It can be tricky to start an e-commerce business or any business in general. Starting from home will be a great way to start, I can’t tell you how many successful businesses started from home. Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage. Same as Steve Jobs with Apple. You won’t be in your home forever. The more customers you get, the more revenue to expand. If you are searching to start an e-commerce business, then starting from the comfort of your home is a great place to begin your journey. Here are six steps for success. Let’s get started:
Steps to Success:
- You first must do research on other e-commerce businesses to get an idea or a concept of what yours will sell. Will you sell items? Will you sell services? Will the items you sell be real matter or will be digitalized? Where will you keep your storage of items if they are real? What kind of services would you sell? It is your job to find out and answer all these questions. An important factor in the e-commerce industry is your workspace. If you are working from home, you keep all your storage in your garage. If you have a warehouse facility, you keep your storage there.
- After you find out what you’ll sell, you must create a name. it must be a unique, a creative title for your business. You must make sure it isn’t taken to prevent future copyright claims, and it must be simple so your customers will understand what your business does. After checking if the title is available, then you must get started on building a website, that’s the new business card to let others know about your business. Team Ahava does a great job. 😉
- The next step is to apply for an EIN. EIN stands for Employer Identification Number. This is a nine-digit number that can be used to separate your personal finances and your business finances. You must apply for an EIN from the IRS, which is luckily free, this is your legal identification number to start conducting business the right way.
- After you have applied for an EIN, you would now want to get business permits and licenses if they are required. Find out with your local authorities or state to see if you need any of them, since most local e-commerce companies are managed at the owners’ homes, they do not require too many business permits and licenses, so don’t be discouraged. For at-home business owners, you must get a type of permit called a home occupation. This is so you can legally manage your company at your home. This permit also shows that if you are trying to work outside your home, you are not causing any extra noise or creating a dangerous environment.
- After completing all the necessary paperwork, you now must decide what e-commerce platform you will use to create your website if you are doing it solo. Like an actual store in real life, your website will be the #1 face of your company. Your website will be the place where your customers look around to buy items and services from your business. Building a perfect website is one of the most important things when starting an e-commerce business. You must have different codes everywhere when making the website since you do not want to have a terrible website that will drive people away instead of attracting them. Using platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Squarespace to build your e-commerce website is highly suggested.
- After deciding on a platform and creating your website, you are almost complete with the path to creating a successful e-commerce business. The next step is to start adding these items to your website, meaning what you are selling. You needed to decide if you were going to sell items or services. If you were planning to sell services, you would have to list them on your e-commerce website so people can know what services you give and operate, an intro video or a demo is great to give an idea to your potential customers.
There you have it, folks. We have just covered how to start an e-commerce business in just 6 steps. Some are a little harder than others. The most successful people come from the e-commerce industry. Let’s hope that one day, you will be known worldwide. Good luck!
