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How to Get Your Online Business Off the Ground

 So the Pandemic hit and it seems you’ve had just about the right enough time to think about starting a business or at least a side hustle.

Let’s assume you already know a few things about your new business idea some of which could be:

1.       The  Product you wish to sell

2.       How you wish to source the products etc.

The big question then is:

1.       Who do I sell to?

2.       How do you get the product across to buyers?

3.       How do I get my product seen?

4.       Where is the money to get started?

If you have asked some of these questions in the past, then you are no different than I was 3 years ago before I started JungleCell.com

What Product Can I Sell?

People talk about drop shipping a lot but they never really tell you the downside to this type of business (That’s a different conversation for another day). I really do want to focus on answering the question: What product you can sell.

Easy answer. The product should check at least 2 of the three boxes. The product should preferably be Fast Moving, Easy to ship and return, Must not tie up funds in a manufacturing process. Not to say you shouldn’t invest in manufacturing, but my thought is that for a start you should focus on fast moving products in order to get you off the ground easily. Manufacturing for a start can be complicated especially if there are easy substitutes and competitors that have mastered the trade and can make the same item a lot cheaper than you can. If you have a special technology that sets you apart – Go for it. However, where you have capital you cannot take so much of a risk on, my take is to go for tradable fast moving items. There is always the prospect of backward integrating in the future.  In summary, keep it simple. Let the item you want to sell be fast moving and easily adaptable for consumers.

How you wish to source the products etc.

This question might come across as straight forward but it isn’t. You may have taken the time to figure out what you wish to sell only to take the next few weeks or even months figuring who you can trust with your money to deliver on the item you wish t purchase.

My simple advice is this. Work with reputable businesses that will provide you with a money back guarantee in the event what you ordered comes in short of what is expected. If you are looking to be a retailer of used phones which also fits in as a fast moving product, you may want to check out Jungle Cell

Then the big questions, who do I sell to? How do I find them? That’s a much broader question because now it is at the crux of what you are looking to do which is selling. Personally, I started off on a market place to see how much my product were sought after. That gave me a sense of how to design my own personal website, what customers were occasionally asking for and what got their attention. I learned all of that using the biggest market places like etsy, ebay, amazon, rakuteen etc. That way I didn’t have to open shop and then wondered why I was holding inventory for so long. I learned the ones customers needed and stocked more of those and then made the ones rarely asked for less than 5% of my inventory. I also took the time to engage directly with my buyers without violating the market place rules. The decision was easy because I needed to keep them for my life after the market place. There are creative ways to do that without breaking the rules.

Social media is an excellent way to get your message out there. Trust me, you may not like it but it works like the word of mouth. You surely must have firnds that have over a thousand followings. Find up to ten of them, ask them to tag your website, your store, anything to keep you started. Remind them when you have your night outs, when they come over your place. Let them use your own hash tags when they post their pictures. It helps.

Lastly you may want to keep a budget for ads on Google or some other social media. That should come in when the tricks above aren’t giving you the numbers you are looking for

 

Where do I get the money I need to get started?

That is a million bucks question but you can try asking family, friends or even consider drop shipping. If you care you can read one of my blogs on how to find the money on Here

Otherwise, if it’s a cell phone business you are looking to start off, you can create a buying or drop shipping relationship with Jungle Cell and you could be lucky to get discounted products for resale and a few other times on credit if you do well by them.

 

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