this blog post and video up top)

• Create and stick to a content schedule that helps you post regularly. It could even be once a week, commit to it and make it happen until you can allocate more time to more content and growing your brand.

Once you have the funds or want to quickly amplify your brand, you can use Paid Ads to do so.

2. Amplify With Ads

• In order to do this, you must have a Business Manager for Meta, have a professional page, an Ad Account, a data source (pixel), integrated Data Source to website, and make sure you have a payment method. (Watch video above or watch this video from Ben specifically explaining how to set this all up)

• Go to Shopify Account, go to sales channels, click add Facebook & Instagram. Follow Instructions. This will connect your facebook to Shopify and add your pixel to your site.

• Now you will set up campaigns in Meta Campaign Manager - watch video above to learn how to do this

3. Monitor Growth and Adjust Strategy

• Use VidIQ's suite of analytics tools to regularly review your Youtube channel's growth and video performance.

• Watch your ads performance. Some basic Key Performance Indicators I look for are, Cost Per Click (CPC), Cost Per Lead, Cost Per Purchase, ROAS. This will show you what ads are getting the best traction.

• Adjust your ads & content strategy based on data-driven insights and audience feedback and trends.

• You can adjust your titles and Thumbnails consistently to see what gets the most traction for YouTube

• You can adjust your creatives and ad copy to see what audiences are bringing in the best traction.

• Never stop.

4. Build Deeper Relationships

• Use Klaviyo to send out emails to your email list.

• Set up flows & automations that build deep relationships automatically.

• Send out at least one email per week. If you have a new video, send it out to your list! New blog post? send it!

• Build a deeper relationship with your audience.

This is how you can start your own brand and grow it. Play the infinite game and you'll never loose. Always be learning, growing, and improving. The incredible opportunities are limitless in the future when you own your own brand.

If you want to see how I took a brand from $0 to $83,333 per month in a few short months watch this video: How To Scale Your Ecommerce Brand to $1M A Year (Full Training)

You got this. Keep going!

Represent Where You're Going