How To Start An Online Business That Grows#howto #startbusiness #onlinestore #onlinebusiness
Hi everyone um... Welcome back to my Youtube channel I hope you guys are all settling well in the new year um... so am I. My name is Noma Nontenja um... thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who have liked, who have commented on my previous video and to everyone who have subscribed. The love is so overwhelming, thank you so much and to the new joiners welcome to my Youtube channel, thank you for joining me thank you for tuning in please don't forget to do the right thing in the end to like to comment and to subscribe I really appreciate it.
So today I'll be talking about how to start um... an online business that grows. This topic is actually based on the fact that it's a new year, we are all refreshed, we are all recharged and we all have all those business ideas that we want to partake on but maybe we just don't know where to start or we just fear the unknown. So in this video I'll be sharing the steps that I actually took um... to start my online business and the steps that I took to actually grow the business. So I've documented the steps on my journal so please don't think otherwise if I keep on looking at my channel So step number one is to Determine Your Niche um... your Business Idea. You need to
define your focus area um... so what does this mean? It means that, you need to define what your business will be all about um... will it be about selling baby stuff, will it be about selling beauty products, will it be about.... whatever the case may be um... you need to define
the area of focus of your business. This is very important because you want to make sure that when you start the business you are sure about the vision of your business because the least that you want is to actually start a business then it just becomes a jack of all trades and master of none. So it's very important that you define your niche and you identify the focus area of your business and also it's very important that you actually start the business because you want to start the business because you don't want to start a business because you saw someone else um..doing it and it seems to be working because I can rest assure you that it ain't gonna go
anywhere because you will keep on feeling the need to look at the person to copy them whatever that they are doing. It won't be genuine um... or organic as you would have started if you iphuma kuwe. I hope that makes sense so that's point number one, is to define your niche. Then point number two, you need to Conduct a Product Research and this is also important because you really wanna know your product very well um... when you actually start selling or distributing to your customers because you don't want to find out while you have sold the product to the customer that there are actually some glitches um... in the product and you're just not aware about them. So you need to research about the product where is the product made ?um... it's made of what? so
that you understand exactly what actually entails your own product. So that when your customer asks you questions, you are already prepared and you are already ready to actually answer um... their their questions. So that's point number one point number two um...to actually conduct a product research um... on the products that you will be selling or distributing to your customers. Point number three um... is to Conduct Market Research this is very important because when
you are conducting a market research you are actually assessing what are the likes, the needs and the lacks of your customers so that when you actually start your business you already know what is it that you are about to offer um... to your customers or the clients which was not there before um... and also you are able to identify what is it that your business will bring of value of, of benefit to your clients because at the end of the day we all start a business because we want to bridge a gap that we have identified and we are actually bringing solutions to the problems that our clients have, so you need to do that market research so that you are able to see what is it that you will bring up for your customers. It can be quality, it can be convenience for them um... it can be anything that you have identified that is actually in need or it's something that is lacking um...within the their lives. For example one of the products that I actually sell as part of my LullaBuy Babies catalog is the portable baby bed. So when I actually chose that product um... as a product that I want to sell
at my online store I've got to actually see that um... the value that this product is going to bring, its the fact that parents don't have to carry around a baby bed wherever they go. So the portable bed comes with a backpack which means you can always carry your baby bed around wherever you go, so that's the convenience and people actually wants convenience and lkes convenience and truth be told people will never buy a product if they don't see the benefit that they are gonna get from it so it's very important to do product market research and while doing so I would also advise that it's very important that you also do research your competitors (people who are already in your industry who are already doing the very same thing that you will be doing).
However, I do want to say though, that you must make sure that you keep looking at them at a minimum because at times it might come across as if um... you are actually benchmarking your own business with theirs. and sometimes it can be stressful to a point off you might turn negative towards your own business especially if their own businesses are actually doing well. So when you actually opt for
this particular strategy make sure that you are actually ready that you will be able to to to to be strong enough not to compare your business to theirs because remember they are already in the business and they've started the business long time ago and you just starting so rather use their businesses um... as a way um... to grow your own business um... so that you can also identify the things that are not doing um... well so that you can use those weaknesses um... as an advantage to your own business because at the end of the day we don't want to be um... the same businesses that sells the very same things, there has to be one particular thing that sets your own business apart. So that's why you need to actually check your competitors so that you can see what is it that they are not doing well so that you can actually spend umm... more time and focus on that which will make your own business to be unique from theirs.
Also um... which I think is also worth mentioning is that while doing so also don't compare your pricing um... because remember they've done this. So when you set your own prices don't compare because that might actually put you off because you might struggle to get clients because probably you've started too high because you think that we're selling the same product um... so I think I must also sell this product at the same price that they're actually selling them. You need to own your own business and understand that this is my business it's not my competitor's business. However what is also helpful while looking at
your competitors is to look at the things that seems to be trending because at the end of the day you don't want to be selling old stuff while people have moved on. So you need to check up on your competitors so that you can actually see what seems to be trending so that you are also part of the move you don't want to be obsolete and be left behind. So that was point number three. and then point number four , you need to Define Your Target Market guys this is very important, like you need to define a target market simply because it brings you or rather it actually allows you to know um... who you are selling to because at the end of the day um...you start a business with an aim that you want to sell your products to people who are actually able to pay for your product. So you need to know your target market because it it will also help you that you don't fall into a trap where it's either you over price your goods or you under price your goods.
What I mean by this is that, I once experienced this problem when I was starting my own business. So I think at the time I was selling my strollers for... One of the products I also sell as part of my online store catalogue is that I sell Hot Mom strollers. So when I started I think I was selling them for R7500 if it was not R7200 I can't remember um...correctly
so the challenge that I experienced quite a lot at the time was that, people would actually call me...Hi I'm actually interested in your stroller um... but I only have R5000 will that be fine for you? I do want to say this, when you defined your target market you won't fall um... in that trap because you will know exactly if someone would negotiate a lower price um... on the price you are actually selling your product for it shows that she is not your target market and number two people are just taking advantage because you're just starting um... I'm your business because truth be told ...... but because we are a small business and we are just
starting out they tend to take that advantage .So it's very important that you stand firm um... in your own rules and in your own...whatever um... that works for your business so that you don't fall into that trap. Otherwise, you'll be having a business that is not making a profit that is always making a loss. So define your target audience so that you know
exactly that if you get such stories you know this is not the right person um.. Point number five is to Evaluate your Product Viability this is also important because you want to evaluate holistically um... your product before purchasing um... a big number of goods because at this point you are not sure whether they're gonna do well or they're not gonna do well so when you actually evaluate your product viability you can actually ask um...do a research on businesses that are already successful in the the business by selling the product. So that you can see how is it selling and also you do wanna check the demand of the product that you'll be selling in your store because you don't want to be stuck with stock because there are no people who are actually interested in the product and lastly you do want to look at the calculations of this product to see whether it makes sense or not because at the end of the day you don't want to buy a product that actually won't bring a profit in your business so that's point number five for you to evaluate your product viability And then finally number six Define your Brand and Image this is important um... this is important because your brand and your image of your business are basically the
overall vibe um... of your business this is what people see in your page when they go on Instagram or Facebook or to your website and um... you must make sure that your colour choices are actually proper you must make sure that your logo is actually actually proper and if you are not good at this make sure that you source someone who's actually good at it. So I was fortunate enough mna I have a guy who is very passionate um... about this and I do want to acknowledge him. His name is Thabo Kaunda and he owns a business called Blank Outdoor Media so he's the brains behind my logo and he's the brains behind my website and um... I will do share
his details um...in the description box if you are actually interested um in his services I do want to say this you need to find someone who's passionate about this particular job um... uThabo has been so amazing man in doing this for me to a point that I kept going back to him even for other things You don't want to be working with someone who is just interested in money.........and then they disappear so with uThabo I am at peace because I know if something goes down on my website I know Thabo is there to pick that up, if theres something i'm not happy uThabo guys would actually edit daily. There were times where um.............to myself i'm trying to do a website like how to add my products to my website how to remove my products to my website so Thabo was the only person who knew he did everything....... ......................have someone like that
um i'm in your business because you don't want stress when you're starting to work on a business yeah but also I do want to appreciate what Thabo actually did um... eventually he actually did a training of the website for me showing me how to add my own products how to remove my own product and how to to label my stuff when i'm stuck when they're out of stock so that we can actually remove him as the middle man who actually do everything because truth be told Thabo has a family has his own life I can't be calling him and sometimes he's not even around and I need to do um... things on my own so you need to make sure that when you're actually opting for the for the or e-commerce site you must make sure that you know how to run it yourself so that when the primary person is not around you are actually not stranded so those are the six things um... that actually worked for me um... in my business
and i do just want to run through them before i actually get to how to grow your business. So point number one is to Determine your Niche and Business Idea is to determine your focus area of your business number two um... is to Conduct your Product Research to know exactly what your product is all about what it is made of and etc and then point number three is to Conduct a Market Research of your product um... so that you can actually be able to see what are the needs and wants and the lacks of your clients by doing that also do consider looking at your competitors just to see what their strength and weaknesses are so that you can see where you can actually use where they are not good at as as a competitive advantage or competitive edge for your own business point number four Define your Target Market know your audience know the people whom you are selling to and then point number five is to Evaluate your Product Viability so that you can see whether this product is in demand are there any businesses that are really successful selling this business and then lastly and to Define your Brand and Image um... so that when people look at your page or or your website they are actually interested to buy an item from the business so that's basically how I actually started my own online business which is called LullaBuy Babies. Then the second part is actually growing your business how to grow your business um... so
there's four steps that actually worked for me and the first one is to PRAY for your business um... this is very important guys especially if you are in the online business um...industry or era simply because online businesses um... have challenges um...when you're actually starting out um... you are just a brand that is there, you are a drop in an ocean and one you are not a trusted brand AWAZIWA! and number two there are so many scammers out there who've been scamming people in the name of online business um... so a client will pay for an item and then the business will disappear after that and when we actually opt now in this era of having an online business....... yeah so you need to PRAY for your business for those things
and praying for your business it also brings so much peace um... to yourself because you know that God is in control and you know that God is actually journing with you in this process and this has proven um..to be working for me um..as well as for my business because I've seen my business grow from strength to strength despite all the scamming issues brands not being trusted and so forth so that's point number one PRAY for your business. and then number two um.. Social Media marketing this is very important and this, I guess everything is very important when you're growing your business or you're starting a business social media marketing is powerful. It's powerful because it allows one to actually reach um... an
audience that one never thought would ever reach um.. social media is very important because sibangaphi on social media I mean if I talk about Instagram if i talk about Facebook Twitter.... platform so make use of that but I do want to say this though that um...because of fear um..and
because my previous business didn't work out I didn't actually advertise my business more LullaBuy Babies more on my own personal account so this is what I did....so I have my own personal Instagram account and then I went and created my LullaBuy Instagram account and I did that intentionally because I didn't want to mix my personal life as well as my business life. I'm saying this right now that make sure that you make use of social media if you have a profile on Instagram or Facebook make sure you advertise your business but I do want to say that I didn't do this I didn't do this not because I didn't want to do it but I think I feared disappointment so much to a point that I was just scared that my business may not progress or may not grow simply because my previous one didn't go well and didn't grow. I still remember when my nail business was starting out I posted on Facebook that I started this business blah blah blah blah and everyone was excited that I started this business um... then in the long run it didn't work out so I think because of that fear now um... I was just scared to post about LullaBuy Babies um... because I wasn't sure how was it gonna do and I just didn't want to do further explanation
um... to people...... that it didn't work out and that's how the devil works actually when there's something good that is about to happen he does that because he just brought fear um.. into my life at that time in that moment so that I don't post about LullaBuy Babies until such a time I'm able to see ohhh this is actually working but do post um...about your business in your own personal profile it will grow your business and then number three um boost your business page so in the in social media while still talking on social media this is linked to social media um.. I do like the fact that there's a feature now whereby you can actually post or promote um... your posts that you have posted and you can even select the type of audience that you want your post to reach um... you can select based
on health or based on motherhood whatever your business is all about you are able to actually make a post target the people that you want it to target that's how good Instagram Facebook and all these platforms are. So make use of them it really helps and um... I do know that they also have this function of selecting the age that you want reach um... as well as the the demographics you can select whether you want to your post to reach females or males or you want your posts to actually reach only South Africans or other African Countries so you can actually define your own audience using um.. the social media and all the features that social media has use them they are very useful I can attest they actually grow your page and your business quite quicker. Point number three you must forget about this forget and actually have it in your heart and just delete it in your heart actually and forget it in your heart that that your friends are going to support you and that your family is going to support you because truth be told ABASOZE! friends would rather go to Babies r Us or and buy the very same things that you sell even if it's different brands but they know that it's the same product they would rather go and buy an expensive product and....in your heart and be at peace um...with it that your friends are not going to support you your family is not going to support you until such a time they see that your your business is growing that's the only time you will start seeing them knocking at your door Hi friend um.. we want to buy this and that but when you are starting and you want to grow your business
delete them completely and know that they won't support you and just focus on the strangers and whoever else that you are not close with and then lastly number four don't actually shy away from Influencer Marketing um..this didn't click for me um...in the beginning it was because number one I didn't have money I didn't have capital um... for my business um I didn't have capital for my business I started my business from scratch from zero um... it's a story for another day um...
because of my previous business that failed my husband told me straight that I'm not supporting you on this one until you show me that you are committed you are committed to this business on your own that's the only time I'm going to support you but you need to prove to yourself that you can do it without my help so I didn't have capital um... I had to do pre-order sales. and say that they're actually on pre-order mind you pre-order meant I'm going to use your money as my capital um... and buy the stock and actually did deliver but I didn't have in my capital to start up with so this option influencer marketing was not even in my books was not even um in my in my what can I call it I'm on.... but i'm gonna opt for this option because I didn't have money because you must have money to pay the influencers but to note God has been faithful with LullaBuy Babies um... I've seen the hand of God in LullaBuy Babies I think at the time I had about 700 um..followers on (Instagram) um... at the time and I was still trying to
promote my business and there were days i'd be like yhoo uh this business is not growing yeah I wonder maybe I should just give up as well but because I had defined my vision so well um... and knew exactly what I wanted to achieve out of my business I think that's another reason that actually kept me going. So I think um.. it was i was on 700 um followers I can't remember but at that time I had posted and then I boosted or promoted my post um... to reach um...whatever type of audience I wanted to reach and then to my surprise I got a direct message from one of the biggest um... influencers in South Africa I don't want to mention her name um... and then she asked me and at the time I think she was in a journey of supporting black businesses and especially businesses that were owned by black females and then he actually actually DMed me and asked that um... I see that you are selling baby strollers I'm expecting I'm interested in the stroller I was so excited and I think at the time I was even scared to actually ask please can you do me um...
a story or a post because when you ask you must pay for tyou know so I just sold the product and I delivered the stroller to her house and then that was it and then I think two weeks later if I'm not mistaken she did a story for me and she actually tagged LullaBuy Babies ohh my God after that people started following LullaBuy Babies and I do want to say that day that was LullaBuy Babies breakthrough point um... it was breakthrough point because I think people started trusting my business more because they trust the influencer so by default if they trust the influencer the influencer is a well-known person so if they can trust that person and that person trusted LullaBuy Babies by default they also trusted LullaBuy Babies so from that day um...LullaBuy Babies grew um... from strength um to strength um then I started to see other people who are actresses buying diaper bags from me um... it was just amazing and those are the things where I actually saw that's the hand of God I'm in my business. Hence, I said in the beginning that you
should PRAY for your business um... because I've gotten to see how God is God'S amazing work..... I don't know like the choice of words are just um...flushing on me but yeah so since that day when the influencer lady um... did a story for me my business grew from strength to strength and then over time now that i've seen the sales um... coming in um... I then started knocking um... on celebrity doors you know um... especially the ones that were expecting to say hi I'm Noma Nontenja I just started my small business recently and I'm actually targeting moms like you um... would you like to collaborate with us um... if they say yes then they will share their rates
and if not then it's a no then I would pass and NO actually means Next Opportunity so don't shy away all that i'm trying to say don't shy away from from influencer marketing um... those people are very powerful and they're actually helpful because with the one that actually did a story for me I didn't have to pay her and with the two actresses that actually bought um... diaper bags from me I didn't have to pay them either but they did a story for me and that's when you actually look back and be like wow God you're so amazing it's like they knew that I didn't have capital to start this business um... it's like they knew that i actually had nothing to start this business so so those are the things that I'm grateful for um... in this business um...what God has done
I mean everything so yeah those are the things that actually worked for me um.. so the the influencer marketing is so powerful because I think um after I've seen now the business is growing I think I approached um... I'm Kwesta's wife I'm Yolanda Vilakazi to run a campaign for me and I paid her rate um... and it was all good and she was so sweet um... and helpful. So it's
those strategies that kept um... my business um... to grow and I hope that you found this information useful um... as you are also about to start your business and I wish you nothing but the best um... in the journey of starting your business and be strong and be strong um you will hit rock bottom in some months where you will just not make sales but you must rest and know that in another month I will make it rain that's the life of an entrepreneur but to be honest I found the journey with LullaBuy Babies to be an amazing one it has shown me that patience actually does pay off you know and if you focus on what you really want I mean in your life rest assured you will definitely bear fruits um...you know because given that.......
You might need to make changes because I think at some point I was part of the network marketing business and it just didn't work out and then I then started my nail business uh also didn't work out um.. work out after my husband has invested so much I'm in that business um.. and then when I started LullaBuy Babies I still had energy but my energy was not as high like when I started the nail business you know because now I knew that I need to prove to myself that this is gonna work um.. you know but it's amazing that after trying all the other options then finally this one and it just it just showed me the other side um... it's amazing so all that i'm trying to say is you might have a business idea today and you realize um...a year or six months down the line you realised this is not working don't be scared to start a new one because you never know which one is gonna work for you um.. you know so so yeah my business is really not where I actually want it to be but I'm at peace and happy because I know it's exactly where God wants it to be so I really hope that you enjoyed this video um...and if you did please don't forget to like,
to comment and to subscribe below I really appreciate you and I trust that you have a blessed January um...thank you so much and keep well until next time.
2022-01-14 18:08
