If you're thinking about starting a handmade Business Online in 2021,
I'm here to tell you that there has never been a better time
but there are four things you should know before starting and in this video,
I'll walk you through that. So stay on to find out what those are.
Hi, my name is Mei Pak and I help makers artists
and designers make a living from selling their handmade products online.
Number one. There is a ton of competition with online business right now.
Yes, this is true year after year regardless,
but the competition is even more now
because of covid because of all the quarantine lockdowns
and people losing their jobs
or working from home more people are looking to entrepreneurship
for a way to make money and people are seeing that it's possible.
Make money from home. So you need to be prepared to expect that and the way to make it.
So that competition isn't something you ever have to worry about is to be super clear about
what makes your product or shop different.
Of course. You don't want to be different just for the sake of it.
So another way to think about it is you need to be very selective about
selling something that you know is in big demand
and that people actually want to pay money
for it gone are the days where you're selling something just because you love making that thing.
Thing you have to do research to scope out the competition
and see where you stand with your product.
Are there other successful businesses that are doing well
and making a lot of sales selling a similar product.
That's a good thing because it tells you you're on the right track don't overthink
your product can just know that there is no such thing
as a totally new never before heard of idea anymore.
But what your job is is to think of existing products
and how you can make it different
because maybe those existing products are not totally perfect
for I think about personalized hand-stamped jewelry.
It's always going to sell well and tons of shops do them.
But if you've noticed they tend to be silver or gold jewelry.
So what if you made your new product that was personalized jewelry,
but it was like super fun and colorful items instead of just silver or gold.
So you see you're not Reinventing the wheel here number to set aside
some money to start your shop in to do marketing.
A lot of people start businesses thinking that You can do it for free.
But unless we're back in the early 2000s.
That's no longer realistic to expect a business is an investment in all Investments take money to
start if you want to start gardening you have to spend money to buy seeds
and gardening tools and supplies and maybe some books or magazines on how to do it.
If you've never done it before if you want to start to learn how to bake you
have to spend a lot of money on baking equipment
and buying ingredients and those get expensive.
It's very close to impossible to Start a business without any
money you have to spend money on buying materials
and supplies to make your product
but don't make the mistake of spending all your money on just that you have to also set money aside
for setting up a website taking product photos buying software
buying education to learn how to start a business,
right? So if you're really good at managing credit,
then you can take out a new line of credit,
but if you don't trust yourself with credit then start saving up some money now,
you don't need a ton of money to start.
But the more you don't know about how to build a business the more
money you'll need I've been an online business
for over a decade and because I've learned
so much over the years when we started our new personalized Art Shop in 2019.
We spent about $2,000 using a credit card to build up this shop which made
Seven figures in the First full year of business.
It was in that sounds like an amazing trade-off right spend two
thousand dollars up front to make a million dollars,
but don't forget all my experience has taught me what to do with that money.
So I knew how to use it wisely
and I knew what I could spend
on and what I could do myself
for free number 3 have a strategy for marketing and promoting your business.
That isn't just social media social media is inundated with too many profiles
and it's too competitive.
There's also the social media algorithms that prevent your
accounts from getting seen by more people.
It takes forever to grow your following and so few people see your posts.
It's not impossible but it's just super time-consuming and not the best use of your time.
So if you're new to me or my channel just know I am a big proponent of using media outreach
as a way to promote your business.
This is where you send emails to people who already have their own large audiences
and ask them to talk about your product in exchange
for a free product because how can they talk about you if they
haven't experienced your product right?
So this could be people like big YouTubers or Instagram influencers or print?
Magazines or big web sites like Huffington Post or BuzzFeed.
All of these big guys have already spent the resources to amass a super huge following
so you don't have to I'll actually link to a video here that talks
more in depth on the process of media outreach
and if you have a budget for it and you've taken the training on how to do it.
I also recommend doing paid advertising it can be very technical to do but it works insanely.
Well, even for new shops paid ads like Facebook Instagram Google
or YouTube ads allow you to Target your potential customers with Incredible specificity.
For example, if I sell hand-sewn dog collars,
I can Target people who are dog lovers
and who are also fans of dog stir Magazine on Google and YouTube.
I can also Target people who have been searching for dog collars on Google.
There is no better way and faster way to get in front of your potential customers then with paid ads
but the biggest Kavya,
is that it costs money to do number four.
It is totally possible to have a successful shop in 2021
and make a living from that
even if you don't sell something that is totally original or if your idea isn't 100% unique.
I mean, there's no such thing anymore. Right all the ideas out there no matter how unique
our just derivatives of something else that already exists.
You can absolutely make a healthy income online if you know what you're doing.
Doing so you need to know how to do it.
I know a lot of people learn from doing like you use trial and error and then you learn from that.
There's nothing wrong with that except that it takes a lot of wasted time money
and energy to go that route,
especially with the degree of competition. We're dealing with these days.
So many people starting online shops are taking the time to learn how to start a business
and if you deliberately choose not to
do so you're shooting yourself in the foot because you're not Rising.
The level that everyone else is at so the fact that you're here watching.
My video is a great sign that you are Keen to take the time to learn how to do it.
Right don't ever stop learning
and when you think you know everything
and you don't need to learn any more you are not going to go anywhere
as of this recording I would have been in business
for 15 years now and even to this day I still read books to learn how to do something
or invest in courses and work with coaches so I can continue to sharpen my skills.
Please do not discount the importance and power of knowledge and education.
It is one of the secret ingredients to becoming successful not to mention.
It will save you a ton of time to follow a framework that's already been proven.
So you don't have to figure it out all by yourself this way.
You're also not just relying on luck.
And that means you have a much higher chance of reaching your goals and becoming successful.