How To Start E-Commerce Business While Working 9 - 5

I really have a great passion for e-commerce and so you will be reading a lot of articles on how to start with your own e-commerce business pursuit.  In this article, I will be writing on how to find time to run your e-commerce business while still working in a day job of 9 – 5 or 9 – 6, whichever shift you are on does not matter, you can still create time to run your e-commerce business.  To me, it is the business that you can find time to do when compared to other online businesses.  I know it can be difficult to work a day job and still manage to be an entrepreneur or what I called side entrepreneur since you are working on it by the side.  I know there is a lack of time running your own e-commerce while working a 9 – 5 as you are committed first to your employer, however, it is very possible to grow and create a successful e-commerce business by the side.  I’m doing it, others have done it also and become successful and have been able to quit their day job to concentrate purely on their e-commerce business.

Initial Struggle

While working a 9 to 5 job and want to start an e-commerce business on the side the first struggle is finding what product to sell or the niche to stick with to ensure the success of the venture.  Generally, from my own perspective, people working on a full-time job and looking to start an e-commerce business will want something that is easy to start with.  They want low commitment products that are easy to source and can be sold with little maintenance and work.  While this is true don’t let this put you off as there are many ways to get around the first hurdle.  The best thing for you is to consider what you enjoy buying online and based your research on this type of items.  Go to sites like Amazon or eBay and have a look at some of the best-selling items.  With Amazon, it is easy since you can simply browse its best-selling categories.   Also use social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram to find products that are hot in demand (I will be writing a comprehensive article on how to use each of the sites to look for products to sell online). After you have done your research, decide on the item and the category and start putting work together to get started.  A second struggle is finding the time and making the time for the side business and this is not going to be easy, I won’t lie to you.  If you want success with your e-commerce business, you will have to say goodbye to most of your evenings and weekends as this is the only time you have available to work on your business.  This might sound difficult and brutal, however, the long-term payoff of creating a successful e-commerce business by the side can be tremendous and rewarding.

It is Possible

It is possible, but you need to realise that it will take time.  By starting your e-commerce business on the side means that it will take a longer time and be slower than someone who has the whole time to devote to his business.  You have your evenings and weekends, you must use them as these times allow you to work in these small chunks and grow your business.  The income you make from your 9 – 5 allow you to invest in your e-commerce business and this gives you a significant advantage over those that are dropping everything to run their e-commerce business and those that are unemployed trying to run a business with no money.

The advantage you have as a side entrepreneur (sidepreneur) over full-time entrepreneurs is that what you are doing is less risky since if your business fails you still have your job to fall back to and you can use your previous failure as a learning curve to get back quickly on your feet with another venture.  And this is especially important if you have obligations to your family, bills to pay and other critical responsibility.

 Important things to do

The first thing that is important while working on the side is that you need to focus.  This is because your time, energy and resources are limited, it is really a good idea to focus more especially when it comes to the niche you wish to serve or the product you plan to sell.  So many people while starting out have a bunch of ideas for products they would like to sell, however, instead of launching a whole handbag line straightaway, why not just launch few products from the line and grow it up from there.  Also, instead of focusing on many demographics, why don’t you just focus on one where you will be able to make a success and then you can add other demographics as your business grows.  A second aspect is finding what works early and sticking to it and there are many tools, strategies and social media platforms out there that you can use to find out what is working well.  You need to develop the skills that will make you an expert at finding what works for you and your business.

Take Small Step but think Big

This is all going to be about taking the first step at getting your e-commerce business started.  Decide very quickly where you plan to be selling your items whether eBay, Amazon, Etsy or other platforms like Bigcommerce, Bananas, Shopify, etc or do you plan to open an e-commerce store of your own straightaway?  Although I will not advise you to build e-commerce of your own straightaway as you will be putting yourself into a lot of pressures with a big amount to spend and these might not even bring you profits.  The best idea is to with any of the selling platforms after you have done your research and decide where to sell your products.  You must be patient too and understand that in most cases, success will not happen overnight.  As I said earlier, you will be working on the business in chunks and you will not have the opportunity to work on it all as in a full-time entrepreneur.  This is okay as a slow and consistent step will ensure the success of your business.  Have a look at those overwhelming tasks, break them down into smaller workable chunks as you will have few hours every day to tackle a task.

Create Schedule

Since you have limited time, you need to schedule your side business activities so that you will know what you are doing every evening and weekend and keep yourself accountable.  Use free tools like Google docs and Google calendar.  Make sure you use your calendar to find gaps and time in your life where you can schedule time for your e-commerce business.  This might involve working on your mobile phone and if you can afford it, you can invest in an iPad, tablet or small light laptop, this will help you work on your business during your lunch hour break.  While it is okay to get a little selfish with your time initially especially when you are trying to get the ball rolling for your e-commerce business and I’m sure your family and friends will be supportive and understand you at this time.  While you need a bit of time to devote to this business, nevertheless do not neglect things like your health or your family and therefore scheduling your time and making time for your business is extremely important.  You must be creative too and get up a few hours earlier every morning to work on your business before you go to work.  Ensure you go to bed early so that you can at least 6- or 7-hours sleep, while you sacrifice 2 hours to work on your business and it will pay you in the long run.

Do Things that Matter

Now I will have to be blunt and tell you to point blank to stop doing things that don’t count and embrace things that matter that will help your business to grow.  Stop complaining about like of time when you are busy watching Youtube videos on movies, comedies, etc or even watching your TV 24/7.  While it is okay to indulge yourself and enjoy some time, nevertheless if you are serious about your e-com business, you will have to cut down on the amount of time you spent watching videos and TVs.    It is also important to deal with procrastination when creating and running your own business.  Give the same importance that you give to your payday job to your e-com business.  Make a quick decision on the name you plan to give to your business and put other structures in places like creating logos, cards and others.  Focus only on the things that matter as you have limited time, so don’t spend your little time on things that do not pay you in the long run.

Outsourcing

If you have a bit of money to spend you might outsource some of the processes to a virtual assistant to do for you.  There are many virtual assistants (Vas) is freelancer sites like Upwork, freelancer.com, people per hour, Fiverr and others.  If you plan on using a freelancer, make sure you read their profile and reviews of past buyers before you give him/her the job to do for you.  I’m sure you will have a bit of money to spend in this way since you are still in your day to day paid employment.  You might also have to outsource things like packing, shipping to others to do for you so that orders can be shipped out as soon as possible once you receive payment from your buyers.  You will also need a book-keeping and account assistant, although if you are very good at using software, there are accounting software out there that you can purchase and do it yourself, such as xero, zoho and much more, simply browse for accounting software on the search engines and you will see tons of them.  To choose the best, read about its features, support and customers’ reviews.

Automate Processes

With the amount of technology and tools available on the internet, you will have to automate most of your processes to help run your business well.  I think the first thing you should automate is your social media accounts as social media is key to the success of your e-commerce business and you cannot afford not to use the tools so that you can devote your little time to other aspects of the business.  There are tools like Tailwind, Loomly, Buffer and Hootsuite that allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time to Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and other social platforms.  If you have any of the tools above, you will be able to schedule posts that will go out every day from Monday to Friday.

You also need to have an email provider like Aweber, Getresponse and if you don’t have the money to spend yet, you can go with MailChimp that is free to use until you reach 2,000 subscribers.  Once you sign up with any of the email providers, you need to set up a series of emails that you will be sending out to your subscribers regularly.  Also, make sure you explore a tool like IFTTT that provides a lot of opportunities for you to save time on things you might be doing every day by simply automating them ahead of time.

Conclusion

I know and understand the struggle as a side entrepreneur (sidepreneur) which is a battle of time every day.  Despite the shortage of time, we need to persevere, be patient and endure the struggle as it will pay off in future. Don't give up, instead work hard, stay motivated, hustle and realise your passion by reminding yourself constantly on why you are doing what you are doing and with the end in mind.

Kindly read and leave me a comment and I will surely get back to you.

Until next time, thanks and goodbye for now.