If you are thinking of starting your own online business, the following tips and advice will hopefully make the process of opening your online store a lot easier.
You may have heard of the doom and gloom stories, the more than 3,800 stores will close in 2018 of brick and mortar retail stores closing down…well, you heard right, in fact, there are many retailers shutting shop right now as you read this article. There are many factors contributing to this demise, increased wages, high shopping center rents, changing consumer trends to name a few, but as Albert Einstein quoted “In The Middle Of Every Difficulty, Lies Opportunity”
The heady days of outrageous retail profits with low competition may be over for some…but not all. There are still new opportunities cropping up daily – drop shipping is one of them.
There are many benefits to having an online business, from having the freedom and flexibility to work when and where you like, to earn extra income, to having lower overheads than if your store was brick and mortar. It’s no wonder people are jumping onboard the e-commerce bandwagon.
But starting a new business can be tough and I’m sure I’m not the only business owner that has made mistakes along the way. Luckily it’s not dampened my success and from those mistakes, I have learnt very valuable lessons about business and how to run a business online. However, avoiding mistakes in the first place would have made things a lot less stressful, which is why I wanted to share these tips!
So, if you are thinking of starting your own online business, read ahead. These are the pieces of advice I wish everyone knew before opening their first online store, to boost the chances of success the first time around.
You will need some help
A mistake a lot of people make at the beginning of this process, is thinking you can do it all yourself. But in reality, that will hinder your progress. You’ll be more likely to burn out and lose focus on what’s important to the success of your online business if you have too much going on all at once.
Don’t sit on the small stuff. Sure, you are probably skilled enough to do the majority of the tasks, but you need to manage your time wisely to focus on growth.
Outsource or hire a Virtual Assistant on upworks.com to assist with some admin or accounts tasks when you purchase a ready-made online store to free yourself from time and stress. Reach out to family and friends to help with day-to-day chores or childcare whilst you are in the setting up phase – the future you will be really glad you did!
It doesn’t take as long as you might think
Having an online store (with some exceptions) can be relatively quick to get up and running.
Once your store website is live and your marketing strategy is implemented, you could start to see a return on your investment immediately, especially if you are selling a product.
But even getting your online store set up and producing marketing content across your social media platforms can be a smooth process with the right help and guidance, saving you even more time if needed.
You don’t need a huge budget
You are probably thinking you will need a lot of savings or secure credit before you can open your online store for it to be a success, but if you check out our blog ‘How to Start an Online Store for Less than $500’ you can see exactly why a huge budget isn’t necessary to get started.
And with the vast array of free marketing tools and social connections, it’s more than possible to connect with your target audience on a budget, to make those all-important sales!
Just do it!
And finally, there will always be a doubt in your mind that you’re not quite ready, don’t have enough time or resources right now or feel apprehensive about what’s about to come – maybe even fear of failure.
However, if there is one thing I can say, it’s that you should just do it now! Don’t procrastinate and think about all of the bad things that could happen or keep waiting for the ‘right time’.
Open your online business to the public and the rest will fall into place along the way. With a confident approach, you can learn from any obstacles that occur at the same time as making sales!
We are fortunate to live in the internet era – where you can access any information with the help of Google. There has never been a better time in our history to start your own business, with very little investment and plenty of help to make your online venture a success story!
Hopefully, this advice will serve as helpful to others when starting their own online business journey. If you have any other tips about the online business opportunity, please feel free to share in the comment section below!
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