With the internet, the markets where you can sell have increased to it being Worldwide. Which means anyone can be selling products (physical or digital) to anyone in the world.
This article has been motivated by a client and how he navigating through the Corona Virus crisis.
The passion which my client always had was photography and editing. Apart from traditional photoshoots at weddings or fashion photography, he was looking for a way to improve his revenues. Ergo, what he started to do is created a whole library for Adobe Lightroom presets. Once this library was done, a WooCommerce store was created to sell these presets (about 18months ago). Ergo, when Corona 2020 virus hit the world and the wedding was canceled, the fashion show was canceled, his presets business was thriving and allowed him to live through the crisis.
Everyone can do it
Today everyone has a hobby which can be monetized. We have seen a lot of people who started working and following their passion and have got this income as their full-time income & a lot more than they were earning before.
For you to convert your hobby to business whether it is specialized bracelets, woodwork, hand-crafted clothing, homemade toys — the possibilities for original, one-of-a-kind products are endless, as is the potential demand.
Online Marketplaces vs Own Store
Online marketplaces are always a good place to start. Getting in your initial clients and testing your products and having a soft launch. The main disadvantage anyone has is that the rules for market places can change anytime or a change in the algorithm can lead to a massive change in rankings. For instance, everyone who was on the Amazon FBA program got squeezed when Amazon decided to stop all shipments that were not termed as essentials. All sellers were stuck with orders & inventories on Amazon.
We have 900 pending FBA orders for the last 4 days… crazy amazon isn’t shipping anything that’s not essential. We also aren’t getting paid for these and the customers haven’t been charged… crazy times
— Reezy Resells 📚 #amazonfba (@ReezyResells) March 22, 2020
Whereas sellers who had their own eCommerce store thrived. They were still shipping it out to their customers and all the canceled orders or orders on hold with Amazon were being searched on Google to get it fulfilled.
Another example is that Esty announced that all business will be automatically be enrolled for their advertising program, which took 15% of fees as sales. So, the counter-argument is that if I have my own store, this is approximately the percentage of sales I will be spending on marketing. True, but in that case, you will be creating your own brand name and valuation for your website and business.
When you have your own store, you have full control over your content, products, and where your money goes. You can create a store that’s as large or small! as you’d like. We have been recommending WordPress + WooCommerce to anyone who wants to start their own eCommerce business. For this article, we will be using WooCommerce. But, you can always use any other CMS (Magento, Opencart, etc) or online storefront (Shopify, etc.)
Choose a domain name
The first thing that you will need is a domain name. You should choose a domain name that suits your business or blog that you are creating. Now, there are few things that you need to keep in mind while choosing a domain name.
- It should be easy to pronounce.
- It should be free from hyphens and dashes.
- It should be easy to remember.
You can searh and purchase a domain name of your choice from here.
Choosing a Hosting Provider
Hosting is the most crucial component for your business success. If the website is slow you will lose customers and worst if you have downtime you will never get customers. There are ample of nightmares where people choose a wrong hosting provider.
Read: Reasons Why Profitable Ecommerce Websites Never Settle for Third-Rate Hosting
The reason why Geek Crunch Hosting is one of the best hosting providers across all price points:
Price Transparency: Unlike other providers, we don’t escalate the prices in the second year. When it comes to us, there are no such surprises.
Our plans are initially discounted to help you evaluate the services, but then the regular renewal prices apply upon renewal. You can save still save up to 30% if you renew your plan for longer. Reach us directly to discuss all the billing options: https://t.co/uaVdAXVKZg
— SiteGround (@SiteGround) March 3, 2020
Latest Technology: To ensure you get the performance that is required we have got the latest technology in place. We are one of the few hosting providers who can give you HTTP/2, SSD RAID 10, PHP 7.4 with FPM, 1 GBPS port speed.
Setup your eCommerce business with WooCommerce
Install WordPress + WooCommerce – all with a single click
We always want to ensure that the technology that we provide to you is simple to use. This is why Geek Crunch Hosting has automated a lot of technology. Check out how you can Install WordPress + WooCommerce in a single click.
It is never easier to manage your WordPress and WooCommerce with us. Whether it’s is a security or Nginx caching. Everything can be managed.
Select a WordPress (WooCommerce) theme
Not all WordPress themes will support WooCommerce. A good place to start will be a storefront theme. There are plenty of other themes that you can try too – but as you get more familiar with WordPress/WooCommerce world, you will need to use those. Storefront is a basic theme to get you started.
Next Steps
Once your theme has been installed. You will still need to complete your website. The theme will only give you default designs.
- Create your products
- Create your other pages (About Us, Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, etc)
- Integrate your payment gateway (it’s extremely easy)
- Shipping Cost
- Delete demo data
Expand the functionality of your store
We have always been an advocate the technology should be agile and should be able to match the business model that the entrepreneur has. It should not be the other way round.
This is the time you start to
explore the world of extensions — that is, add-ons that give your store more options and functionality. WooCommerce offers an entire marketplace of extensions that help you increase sales, attract more customers, and manage your business efficiently, including extensions to:
- Sell subscription boxes or ship customers their favorite products on a recurring basis.
- Increase average order size by upselling and cross-selling.
- Reduce abandoned carts and increase customer loyalty.
- Accept deposits upfront before fulfilling larger, custom orders.
- Use WooCommerce as a point-of-sale tool and accept orders in person.
- Reach your customer base and encourage sales with email marketing.
- Sell and price products like decor and frames based on their dimensions or weights.
Mix and match extensions to realize any functionality or design vision you have.
Start your Marketing
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.”
Steuart Henderson Britt, Marketing Management and Administrative Action
Steve Jobs wasn’t a great engineer; he didn’t even have a master’s degree. But what he did excel at was marketing. He didn’t wink in Dark, but he told the whole world what he was doing and the World Loved him for that. This is what allowed him to take Apple from a company on the brink of bankruptcy to where it is today.
The best way to come up with a marketing strategy is to identify your target audience. Experiment ways to reach them. This will enable you to define what the best way of marketing that suits your business. One of the most effective ways to market your products is with Search Engine optimization. There are other ways like Google Shopping Ads, FB Ads, etc. It all depends on which channel has the best conversion rate for your business.
Final Thought
Running a side hustle can give you an incredible sense of freedom. It helps you to be your own boss, bring you some extra bucks and helps you to work on a project that you are passionate about.
It’s completely possible to have a fulltime career while enjoying your social and personal life. You just need to be strategic about the way you want your hustle to take forward. By using proper planning and giving your time to your passion, you can actually build a really successful business.
Here are some of the tips provided by side hustle owners.
- Ensure your side business is something that you enjoy doing.
- Mainly focus on the task that generates extra income for you.
- Build a strong social media presence.
- Set a long term goal.
- Network with people who have similar interests like you to get ideas that help you to grow your passion.
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