When it comes to having a home-based online side hustle, not all of us have what it takes to operate it successfully! But what does it mean to have an online side hustle from home? And perhaps more importantly, what even is a side hustle? To clarify, a side hustle can be any sort of business venture that occurs outside of an individual’s primary employment, and it is predominantly utilised to generate additional income. An online side hustle, for instance, is usually focused on eCommerce goals – that is, selling goods online. For cash-strapped individuals – particularly during this cost of living crisis when the bills just keep rolling in – the extra revenue created by an eCommerce side hustle can be a blessing!
Better yet, if you can create a successful online side hustle from home, you can almost create what is called a ‘passive income’ – with minimal time and effort outlaid on your part. That way, you can continue to focus on your primary employment – your ‘day job’ – as well as the things that matter most to you in your personal life, be that quality time with family or friends, the pursuit of a hobby, or simply, relaxation – all the while still making some extra cash on the side. So if you’re interested in learning more about what it means to have an online side hustle from home, just keep reading!
eCommerce Goals: Creating Your Online Side Hustle
Photo by Vlada Karpovich
When starting your eCommerce or online side hustle, often the hardest part can be deciding what it is you want to sell online. A family-minded business, for instance, may choose to focus on stocking gifts for kids – including children’s toys and other accessories. It is also important to note that if you want your eCommerce business to be a success, you should always source your inventory stock from a wholesale distributor so that you can benefit from their competitive wholesale rates. That way, you can re-sell your goods at a profit, increasing your business’s revenue margin.
For an online children’s toy eCommerce business, you can for example procure plush toys wholesale at a reduced wholesale price. You can then repackage, rebrand and resell these plush toys at a premium in your online store. Of course, when sourcing and procuring eCommerce products from a wholesale distributor, it is important to choose a supplier who is trustworthy, reliable and who can provide you with only the best quality products. By doing this, you can almost always ensure the satisfaction of your customers when re-selling your procured inventory stock to them.
Creating Your Brand: Creating Your eCommerce Brand Identity
Admittedly, eCommerce is already a very saturated marketplace. This is because the number of individuals creating online side hustles from home has increased dramatically of late. This can be attributed in part to the phenomenon that was the COVID-19 pandemic. During this difficult and unprecedented time, traditional bricks and mortar shop fronts were forced to close. That is to say, consumers were not able to shop in physical stores. As such, more and more of us turned to online shopping – and eCommerce businesses boomed! It followed that practically every man and his dog were then inspired to create their own online side hustle, admittedly with varying degrees of success. Of course, the most successful business ventures were ones that created their own products, or that filled a missing gap in the market.
Crucially, unless you’re selling a unique, niche product that no one else has thought to sell online yet, it can be hard to stand out. This is where brand marketing and brand identity come in. Brand marketing – particularly in the online space – is essential, especially when you want your eCommerce business to be set apart from the existing noise in the marketplace. Digital marketing methods, including Search Engine Optimisation, can play a huge role in increasing the brand awareness of your business online. By engaging in Search Engine Optimisation – also known as SEO – you can drive organic online traffic to your business and influence your ranking within search engine results pages. Of course, for this to be effective, you will need to also create a website. Building a website from scratch, however, can be complicated. As such, it is recommended that you engage the services of a professional web design and development agency to build your site.
Creating, developing and maintaining an online side hustle from home is not for the faint of heart! It takes time, effort and dedication – particularly in the early stages of setting up your business. Nonetheless, once your side hustle has been successfully established, the financial benefits can be great. With the extra income that starts coming in from your eCommerce business, you can supplement your primary employment, and perhaps even have some extra disposable cash! This is certainly worth the initial effort of establishing your home-based online side hustle. Better yet, you can expect to reap the rewards for years to come.
Main image by RDNE Stock project
This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Web Oracle.
