The best way of learning is to learn from the mistakes of others. And I love to listen to Failure stories of others rather than success stories because success stories only give us motivation, but failure stories teach us a lesson. I have started my first E-Commerce Business in 2017 when I was in my First Semester at my University. I faced a complete failure in this business because of my own mistakes. So Today I will share the 5 Mistakes during my first business, you can learn from my mistakes and make a successful career in E-commerce or any other business. My First E-commerce store was for selling Gem stores, while the name of my store was Taslar.pk. Taslar is a Turkish word that means Gem store.
Here is a list of The 5 Mistakes I made during My first E-Commerce Business.
My Only Aim to share these mistakes is to educate you from my learning. So if you are going to start a new business, you can learn from My mistakes and try to avoid them. I faced a huge loss due to these mistakes but will create a successful business empire by avoiding these mistakes.
1. Lack of Business Knowledge
As all of us know that before starting any new Business, having complete knowledge is compulsory. But in my case, I don’t have any knowledge about gemstones. Even I don’t know the names and origin of many gemstones. And I was unable to judge the differences between Real and Duplicate gemstones. This is one of the first mistakes during my first E-Commerce Business. I was unaware of the basic requirements of any e-commerce business, like (COD) Cash on Delivery Methods, Online Payment Gateways etc.
So if you are starting any new Business, First try to get its complete knowledge. Invest your time and focus on the research of the Dos and Don’ts of your business. If you are not doing this it means you are just wasting your time & Money and going to make a failure.
2. Lack of Business Plan
According to a Famous Quote “If you Fail to Make a Plan then you are planning to Fail”. My Second mistake was I was lacking a Business Plan. As we know that one of the best strategies to make a business plan is to first learn from your competitors. And I was a person who even doesn’t have any idea about my competitors. Before starting a Gemstone business I didn’t Check Market conditions and my competitors who are already selling gemstones online like me. And I also don’t have any plan for the growth of my Business. In the start when I get some profit I spend that money on my personal Expenses, rather than reinvesting in the business. I completely failed in preparing for my Business Goals and this was one of the major reasons for my failure.
So Always Remember when you are going to start any new business always first create a complete plan, Strategies and prepare your Goals by skipping any of these Three things you are unable to become successful in business.
3. No Exit Plan or Plan B
Plan B or Exit plan is a very important part of any Business. But In my case, I didn’t prepare any exit plan or Plan B. During my business I was working with only 1 vendor who supply us with Gemstones for selling, and after some time he leave the gemstone business due to some of his personal issues. And after the closure of his business, I also don’t have any vendors to buy gemstones, and due to the unavailability of stock, I have to shut down my business.
So when you start your business keep an exit plan or Plan B with you. And always Remember one thing in your mind, never rely on a single source. Always keep multiple options and plans.
4. Unnecessary Expense
One of the Major Mistakes of my failure was unnecessary expense at the start of Business. I spend my major Budget on Creating an E-commerce website, which was not necessary at the beginning because Facebook and Instagram Pages are enough for starting any new e-commerce business. The Good idea was to spend a major budget on Marketing and Good Photography to get new customers. I Spend 80% of my Budget on the Website with the most expensive hosting plan.
So due to the low budget, my Marketing and Photography were very basic. So when you start your new business always try to minimize your expense, and spend your maximum budget on improving your service and marketing. And After getting a profit from the business start spending on other things like Website etc. In Online Business Photography plays a huge role in increasing and decreasing your sales, so always try to use nicely captured Product Images to get more and more sales.
5. Lack of Consistency
According to my experience Consistency is key to Success. But at that time I was not consistent at all. Every other day I changed my business model and Strategies. First I started Selling Only Gem Stones, but after 1 month I switched my business model to selling gemstone rings. But The reality of business was people like to buy stones only because they want to customize rings according to their own choice. But due to a lack of Business knowledge and market research, I made a wrong decision and faced a big loss. So if you are going to start a new business always stay consistent, First make 1 business model successful, and then switch to another. Changing the Business model continuously will ruin your business.
People Just Like to Share their success stories to get appreciation rather than their all failures behind that success. But I love to listen and share failure stories.
So here was a list of Mistakes During My First E-Commerce Business. In the end, I want to wish the best of luck to all the people who are going to start their own businesses and going to become future Milinores.
Also Read: 5 Ways to Earn Money Online In Pakistan Without Investment
