The year 2021 is as challenging to everyone else as it is to me. I just graduated from Berkley and started looking for a job but unfortunately, I got little response. It is because of the pandemic. Most Businesses were closed or were struggling and were not hiring at all. I was upset and also confused, thinking that I have completed my studies in the wrong year. This pandemic will leave me jobless. My grades seem to not matter to anyone as now is the time of survival only. Searching for a job for one month now and getting no result made me more upset. I was about to give up before a friend of mine gave me an idea of starting an online business and all that came out of my mouth at that moment was, “ that’s it, why I didn’t think of it earlier”. I was excited but I had no clue about what to do. I started surfing the internet and start exploring different businesses. There was a huge variety and what I observed was a cutthroat competition. There were many e-commerce websites i.e. e-bay, amazon, and usgobuy, etc also which gave support to new businesses but they were also deducting a big percentage from each sale. It was discouraging but I was determined. I want to know it all, all the trade techniques, and how to run a successful online business. This is what I found which I want to share with you,
- Nature of Online: The first thing I learned was that doing business online can only be done once you gain the trust of your consumers. Many websites were selling the same thing but not everyone was getting a sale. The main reason was how genuine the product was. Once the consumer gets a fake product, they will give bad feedback and this is not what you want.
- Customer Handling: Setting up an online business is not difficult as it’s inexpensive but running it and especially handling the customer’s orders and responding in time is the key. I learned many businesses were using services and one of the services which I came across business support services, they were providing business solutions.
- Consistency: Online business takes a long time to establish and takes a consistent struggle too. I learned that many big online businesses were very small in the beginning but as time passed and they struggled, they become global now.
- Product Assortment: Keeping a good variety of products and services keeps the customers interested. Also, keep on researching for new and updated versions of the products with improved features is what customers want.
- Online Marketing: Many online businesses used paid and unpaid marketing to create awareness among their customers.
After researching and gathering a lot of information about how to do an online business, I felt confident and also eager to start my own business. I started with getting the services from these business support services as they provided business support and now or then I know I would be needing them because I wanted to grow fast. I decided to provide services as this is what I can handle and I started providing online marketing services. I was happy because I found a way and I also realized that this pandemic has provided me with an opportunity to be my own boss rather than staying stuck with a fixed salary and doing routine work. This pandemic has taught me to understand my potential better and how to explore new avenues for survival.