Starting A Part-Time Internet Business

Starting a part-time internet business is an excellent way to test the waters and find out if you have what it takes to run a business without risking too much. If you are thinking of starting a business, I would strongly urge you to take the part-time route first. Many successful full-time businesses began this way, and have made their owners a lot of money, and continue to do so.

The transition from part-time business to full-time is not that great. Once you have established yourself in your chosen market you will have all the systems in place to make that step up. Even if you decide to remain part-time, you will have an excellent source of income, which will insulate you from the insecurities of your full-time job.

Don’t underestimate the power of a part-time business to build you wealth and create an extra income independent of your full-time job.  There’s many advantages of starting a part-time business. The purpose of this article is to point them out to you and encourage you to take the step into business and create some wealth for you and your family. Here’s just a few of the advantages of a part-time business.

Low Investment

The first advantage of a part-time internet business is the low cost of starting one. You will already have the main equipment necessary like a computer and printer. You can start a part-time internet business for a few hundred pounds. Compare this to the pre-internet days when starting a business involved a major outlay of money and time. A few years ago, I started a part-time business selling second hand computers. This involved me giving my weekends up and traveling round the country to computer markets. I had to load my car up with computers, drive for a few hours, unload them all and stand there all-day. Usually to reload them all back into my car and return home with nothing to show for it.

I had to invest money into the computers, which meant I had a lot of money tied up. There was also the cost of getting onto the markets and the traveling expense. It was a huge investment of time, energy and money. I stopped doing it after a while because it just wasn’t worth it. I started my internet ecommerce business with a hundred pounds and reinvested all the profits to build it up. I now make more money in a week sitting in front of my computer than I made all the time I was selling computers.

Few Expenses

The expenses of a part-time business are low. Apart from a computer, a printer and a good internet connection you’ll need stationery and a log design. And packing materials if you are going to open an online shop. All of which you can buy cheaply. Once your business starts to build up momentum it will become self-financing, paying its own way.

Gain Experience

Experience cannot be bought or taught, it has to be learned. You can read all the reports and books available on trading but until you step into the market, with your own business you cannot build experience. The experience you will get from launching your own part-time business is a real live university course in business. Every move you make will have a consequence. The market will respond to everything you do or fail to do. A year of running your own business will provide you with more real life knowledge than ten years of studying business from someone who may never have run one. With experience, comes confidence and if you do decide to take your business full-time you will be equipped to do so.

Test Your Ideas

You may think you’ve got a great idea, your wife may agree, your mother may be all for it but the only way to test it is to take it to the market. You can use the market to test your ideas out and fine-tune them on a part-time basis. If the market doesn’t like the idea it’s a simple matter of dropping it without having wasted too much of your time and money. A part-time internet business offers you the opportunity to do this.

Extra Money

We can all do with some extra money and a part-time business is a good way to generate an extra income that isn’t dependent on your job. Even an extra hundred a month is a welcome addition to a budget. You can reinvest this in your business and watch it grow into a money-generating machine. Once your business becomes established and starts to grow it will create money giving you a surplus to spend or invest.

Learn New Things

No matter what your business knowledge is, starting a business will increase it. You will have to learn new skills on the fly. Marketing, SEO, stock management, budgeting and bookkeeping to name just a few of the skills you will need to master to succeed.

Test Yourself

Do you have what it takes? Can you remain cool under pressure? Can you continue to think logically when your plans aren’t working? Can you remain positive and continue to formulate plans when nothing seems to be working? Can you rally yourself to charge forward when you’ve taken a battering in the market? You’ll find the answers to all this and more about yourself if you plunge yourself into the market with an idea or some products. You will fail in some things, it’s unavoidable, we all have and we all do, it’s how experience is gained. Each failure will bring you back stronger and wiser than before.

When you triumph though the failures will, all dissolve. When you make a plan and drive it to completion against the forces that are against you, you will experience a great sense of personal achievement, a boost in your self-confidence and your self-esteem will reach new levels.

All these things can be achieved by starting a part-time internet business for little cost. If it’s something you’ve being thinking about, then stop thinking and act. You’re better and more capable than you think you are; you’re braver than you think you are, you know more than you think you do, you are already programmed with everything you need to succeed. All you have to do is take the first step.

How To Combat The Asian Sellers On Ebay

Sellers from Asia are everywhere on EBay. Selling in every category for prices that are much lower than UK sellers can source products for. For example, I’ve seen sellers from Hong Kong selling products for £15.00 that I can’t source for £20.00. If you’re new to EBay, you can look at these prices and become disheartened, believing you can’t compete. Don’t despair.

You have many advantages in your favour. First, forget about trying to competing on price. You cannot. Nor should you even try. I’ve seen guys in business forums bragging that they make £5.00 on a hundred pound sale. I wouldn’t even bother. It’s not worth the effort, such a low profit margin is not a viable business model, it’s more like a hobby that pays some pocket money.

The objective of a business is to make a decent profit for the effort you expend. 5% in my book is not a decent profit. I like to look for at least 30% upwards. So how can you compete against the Asian sellers?

It’s easy really. The sellers from Hong Kong will be charging very high shipping costs. They might be charging £12.00 for example for a product you can ship for £2.00 that adds £10.00 to the cost of their product.

You can also wipe the floor with them for speed of delivery. Shipping from Hong Kong can be slow and unreliable. You, on the other hand, can get your item delivered the next day by Royal Mail first class.

There’s also the possibility of buyers buying from Hong Kong of being hit with a VAT bill. And there’s the added problems of returning the product if it is faulty.

You can offer your customers something they will be willing to pay for: security. If you are selling in a market where there are many sellers from Hong Kong make it clear in your listing that you are a British seller.

Emphasise the quick and safe delivery and the ease of access to you should anything go wrong. Make a point of stating that there is no additional cost associated with buying from you. The price you see is the price you pay.

All these things will negate the cheaper priced product from Hong Kong and ensure you maintain your profit margin.

Never try to compete on price on EBay or you won’t be able to create a viable business model. It’s not only the Asian sellers who sell cheap. You also have companies who are dumping stock, companies who use products as loss leaders, to get people to their websites, where they will up sell to them. And of course, you have some people who just don’t know what they are doing and sell too cheap to make a realistic profit.

You’re on EBay to make money so avoid getting into a price war. Set your margin and stick to it. Most buyers don’t just buy on price; they also want reliability and security.