HOW TO START AN ONLINE BUSINESS FROM HOME

Before we begin, it’s important that you understand why an online business is the best investment you can make. Starting an online business offers several clear advantages over a traditional brick-and-mortar business. Here are four to keep in mind.
The first advantage is improved scalability.

Scaling your business means you increase your output in a cost-effective and reasonable way. For example, if you own a brick-and-mortar retail clothing store, scaling could mean opening a second store location. That would involve finding a new location, renting or buying it, hiring staff, filling the store with inventory, and paying the ongoing costs such as payroll, utilities, rent or mortgage, etc. The high upfront cost and delayed ROI are prohibitive for many business owners.

On the other hand, if your store was online-only, you could scale without the need for such a large investment. You could widen your product offerings while dropshipping them so you don't need to pay for inventory upfront. You could grow your social media organically.

Further, you could invest in advertising to increase the traffic to your website as it suits your budget.

While scaling an online business does require some investment, it's minimal compared to a traditional brick-and-mortar business.
Next, the low overhead doesn't just apply to scaling an online business. You can also start one with minimal expenses as you won't need retail space, an expensive office, furniture, or inventory. Costs will vary depending on the type of online business you open but can be very low.

For example, if you start a service-based business offering social media marketing, virtual assistance, writing, web development, or graphic design, you could build a social presence for free and a low-cost website for as little as $100. All you need is your skillset, a computer, and an internet connection to do the work. If you decide to sell products, you could set up a low-cost website, social profiles, and a dropshipping system. Working online eliminates many of the costs that come with a physical business and enables you to start scrappy.

Another advantage is location independence.
Ever see those people working on their laptops from a tropical island with their toes in the sand? That could literally be you if you start an online business. Working solely online gives you the freedom to live and work from anywhere in the world — as long as there's an internet connection.

While running a successful business of any sort requires organization and hard work, you won't be confined to certain work hours or an office in a particular location. In many cases, you can set your own work hours around the times that work best for you. It's a new level of freedom that unlocks a life with many more possibilities. Even if you don't want to move to that tropical island, you could vacation there without needing to ask your boss first!

Lastly, another great advantage is limitless market reach.
Imagine a coffee shop locally owned and operated in a small town. Even if it's the most popular cafe in town with the best pour-overs, it can only reach people in the area. However, imagine if that coffee shop launch an online store and sold bags of coffee and merchandise that could be shipped anywhere in the world. Then, that coffee shop would have limitless growth potential.

Online businesses don't face the limited markets that hold offline businesses back. You can target any market in the world using search engine optimization, social media marketing, and paid media strategies as long as you can coordinate shipping.

In order to get you inspired and pumped up, we wanted to give you some examples of online business ideas to inspire you.

Not sure what kind of online business to start? There are many good business ideas to inspire you
For example, consider starting an E-commerce store. An e-commerce store is quite simply a store that sells its products online.

A great example of this is Zappos which was founded in 1999 with the mission statement “to live and deliver WOW”.

Zappos started out as a small online retailer that sold shoes and focused on providing the best customer service, customer experience, and company culture. To achieve that, they offered and still offer 24/7 customer service, free shipping both ways, and free uncomplicated returns. Over the last 20+ years, the company was acquired by Amazon and has expanded into selling clothing, accessories, handbags, and more. In 2020, it had $629.4 million in global net sales.

Another great online business is to become an affiliate. Affiliate marketing is a business model that involves advertising a merchant's products or services and earning a commission in return.

A great example of this is TripAdvisor which was founded in 2000 with the mission statement “Helping hundreds of millions of people each month to become better travelers, from planning to booking to taking a trip.”

TripAdvisor is the largest travel website in the world. It's a resource with over 950 million reviews that many trust when looking for guidance on accommodations, experiences, restaurants, and more. But how does it make money? By helping people find deals. Each time someone books through TripAdvisor, TripAdvisor gets a commission. They stand out among the rest due to their strong, far-reaching, trusted brand available in 43 markets and 22 languages.

Another great online business is to create a profitable blog.
A blog is a website that contains an ongoing, ever-growing collection of posts. Profitable blogs are often focused on a particular niche and can be monetized by ads, affiliate marketing, product sales, and more.

A perfect example of this is Cookie and Kate, founded in 2010, with the mission statement “Celebrating good food — real, sustainable food that delights the senses and nourishes the body.”

Cookie and Kate is a blog created by a woman named Kate, who is obsessed with food and loves photography. She thinks cooking should be fun and recipes should be flexible. She also doesn't eat meat, believes in eating whole foods, and loves an occasional indulgence. Her blog includes a comprehensive collection of recipes, with her photos, that reflect all of the above. She's also published her own cookbook and has a shop with a variety of cooking products. She aims to help others celebrate good food. She's doing a great job as her website had well over 7 million views in October of 2021.

The third step to starting an online business from home is to find a business idea.
All great home-based, online businesses start with an idea. This can be one of the most daunting parts of starting an online business: where do you even begin?

The following strategies will have you overflowing with business ideas in no time.

First, start by asking yourself what skills do you have.
The best place to start is by looking at your own skills, expertise, and knowledge. Generate ideas by asking yourself: What areas have I studied, whether at university, college, through an online course, at a workshop, etc.? What subjects have I taught to others before? For example, are you the go-to person in your current workplace when it comes to training new employees about certain systems, software, or skills? What topics have you researched the most, whether for work, education, or your own curiosity? What class did you perform the best in during school or college?

Second, ask your friends and family what you’re good at. Sometimes, we fail to see our own talents, so this is where our friends and family can help us out.

What do your loved ones compliment you about the most? Growing up, were you often told you were particularly good at something? Reach out to your friends and family and ask them where they think your talents and skill set lie.

Third, ask your former employees and coworkers. If you’re still in contact with any former coworkers or employees, get in touch with them to find out what they best remember about you. Was it your patience when they needed your help? Or perhaps your excellent, easy-to-understand way of explaining more complex subjects? The answers to these questions may help you identify where you shine in a business context.

Fourth, create a “skills map”. This is like a topic map but will be used to map out all the skills you know are good at. Putting your skills down on paper will allow you to see them all at a glance, helping you form connections between skills or choose the one that stands out the most to you.

Here's how to create a skills map:

Start by writing “skills” in the center of your map.
Branch out from the center to write your main skills as words or phrases.
Explore or break up each of these main skills further by drawing smaller “branches” off of each and writing more words or phrases relating to that idea.

You can complete your skills map using pens and paper, or use a free tool like Mindmaps App.

See what new insights you find by arranging your skills in this way. Finding a fresh take on a common skill or subject is a great way to develop a business idea.

The fourth step to starting an online business from home is to find what to sell online.
Once you’ve brainstormed ideas for what type of business you can start, the next step is to work out what your business should sell online, which will be either product, services, or your know-how.

Products are physical objects made available for consumer use. Unlike services or know-how, products are tangible. That is, they can be picked up, touched, and interacted with.
Examples of products being sold online include: Jewelry, Backpacks, Pet beds, Cushions, Crafts, and Sunglasses.

You might make your own products or source them from a wholesaler or drop shipper, we'll talk about sourcing products later in the guide.

Services can be defined as tasks performed in a professional and knowledgeable manner by an individual or team for the benefit of its customers.

Examples of services that can be sold online are: Teaching a language online, Bookkeeping services, Online architectural services, Fitness and nutrition consultation, and Online relationship coaching.

Lastly, if you’re knowledgeable about a particular topic that is of interest to your target audience, you can sell your knowledge in one of these forms: Video, eBook, White paper, Webinar, Podcast, and Online course or workshop.

When selling your know-how online, you’ll want to focus on four important factors to ensure its success.

First, make sure to provide your target audience with an answer to their biggest problems. What are they trying to achieve or overcome? Based on your knowledge, what are the necessary steps to do so?

Second, offer your know-how at various price points to make it accessible for a wide range of your target audience. For example, you might have an eBook priced at $14.95, a 7-day email course priced at $49, and an in-depth video course with printable workbooks priced at $799.
Third, set up necessary online channels to market what you’re selling, including a website, blog, email newsletter, and social media accounts.

Lastly, make it easy for the buyer to purchase with a simple checkout process and the option to accept payment using PayPal, credit card, or weekly/monthly payment installments.

Whatever you are going to sell, it must have several things including:

• Great market viability. A market that is “viable” is one that will continue being profitable for a long time, therefore helping your business to remain successful. Will there be a need for your product or service in many years to come
  
  
• Competitive advantage. What does your product or service have that will allow you to outperform your competitors? What will you do better than them and how?
  
  
• Active target audience. Are there people currently searching for what your product or service offers? Does your product or service target a niche, yet large enough audience to generate plenty of sales?
  
  
• Fits within legal requirements. Do you have the licenses, permits, or certifications required to run your business and sell your product or service?
  
  

This brings us to our next section…

Step 15 to starting an online business from home is launching your online store.

Once your online store is open for business, there are some important steps you'll need to take to ensure its continued success. You see, the actions you take after a sale, as well as how you measure and drive growth, are vital steps that can either make or break your online venture.

There are several steps after the sale including:

• Order fulfillment, which can include processing the order, shipping the order, if handling in-house, and managing and process returns, if required.
  
  
• Follow ups, which can include contacting customers to thank them for their order and provide a delivery timeframe, reaching out to customers once their order has arrived to ensure they’re satisfied, and encouraging customers to provide a review or testimonial about your business or product.
  
  
• Building customer loyalty, which can include: inviting your customers to keep in touch through social media channels, inviting customers to join a loyalty club where members are offered special discounts, offering rewards for new customer referrals, and sending personalized cards for special occasions such as birthdays and offering gift promotions.
  
  
• Generating repeat sales, which can include: sending updates via email and social media to advertise sales, offers, and promotions; offering product demonstrations that may be of interest to your customer; and highlighting related products that provide customers with additional benefits
  
  

There are three main areas, as well as several Key Performance Indicators, to consider when measuring your online business success:

• The first is Ecommerce data.
  This includes the data from your online business's website where customers can buy your products or services. Important KPIs to monitor include: number of sales, conversion rate, average Order Value, shopping Cart Abandonment Rate, and product affinity.
  
  
  
• The second is online acquisition and marketing success. You'll also need to analyze your website in terms of acquisition and audience behavior. Think about the questions such as:
  
  How much traffic do you drive organically? How much comes through direct traffic, social media, or referrals from other sites
  
  How long do visitors stay on your site
  
  What percentage of visitors make a purchase or take another action, like signing up for email lists?
  
  
  
• The third is business performance.
  You'll want to focus on the profitability, growth, and overall progress of your business. Some KPI’s to measure to ensure you're achieving your desired goals include: customer Acquisition Cost, cost of Goods Sold, gross profit, customer Lifetime Value, and average Margin.
  
  

You’ll want to stay engaged with your target audience and generate more buzz for your brand to drive growth and acquire new customers. This can be achieved through:

Online marketing strategies, such as running competitions through social media, influencer outreach, hosting or appearing on a podcast, blogging, SEO efforts such as keyword research and targeting, and producing informative video content that addresses your target audience’s wants and needs.

Omnichannel strategies, including selling your products or services on other online channels, such as Amazon, Etsy, and eBay
Email marketing, where you focus on growing your email subscriber list through offering opt-in freebies such as eBooks, event invitations, printable art, discount codes, and more in exchange for the user’s email address. You should continue to nurture your sales funnel by sending targeted emails offering value and in-depth content to turn leads into sales
Additionally, you should continuously monitor your KPIs to ensure your business is reaching its goals and achieving growth each quarter.

Regularly assess this information and ask yourself:

• What did we do well this quarter?
• What do we need to do better?
• How much growth or decline are we experiencing?
• What are our new goals or benchmarks for the next quarter?

Starting your own online business from home might not be a quick process, but it's certainly one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do. Rather than navigating the world of online business on your own, we’ve developed this in-depth guide to provide you with a simple, step-by-step roadmap to launching a successful online venture – whether you sell products, services, or know-how.

There is nothing as satisfying as working for yourself and focusing on your own passions, and all it takes is finding the right online business idea, niche, and target audience to jump-start your entrepreneurial dream.

By following the process we outlined for finding or developing your products or services to sell, choosing the right e-commerce platform, defining your brand identity, and employing marketing strategies to fuel business growth, you’ll be on the road to online business success in no time.