Are you looking to start your own business or side hustle? If you have time but limited funds, an eCommerce business could be the perfect way to earn extra cash. While Amazon and eBay might come to mind, these platforms are crowded with seasoned sellers, making it tough to compete without experience and capital.
Today, I’ll introduce some opportunities that require only a small investment to get started.
Make short videos or live streaming on Tiktok
TikTok has rapidly become one of the fastest-growing over the past two years, expanding into markets in the US, UK, Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Individual businesses can join with very low entry requirements. Unlike other platforms, TikTok Shop focuses on content-based eCommerce, offering various ways to monetize your presence. Crucially, new platforms are always the best fit for startups.
Live streaming
Use live streams to engage directly with your audience, showcase products, and drive immediate sales. This interactive format can boost trust and conversion rates.
Short videos
Short videos are perfect for drawing in viewers and directing them to your paid content or products. They are versatile and can be used for both public and private domains.
What products can be monetized?
Physical products
Many of our clients sell inexpensive, fun, and interesting small items that become viral on TikTok, such as DIY craft kits, novelty phone accessories, personalized pet toys, etc.
Virtual products
If you have knowledge or skills like software programming or a different language, you can create and sell online courses, which is a kind of virtual product. Additionally, virtual products also include photos, illustrations, digital art, and so on, with high profitability.
Getting started on TikTok is easy, but I really recommend you consider two things first to make money more easily.
Leverage your strengths: If you have specific skills like editing, filming, or a strong on-camera presence, you have an advantage and are more likely to succeed.
Understand your target audience: Before starting on TikTok, learn about your target audience. For example, if your audience is young girls, the products you sell in the future will likely be related to OOTD and beauty products. This way, your direction will be clear when you begin creating Tiktok content.
Sell personalized items on Etsy, like humorous candles
Like Amazon, Etsy is a well-established platform. I recommend this platform because if you can create handmade items or are skilled at discovering great products, you can still make good money here.
For example, an American young man, Francisco Rivera, chose to print humorous phrases on candles and sell them on Etsy.
Rivera estimates that 30% to 50% of each sale is profit. The remaining revenue covers various expenses, including Etsy fees, which amounted to nearly $55,000 last year, as well as marketing costs and fees for Printify, the service he uses to connect with manufacturers.
Sell AI Products like Power BI Templates
In the past two years, AI technology has experienced rapid growth, leading to the development of many small AI tools designed to improve work efficiency. Many people have also started selling AI usage courses and pre-made templates.
For example, Salem managed to earn five figures in less than a year by selling Power BI templates. The average order value is $260.81, with a total revenue of $48,360 and a monthly income of $5,373.
People who are interested in AI, particularly those focused on prompt engineering using chatGPT, have pre-made templates of prompts available in various niches.
Launch a store with numerous SKUs on Noon
Noon is one of the largest eCommerce platforms in the Middle East, covering the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, with its largest market in Saudi Arabia. I recommend the platform for three reasons:
- Noon’s backend is easy to use, and beginners can learn it quickly. It’s easier to get started with compared to Amazon.
- The marketing of Noon platform is very beginner-friendly. Unlike Amazon, you don’t need to boost reviews and sales to improve your ranking or spend a lot on advertising at start. You just need to list more products, similar to the early days of AliExpress, to gain organic traffic.
- It is hard to survive by piggybacking on Amazon, but Noon allows multiple sellers to piggyback on the same listing.
Four soft skills crucial for eCommerce success
E-commerce is essentially running a business, testing your overall skills. Here are some outstanding soft skills demonstrated by our most successful beginner clients.
Less thinking, more doing
Many people are full of ideas but reluctant to take action. For example, we have clients who constantly ask us to recommend products but never think of placing a small order to try them out. In the eCommerce business, you must be willing to take action. Don’t overthink it. If you have an idea, make a small investment and give it a try—you might succeed.
Learn from Bunny Ange’s case study, where he selected winning products and achieved $150k in sales.
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Start from your interests and strengths
Running an eCommerce business sometimes is boring and suffering. There will be many challenges and tough times. Only by finding your interests and strengths can you persist through the difficulties.
For example, if you raise a dog, you must know a lot about pet products and have a genuine interest in them. If you start an online store selling pet products, you’ll have a head start compared to others. Plus, your passion will keep you motivated to continue.
Take your business finances seriously
It’s advisable to maintain good record-keeping habits from the start of your eCommerce journey to ensure your finances are sound and you know where every dollar goes.
Some people are pleased with their daily sales, but when they do the year-end accounting, they find they are actually losing money. This situation is very common.
Therefore, you can use a business expenses worksheet to keep detailed records. When you notice an expense, like ad spending, isn’t giving you good results, act quickly to cut your losses.
Never stop learning
E-commerce challenges vary greatly at different stages; you’ll need to keep learning to overcome them.
Let’s say you’re on TikTok. At the start, you must focus on selecting topics, writing scripts, and filming to make good videos. Once you gain followers and begin selling products, you’ll need to determine what to sell. As your sales increase, you’ll start to source suppliers and streamline your supply chains to remain competitive.
Damian Grabarczyk, co-founder and growth marketer of PetLab Co., emphasizes, “When we started building a business worth hundreds of millions today, the key was developing a multi-channel marketing strategy.” At this stage, you need to learn more marketing strategies like Facebook, Google SEO, Amazon, and achieve cross-platform operations to scale your business.
Eventually, you won’t be working alone. With a large team, you’ll need to manage company operations, equity structures, and registering an LLC from your individual business, just like many big ons do. The specific benefits and process of forming an LLC can vary depending on your location and individual circumstances. For example, forming an LLC in New York may look different than starting an LLC in Texas.
So, Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. Lifelong learning is a journey, and you’re always on the road.
Ryan Robinson
I'm a blogger, podcaster and (recovering) side project addict that teaches 500,000 monthly readers how to start a blog and grow a profitable side business at ryrob.com
