If you are tired of the traffic and rat race of working a 9-5 job five days a week you might be interested in starting an eCommerce business. Using just a website to offer goods or services for sale can certainly be a good way to avoid travelling to work and home each day in peak-hour traffic. Your website can offer goods for just local clientele or it can reach a wider customer base, even extending to overseas in many cases.
However, if you decide to do this, it is best not to leave your day job until it is up and running and making a profit. That means you’ll have to put in extra hours at night or at the weekend – probably both – to get it all done. It’s wise to consult with your spouse if you have one, so that you can both be in agreement to this course of action. Doing it all yourself will be require hard work, at least initially; doing it without support from your partner will make it even more difficult.
That said, starting up your own ecommerce business has many positives.Here are some of the advantages.
- You can run it from home, meaning you save on suits, boots or other work related clothing.
- You don’t spend as much on fuel or dry-cleaning.
- The initial cost is far less than setting up a traditional business.
- It can operate 24/7 even if you are sick.
- You can have clientele from overseas or across the country.
- You can offer services without paying rent for an office.
- You can sell products without stocking them using drop shipping.
- You can make your own products to sell – e.g. jewellery, art.
- You and a partner can do it together.
- All you need is a computer, an internet connection and some product/service.
- Many chores can be automated to cut your workload.
- Once it is up and running you can run it from any location, even overseas.
- You can run start it up and run it from a remote country home.
Learning computer skills is not that difficult. Most people have at least rudimentary online skills. You don’t have to know how to design a website for your eCommerce store as this can – and should – be done by experts in the field.
However, you do need dedication, perseverance and common sense, the same as you would for any other kind of business. The actual business should be set up as a legal entity with its own bank account to make tax and accounting easier. You also need to take care to draft out your business policies and have them clearly outlined on the website. The good news is that you can find out just about everything you need to know online.