I have been running an online business for the past 2 years now and I must say the journey has not been easy.I had to learn a lot by researching, studying and seeking mentors. So far so good, I can say it's been a satisfying journey with room for improvements. Below are some things I have learned and experienced over the past two years in my online business.

1. Not for lazy people. If you are lazy then doing an online business is not meant for you. Trust me, it's harder than what people think and are meant to believe. Lazy people also seek for shortcuts and end up spending so much money, achieving little or nothing. You must read, you must research and there are somethings you must do yourself even if it gives you sleepless nights.

2. Series of sleepless nights. People who run successful online businesses rarely sleep at night. I cannot count the number of sleepless nights I have had over the years. From researching, preparing newsletters, press release, articles, responding to emails, website maintenance, planning your next promo, etc. It's a busy world out there for online entrepreneurs, but it's fun. So if you are not having sleepless nights, then you have not started.

3. Email marketing is king. No matter how much you spend on advertising, if you don't have an email subscribers list, then you are totally ignoring a goldmine. Email marketing has been existing and will continue to exist because recently I saw a survey report that calculated that email marketing might likely phase out in 2060. That's a long time from now. Just last month, I was skeptical about paying for online ads because of the unsteady exchange rates, so I opted to shake my email list a bit and guess what, over 100k came out from that little "shake" (biko don't ask for screenshot oh make dem nor begin talk say I dey show myself ). So, if you are doing an online business and you don't have a list, start building one now.

4. It's hard to retain staff. Your online business can be operated from your dining room but even at that it can grow so large (even if it's just one laptop and printer) that you will be forced to get help. The problem is not that you cannot pay them, but since they are working remotely, they can easily get "lost" in other activities and totally forget they still work for you.

5. It's cheaper to outsource work abroad. This is something I got to understand with time. Most Nigerians are lazy. They need a job, but cannot work. E.g. If I need someone to help me post an ad on 100 classified websites in 2 days, no Nigerian will do the job for less than N5,000 but I can get a Phillipine freelancer (from upwork.com) to do it for just $10.

6. Always work hard everyday. No matter how big your online business is, you still have to sit down and do some work everyday. You have to write programs everyday, you have to do organic marketing everyday, in fact the more organic marketing you do, the better your site's SEO and unique traffic.

7. Stick with one niche. If you start a business, stick with it. Stop getting distracted by other business ideas. When I receive an order from my website, in the part where I asked "How did you know about us?" The answer i get most times is "A friend". That is a client referred by another happy client. If am not consistent, I will definitely lose all those new clients referred to me! It really pays on the long run to stick to one niche.

7. Respond to ALL emails. Now this is one of the things giving us sleepless nights. Replying lots of emails. And believe me some might be so funny and uninteresting that you might be tempted to just over look such emails. Don't oh! 3 days ago, I got an email in the morning that was written in just one sentence...no big grammar and nothing fancy. I ignored it. Later at night, after dong all my work, I decided to reply the mail just for replying sake. To cut the long story short, the guy whose mail I almost ignored is now my latest client who ordered for my service all the way from Saudi Arabia.

8. Never pick calls in a noisy environment. I have lost clients by doing such. So, if you are in a noisy place, biko don't pick strange calls on your business line if you can't rush of to a quiet place. It's better to not answer the call than to create a funny impression in the minds of the caller doubting if you are for real.

9. Advertising is unavoidable. No matter the organic marketing you do, try to maintain an advertising budget. Either on NL, Google, Facebook, Radio, Newspaper, etc. Having a budget for periodic advertising cannot be overemphasized. Personally, sometimes I do it every month or every 3 months. If you do it right, and offer a reliable service or product, you MUST get alerts. Its non negotiable.

10. Innovation and promo. Always add new spices to your business. Think of new innovations that your new and existing customers will like. In fact innovation and promotions are what your old clients will keep paying you money for. Some clients have paid me more than 6 times within a 4 months period because I keep adding new stuff and promos.

I hope I have inspired someone out there. If you have your own experiences, you can add them lets all learn together.

Which Email market are you currently using?

ok

looseweight:
Which Email market are you currently using?

Mailchimp. A bit expensive but quite reliable and flexible.

Nice one. I hardly sleep in the night because of this tasking but lucrative online business. You are right. Nigerians are damn lazy. You will here stupid excuses like "I don't have light" "my laptop is faulty" my baby is crying" etc. Kindly throw more light on the email marketing stuff. It seems I am a learner in that field.

11. DISCIPLINE!!!! Nothing like it. If you don't have it, forget it!

11. DISCIPLINE!!!! Nothing like it. If you don't have it, forget it!

topsquino:
Nice one. I hardly sleep in the night because of this tasking but lucrative online business. You are right. Nigerians are damn lazy. You will here stupid excuses like "I don't have light" "my laptop is faulty" my baby is crying" etc. Kindly throw more light on the email marketing stuff. It seems I am a learner in that field.

Yeah, online business is not for lazy people. Email marketing is great if you know how to do it right. I created a thread for it: www.nairaland.com/2535430/learn-email-marketing-businesses-free

DonX001:
11. DISCIPLINE!!!!
Nothing like it. If you don't have it, forget it!

Gbam!!!

This is one of the key factors also. You must be disciplined enough to know when you are supposed to do your organic marketing, to deny yourself sleep even when your whole body is screaming "sleep", and more importantly when you need to learn something new, it takes discipline to actually take your time to do research.

Waiting to read other experiences.

Ok nobody with experiences. Are there no online buiness men /women here?

nice one op

NEVER STOP LEARNING...

online hustle is non stop,things are changing technology is advancing ,you need to move with the trend..
when bulk sms business was not enough for me i added web design,when it wasn't enough i added blogging,and now graphics is part of what i do....keep learning stay faithful and honest.

And pls Avoid GREED..

OnWebTech:
nice one op

NEVER STOP LEARNING...

online hustle is non stop,things are changing technology is advancing ,you need to move with the trend..
when bulk sms business was not enough for me i added web design,when it wasn't enough i added blogging,and now graphics is part of what i do....keep learning stay faithful and honest.

And pls Avoid GREED..

Boss, I like tilting the trends. People say avoid greed, me I sometimes embrace it. Without it you cannot charge up to 500k to set up a website. Sometimes i pays to be greedy. People say blog for passion, me I say blog for money. For God's sake, you have a thousand things to do with your time, but you spend it blogging which is not easy, why won't you do it for money? Sometimes doing the opposite of what people say might just give you that breakthrough.

My opinion.

databoy247:


Boss, I like tilting the trends. People say avoid greed, me I sometimes embrace it. Without it you cannot charge up to 500k to set up a website. Sometimes i pays to be greedy. People say blog for passion, me I say blog for money. For God's sake, you have a thousand things to do with your time, but you spend it blogging which is not easy, why won't you do it for money? Sometimes doing the opposite of what people say might just give you that breakthrough.

My opinion.

Well said brother...perhaps Greed is not the right word to use here , but i was going through a scam thread a while ago...and I saw Greed in the scammers action..(Taking More than you can handle at a time)

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Wow! this thread is really Awesome.