When you think of big businesses like Amazon, you probably think of the massive warehouses they have to run their business from. You might not realize that the global website started in someone’s home. Here are some of the ways you can try and replicate that level of success from your own home:
Entrust somebody else to fulfill your orders
If you plan on selling goods over the internet, one of the biggest problems you’ll face when starting a business in your home is finding somewhere to keep all of those products until they are sold. If you have a wide range of products on offer, you must have many each item to fulfill any potential orders in the future. Not only will you lose money if somebody wants to buy a certain product and you don’t have it in stock, but you’ll likely get the stock much cheaper if you buy in bulk. It’s also important that all of your stock is organized and not thrown into the back of a cupboard, as you’ll want to access each item as quickly as possible once it’s been ordered. Delays in finding a product will result in delays sending it off, which is highly likely to result in a disappointed customer.
With this in mind, why not find someone else to deal with the order fulfillment side of your business? Companies like Red Stag Fulfillment offer a 30-day free trial on their site for any businesses uncertain as to whether it’ll benefit their business or not. As they’re able to store and organize all of your stock and then manage to deliver to 97% of Americans within two days, it’s doubtful that you’ll be asking for your money back once you realize the benefits of using a company like this.
Get the separate contact information for your home life.
While your home may be your business’s headquarters, you must have different contact details for your home life and your business. There are many reasons why you don’t want to be giving your personal number to customers. The main problem is that you won’t tell which is a business call and which is a personal call. You don’t want another member of your family answering a business call as it will make you sound unprofessional. It’s also unlikely that you’ll want to deal with business calls on your time off as well. With this in mind, purchase a second mobile phone dedicated to the business. That way, you know anybody who calls that number is calling for the business, and that you can turn that phone off outside of working hours.
Stay organized
When working from home, it’s easy to become disorganized. If you don’t have a set office space, you might want to work from the kitchen one day and the dining room the next day for a change of scenery. With this in mind, you must keep any physical documents organized in a binder or another device so all the information you need can move around as frequently as you do. You don’t want to lose or damage any of this information, or even worse, have one of your family accidentally dispose of an important document by mistake.
