The best time to start your online business is right now.

Don't wait for the "perfect" moment or hold off until you feel 100% ready. The truth is, there will always be reasons not to start - you'll never feel completely prepared and if you wait for the stars to align, you may end up waiting forever.

I know far too many people like this. Every time I see them they talk to me about their idea and the current block.

Years pass by and they never make the first move.

Don’t be that person.

Starting now is critical because in business, it's always a yellow light.

Opportunities don't announce themselves with a big fleshing green light saying "Start Now!" More often, they appear as yellow lights, signalling the chance to move forward if you have the courage. Don't sit idle waiting for a perfect green light - be ready to take action on the yellow.

Sometimes we need to be a little dumb just so we can get started. It’s easy to over intellectualise and plan. But this is just procrastination.

Instead embrace stupid like in this excellent ad from Diesel jeans:

Smart critiques, Stupid creates. So get out of your head and actually do something!

It's completely normal to feel uncertainty and doubt when starting a business. You will inevitably hit roadblocks and difficulties, no matter how ready you think you are.

This is why having a supportive community is so valuable during the startup phase - lean on others for motivation and advice when challenges arise.

Striving for perfection will only lead to analysis paralysis and procrastination. Take an iterative approach - start small, make mistakes, learn, and progress. As the saying goes, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Adaptability is key.

Online businesses also have the advantage of easy evolution. For example, my Chinese language teaching business originally started with physical posters that were mailed internationally.

These posters were A0 sized: massive. Here’s one in a US elementary school:

Because the posters were so large they were also incredibly long, heavy and fragile - an absolute logistical nightmare.

I learned from this mistake and pivoted to digital PDFs that students could print themselves. I dropped the price 3x but increased the profits 30x.

It was a simple adaptation but made a huge difference. The point is - don't be afraid to start, even if your original idea needs tweaking. You can and will adjust as you learn.

Finally, there's an urgent reason to start now - artificial intelligence.

While AI will assist us in building businesses, it also threatens many traditional 9-5 jobs. AI automation is already displacing roles and will only accelerate.

By starting your own online business, you take charge and can benefit from technological advances rather than be vulnerable to them. Don't leave your livelihood up to an employer's whims about whether to embrace or resist AI.