Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Strategic planning and profitable purchasing
• Part 2 of 4: Manufacturing the Product and Organizing the Enterprise
• Part 3 of 4: Effective Advertising and Fast Sales
• Part 4 of 4: Long-Term Enterprise Success
• Tips
• Warnings

Home-based businesses enable entrepreneurs to make a living while saving on transportation and childcare costs. Online commerce can be very profitable if the demand for your product is high enough. Some entrepreneurs make their own product, others resell used goods or trade in products purchased from the manufacturer. The right product category, along with effective sales organization and time management skills, will help you build a successful home business.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Strategic planning and profitable purchasing

1. 1 Consider which category of products you are most familiar with and could be successful in selling them. What activities do you like? Most people are willing to do things that they do well. What are you good at?
   • If you are good at needlework, sewing, or cooking, you can make and sell home decor items, accessories, jewelry, or, for example, jam or gingerbread.
   • If you enjoy negotiating and bargaining, you may enjoy buying and reselling antiques or similar items.
   • If you enjoy working with business owners and actively interacting with clients, you might want to consider consulting for existing home companies.
2. 2 Find out as much as possible about what makes a particular product popular. For your home business to be successful, you need to do more than just offer the first product you come across. Offer really good products - products that are easy, fast and inexpensive to produce, and at the same time of high quality and in demand:
   • What makes a home product really good:
     • Utility. Your product should make the life of your customers more comfortable and bring practical benefits.
     • Portability. The goods must be transportable. This usually also means that it is easy to manufacture.
     • Cost price. It shouldn't take too much money to produce a product. Try to keep your trade margin equal to 50% or more of production costs.
   • What makes a product unsuitable for home trading:
     • High manufacturing standards. If the manufacture of your product requires high quality standards or great responsibility and manufacturer's guarantees, refuse it. Power drills are not worth making and selling.
     • Goods imported by large trading companies. If the product you want to sell is already on sale in large chain stores, don't expect high demand.
     • Trade marks. If you do not want to spend all of your profits in litigation with large trading firms, do not choose trademarked goods.
3. 3 Determine the size and saturation of the market. For example, let's say you decide to sell your own miniature accessories - say, furniture for doll collectors. The next question is how much this product is in demand? You may be the best manufacturer of miniature doll furniture, but your talent is useless if there is no demand for this product, or there is a lot of competition in this niche and trade margins are minimal.
   • Market size is determined by the total amount of money that buyers spend on a specific group of products. You can study the size of the market by referring to statistical, analytical sources, specialized magazines or government reports. The wider the market, the more opportunities to make a profit.
   • Competition in the market for your chosen group of products is a very important issue in determining the commercial niche of your enterprise. If there are too many players competing for buyers' money, it will be difficult for you to trade. The lower the competition among sellers, the more money you can make.
4. 4 If you have the opportunity, buy goods in bulkto save on purchasing. By purchasing goods directly from the manufacturer, you avoid the trade margin of resellers. The fewer intermediaries your supply chain includes, the greater your trading profit.
   • To find the best wholesale price, explore as many offers as possible. Contact several suppliers by phone or online to inquire about prices. Order test samples of products. Test samples will help you get acquainted with the characteristics and quality of the product that you plan to order.
   • To get started, order the minimum batch of goods. Purchase of 1000 dish dryers will not require large investments. This is an important factor, especially if you are just starting a business.
   • If you are joining a direct selling network, order a starter kit from your consultant.

Part 2 of 4: Manufacturing the Product and Organizing the Enterprise

1. 1 Start making your product. Not all retailers sell the product in the same form in which they receive it from the supplier. Most likely, you will purchase materials from suppliers, from which you will then manufacture your goods.
2. 2 Test, test, and test again. It may seem to you that you have made a sufficiently high-quality and reliable product, but the buyer is usually very demanding. Customers use your product sometimes very actively, and sometimes not for its intended purpose. The buyer always asks the question: "Is my purchase worth the money spent?" Testing your product with target groups, with the help of your friends, or even strangers, even better, will help you identify flaws in your product and improve it.
   • Let's say you order 100 peelers, put your logo on them, and sell them at a 100% mark-up. This is not a bad idea if sales are going fast. But what if the plastic they are made of melts in hot water, and after a week of trading, you get a ton of angry reviews from disgruntled customers whose dishwashers have been damaged? If you do preliminary tests on the product, you will know that it is of poor quality. Otherwise, you will have to pay compensation and lose money, and your brand will gain a bad reputation.
3. 3 Register as a taxpayer at the appropriate authority. This will allow you to pay taxes on your business in a timely manner. It is best to register as a sole proprietor. If you are considering the option of self-employment, then keep in mind that it is impossible to resell goods to self-employed citizens, and when manufacturing a product from scratch, you will not be able to take into account the costs of materials and will pay tax on proceeds, and not on profits (while for individual entrepreneurs there is a choice between these options).
4. 4 Open a new bank account as a sole proprietor. Then you can transfer money to your individual account. If you nevertheless calculated that self-employment is more convenient for you, open a regular account and card as an individual.
   • An individual entrepreneur needs an account registered with an individual entrepreneur, and not just an individual. This is a legal requirement.
   • If you plan to work with foreign buyers, connect a reliable payment system, such as PayPal, to your bank account. This will simplify the process of making online payments.
5. 5 Install business software on your computer to help you keep track of turnover and generate reports. While this may seem like overkill, you will think differently if the tax office decides to check you.
   • Reporting on individual entrepreneurs is not so difficult, however, if you wish, you can use the services of a third-party accountant.

Part 3 of 4: Effective Advertising and Fast Sales

1. 1 Promote your new venture and products. Typically, there are three main ways to distribute products: repeat purchases - when satisfied customers come back and buy more; Recommendations - positive reviews about your product; advertising. If the quality of your products is high, you are unlikely to be able to effectively influence the level of sales from repeat purchases and recommendations. And this is where advertising will help you. Advertising creates an interest in the product from a potential buyer, demonstrating the benefits of its use.
   • Order business cards and distribute them to your friends and just people you meet.
   • Create pages on social networks and invite your friends and acquaintances to subscribe to them. Ask them to invite other users and regularly update the information on the page to keep your subscribers up to date with the range and offer updates.
   • If you have joined a direct selling network, consult on the advertising methods available for the selected product group.
2. 2 Try social media or pay-per-click ads, but don't rely entirely on these methods. The pay-per-click method means paying the advertiser for each click on your link from the site where your ad is placed. However, many people find the effectiveness of these ads to be low. Social networks such as VKontakte, Instagram and Facebook can also post advertisements and informational content. Social media can help promote your brand, but it doesn't guarantee effective sales. Try both of these methods, but don't rely on them completely.
3. 3 Provide customers with access to your product and the ability to purchase it. Unless you intend to sell your products directly at home, which is not recommended, you probably want to list products for sale online. Online trading has its advantages and disadvantages:
   • Advantages:
     • Low costs for enterprise development. The maintenance of an Internet domain will cost you much less than renting premises for a store. You can find inexpensive hosting companies on the internet.
     • Wide market coverage. Through the Internet, you can invite buyers from all over the world.
     • Effective marketing and ease of the buying process. Online trading allows customers to make purchases in two clicks from the comfort of their home.
   • Flaws:
     • Payment security. Potentially leaked credit card information and other payment information. Your customers will be unhappy if their personal data falls into the hands of intruders.
     • The complexity of the process of delivering goods. Delivery of goods to remote regions and other countries can be difficult and time-consuming.
4. 4 Consider creating your own website. If you intend to trade online, create a website where your customers can shop. For settlements with foreign buyers, link a payment system to your website, for example PayPal. Make sure the website design makes the buying process as easy as possible. As a rule, the owner of an online store is very familiar with its functionality, while new visitors can find it difficult to get used to the site.
   • It is getting easier and easier to organize an online store. There are quite a few services out there today, like Shopify, that offer paid online trading tools. The fewer commissions you pay to the service, the more income remains with you.
5. 5 Trade on eBay. This is the world's largest online auction site that offers many opportunities. However, the basic idea is simple: create an offer, specify the terms of sale and send the product to the buyer when the order comes in. There are a few other things to consider:
   • Photos are very important! Post engaging, detailed, high-quality photos. Your product will sell better if customers can get a better understanding of it.
   • Create a bid in an auction format or with a fixed price.The auction format is more suitable for rare products that buyers will compete for, while for common products for which supply exceeds demand, it is better to set a fixed price.
   • Be polite and courteous to everyone, even rude ones, to avoid negative reviews and maintain a high rating. Reputation can play an important role in the success of your business, especially if your competitors offer similar products at similar prices.
6. 6 Sell ​​on Amazon. Amazon is much like eBay, except that Amazon does not offer an auction format for sales. To sell products on Amazon, you will need to create a seller profile, submit a product offer with detailed specifications, photos and prices, and then send the products to the customers who ordered. Just like on eBay, pay special attention to customer reviews and feedback.
   • If you are planning to sell an entire line of products in a specific category, you can create your own section on Amazon under your brand, similar to an online store. This allows shoppers to view all of your products by category and simplifies the product selection process.
7. 7 Sell on Etsy. Etsy is an online resource that specializes in selling handicrafts. Unlike Amazon and eBay, which sells everything, Etsy sells original handicrafts. So if you have a talent for making original cloth napkins, jewelry, or handicrafts, Etsy may be what you need.
8. 8 If you enjoy an active lifestyle, you might want to go peddling a sell-peddler. Whether you want a complement to your online trading income or are confident in your personal charm, peddling can be an effective option. Of course, this is not an easy task and it is not suitable for timid people, but knowing some of the secrets of the profession and having enough confidence in yourself, you can make a good profit.

Part 4 of 4: Long-Term Enterprise Success

1. 1 Send ordered goods quickly and efficiently. If you want to earn a positive attitude from your customers, pack the goods carefully and securely so that they will not be damaged in transit. Then just take the package to the post office and send. Nothing complicated!
2. 2 Accept returns and offer exchanges. Unfortunately, sometimes customers are not happy with their purchases. Provide acceptable and understandable terms of return and exchange, but do not burn bridges by categorically denying customers compensation. Compensatory losses will teach you how to effectively correct your business flaws and help you maintain a high ranking on shopping sites.
   • Be sensitive to customer feedback to make your products better. Pay special attention to design complaints, product flaws, and bad experiences.
   • Remember the rule: the client is always right, even when he is wrong. It is very difficult to follow this principle, but it is one of the oldest trading rules. If you treat your customers with dismissiveness, they will feel that way. And while you can emerge victorious from a heated debate, this will not help fill your wallet.
3. 3 After gaining some experience, develop other areas of trade and expand the range. At the beginning of the development of your enterprise, it is better to stick to a narrow range of products - one or two products are enough. This will allow you to master the process of doing business and avoid the unnecessary labor of filling out an endless number of descriptions on the site. Once you have studied the market and become familiar with a trading platform such as eBay, you can expand your range and move on to other product groups.
4. 4 Slowly but surely move on to selling more expensive and better quality items. If you are serious about your success, you should review the results monthly, identify deficiencies and look for ways to fix them. Here are some ideas:
   • Bargain with suppliers for a better price. If you buy in bulk, you have a better chance of knocking down the price. Feel free to bargain! Distributors are interested in working with you.
   • Strive for consistent profits. Look for regular customers, offer long-term cooperation conditions and create special offers.
   • Hire an assistant or outsource. An extra pair of hands will help you deliver more purchases and thus increase sales. Especially if you are also engaged in other activities. Constant trips to the post office and endless processing of payments can undermine the profitability of your business.

Tips

• If you intend to trade right at home, arrange a separate space for the trading floor. If you plan on delivering goods to customers' homes, allocate storage space for stock, as well as space for picking and packing orders.
• If you have small children, make sure that they are supervised, even if you only devote part of the time to the enterprise. This way you will not be distracted from your work in the allotted time.

Warnings

• Home trading does not usually require a license, however there are some exceptions depending on the product category you choose and your local laws. Contact your local Business Licensing Service and inquire if your business requires licenses or peer review.