So you didn’t know it would be this hard…
The Real Challenges of Building an E-commerce Business
This young man is despondent and because someone on Reddit’s r/passiveincome told him that a vending machine business was going to make his “get rick quick” dreams come true and provide a lot of passive income, but so far his returns are negligible and his “passive” is very active.
In all the courses and packages and subscriptions to their E-comm Universities that promise to set you on the path to becoming That Big Billionaire, they never once use the word “hard” it’s always “easy!” or “Easy” or “So Easy your house cat could do it!” Or some variation of “why wouldn’t you listen to me and do this incredibly easy thing that could make you RICH???” Or maybe you’re just browsing every article about “how to make passive income?”
“Passive income easy”
“how to make money quick”
“is passive income really passive?”
Your Google search history gets it, bro. You’re broke and you want to make some money doing the least amount of work possible.
So it directs you to articles about”
“How ChatGPT can make you $40 million dollars TODAY”
“56 Things AI can do to make you $$$ easy Passive Income, so passive you’re already rich and you haven’t even read this blog post”
These gurus also play on your desire to feel like you worked hard for it or smarter for it, so they give you the crumbs and let you do the rest. That way, you’re the genius, not them. You’re the brains that turned nothing into something in one month, or 3 weeks, or 3 days. Except you’re not…and it’s not working…. There’s a reason why, and you are not the reason.
Ever wonder why these people are using their time to create courses and digital products if they’re SO good at their ecomm business that they decided to teach YOU how to be SO GOOD at your ecomm business too, for the low low price of $59.99 per course/per month/per year? Because you are the niche they identified.
Why?
Because you are the niche they identified. Because they’re selling you…not the business. YOU are their business. And so many prospective Ecomm-preneurs don’t realize that you are the product now, you are the $$$ in the eyes of these Ecomm wizards.
But you don’t have to be.
Ever wonder why these people are using their time to create courses and digital products if they’re SO good at their ecomm business that they decided to teach YOU how to be SO GOOD at your ecomm business too, for the low low price of $59.99 per course/per month/per year? Because they tried the things they’re teaching you and they came to the conclusion that there was a better business opportunity in selling you a dream instead.
It’s really that simple.
And for that reason, they cannot ever warn you of just how much work building a business from scratch, online, without any experience in business, corporate America will be.
I have worked for multi-national, global, billion-dollar companies most of my professional career, all of which sold luxury items and products and all this was managed by teams of thousands of people. Even at the smallest company, it was a team of 50 people working on a catalog of just 500 products and it was hard for everyone of us. 50 people and every day we wished it was 55 or 60 just so our workload wouldn’t overwhelm us.
While courses and programs may present ecommerce as an easy path to success, the reality is: building any business from scratch involves major challenges. Having industry experience has taught me that even large corporations with huge (and I mean huge) teams struggle with the workload and complexity, every single day.
So if you’re finding this grind a little harder than you imagined, you’re not alone. This does NOT mean you should give up. I’m here to help.
It's important to have realistic expectations about the effort required, especially if doing it solo without a team for support.
Guaranteed, building your Ecomm business will involve:
long hours
tough decisions
technical hurdles
changing regulations
fierce competition
and more…
But it will also involve immense wins that are directly related to the level and amount of effort you invest in your business and yourself.
Success is waiting for you to reach it, but will require persistence and a willingness to learn, and not giving up when facing obstacles.
My goal with Middle Class Mob is never to dissuade you from pursuing ecommerce, but to provide transparency so you’re better able to reach your goals. With eyes wide open about the commitment required, you can then make an informed choice about whether this entrepreneurial journey aligns with your goals and capabilities.
And if it doesn’t? That’s okay too, I got your back! I’ll also be talking about less work-intense ways to make income for those that find ecomm may not be the solo business venture of their dreams.
I’ll share lessons from my experience to help set realistic expectations about what it takes to build a successful online business. My focus is providing value through transparency and real corporate experience. While there are many valid models for selling educational resources, and different methods work for different educators and students, I want to supplement the enthusiastic promises with facts about the inherent challenges.
By building awareness of the effort involved, my hope is that more entrepreneurs can prepare accordingly and ultimately realize their dreams through persistence and diligent work over the long-term.
The reward of owning a profitable business directly aligned with one's interests and skills can make the struggle worthwhile.
As someone who has been on all sides of the equation, I try to think of it this way: It’s not a me vs. them, and it’s not an us vs. them either. It goes back to the very simple principle that I am unique and I can offer my services to others, and I owe it to them to be honest about those services. They can then make an informed decision to purchase those goods or services, because that is how I would like to be treated too. With humanity and integrity.
Stay Safe out there…