SES 109: What’s it like to run an Online Business?

I know most people don’t like their jobs. I’ve a few colleagues and friends who do claim ‘they hate their jobs‘. I’m so proud to be exception to rule this case – I love what I do for a living. To give you a little context, SAP and Online Marketing is my primary online business, along with a bunch of passive income streams. And I have to say, it’s a great work-from-home opportunity for those who want to start their online business, especially in times like these when the entire world is under lock-down! 

A lot of people who want to start their own business want to escape the rat race. Personally, it has taken me some 4 years to get to the point where I’m right now in my life. Currently, I spend about average 40 hours every week managing my business. Although, I can make it work with just 5 hours of work every week. But, I love what I do, that I end up working that long. The ability to create and build your own scalable business is a great perk. Also, there are numerous benefits of having and running an online business, apart from flexibility to work from anywhere and anytime. 

 

Advantages of Running an Online Business

1. No fixed time/Flexible Work Hours: There’s no fixed schedule when you run an online business. One of the advantages of an online business is to realize you don’t need to rush in the morning every day and wander off with your laptop whenever and wherever you’re ready to begin the day!
2. You’re the Boss: The best benefit of having an online business is the fact that you literally are your own boss. Since you’re in complete in-charge and in control of your business and business aspects, you’re not answerable to anyone but yourself. Whatever sale you make, you know it’s going to come into nobody’s bank, but yours.
3. Low Initial Investment: My business required a lot of capital to begin with initially and took some time to set up. The beauty of an online business is that you can start with a little investment in the beginning, you don’t need to spend a fortune. Believe it or not, you can immediately start any online business right away with low funding too. If you can’t figure out which niche or idea to choose, here’s my list of 25 Successful Online Business Ideas, that you can launch right away today itself!
4. Automation: I don’t really spend all that time sending out emails to the customers and posting social media posts and other announcements. That’s one strong benefit of having an online business – everything can be automated! Though when you’re just starting out, I recommend you doing everything on your own, so that you understand how the system works. Once you get the hang of it, you can start outsourcing tasks to your team members or to a virtual assistant.
5. Build it From Ground Zero: Running and online business has it’s perks. But, one benefit of having one is building something you believe in right form ground zero. Create something you’re interested in and are passionate about. For your business, you don’t have to listen to anybody’s instructions and build the business the way you want.
6. No More Living on Edge: Working for yourself and owning a business itself prevents the fear of losing a job. Thus, no more living on the edge when you run your own online business. Since your business is going to define your own destiny, the harder you work, the better rewards you get. And with time, lifestyle and securities are guaranteed, once your online business starts with full swing. Although one starts a business with his passion or hobby (interest), but it’s not advisable to treat your online business like a hobby!
7. Limitless Income Potential: In the beginning, you won’t make that many sales and won’t have millions of dollars in revenue. After trial and error, you’ll be able to understand what works for your business and what doesn’t. Once you figure out how things work, you’ll be able to tweak things a little in order to lessen your expenses. The lesser the expenditure, the more profits or benefits. Take your time and learn how to work on the system. Your income will increase potentially, as online business if scaled properly, can generate unlimited income for you.
8. Build an Asset: Many people especially investors buy successful established stores and online businesses. So, after a few years when you start another business, then you can probably sell your online business. That’s why it’s advised to build an asset – not just a business! So, when you have everything in place, you can sell your business to someone else for a better profit. Thus, always keep in mind that you’re building an asset that can pay you a huge price, when you try to sell it to someone.
9. Work Flexibility: This is the most convenient advantages of owning an online business, since you can work whenever and wherever you want. If you have an online business, it really doesn’t matter where you are or where you work from. All you need is a computer/laptop and a good internet connection. Over the last six months, I’ve traveled a lot with my family and my business didn’t affect at all. Because I’d everything prepared and scheduled in advance. Rather, the numbers improved, if anything!
10. Recession-Safe: At the moment when you’re reading this blog, half of the world’s workforce are laid off, because of the COVID-19 breakout. You may know some people who have lost their jobs and are actively looking for work-from-home opportunities, to support their living. Hundreds of people are searching for online business ideas that they can start from their homes. This is the advantage of online business that people with regular traditional 9-5 jobs know or maybe realizing now. Thus, recession or no recession, economy crisis or less jobs available, you never have to worry about anything when you have an online scalable business. Just imagine, you’re recession-safe and are ready for such difficult times.
11. Mentally-Exhilarating: Running my online business is so much fun compared to all the previous jobs I had. I no longer work like a trained monkey assigned tasks every single day. Rather, it’s the other way around. Now, I assign all the tasks to my team members and to myself, since I’m the one calling the shots! I didn’t realize I’m creative too, until I started my online business. Online businesses are mentally so much exhilarating and challenging, as compared to regular 9-5 jobs. When you run and online business, you wouldn’t want to go back to your ‘old life‘, no matter what. Trust me.

 

Starting your business can be a daunting experience and it feels like planting a sapling. Initially, you have a to invest your money and valuable time. You expect nothing in return then while all you do is take care of it. But, once your business starts rolling and starts to blossom, it’s worth the hard work and patience. Isn’t it?

Just like saplings or seedlings that grow into trees, many businesses fail to sustain and grow, while many businesses die out within 1 to 3 years of the launch. There can be a number of reasons for the failure, but the one that’s prevailing these days, is the lack of awareness – awareness to identify a best-selling business niche.

Related: Top-Notch Business Ideas & Business Models for 2020

To improve your shot at success, start with market research. The main agenda behind the market research is to find if there’s a problem users are facing and looking for solution for the same. Wondering what all can you while doing market research?

What can you do?

• Find out common keywords that majority of people use on the internet. Do your keyword research and figure out the commonly used keywords for your business niche.
• Visit web pages, portal, forums or blogs online to check and understand what the current burning problem is prevailing, and what problems people are facing.
• Take a note of what your potential competitors are doing. Visit the websites and check what they’re doing to solve the burning problem of customers or users in general.
• Finally, when you have done your homework, use your knowledge and skills and build a product better than not just your competitors, but all the existing businesses in the market.

 

Veterans in all businesses love to talk about the things they wish they had known earlier when they started their business. They wish they had done something differently. Even for me, there are a number of things I wish I knew before I started my online business. Therefore, I’ve put together a bunch of mistakes that entrepreneurs and business owners commit, that should be avoided for a successful online business. 

• Waiting long for the Launch: Many online marketers and writers start their blogs or podcasts to attract their niche audience. But, with time they are usually stuck in that hamster wheel of content development and creation without offering any product to their audience or email lists for sale. Some business owners don’t find enough time to build a product on their own, besides already running blogs and podcasts. Some people just wait for some drastic magic to waking up to over 20,000 email subscribers. Some entrepreneurs and business owners are so afraid of product launch failure, that they actually talk themselves out of developing a product. The truth is it’s always a trap. As a business owner and an entrepreneur, you should create (product) that nobody will pay for, since facing the worst possible risky situations is the biggest head-on challenge in business. So, don’t wait for too long for the launch of your products or services. Also, practice makes a man perfect! You might not be good at product launch and your first product might not do that well. But, when you launch or offer something to your target audience, you’ll be one step closer to a sustainable revenue. 

 

• Not Being Unique: In all product markets, consumers have a number of various options to choose from. If you have competitors in your niche who are already established and are doing good, then you need to give the customers a valid reason to choose and your services/products, over others. For example, a reader or a user online will ask himself, ‘Is this blog/website worth spending my time?‘. So, think from the reader’s perspective and try to answer such questions quickly and with clarity, before the reader/user clicks the back button. Practically speaking, you just can’t expect to grow your target audience and makes sales, when you’re just an identical yet inferior copy of some other website/business in the same niche industry. Always remember, in business, ‘better’ is subjective. Try to be different rather than being better than your competitors. 

 

• Focusing on Unimportant Problem: Till date, the most common mistake young startups and business owners make is to solve problems nobody else has. Let’s suppose your business or startup has a cure for Coronavirus. Imagine you wouldn’t even have to look for customers. They will come to you since your business solves a problem that is relevant and important too. Most startups fail because they solve problems that nobody really cares about. Don’t look for bigger audience if you solve an unimportant problem. You must look for more relevant and important problems, instead of putting your ideas and creating a product that nobody buys. 

 

• Not Engaging with Customers: Engaging with customers doesn’t always mean connecting with them one-on-one on social media. It also means listening to them. There’s a reason why they say, ‘Customer is always right’. It’s because they do, as without the customers, you won’t even have a business. Don’t listen to those customers who provide validation, but instead carefully listen to those customers who buy your product but don’t really use it or those who ask for refunds. Find out the ‘why’ when a customer or consumer says they won’t buy your product/service. Literally, listen to your customers. PERIOD! Remember, your customers have all the answers to your product, and not you. 

 

• Choosing a Wrong Topic: No matter what topic you choose for your product, you should have a deep knowledge, creativity and understanding on the same. You will always have competitors who will have better topics to reach audience, regardless of the business niche. Don’t make your online business your life’s only goal and thus, don’t make your goals impossible to achieve by selecting a wrong topic. Hard work and efforts won’t be an issue when you wish to create some content for your business, if you have a topic you care about. Because if you like your topic (which is relevant as per your niche), then creativity and sales will flow automatically with time. Thus, you will be able to reach even wider range of audience with your content and influence people online. 

 

Executive Summary

It’s natural and easier to get worried about the possible and convenient mistakes you can commit in your business, than to never get started at all fearing the failure. Because that’s the only possible way to check your failure and success. Starting a business is little risky, but it takes hustle, brains, guts and hard work to pull it off! 

If you want to ensure that you’ll succeed in your business, is not to be afraid of mistakes and failures. Mistakes are a part of every process, regardless of the circumstance and work. So, jump right away, you’re not alone in here, and get your online business going! 

Recommended Reading on DixitaGaliyal.com: If you’re interested in how to start a business in just a week, check out my review on the same here – How to Start a Business in just a Week?

I hope you’ll find this blog helpful if you’re interested in learning about online business in general and want to know what’s it like to run an online business in 2019. Do share this blog with your friends or family, who you think are planning to start their business in the near future and you think this blog will be really helpful to them. If you haven’t already subscribed to the blog yet, I’d request you to do so, as we publish great content on SAP, Online Marketing and Business, twice a week! So, make sure you never miss an update from us.

Finally, CONNECT WITH ME ON FACEBOOK HERE. I’d love to hear about your experiences and challenges you faced to grow your business or if you want to start a scalable and a profitable online business in 2019. I’d also love to help you in your Entrepreneurial journey so that you achieve success and get a crazy business launch.