you read about in Forbes in January 2020—saw an opportunity help. She launched her business to teach women how to start online businesses that have the potential to replace their full-time income, so they can leave the nine-to-five. “A lot of people were home. They realized, ‘I need a backup plan,’” says Williams.... [+]Given increased demand, her virtual business, which brings in more than $1 million in annual revenue, became more profitable as she cut back on travel in the pandemic, she says.
In response to requests from her community, Williams recently introduced a masterclass on how to write an eBook—a valuable selling tool for online businesses. When the course attracted more than 1,300 women, she saw there was significant demand and soon began building a mailing list of women who wanted to be alerted when she introduced a new product, Easy eBooks, a digital planner to help women map out their eBooks before they write them— “My audience loves planners,” she says.
One secret to the sustainable growth Williams has seen in her business is on-the-ground market research. She typically develops her products in response to requests from her community. “They keep asking, I keep creating,” she says. Williams, 40, started her business in 2012 when she heard rumors that layoffs were coming to the daily deals website where she worked as a senior sales consultant. An avid pet lover, she set herself up to sell T-shirts featuring cute Yorkies on the website Teespring, which allows people to sell their own T-shirt designs, hiring graphic designers on Fiveer and Upwork to help.