I don't know where to start...

[CasaFaye14]

Hi folks,

I've been having a read on the forum of late and I the hope of picking up some pointers, all very knowledgeable stuff and some great content, so thank you very much...

I do seem to be stuck however...

All I can tell you is what I know so far.

I want to work for myself! I want that above all else!...

I have no discernible skills as such...I do run a department of a production facility with around 20 staff, but gained that position through experience rather than qualifications.

I have no money...

I'm not too hung up on becoming the next Lord Sugar or Peter Jones...I just want to get by and run on my own steam. I'd like to be in a situation where my effort level has a direct impact.

Now on to what I do NOT know...

Where to start or what to do!

Please could someone who has taken the plunge offer some advice?

Many thanks

Dan

 

[fisicx]

Dan,

You have posted in the ecommerce forum so that suggests you would like to sell things. Is there a product you like or feel you could sell? Is there stock available at the right price? Do you have marketing skills? Do you have any money?

Or maybe you like writing and could create blog reviewing products.

Or perhaps write for others

Or do gardening, learn to knit, become a woodturner, teach others or go to college and learn a new skill.

 

[CasaFaye14]

Hi fisicx.

I suppose selling something makes sense, I was considering dropshipping, but don't know what products to attempt to find and sell.

I've also looked at godaddy sites as well as ebay, I've bought stock in the past and not been able to shift it, so I'm doubting if this is the right thing to do. I also have no money to buy stock, at least not bulk stock and not enough to meet some of the MOQ's of some of the suppliers I've seen.

One thing I am curious about though is the prices for websites and 'premium access' to suppliers and then fees for logo design etc...is it all a necessary to begin with? I.e 'start up costs'

Many Thanks

Dan.

 

[ProjectOcto]

Hi Dan

Look at your skill set first - what you’ve acquired, and what your desires are. It’s got to be something you enjoy.

Can you sell? Directly or indirectly?
Are you good with accounting figures?
Are you good at organising - project schedules and resourcing?
What excites you?

Once you’ve answered those, the rest is just learning, software and money (yes the latter will always matter but from acorns do oak trees grow)

Good luck!

 

[NickGrogan]

I want to work for myself! I want that above all else!...

Start from the beginning

What does working for yourself mean to you?

Why do you want to work for yourself?

 

[Mr D]

A good start would be with what interests you or what you enjoy. You at least know something about the items / services.

If you want to sell online then eBay and Amazon are the big sites to use. Premium access to suppliers? Logo? Irrelevant to start with.

Best place to access suppliers are trade events. Dozens around the country though they tend to focus on a sector or two of business.

Buying something and it does not sell? Common enough even for experienced business buyers. Look at your local supermarket selling off lines cheap at the end of the season - they over purchased or got the wrong thing in.

Working for yourself can be lonely, annoying, low paid (if paid at all), frustrating, time consuming, challenging, rewarding, profitable, and one of the best uses of time you have. It's both good and bad with you deciding how it's going to work out for you.

 

[CasaFaye14]

What does working for yourself mean to you?

Everything!

I'm well aware of the draw backs, long hours, financial insecurity, possibility of it not working out at all, but if I don't at least try I'll beat myself up about it forever.

In a nut shell, I'm sick to the back teeth of working all hours and stressing out for the slight possibility and illusion of furthering my career. In actual fact, the only thing I'm doing is making a rich man richer.

I want my efforts to directly effect my success...or failure. Not be dependant on someone's opinion of me come the annual appraisal time.

If you want to sell online then eBay and Amazon are the big sites to use.

I've sold a few bits on ebay, never Amazon though. Would you suggest just dropshipping products on ebay to begin with? See what happens?

Many Thanks

Dan

 

[fisicx]

I've sold a few bits on ebay, never Amazon though. Would you suggest just dropshipping products on ebay to begin with? See what happens?

Dropshipping means finding a product that not everyone else is selling. That's the difficult part. If it were easy everyone would be doing it.

So your first step is to find I product you know about and can market, can buy at a reasonable price and people want to buy.

This can often be a hit or miss thing as your research many be flawed and you end up with 5000 Christmas elves in January.

You can then set up your dropshipping service and start doing your marketing. Expect to make a loss. This happens more often than making a profit. But persevere and you might break even after a year.

On the other hand, you could work from home. Save a bucket load of money packing and shipping the orders yourself. My mate does this from his garage, the courier comes once a day to pick up the orders and he goes to the warehouse once a week to pick up the products (they arrive in a container from China).

Don't kid yourself thought - it's hard work whatever method you use. You may well spend every spare hour you have managing the business for very little return in the first few years.

An aside: A lady I know buys clothes in bulk from charity shops and sells them on ebay. 50 items/week at £1 profit per item is £2500/year. Enough to pay for her summer holiday.

 

[Mr D]

I've sold a few bits on ebay, never Amazon though. Would you suggest just dropshipping products on ebay to begin with? See what happens?

Many Thanks

Dan

Dropshipping requires selling the item, buying it then having it shipped to customer.
Tend to be higher priced than wholesale costs and tend to have higher postage costs than royal mail. So your margins overall can be lower for the same sized sale.
It does mean you don't risk any money on stock. If you don't keep an eye on stock though it can mean selling stuff you cannot then buy as supplier has gone out of stock on the item.

Dropshipping has different risks than buying items then selling.

I've done both at the same time, dropshipping meant I sold some extra stuff but the profit on a £15 item may be as low as a pound, profit on a purchased item sold on same site would usually be double that or more.

 

[Nochexman]

I have no discernible skills as such...I do run a department of a production facility with around 20 staff, but gained that position through experience...

This. Do you enjoy what you do? Would you like to do it on self-employed terms, as a freelancer / contractor? The gig economy is the thing these days and if the job you do and the skills you have are transferable then this could be the way to go. Best of luck (and welcome to the forum)

 

[ProjectOcto]

Everything!

I want my efforts to directly effect my success...or failure. Not be dependant on someone's opinion of me come the annual appraisal time.

Welcome to self employment then! It’s tough at times but always enjoyable. There's millions of self employed people already so you're not alone and forums/networking will always be important simply for soundboarding.

Drop me a PM and I can send you some links for further reading - ones that will help you plan out the next 6 months of your career change.

 

[Gecko001]

You say you no nothing about business, but you have started already to learn by learning how to sell on Ebay and Amazon. Extend that learning reading through the information on those sites and other resources and guides written on using Ebay and Amazon.

 

[MEAVO]

Often a good place to start is trying to address a need. Is there any pain point you've experienced where you can come up with a solution (and people would pay for it)? If you think you're on to something it would be good to conduct a proof of concept before going all-in, e.g. set up a basic website and try to sell the product or the service, even if it doesn't exist yet, to see what feedback you get (and how much you'll have to spend in digital ads to get a potential customer). It's always dangerous to ask family and friends for feedback as they often don't want to hurt your feelings and won't be completely honest.

 

[website-designer]

Read books, so much free material on the internet.

Build up your skill set. Perhaps online courses? See what you enjoy doing, then make a business from it.

 

[Stas Lawicki]

Hi Dan,

Well, it seems like you are staring down the path of working for ones' self. As others have said, it is littered with hurdles and uncertainty. Where should you start?

Start with a plan. There is no point going into the detail of an ecommerce business if this happens to be first thing you thought of to get yourself out of a bad situation. It sounds to me you are in the same place I was a few years ago - start by asking yourself: 'Would i still want to do this if i found a job role that gave me autonomy, responsibility, and an engaging and motivated environment?' I am not suggesting finding that role is easy, but don't let one boss or company dissuade you from working for other people - we are not all the same.

If you are sure you do not want to work for others, then think seriously about what you are going to do. You do have skills. Almost certainly many you don't even know you have yet. Write down what you enjoy doing and work out how you can make a business from it. Start with a plan of that idea and work it into a business plan. Get a part-time job on the side to fund your time not working and perhaps consider some remote learning online - there are some excellent resources out there. Look at anything related to the CMI.

The list I could make would go on and on, so perhaps start with the above. Really think about your motivations for doing this and get it straight in your mind what you are doing. Have confidence and belief in your skills and if you don't know what they are, then find them.

Good luck. PM me if I can help with anything else. Despite what people say on this forum - I am not out to get clients by offering advice - ! I'm just happy to help... as is the purpose of a forum!

 

[Petr Gogolin]

If you gained current position in management through experience, why not leverage that and start consulting in your expertise field as a side gig with your current work? Once you get traction, then go full time. You get to leverage all your knowledge, industry contacts, etc. To me this seems far easier than starting in ecommerce almost from scratch.