Being An Entrepreneur, My Experience

I first decided to set-up my own business in 2002 not long after having my baby son.  Before then whilst working fulltime within in-house marketing departments, I had always dreamed about running my own business but was never quite in the right position financially or psychologically. 

Reasons Why I Became An Entrepreneur

I wanted to start my own home business at this junction of my life because after having my precious baby I wanted to ensure I could spend as much time as possible with him and I knew that if I went back to work full time it would mean long hours and I wouldn’t have much quality time with my new baby. I was a new mum with a young baby who wanted flexible hours so I could spend more time with my young child. 

Lightbulb Moment

So here I was, a new mum who wanted to start a new home business which would provide some mental stimulation and some additional monthly income.  My lightbulb moment came to me when I was looking for a gift for a Christening I was invited to.  I suddenly realised just how difficult it was to find a unique gift for a Christening.  I also discovered that the only type of gifts readily available were silver plated gifts.  So, after doing my research I quickly discovered that there was no e-commerce site at that time that exclusively just sold a large variety of Christening gifts.  This is when my new business, Christeningstuff was born.

Lessons Learnt

Starting a new business from scratch and becoming an entrepreneur was a huge, steep learning curve!  Starting an online business, I learnt all about website design, ux, hosting services, payment service providers, e-commerce platforms, etc.  The biggest revelation to me though was that traditional marketing techniques such as placing an advert in a high circulating publication had little or no effect on my bottom line!  This was when I discovered the value of Google Ads!  As soon as I mastered the art of running Google Ad Campaigns effectively, I saw my business grow, not long after I discovered the benefits of SEO and using SEO & Google Ads combined, I saw my business grow year on year.

Highs & Lows

So, in essence I started my business with £10,000, it took around 18 months to 2 years to establish my new business and each year after I managed to double my turnover.  At the height of my business my turnover was £160,000 with a profit of 30%.  Unfortunately, I had to make the decision to close my business in 2013 because my profit margins were being squeezed to virtually nothing by Amazon & eBay, but I have no regrets it was fantastic period of my life and I learnt so much!

My Tips for Success for An E-commerce Business

• Constantly & continually research what you competitors are offering with regards to products & services & try to offer something better
• Continually improve your website ux for your customers.  I updated the design of my website 3 times and in-between I was always making minor enhancements
• Continually grow your list of products, this may include drop shippers (great way to add larger range of products without up-front cost of new stock)
• Make sure you are always are on the first page of Google with your Google Ads & organically for your top converting search terms
• Do monthly accounts so you can keep an eye on your bottom line and make adjustments with budget as deemed necessary
• Keep up to date with your competitors pricing so you can make adjustments/special offers as and when required.  Remember people shop around!