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So, you’ve finally finished crocheting that blanket or painting that portrait and you’re ready to join the millions of small business owners in the United States. What’s next? The internet makes it easier than ever for small business owners to sell items online. But with so many marketplace options, it can be easy to fall into information overload. \nAnd don’t get us started on the fees. Listing fees and selling commissions can prohibit sellers—especially small businesses—from making money. In the early days, this can be especially difficult. \nWe’ve put together a list of the best selling sites where small business owners can sell stuff online and considerations to make about each one. \n\n1. Etsy\n\nEtsy\n is one of the biggest names for online craft marketplaces. With thousands of sellers making everything from personalized portraits to handmade jewelry or furniture, many sellers use this platform to \nmarket their business\n. \nFees: \nListing fees are $0.20 per item, plus 6.5% of each transaction amount. \nConsiderations: \nMany makers have been looking for alternatives to Etsy due to their listing prices. \n2. Amazon \n\nAmazon\n is a huge global marketplace. No matter what buyers are looking for, they can find it on Amazon and have it arrive on their doorstep within days. Small business owners can build an Amazon storefront to find customers on the marketplace behemoth. \nFees: \nSellers can pick between plans before selling on Amazon. The plans are the following: \nIndividual: \n$0.99 per item sold, plus selling fees \nProfessional: \n$39.99 per month, plus selling fees \nConsiderations: \nYou may have to pay more to market your items on Amazon since there are so many businesses selling on the platform. \n3. Facebook Marketplace\n\nFacebook Marketplace\n is an online marketplace for people to sell new or used items. Businesses are able to sign up for and sell on this platform, so it’s a good place to get visibility for your small business. \nFees: \nFacebook Marketplace charges a fee of 10% for sales of $9 or more, or a flat fee of $0.40 for sales of $8 or less.\nConsiderations: \nFacebook Marketplace only works for people who have a Facebook account. \n4. Bonanza \nBonanza’s slogan is “Find everything but the ordinary.” That speaks to the diverse catalog of entrepreneurs who sell on the site. \nBonanza\n features everything from women’s and men’s clothing to home goods and beauty supplies. \nFees: \nBonanza operates with a Final Offer Value (FOV), which is the amount the buyer paid for the item plus any amount paid for shipping that exceeds $10. So, if the item costs $20 and shipping is $14, the FOV would be $24. \nFrom there, the pricing breakdown is as follows: \nFOV of $1,000 or less: \n3.5% of FOV\nFOV of $1,001 or more: \n3.5% of FOV, plus a flat rate of 1.5% of the amount that exceeds $1,000 \nMinimum fee:\n $0.50 per item\nYou may also pay a higher percentage if you opt in to advertising. \nConsiderations: \nThere is no cost to list an item. \n\n5. Craigslist\nWhile you probably don’t think of \nCraigslist\n when you’re thinking of places to sell your goods, it can be a useful tool for small business owners. Whether you provide a service or you’re selling goods, you can list your business on Craigslist to generate some local buzz. \nFees: \nNone\nConsiderations: \nCraigslist can be a breeding ground for robots or scammers, so make sure you’re selling to an actual person. \n6. Poshmark \n\nPoshmark\n is best known for its secondhand or vintage clothing resellers, but the marketplace allows sellers to list both new and used items ranging from clothing to home goods, accessories, electronics, and pet supplies. \nFees: \nFor sales under $15, Poshmark takes a $2.95 flat fee. For sales over $15, they take 20%. \nConsiderations: \nPoshmark has a reputation as a website to buy clothes. If you sell something else, you may need to work hard on your marketing. \n7. Ruby Lane \n\nRuby Lane\n is an online marketplace that focuses specifically on home goods, most notably antiques, collectibles, and other vintage finds. However, artisans and other makers also sell on the platform. So whether you’re a vintage seller or a jewelry maker, you can find your home on Ruby Lane. \nFees: \nThe fee is $25 per month for shop upkeep, plus 9.9% of each sale (capped at $250). \nConsiderations: \nShops that add 15 items in a month get a $25 rebate. So, you can get your shop upkeep fee back by listing 15 items. \n8. OfferUp\n\nOfferUp\n is a local, consumer-to-consumer marketplace that specializes in local, in-person transactions. This means that small business owners on that platform can use OfferUp as a way to generate a local customer base. \nFees: \nThe fee is\n \n$1.99, or 12.9% of the sale price. \nConsiderations: \nMany people on OfferUp are selling used goods. \n9. Mercari \n\nMercari\n is another marketplace to find secondhand goods, but their Mercari Shops feature allows small business owners and creators to open a storefront and sell their goods on the site. \nFees: \nThe fee is\n \n10% of the item’s cost.\nConsiderations: \nSellers on Mercari may also pay fees for payment processing and shipping. \n10. Decluttr \n\nDecluttr\n is a technology-specific resale website. So, if you’re in the business of finding, refurbishing, and selling old technology, this could be a good platform for you. Decluttr will determine the value of your computer, tablet, phone, CDs, or other technology and give you a payment. \nFees: \nNone \nConsiderations: \nWith Decluttr, you don’t get a storefront or build relationships with customers. It’s simply a site to send in and sell old tech. \n11. Society 6 \n\nSociety 6\n is a place for artists to post (and sell) their designs, but instead of having to create their own products, the artist only needs to upload the design to the marketplace. From there, consumers can purchase the design on a variety of mediums including canvas prints, shower curtains, mouse pads, and more. \nFees: \nArtists pay 90% of each sale to Society 6. The exception is art prints, where artists can earn more. \nConsiderations: \nSociety 6 fulfills and ships all orders on behalf of the artist. \n12. AptDeco\n\nAptDeco\n is a marketplace to buy and sell used furniture. The AptDeco website coordinates the pickup and delivery of the furniture after the sale is made, so buyers and sellers don’t have to meet up in person. \nFees: \nThe fee varies between 19% and 38% depending on the brand and selling price of the item. \nConsiderations: \nAptDeco is purely a secondhand resale website, so it would work best for people who refurbish furniture. \n13. Folksy\n\nFolksy\n calls itself an “online craft fair.” So, makers of all kinds can sell their goods on the marketplace. Makers on Folksy sell many types of handmade goods, from home decor to clothing, art and accessories. \nFees: \nFolksy has tiered fees for sellers. Sellers can pick one of the following plans: \nBasic: \n£0.15 plus Value Added Tax (VAT)\n \nPlus: \n£7.50 per month\nPlus Annual: \n£75 per year \nConsiderations: \nFolksy is only open to sellers based in the United Kingdom. \n14. Handshake\n\nHandshake\n is a wholesale marketplace, meaning people who run shops can buy bulk products to add to their inventories. For makers, this means the opportunity to get more eyes on your products if they start stocking your stuff on online or brick-and-mortar stores. \nFees: \nNone\nConsiderations: \nHandshake currently only operates in the United States. \n15. Chairish\n\nChairish\n is a vintage and newly made furniture marketplace. A team of curators approves each listing, which they hope means every purchase will be high quality. Resellers or makers can use Chairish to sell furniture, art, and other types of decor. \nFees: \nChairish fees depend on how diligently you use the platform. The tiers are as follows: \nConsignor (fewer than 10 listings): \nFlat 30%\nProfessional (10 or more listings): \n20% for vintage pieces, 30% for newly made pieces\nElite: \n20% for sales less than $2,500; 12% for sales $2,501-$25,000; 3% for amounts greater than $25,000\nConsiderations: \nIf you’re an elite seller with an item between two tiers, you pay the commission rate for the lesser tier and then the new rate only on the difference. For example, if your item sold for $8,000, you’d pay 20% on the first $2,500 and then 12% on the remaining amount of $5,500. \n16. Big Cartel\n\nBig Cartel\n says it's “made for makers,” and boasts that more than 1 million people have sold their goods on the site since it was founded in 2005. Big Cartel lets small business owners create their own storefront with one of their design templates, or you can code your own. \nFees: \nTiered monthly plans range from a free basic plan to a $19.99 plan. \nConsiderations: \nThe free plan doesn’t require a credit card to activate if you want to try out the platform. \n17. eBay\n\neBay\n is an established marketplace for sellers of all kinds. On eBay, you can sell stuff as small as an earring or as large as a car. This is a consumer-to-consumer platform, meaning you’ll sell and ship your items directly to your customers. \nFees: \nThe fee is a percentage of the sale based on the type of item, plus $0.30.  \nConsiderations: \nMany buyers look to eBay for secondhand goods. \n18. Walmart Marketplace\n\nWalmart\n is an established global retailer, and through its online marketplace, small business owners can get their products in front of the world’s eyes. Small business owners need to apply to become part of the Walmart Marketplace before they can list their products. \nFees: \nThe fee varies based on the type of product.  \nConsiderations: \nYou won’t get to build relationships with your customers. \n19. Your own website\nFor businesses with a little name recognition, \nbuilding your own website\n can be a lucrative venture. This allows you total control over your website’s design, process, and inventory. But it also puts all the work on your shoulders. \nFees: \nThe fee varies depending on which service you use to build your website. \nConsiderations: \nKeeping up a website can be a job itself, in addition to the work of making your product and running your business. \nFAQ\nNeed more answers about where to sell stuff online? We’ve got them. \nHow can I sell things online for free? \nThere are some online marketplaces that allow you to sell for free, including Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. If you’re willing to put up with a little more grunt work to get your name out there and weed out scammy buyers, these marketplaces will allow you to list free of charge. \nWhere can I sell things online fast? \nThere’s no surefire way to ensure your product will sell quickly. The speed with which your product sells will depend on things like quality, marketing, and price. \nWhere can I sell things online and get paid instantly? \nMany marketplaces now have an option for makers to get paid instantly. On some, you pay an additional fee to get the money transferred instantly, or you can avoid the fee if you’re willing to wait a few days for the bank transfer. \nFind which platform works for you\nWe know each business is unique, which means each business has a unique set of needs. When \nstarting your business\n, finding the right e-commerce platform to sell stuff online can be a challenge—not to mention the rest of small business management. \nSolo makes it easy to pay, get paid, and track spending\nSolo is not a bank, but is a financial super-app for small businesses, freelancers, sole proprietors, contractors, and more. Solo is the easy way to pay, get paid, and keep track of your spending. Your customers don't have to sign up to pay you, and can use several payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cards. QR codes make it easy to get paid, and you can easily cash out your Solo account balance for free, or spend it using your Solo Cash Card anywhere Visa is accepted. Learn more at \nSolo.co\n.

19 websites for small business owners to sell stuff online

Aspiring entrepreneurs are on the hunt for financial freedom, work schedule flexibility, and the benefits of being their own boss. Side hustles seem to fit that bill in more ways than one. On one side you have side hustles that entrepreneurs build from scratch with the intention of growing their side hustle into a full-time business. On the other side there are people that may love their job but just thirst for a little more compensation in addition to their salaries.\nBut what exactly is a side hustle? Side hustling is when a person works another job in addition to their full-time job to supplement their income.\nWhile there are many challenges that aspiring side hustlers face, there are also many avenues to success. We’ve gathered proven tips and steps to increase your chances of creating a successful side hustle.\nWhat makes a good side hustle?\n\n
Though some people have several side hustles, we recommend starting with one, making sure it's:\nSomething that focuses on your strengths and skills\nSomething you have time for\nSomething you can afford upfront\n6 side hustle examples to inspire you\nSide hustles come in all shapes and sizes. Some require little to no budget to get started, while others require more significant funding. Let’s look at six ideas to inspire your creativity. \nSocial media influencer:\n Offering your skills as a social media influencer by using your audience to promote products and produce content can help draw in and engage a company’s followers. \nDog walking: \nIf you have a passion for pets and love caring for them, then becoming a dog walker could be a perfect side hustle. Plus, there’s really no cost to get started.\nHousekeeping: \nWith no shortage of homes that need to be cleaned, you will only need to supply your own cleaning essentials to get started as a housekeeper.\nContent writing: \nDigital media is booming, and all that content needs to come from somewhere. Writing content for online platforms and magazines can turn into a lucrative side hustle once you build up your resume.    \nCreating a product to sell online: \nUse your skills to create a product like jewelry or artwork that can be sold either on your own website or through a seller's platform like Amazon or Etsy. \nDriving:\n Becoming a rideshare or food delivery driver (Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, DoorDash, etc.) are great ways to boost your income on your own time. \nTips and steps to start a simple side hustle \nSide hustles that are truly hands-off in terms of building it from scratch (think uberEats or Instacart) are much easier to get going. Usually, with side hustles like these, users can simply sign up and go with no worry about marketing, budgets, or products. Here are the basic steps of starting a simple side hustle, using Instacart for example. \nInstacart is a delivery service where people can order groceries and have them delivered, usually within an hour or two window. As a driver for Instacart, signup is simple:\nDownload the Instacart Shopper app, not to be confused with the Instacart delivery app where patrons place their orders\nNext, you wait for your account request to be approved. They don’t want to oversaturate an area so they only allow so many people to join at a time. \nOnce approved you receive your Instacart shopper card. This is where money is loaded for each purchase.\nFrom here you pick your deliveries which can range from $7 to $100+ depending on added tips, location, item weight, and number of stops \nPayout happens once the order has been successfully completed and dropped off\nAs we can see, this form of side hustle is a no-brainer that eliminates the worry of collecting payments, taxes and pitching yourself. \n7 steps to start a side hustle business \n\n
Ask any successful side hustler and they’ll likely tell you that starting a side hustle is both exciting and daunting. While full-time employment may not be your ultimate goal, if you're serious about growing your side hustle, set yourself up for that success from the very beginning. This includes:\nBrainstorming ideas\nValidating your idea\nDesigning your brand\nSolidifying your logistics\nSetting up your digital presence\nLaunching and investing in your side hustle\nThis isn’t the case for every side hustle, however. If your side hustle is driving for a rideshare service, for example, it’s simply a matter of signing up for the platform and going through the steps to get approved to start working. The steps below pertain more to those who have a product or service that they’d like to market and sell. \nStep 1: Brainstorm ideas \nThe first step is the ideation phase. Allow your creative juices to flow, find inspiration in anything, and let the process get messy if necessary. Here’s what you’ll want to accomplish during this phase:\nConsider potential options: \nThink about things you enjoy doing, have the time for and that could be lucrative. How many hours per day or week are you able to invest in your side hustle? \nIdentify your target audience:\n Identify your ideal customer. Name them, give them a personality and define a need that you can meet with your product or service.\nCreate a marketing plan: \nThink about the best ways to reach your intended audience. If you'll be selling a product online, you might think about using social media to reach people from all over the country. If you'll be offering a service locally, like cleaning or dog walking, you might want to put up old-school, physical flyers in areas with high foot traffic.\nStep 2: Validate your idea\nIdea validation is the process of proving to yourself that your product or service hypothesis is valid. This means you’re answering yes to the question: Is this product or service unique, needed, and potentially profitable? Here’s how you do it:\nLook at trends: \nTrends are a great way to gather social proof that a product is creating a buzz or has the potential to grow based on how it’s trending in the market. If you’re performing a local service, join community Facebook pages and get a feel for any major needs. \nAsk for advice:\n Simply ask those you trust if an idea is potentially a winner. Sometimes you may be too close to a situation to determine what is and isn’t a winning idea. \nPoll your audience:\n Who better to ask than the potential customers you’ll be marketing to? If you plan to run an online service, use social media to ask your audience questions. If you plan to run a local service, go back to the community Facebook pages or relevant forums and create a poll there. \nStep 3: Design your brand\nThis step mostly applies to online businesses. Create the baseline for your product, your website, and your social media through brand design. Now is when you’ll flesh out the fine details of the way you want your brand to look and feel to your audience. This involves:\nChoosing brand colors that match your vision and appeal to your customer\nSelecting layouts and fonts to use in your marketing\nCreating a website design mockup for you or a designer to model after\nStep 4: Solidify the logistics\nNow it’s time to take a tangible step toward your side hustle creation by getting everything set up. This applies to both online side hustles and those you perform in person. In this step, you’ll be solidifying the foundation of your business by getting your presence built out. This includes:\nCreate your business entity: \nThis is the structure of your business — for example, an \nLLC\n, sole proprietorship, or partnership.\nDevelop a financial plan: \nPlan out what you have to invest now in your business, how you need to price your products or services, and budget for your marketing efforts.\nPlan for taxes: \nKeep taxes at the forefront of your mind. From the moment you make your first sale, you should be planning to set a percentage aside for taxes. \nStep 5: Set up your digital presence\nDigital marketing can be most accessible and fairly inexpensive compared to more traditional marketing routes. Here are some ways to implement digital marketing in your side hustle:\nEstablish yourself by setting up a website:\n Do this either through a \nweb designer or DIY\n.\nSet up social channels: \nYou’ll want to be where your audience is, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.\nStep 6: Prep for launch\nThis is when you’ll prepare products, \nsocial posts\n, and \nemail newsletters\n for the release of your product or service. Sometimes new business owners will offer discounts or incentives to draw in new customers. Here’s what you need for your launch:\nCreate hype through marketing and outreach\nHave a strategic posting plan for the days leading up to your launch as well as the day of to build hype and remind your audience of your release. Also, consider visiting local events like farmers' markets to spread the word if you offer local services like cleaning or dog walking. \nTest your product and website \nFor those with an online business, do a dry run to double-check that your email sign-up, website, and checkout process are all running smoothly. You don’t want anyone deterred by malfunctions at any point in the purchasing process.\nEstablish a launch timeline\nFor some side hustles that are needed year-round, like dog walking and home cleaning services, you may find that any time is a good time to launch. For online-only businesses, you should determine the best time to launch. Most companies choose Wednesay, Thursday and Friday to launch \naccording to research\n. You want to avoid competing with other brand launches to not take away the hype from you. \nStep 7: Launch and invest in your side hustle\nLaunch occurs when all systems are firing, you have your social outreach blazing, your promos are in full effect and your incentives are out there baiting new leads. Since a side hustle isn’t likely your main source of income, it’s something that you can invest time into when you have the time.\nCertainly not necessary to run a side hustle, but below there are some tasks to consider if you’re interested in growing your side hustle into a full-time gig:\nCollect metrics\nAs your first time out of the gate, it’s more important than ever to have your website and social media metrics collecting as much data as possible for future evaluation. From this, you’ll be able to see what worked well and what outperformed the rest. Where did you receive the most traction? What were your prime locations or popular offerings?\nPlan future product development\nOnce you’ve sat down to investigate your first set of metrics, you can now plan for future product development and marketing. Take this insight and maximize your efforts on what could produce an even higher return on your next product launch. \nSide hustle startup challenges (and solutions)\n\nWith any business venture, there is a list of potential obstacles to look out for and be prepared to face. Don’t be caught off guard by the lack of knowledge and resources needed to respond to them as they come along. Here are our top picks for the challenges you’ll likely encounter:\nInsufficient funds\nBurnout\nLack of time\nScaling\nInsufficient funds\nThis one should come as no surprise: Many businesses need money to get started. Some may need more money than others, but you will eventually need to invest to see a return. \nPotential solutions: \nThe best way to prepare is to have a plan already in place. Know your initial startup costs and save for the budget you’ll need and \nfund your business\n. Also, consider:\nAsking for investments from family and friends\nAsking for a \nloan\n\nCrowdfunding\nBurnout\nYou may reach a point when you’ve put in hundreds of hours of work only to feel like you’re standing completely still. This is usually about the time when burnout begins to creep in and doubts about your plans for the future can show up.\nPotential solutions: \nDon’t ignore your feelings — your body has a good way of letting you know when you’ve had enough, and it’s good to listen. When we’re frustrated and fed up, we can often make mistakes. Try these tips:\nTake a step back and assess the situation\nRefer back to your plan and reassess if changes are needed\nAsk for advice from a mentor or friend \nLack of time\nFinding time to partake in a side hustle, especially if you’re juggling life in the form of full-time jobs, education, or acting as a caretaker to your family.\nPotential solutions: \nThe key is to maximize your efforts during the time you have. Here are a few ways to do this:\nHave a to-do list ready to go for each day\nDelegate the tasks that are able to be reassigned\nRemove distractions\nScaling\nFor the simpler side hustlers, growth is not a problem you have to worry about. However, if you’re trying to build a more complex side hustle, growth is on the mind of every business owner — how to make more, spend less, and increase the customer market. Scaling is part of the business equation, but it’s often easier said than done. \nPotential solutions: \nTaking your business to new heights involves planning, resources, and a winning idea to piggyback on. Here are the best ways to get started on scaling your business:\nLearn from your mistakes and your competitors\nFocus on the next phase of your business\nBe flexible in exchanging what’s not working for what is\nCrafting success with your side hustle\nSide hustles are a great way to earn some extra money, but be wise to not overwhelm yourself with the to-do list. The best way to start is with a plan. \nEstablishing a plan and a means to implement it is crucial to success. Learn from those around you and be flexible to make changes along the way. \nSolo can help side-hustlers get paid quickly and easily\nSome side hustles use their own integrated payment platforms (Uber, for example), but many side hustles require you to collect payments from customers, which can be a pain. This is where Solo comes in. Solo is not a bank, but is a financial super-app for side-hustlers, freelancers, sole proprietors, contractors, and more. Solo is the easy way to pay, get paid, and keep track of your spending. Your customers don't have to sign up to pay you, and can use several payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cards. QR codes make it easy to get paid, and you can easily cash out your Solo account balance for free, or spend it using your Solo Cash Card anywhere Visa is accepted. Learn more at \nSolo.co\n.

7 steps to start a side hustle plus 6 examples to inspire you

In this article:\nWhat is order fulfillment?\nWhat you need to know about the order fulfillment process\nCreating a profitable shipping and handling strategy\nHow to accurately calculate shipping costs\nShipping pricing options for eCommerce stores\nShipping carriers\nWhether you plan to run a brick-and-mortar shop with a supplemental online shopping cart, or whether you’re considering going fully eCommerce, your efficacy with shipping and handling will have a huge impact on your customers’ overall experience. \nIf their online purchase experience doesn’t go as expected or there’s a mishap with their order, you’re not likely to keep them as a customer unless you go over and above to make amends. \nHelp your business keep more opportunities by following our guide to fulfilling online orders. \nWhat is online order fulfillment?\nOrder fulfillment is everything involved in the process of ordering a product. Storing your inventory, taking and organizing orders, packaging, and properly shipping the product to your customers are all a part of the process. \nEnsure that your customers have a good experience with your business by strategizing your order fulfillment process. Whether you are business-to-business or business-to-consumer, your order fulfillment process will factor greatly into how they view your company. \nWhat you need to know about the order fulfillment process\nOrder fulfillment is more than simply shipping items to a customer. A lot of strategizing is involved to ensure a satisfactory buying experience. From tracking orders, to making sure you have the inventory you need to fulfill orders quickly, to having a profit-positive, yet customer-pleasing shipping and returns system in place, you have a lot to think about. \nInventory receiving and storage\nBefore you can ever provide a product to a customer, you need to have the inventory from which to pull that product. How are you getting the product yourself? Are you renting warehouse space or are you drop-shipping? \nGo deeper: \nHow to set up an online store\nIf you manufacturer the product or order it to yourself first and keep your inventory on hand, you obviously need a place for storing and organizing your inventory (also known as warehousing) while waiting for shipment. \nThis will help you keep your products secure and organized, and help you to know what is available for your customers’ immediate purchase. \necommerce store warehousing inventory with shelves\n\nOn the other hand, maybe you’re choosing the dropshipping method. Dropshipping is when you use a third-party manufacturer or warehouser to store products and ship them directly to your customers.   \nNo matter which of these methods you use for your inventory storage it will be important to have plans for these next parts of the order fulfillment process.\nOrder processing\nOrder processing involves physically retrieving the product and packaging it (whether you are doing this or you’re using a dropshipper). Basically, this step involves preparing the item to be shipped to your customer. \nA few things to include in your order processing procedures:\nExamining the product to ensure it’s not broken or defective\nSelecting the appropriate packaging material that will be used (boxes, bubble wrap, paper, packing peanuts, etc.)\nPackaging the product securely\nAdding a shipping label with the correct address\nDetermining how much shipping will cost (if this hasn’t been done already)\nIf you are dropshipping your products, make sure you have an approved process and clear instructions in place with the company that will be processing and shipping your products for you. \nShipping\nWhen your product is ready to send to the customer, it’s time to get it into the possession of the carrier that will be delivering the product. How will you make this happen?\nFor smaller shops, you might be running the products to the post office yourself. \nFor larger and more regular orders, you might schedule a daily carrier pickup at your location, or wherever your orders will be prepared for shipping.\nWe’ll talk in more detail about shipping in the sections below.\nReturns\nYou need to be prepared to process returns. Not every person will be satisfied with their product. \nMaybe they ordered the wrong size or purchased a gift for someone and found they already had a similar item. Whatever their reason for the return, you should be ready. \nCome up with simple, clear, and profitable return policy. Good things to consider when developing your return policy include:\nDuration of time during which you will provide a full or partial refund\nTerms that qualify a refund\nWill you accept returns on merchandise that has been removed from its original packaging (not the shipping package)?\nDo you charge a “restocking” fee?\nWhich party is responsible for return shipping fees (you or your customer)?\nDo you provide refunds as store credit or do you refund the original fund-transfer method (credit/debit cards, PayPal, electronic check, etc.)?\nThen, depending on the quality of the product when it is returned, you need to decide if you will restock it or dispose of it. \nafrican american woman working fulfilling small business ecommerce order\n\nCreating a shipping and handling strategy\nWe’ve talked about some of the main factors that go into the order fulfillment process, and now it’s time to get strategic and create your shipping and handling plan. \nResources\nThe resources you have available will largely determine how you will handle the shipping and handling of your products. \nWhat is your order volume like?\nIf you have a low amount of orders coming in, you may choose to fulfill the orders yourself. Then you need to determine if your home will work for this or if you’ll need to rent a storage space to handle your inventory. \nLarger order volumes may require you investing in your own storage space or outsourcing the work to a third party. \nDetermine what your order volume will be and how you plan to scale to help you in deciding how to ship your products. \nLocation\nYour location will definitely factor into the cost of shipping your products and may even factor into where you are willing to ship your products. \nLonger distances and overseas or over country borders impact shipping rates, so you’ll want to keep these things in mind when putting your order fulfillment strategy together. \nWill only ship locally? Will you only ship to the continental U.S.? Will you ship wherever people are willing to buy from you?\nThink about the type of shipping rates that you want to offer your customers. If you want to offer free shipping or a flat rate, shipping products out of the country isn’t going to be a viable option for you. (We’ll go over shipping options later in this article so you can decide which works best for your business.)\nProducts\nThe traits of your products will have a large impact on your shipping strategy. Are your products heavy, fragile, hazardous materials, temperature-sensitive, over-sized? All of these attributes will contribute to how your products need to be shipped and what the cost of that will be. \nTechnology\nWhat kind of technological resources do you have at your disposal? Integrating your online store with your shipping and handling processes will help you run a more efficient order fulfillment operation. \nSome functions that can help:\nAlerts for your shipping and handling team when an order is placed\nProviding tracking information to your customers\nDigitizing your inventory levels and keeping them available to all shipping locations\nHaving a reorder point formula when stock levels get low\nHow to calculate shipping costs\nSeveral factors contribute to your overall shipping costs. Along with everything that we’ve discussed already, you need to identify a few additional pieces of information to calculate your shipping costs. \nDelivery time\nHow quickly can you get your products to your customers?\nYou may need to experiment with this one a little bit. Determine the time it will take for a product to get to your customer after they place an order. \ncommon carrier driver delivering package to a woman for ecommerce\n\nMany US customers today have been spoiled by Amazon’s 2-day shipping (or even same-day shipping!) and expect the same from other companies. Is that something that you could try? \nShipping items quicker also results in higher costs and more complicated infrastructure, which should be reflected on the customers’ costs. \nBottom line is there’s no way you can compete with Amazon on shipping costs for common goods, so you need to determine how you will differentiate your store from the monster eCommerce players.\nTake all of these things into consideration and determine a reasonable time frame to ship your products to your customers. Set clear expectations for your customers as well so they aren’t surprised by the time that it takes their order to arrive. \nGet estimated costs \nGet estimated costs of shipping your products from different carriers. Most major carriers—USPS, FedEx, and UPS—will calculate costs accurately based on the size and weight of the item and the shipping origin and destination. \nDo some comparisons with different carriers to see what your costs might look like and use that to help you find the best rates. You may also ask about bulk shipping rates or special discounts if you meet certain terms.\nShipping costs factored into the product price?\nWill you factor any shipping costs into the cost of the product? If you choose to offer free shipping, you will have to make up the cost in other ways.\nWill you need to raise the price of your product a little bit? Can you save money elsewhere in your business to help you absorb the cost of shipping? \nAfter all, the most customer-satisfying shipping experience in the world won’t help you much if you’re not profitable at the end of the day. \nAlso, “free shipping” is a lot more appealing to customers than even $5 shipping. So if you have a product that sells for $30 and shipping costs you $5, it will likely be more attractive to your customers if they purchase the product for $35 and get free shipping than if you price it at $30 and charge them $5 shipping—even if their actual out-of-pocket cost is the same.  \nman shrugging for online ecommerce fulfillment shipping\n\nHandling costs\nHandling costs are important to consider if you are using a fulfillment center or have extra employees you are paying to assist you with order processing, packing, and shipping. \nIt may be difficult to determine the handling costs for each individual item, so let’s take a broader look at this.  \nLet’s say you are spending an average of $1,000 each month on your shipping and handling operations and you send out around 200 orders. Your handling cost per order would then average $5.\nOf course, there’s a little more that goes into it than that, but this is a good start to determining your costs. Be sure to take these into account.\nShipping price options for eCommerce stores\nCustomers expect options when it comes to selecting how to ship their orders. What’s more, you don’t want them to be surprised and disappointed when they get to the checkout process and see how much their shipping is going to cost.\nWe’ve laid out several common shipping options for you so you can determine which one/s will be the best option for your business. \nFree shipping\nFree shipping is self-explanatory. We’re all familiar with Amazon Prime’s free 2-day shipping. But there is a lot to consider if you are going to offer free shipping to your customers. \nIt is not free for you to ship your products, so how are you going to balance out your cost of shipping and handling customer orders? \nA common solution is to raise the cost of the product to cover the cost of shipping. This way, your customer is satisfied that they “don’t have to pay for shipping” (even though they technically are in a way) and you don’t have to absorb that cost. \nHowever, on less expensive items, it doesn’t always make sense to raise the cost to cover shipping expenses. It will make more sense from a customer perspective to pay a flat rate for shipping several low-cost items rather than getting free shipping on items that cost a few dollars more than they “should.” \nFlat rate shipping\nFlat rate shipping is when you have a specific, stated shipping cost no matter how many items a customer orders. Let’s say you have a flat rate of $4.99 for shipping orders of any amount. Your customer might order 1 product or 10, but their shipping rate would remain that same $4.99. \nReal-time quotes\nReal-time quotes take the size, shape, and weight of your products and, in real-time, calculate the costs necessary to ship them.\nReal-time quotes are a great shipping option if you sell an assortment of products of varying sizes and weights. This helps to ensure that the customer is getting a fair rate and that your costs are covered. \nonline store on tablet for ecommerce fulfillment\n\nTwo-day or same-day shipping \nIf you’ve determined through market research that your customer base is intent on getting rapid shipping, then it might be a good idea to offer two-day or same-day shipping. \nYou don’t have to offer free shipping on these options either, and if you do, be aware that the costs will be \nsignificant\n. \nDetermine your costs to ship your products in this time frame and add a shipping option with a higher rate for quicker delivery times. You might be surprised how many customers are willing to pay significantly more to see their orders a few days sooner. \nRate-by-order\nRate-by-order allows you to offer your customers deals for paying more at your store. For example, you could charge for typical orders but offer free shipping on orders over $100 (or whatever threshold you determine will be profitable for your store). \nShipping carriers to consider for your online fulfillment\nIf you are managing the shipping and handling for your business, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the different carriers that are available to you. \nResearch local, national, and international carriers (depending on where you will ship your products to) and find the best rates for your product offerings. \nSome of the common carriers include:\nUSPS\nUPS\nFedEx\nDHL (international)\nwhite usps truck for ecommerce shipping fulfillment\nAfter you’ve successfully delivered a product to your customer, be sure to follow up by asking them how you did. \nLet them know that you appreciate online feedback and reviews on your website, Facebook page, or Google listing to help convert even more customers. 

Complete guide to fulfilling and shipping orders for your online store

In this article:\nDecide what products to sell\nWill you warehouse your own products or dropship?\nCome up with a memorable business name\nSteps to set up your online store\nYou’ve decided that you want to start selling products online. That’s a great step towards starting or growing your own small business.  \nBut maybe you’re not quite sure what you need to do to get started. In this article, we’ll guide you through the things you need to be prepared for to start an eCommerce store for your small business. \nWhat will you be selling?\nFirst, you need to know what you’ll be selling. If you’re looking to start an online-only store, you should already have products in mind that you want to sell. \nOr maybe you already have an established business and just want to reach more customers by opening an online store as an extension of your brick-and-mortar shop. \nEither way, you’ll need to figure out the answers to these questions to have a successful online store. \nWhat is your niche?\nYou need to determine where your product fits into a consumer’s world. Is it a necessity, convenience, something they want? What is the general category of your product? Is the market already saturated by popular brands?\nSelling a product online in a niche that already has a heavy amount of brand loyalty, for example, headphones (Sony, Beats, Skullcandy), will be very difficult because people won’t be searching for a new place to shop from. They’ll go to the brands they like and are familiar with. \nBut in a niche where there isn’t a lot of brand recognition, like sweaters or water bottles, there’s a lot more opportunity for people to consider new brands and stores to purchase from. \nWhat costs will be associated?\nDetermine the costs that will be associated with manufacturing, packaging, and shipping your products. This will help you to figure out a cost that will be profitable for you. \nWho are you targeting?\nYou need to know your target audience. You need to understand how they think, what they like, their spending habits. This will help you to choose a price and design your product in a way that is appealing to them. Be as specific as you can.\nDecide to dropship or stock your own inventory\nNow you know what you are selling, but are you going to warehouse your inventory yourself, or are you going to dropship your products?\n\nLet’s go over both of these options. \nDropshipping\nDropshipping is the process of sending an order to a manufacturer or wholesaler who then ships the product directly to your customer. You don’t actually store the product yourself, but purchase it from a third party and they ship it to your customers. \nThis is a great option for online stores, particularly if you don’t have a large space to keep your inventory. Anyone can use dropshipping methods to get their eCommerce store up and running. \nThis sounds pretty enticing. But there are cons associated with this method as well. \nWhen a customer wants to make a return because the product wasn’t right for them or there was a mistake with their order, that falls back on you to figure it out. It’s your business, and your product, so you need to work with the manufacturer to determine the processes to fix the problem. \nThis can take a lot of time when you’re working through a third party and it can cost a lot of money to return the product, especially if the manufacturer you’re using is overseas. \nComing up with a good return policy can help offset any of the negative impacts that this might have on your business. \nThis is particularly true today, with so many huge eCommerce brands and companies offering free, no-questions-asked returns and exchanges. It’s difficult for smaller companies to provide the same level of service due to lower volume and higher relative costs.\nStocking your own products\nWarehousing your own products and shipping them yourself seems to have three obvious disadvantages:\nPurchasing inventory costs money in advance\nStoring that inventory costs money (and takes space)\nPacking and shipping products costs time and money\nWith dropshipping, all of that can be outsourced and save you a lot of time… but it can be prohibitively expensive.\nThere are some major benefits to stocking your own products: \nReturns are easier and faster because you handle these directly with your customer rather than through a third party\nYou can add more custom branding to your packaging (brand awareness is huge!)\nDelivery times are generally shorter\nYou know your products better than any third party\nBetter profit margins are possible when you purchase products in bulk and store them yourself\nThere are pros and cons to both of these solutions. You need to decide which works best for your business model and what will help you scale your business. \nCome up with a business name and domain name\nYour online store will need a business name (which you may already own) and a domain name for your website. \nYour domain name is the URL that customers will use to access your online store, and it can have some impact on how well customers can find your store when doing a search online. \nIf you already have a business name for a brick-and-mortar store, that’s great. Try to find a domain that fits well with your brand. \nIf not, follow these tips for choosing a business name for your online store:\nFollow any state guidelines for business names\nDon’t pick something that is too similar to a competitor\nChoose something that is intuitive to spell and pronounce\nChoose a name that is actually available as a .com domain name (duh)\nChoose something unique\nBe consistent with your branding/products\nDon’t limit yourself unnecessarily with your business name (maybe you want to expand your product offerings in the future, so don’t choose a name that limits that)\nOnce you have your business name, you need to choose a domain name for your online store. If your business name is available as a domain, then that is generally the best option from a branding perspective. But there are some other things to consider when choosing a domain name:\nChoose a “.com” domain preferably, if you are selling within the US or internationally\nAvoid brand names and product names that are owned by other companies (even if you sell those products)\nBe unique, but also make it easy to spell and pronounce\nIncluding a keyword can help your website be more searchable online (but again, don’t limit yourself by adding a specific keyword if you plan to expand your offerings later on)\nFind your eCommerce website builder\nOnce you have your products and your business and domain names figured out, it’s time to find the right website builder for your online store. \nThere are several eCommerce solutions that you can choose from, so do your research to find the one that will work best for your business. \nwoman using tablet showing ecommerce fashion store\n\nWe’ve listed a couple of our favorites for you to get started. \nEcwid\nFrom a cost and usability perspective, Ecwid is one of the best online store builders you can find. \nEcwid is an awesome resource for selling products online across multiple platforms—your website, social media, Amazon, Google Ads, POS, mobile apps, you name it. \nAnd, if you have 10 products or less, you can use their free plan (however we recommend their Venture or Business plan for more features). \nAll you have to do is create an account and get started. There are no fees to start and no transaction fees (although Ecwid does partner with outside payments processors who will charge a nominal transaction fee for card payments).\nFor all Ecwid plans, you can add your products to your current website or get a free instant site.  \nEcwid plans:\nThe Free plan includes 10 products that can be added to an online store.\nThe Venture plan is $15/month for up to 100 products. It allows you to add products to a Facebook shop, Instagram store, and mobile POS. You can also add discount coupons, get automated tax calculations, inventory management, and advanced SEO tools. \nThe Business plan is $35/month and allows up to 2500 products. This plan comes with product filters and variations for customers to easily search through your store to find exactly what they need. \nThe Unlimited plan is $99/month and lets you have an unlimited amount of products and has a Square POS integration. \nShopify\nShopify has a drag-and-drop store builder that makes putting your online store together easy and fun. \nYou can choose from several free themes, customize your colors and fonts, and everything is designed to be friendly for mobile devices, too. \nPlans for Shopify:\nBasic Shopify starts at $29/month and allows unlimited products, discount codes, and 24/7 support. (Recommended for new startups without a brick-and-mortar location)\nShopify starts at $79/month and includes everything from the basic plan, plus gift cards and professional reports. \nAdvanced Shopify is $299/month and includes advanced reports, third-party calculated shipping rates, and up to 8 store locations. \nMany other platforms for setting up an eCommerce store are out there, so read up on your options and find the one that will work best for you. \nPick your eCommerce template and customize it\nDepending on the eCommerce solution that you choose, you will likely have a template to choose from, or at the very least some customizations you can make to it. \nThe design of your online store is important. It helps set the tone for your store and helps to establish your brand. So make sure to customize the messaging, colors, images, and fonts to the full capabilities you are allowed with your platform. \nAdd your products\nOnce you’ve customized your online store, it’s time to add your products. For every product, you’re going to want to include the following items:\nName\nPrice\nCategory\nWeight (if applicable to determine shipping costs)\nFiles (if selling digital products)\nDescriptions (avoid jargon, complex sentences, cliches) \nProduct images (high-quality images are a must here. Get a professional photographer if you need to)\nSet up payment methods\nAfter you’ve added your products, you need to set up your payment methods. Determine what options you will have connected with your online store and how your customers will be able to pay for their orders. \nIt will be good to research different payment processors and methods for accepting payments prior to setting up your online store. Here are some questions to ask when conducting your search:\nWhat are the fees? Are there any additional transactional fees or percentages kept from orders?\nIs it a highly recognized source that customers will trust?\nA few popular payment options to look into that are easily integrated into most eCommerce solutions:\nPaypal\nStripe\nSquare\nApple Pay\nWhat about security?\nOnline store builders generally come with built-in SSL certificates, meaning your customers’ information will be encrypted to ensure their online shopping experience is secure. \nFigure out shipping policies\nNow that you have your products and payment methods figured out, you need to make sure that you can ship your products to your customers in a cost-effective and customer-friendly way. \nHere are some questions to consider as you set up your shipping rates:\nWill you offer free shipping?\nWhere are you shipping to and from? \nAre there specific places you won’t ship to? \nWill you ship outside of the United States?\nWhat are the costs to ship outside of the US or continental US?\nConsider the following shipping options and determine will work best for your business. \nFree shipping\nIf you choose to offer free shipping, it’s a good idea to increase the price of your products to include the costs that you will incur for shipping. Free shipping is an enticing selling point to the customer. You just want to make sure that it’s still a profitable option for you, too. \nFlat rate shipping\nFlate rate shipping is the same price for every product or order. No matter how many things the customer orders, their shipping is only a flat fee of your choosing. \nThis is also an enticing selling point for customers if they will be making large, bulky, or heavy orders. Be sure you can cover the costs and still make a profit.\nReal-time quotes\nReal-time quotes calculate the shipping fees in real-time based on the size, weight, and destination of the product. This is a great method for transparency for your customers and helps you to cover the costs better if you offer products of varying sizes and/or ship to locations with varying costs.\nLocal pickup\nIf you have a brick-and-mortar store, you can add an option for your customers to come pick up their online orders at your location. Additional options like this can be a good selling point, especially for local customers. \nRate by order\nRate-by-order shipping is a great option to reward your customers for spending more at your store. For example, you might offer free shipping on orders over $50 (or whatever threshold you decide will still be profitable). \nShipping services\nYou’ll need to pick a reliable courier to deliver your products to your customers. Some popular options include USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Most online store builders also have partnerships with specific couriers to give you better shipping rates and discounts. \nfedex truck on the road for shipping ecommerce\n\nTroubleshoot your store, and publish it when you’re ready\nNow that you have all of the above figured out, you should thoroughly test your store. Look through all of your products and make sure they are set up how you want them. Ensure that there’s a good flow from browsing to checkout. Test ship some orders to yourself or friends.\nUse this list to help you test everything before publishing your online store:\nDoes everything actually work? Go through the entire checkout process a few times\nAre the prices displaying and calculating correctly in the cart?\nTest your payment processor\nIs your content all there and correct? No typos? Have someone proofread your site\nDoes it work on mobile?\nTest across multiple browsers\nDouble-check your settings (language, currency, time zone, store name, contact, order settings, product settings)\nWhen you’re confident that your store functions properly and you are satisfied with the look and feel of it all, then publish it! \nThe last step is to start marketing your store and getting it in front of more customers online and in person. \nSome handy small business marketing resources for you:\n\nThe small business marketing success guide\n\nWhy Instagram Stories are the most underrated small business marketing tool\n\nTop 10 best practices for small business email marketing\n\n\nWhy small business email marketing should be your top priority\n\nBuild your online presence and work for more online reviews\nOnline reviews are a great way to help improve your eCommerce store’s reputation, \nimprove local SEO\n, and gain new customers. Make sure you stay on top of your online reputation.

How to set up an eCommerce store for your small business

In this article:\nClaim your Google My Business listing\nRespond to reviews\nWays to encourage more online reviews\nDon’t incentivize reviews\nTry reputation management software\nOnline reviews are crucial in today’s digital world. They are a huge conversion factor for new customers because they help to set you apart from your competition. Even bad reviews can help you convert more customers to your salon—depending on how you handle them. \nGetting new reviews doesn’t always come easy though. Even though some bad reviews can be good, you don’t want those to be all you get, and happy customers just don’t think to leave reviews as often. So, what can a salon owner do to get a good review?\nLet’s take a look. \nClaim your Google My Business listing\nYou can’t get Google reviews without a Google business listing. It’s also going to be difficult to get new customers without a Google business listing, so this should be an important first step in any business’s digital marketing strategy.\nIf you’re not sure where to get started, check out \nhow to claim your Google business listing\n.\nOnce you have a Google My Business listing for your hair or nail salon and have full access to it, you can then receive and respond to customer reviews. \nRespond to reviews\nAnother important step into getting more reviews and converting new customers is responding to your reviews. This is especially crucial for a business that helps its customers to look and feel better about themselves, whether that’s a barbershop, nail salon, or all-in-one beauty salon. You don’t need bad reviews going without responses. You should always respond to a review within a day or two of receiving it, so make sure your notifications are turned on. \nWhen you get a good review, leave a personalized thank you message for the customer that left it. This will help them feel appreciated and more likely to come back as well as show future customers how friendly and responsive you are. \nWhen you do get a negative review or two (and you will), it’s just as important—if not more so—to respond to them. Let’s say a customer leaves a review about a hairstylist royally messing up their new look. This is your chance to respond and invite them to come back to get it fixed on the house or try to smooth the problem over another way. \nLeaving a professional and friendly response on a negative review helps you look good and shows that you’re willing to resolve issues if they come up. \nEncourage customers to leave reviews\nOkay, here’s the step that shows you how to actively acquire new reviews for your hair or nail salon. Now that you have your listing set up and you’re in the habit of responding to your reviews, it’s time to ask for more. Here are a few ways that we’ve found impactful. \nAsk for reviews\nNot always the most effective, but asking for reviews is still a good way to get reviews on Google. Invite your customers to leave you a review on Google when they are grinning from ear to ear and in love with their new look. This plants a seed in their mind and the next time they’re on Google, they might just take you up on that ask. \nNever ask for a “good” or “positive” review, though. Just let customers know you value their feedback.\nStrategically place “Rate us on Google” signs in your salon\nAdd a visual reminder that your salon is on Google and that you’d love for your customers to leave reviews and engage with you online. A sign on the way out the door or on the mirrors at each booth are a good place for these. \nSend links to customers\nMany salons interact with their customers via text or some other messaging platform. Take advantage of that relationship and use it to ask your customers to leave a review for your salon. This invite should come from their stylist or nail tech and should be appropriately timed. \nSimilar to asking for reviews in person, you want to time the invitation at the opportune moment for your customer, like shortly after they leave their most recent appointment.\nYou can include a short link that directs the customer directly to your Google reviews. Many reputation management solutions offer review invitation features that are well worth considering, too. \nShould I offer rewards or buy positive reviews?\nNever buy reviews or offer incentives for customer reviews. For example, offering to put a customer into a raffle or giving them a gift card for leaving you a good review on Google is a bad business practice. \nThe reason for this, other than it being against Google policies, is that it discredits all of your positive reviews, even if they weren’t all bribed. If people learn that you “paid” customers for reviews, then how can they trust that those are real experiences?\nAlso, if Google does get wind that you’re using these “black hat” practices to get your reviews, they can penalize you by deleting your reviews or removing your salon from its search engine entirely. \nThe best way to get reviews is to provide excellent customer service and to encourage your customers to leave reviews in the ways that we mentioned earlier. 

How to get more Google reviews for your hair or nail salon

In this article:\nStart brainstorming\nSolve a problem\nDon’t look for a completely unique business idea\nStart doing something\nTalk to professionals\nDo market research\nDetermine the costs\nDetermine the time commitment\nTalk to your personal network\nStarting a business is a big decision and a great step toward independence in your career. Before you can start a business though, you need to have a solid idea to get off the ground. \nComing up with a business idea and deciding the type of business you want to run is the most important part of starting a business. We’ll walk you through some important steps in determining what kind of business you should start. \nStart brainstorming about small business ideas\nWhen you start your own business, you should make sure it’s something that you’re passionate about and enjoy. This will help you find the motivation to keep it going when times get tough. \nSo, to find your passion, start brainstorming. \nGet a sheet of paper or jump onto a Google doc and make a list about yourself. List the things that you really enjoy doing and things that you’re good at. These can be things like “I’m really good with kids,” “I enjoy talking to people,” “I’m organized,” “I’m great at strategic planning,” etc. \nOn another page, make a list of things that you really don’t prefer to do or aren’t particularly good at. Maybe you’re great at talking to people one-on-one but you don’t like talking to large groups or making big presentations. Write those things down. \nLet the creative juices start flowing and keep writing until you have an expansive list of things about you that can help you to determine the perfect type of business for you to run. \nman brainstorming for small business startup ideas\n\nYour idea for small business should solve a problem\nUltimately, your business idea should solve a problem for someone—and it doesn’t have to be a problem that no one’s ever solved before. \nIf you’re good at landscaping and lawn care, look at what it takes to start a lawn-care business. It’s been done before, but it’s perfectly fine to enter into a market that has some competition. \nThink about a common problem that people have and will have for many years to come. Then, come up with an idea that solves that problem, whether it’s a new way of fixing an old problem or the same way that other businesses are already solving the problem (just better). \nDon’t look for a completely unique small business idea\nThis may seem like an odd suggestion, but most ideas that you come up with aren’t going to be totally unique. You might think of some grand idea only to go look it up on Google and someone is already doing it. That’s OK!\nBusiness ideas that are already in use are proven to be successful, and competition is a necessary aspect of the free market. If you think you can excel with a business idea that someone else has already started, then give it a try and look for ways that you can make it better. \nOn the other side of this coin, if you start a business that is \ntoo\n unique, consumers probably won’t know that it’s even a service or product that they need and won’t think to look for it. \nIn this online world, coming up with a business that people already need and are searching for is going to help you immensely. \nWe aren’t trying to discourage you from being unique, we just want to bring up these points for your awareness in your search for the perfect business idea. \nA unique business idea can succeed if you’ve done the research on the need/desire for it and know how to market it well. For example, an existing \nsmall business idea can work in a small town.\n The people in that town would probably appreciate a regular laundromat if they don’t already have one!\nStart doing something\nDon’t just wait around for an idea to fall into your lap. Start doing something. Maybe you don’t have your business idea totally figured out, but you know what you’re good at doing, so do it.\nStart freelancing and taking on side jobs that relate to specific skills that you enjoy using. Use those side gigs to determine if you’d be interested in starting something like that full-time. \nYou might find that you don’t enjoy doing those things as much as you thought you did, or you may decide that you’ve hit on a great idea and have a great place to start from. \nTalk to small business professionals\nWe cannot stress this one enough. Talk to a lot of professionals who have started their own businesses or who help run businesses in the industry that you’re interested in. \nYou don’t have to do this all on your own, nor should you. Plenty of people have started successful businesses before you, so take advantage of their experience and ask questions to help guide you in the right direction. \nUpon talking to people in your desired field, you may decide that this is the perfect route for you, or you might find out that it’s not at all what you thought it would be. \nYour local chamber of commerce or SBA association can be a big help in networking with local businesses and getting you talking with the right people.\nDo market research\nAs you start to really narrow down the ideas for your new business, do a lot of market research. You need to determine if your business idea is even a viable solution for the demographics you would serve in your specific location. \nHere are some questions to look into during this process:\nWho would benefit from this business idea? \nIs there enough demand in your target location to provide profits?\nHow would your business solve your target customer’s problem?\nWhat would motivate consumers to choose you over competitors?\nWho would your competitors be?\nHow does your audience view your competitors?\nWhat are your competitors doing to get customers?\nHow would people purchase from you (online, in-store, through affiliates)?\nHow would you reach your target audience (marketing strategies)?\nDetermine the costs of starting a small business\nIf there seems to be a good demand for your business idea and it makes sense from a market research perspective, then it’s time to determine if it makes sense for you personally from a financial perspective. \nWhat will the costs be for you to start up this business? Will you be financing everything yourself, or will you be seeking out investors or loans?\nDepending on the type of business you are starting, there could be a decent amount of capital that you need to get off the ground. So make sure you know what your costs will be before diving all in. \nDetermine the time commitment of your small business idea\nAlong with costs, starting a business also requires a huge time commitment. Maybe you’re starting small as a side gig, so it only takes a small amount of your time at first. But as you get more clients, that could change quickly. \nDetermine what kind of time will be necessary for the business idea you’ve come up with and plan accordingly. \nIf you don’t have the time to devote to getting this business idea into action, then it might not be the idea for you, or it may not be the right time to start a new business. \nRun your small business idea by your network\nWhen you have thought through your new business idea or even before this point, you should run your idea by your personal network of people that you trust. Talk to friends, family members, mentors, and get their thoughts on your idea. \nSometimes when we get a new idea, we get so emotionally invested in it that we haven’t thought through all of the risks that could come with it. \nTalking to people you trust and letting them give their feedback can help bring up points that you didn’t think about. 

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