Phew!
Talk about a hard slog this week! I’ve been working absolutely flat out finishing off the latest issue of The Source Report and finalizing my brand new course, ‘Easy Amazon Profits’, in time for its release next week…
Now, I often receive emails asking me how on earth I manage to juggle my various income streams, my online businesses, my newsletters, my courses and my regular product sourcing!
Well, the answer is simply that I’m just really, really organized! There’s no big secret to ‘wearing multiple hats’ and keeping multiple jobs running smoothly, it all comes down to boring old time management – which anyone is perfectly capable of doing.
Admittedly, sometimes things get ultra busy and the stress levels start to rise a bit, but in the back of my mind there is always one over-riding thought that keeps me focused: it’s better to be busy than to be plodding along comfortably focusing on just one thing.
Diversify your businesses and increase your income stream
Why?
Well, because ultimately you never know what’s going to happen in the future.
No matter how long you have been selling online for, you will find that there are times when it can be a rather unpredictable business.
Sometimes a product that has sold successfully day in and day out for months on end will simply fizzle out with no warning. Whilst at other times a competing seller may (frustratingly!) undercut your prices, significantly reducing your client base. But, that’s just the nature of business wherever – and whatever – you sell.
This is why there are three main things that you should always bear in mind:
1. You should be continually researching and sourcing new products:
Having hot new items lined up means you can always keep adding to your inventory as other products decrease in popularity.
2. You should sell across a range of different niches or choose niches that have some relevance to each other (however small):
This gives you the opportunity to cross sell when you can and this will help you avoid a dry spell should one of your products encounter a dip in sales.
3. You should sell from multiple venues – eBay, Amazon and from your own website:
The more you put yourself out there, the more buyers you will reach and the more sales you will make. What’s more, this is the easiest way to safeguard your online income.
eBay is just the beginning… Diversify and you will gain.
If you really want to protect your online income you should, without doubt, consider diversifying the strategies you use to generate your sales.
eBay is very likely to continue to be one of the more predominant earners for you, but you should also establish other income streams so that you will never suffer from a prolonged dry spell and are continually reaching different markets.
For example, let’s say you are currently selling ladies jewellery successfully on eBay. Look at your products; are there any poor sellers? Can you replace them with more popular products?
What other products could you add to your inventory that have relevance to ladies jewellery and might tempt buyers? Sunglasses? Scarves? Charms? Could you expand into men’s jewellery?
What about selling elsewhere? Have you tried listing your eBay products on Amazon? What about setting up a niche website for your products and building a list of customers that you can mail on a monthly basis with special promotions and news?
This is called (and I know this is an old cliché) ‘not putting all your eggs in one basket’. Simply put, what I’m saying is, don’t just sell in one place.
You should absolutely not let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that a few successful listings is enough to keep your online business going.
You need to continually build on what you’ve got in order to grow. This is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned during my six years of selling online… don’t be afraid to expand, investigate new routes and source new products.