If you are a stay-at-home parent, if you have recently lost your job due to the economic consequences of COVID-19, or if you are someone who is simply looking for a new and exciting challenge, you may have considered taking action to start your own business. Thanks to the many advances in technology, starting a business at home is simpler and more cost-effective than ever before. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind.
Put your plan onto paper
Even though you won’t be renting office space or looking for investors just yet, a business plan is still extremely important to help keep you on track for success. Take the time to put one together and to outline how you intend to tackle the obstacles and opportunities that come your way over the course of the next year or so. Identify your competition, how you plan to market your business and your products, and what software you want to invest in to streamline operations.
Build an e-commerce website
Unless you are offering a service, such as hairdressing, repair work, or daycare, you will require an e-commerce website where interested customers can come to browse your offering and place their orders. There are indeed ways in which to build a website for free on your own, but these rarely look or function as optimally as they should in order to effectively make a positive impression in today’s competitive digital landscape. You will be much better off hiring a professional web developer and designer, along with taking advantage of SEO agency services.
An SEO agency will aid in ensuring that your e-commerce site ticks all of the boxes from both a technical and user experience perspective, placing you in both your potential customers’ and Google’s good books right from the get-go.
Set up an office
You might be able to accept and fill orders from the comfort of your living room at first. However, as your business grows and demand rises, you will need to create a space dedicated to your work.
Set up an office that is conducive to productivity and that the rest of the family knows is off-limits. Getting a SOHO phone system instead of using your personal phone is a great idea to avoid distractions and will help you scale your business. Make sure that you have enough space to get your work done, but also take some time to make it your own by decorating and adding some inspirational pieces here and there.
Consider dropshipping
One of the most worrying aspects of starting a business from home is where you are going to store all of your inventory. This is why the concept of dropshipping is so popular among small business owners. It revolves around partnering with a retailer or wholesaler and actively marketing their products as your own. When a customer places an order, after keeping a small percentage of the payment for yourself, you simply hand their details and their request over to your retailer/wholesaler who will then take over the packaging and delivery on your behalf. There is no need to invest in inventory and no need to stress about logistics! Dropshipping is all about saving small business owners time and money while still providing them with a worthwhile income.
If you have the drive to kick-start your start-up, put the advice above into practice and don’t let anything stand in your way!
