There has never been a better or easier time to start an online business given the current climate. With access to simple-to-use website design tools and the use of social media skyrocketing, people are connecting online more than ever.
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how come you keep putting up with your job or why you’ve never worked up the courage to pursue your passion, this is the article for you.
Here are just five of the many reasons to start a online business:
1) Online Business is Booming
The freight train that is internet marketing doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon and now is as good a time as any to hop on board. Did you know that in 2019 a whopping 1.79 billion people bought goods and services online? This is according to internet business statistics from Statista. What’s more, Shopify predict that global ecommerce sales will reach $4.8 trillion by 2021. Consumption of online content is also higher than ever at the moment given the impact of COVID-19. Self-isolation has led to a rise of 44% worldwide increase in social media usage with people spending more time than ever in at home. The numbers truly do speak for themselves.
That’s not to say that making money online is an easy thing to do – there’s no get rich quick scheme out there. Like most endeavours it takes hard work, dedication, time and a certain degree of know-how. If you want to be successful in the digital world, you need to empower yourself with knowledge on how online businesses work. While a once-off course will certainly get you going, to truly be successful you need access to ongoing support and educational tools. That’s where Wealthy Affiliate comes in – a platform that allows you to transform your ideas into profit with the help of expert coaches and a community of over 1.4 million members.
2) Flexibility
Compared to a traditional office job, running an online business offers a lot more flexibility day-to-day. Whether it’s setting your own work hours (no more 9 – 5!), choosing to work from wherever you like or deciding to skip certain days entirely, you’re in complete control of your environment. And rather than being limited by an hourly wage your income is, for the most part, determined by how productive you are with your time and how well the systems you’ve set up are working, not by how many hours you work in a month.
As another aspect of flexibility, you can choose who you’d like to work with instead of being stuck with one overly-friendly coworker who just won’t stop talking. Hand-pick clients, outsource work to freelancers of your choice and decide whether you’d like to work with people virtually or in-person.
3) Take Control of Your Job Security
Given the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, times are uncertain more uncertain than ever. As we’ve seen in recent months, employment at a big corporate firm does not necessarily equate to job security.
When running your own online business, say goodbye to the constant fear of being laid off. Gone will be the days of worrying that you’ll be let go because the company is ‘downsizing’, something we see often with large multinationals.
Furthermore, when you work for someone else, there’s typically a predefined salary path to follow, and your earnings are capped by hierarchy, skill-set, experience and more factors. Starting your own online business means your income potential is pretty much up to you. You are personally responsible for setting and working towards financial goals. This can be daunting, but if you’re the type of person who excels at self-management, then you might find this new challenge extremely exciting.
4) Relatively Inexpensive Start Up Costs
It may surprise you to know that starting an online business is affordable for most. Costs included to get your website up and running include hosting fees, registering a domain and possibly purchasing a premium theme. Depending on who you decide to host your website with and what platform you decide to build it on, expect to spend as little as R1500 for the year. This price excludes any advertising costs.
If you’re wanting to go the route of Affiliate Marketing through a platform like Wealthy Affiliate, sign up is typically free followed by a minimal monthly fee that gives you access to the full community, premium hosting, training and support channels.
It’s certainly cheap to start an online business, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy. As your business grows, expenses like advertising and staff hires will most likely add up, but so will the revenue!
5) Work From Anywhere
With an online-based business, there’s no need to rent an office space, purchase furniture or spend hours commuting to and from work. Work from home, work on the road, work on holiday, work from anywhere in the world. Spend more time with your kids, find a healthy work-life balance and travel to your heart’s content without compromising your earning potential.
The ability to avoid commuting is one of the biggest draws to running an online business. It’s one of the biggest wastes of time, money and your sanity! Online business owners have more time to get work done and are mostly more productive.
In these cautious times, using public transport to get to work also increases your chance of contracting COVID-19, as does working in an office with other people. As we’ve seen, the pandemic has disrupted workflow and forced more people to work from home. For many companies the transition has been smoother than expected, with communication tools like Zoom and Skype bridging the gap between communication and executions. For online-based businesses, there’s no reason why remote working should impact outputs whatsoever, so what’s stopping you from making the move?
Final Thoughts
Wrapping up, there are much more than five reasons to start an online business and there’s no better time to start than right now. The trick is to combine what you’re passionate about with your online business so that you never fall short of inspiration or patience. There are challenges and hard work ahead, but the freedom that comes with owning your own online business is more than worth it.
If you’d like more advice on running an online business, feel free to leave your contact details below and Web Business Mentor will reach out to you personally. As mentioned above, we are big proponents for the Wealthy Affiliate Program which helps more than 23 000 people daily who are probably in the same boat as you. Don’t take it from us though – current member Eric Cantu from the US has this to say about the platform: “With all the tools and training here at Wealthy Affiliate, the support, the mentorship, the live video classes, the course lineup, the live chat, the accessibility to incredible mentors, I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best training and mentorship platform for building a successful business online, hands down.”
Interested? Use this link to sign up for free and get access to our mentorship.