Why own an online shop? Change your odds of success

If you’re still on the fence about establishing a direct sales channel for your business, I implore you to ask yourself why you do what you do. What is the foundation for your drive as an Entrepreneur? Let me take a guess:

You started your own business because you wanted to break free from an overbearing system of rules to follow your passion. You became an Entrepreneur to control your own destiny, and to be able to look back after many years with fondness and pride and say, “I was able to build something great – out of nothing.”

So before going back to your daily grind, take a second to step back and assess whether your business has the appropriate foundations in place. A direct sales channel won’t guarantee the success of your business, but it will definitely improve your odds.

Owning real business assets vs the illusion of platform followers

I see a lot of younger people do a tremendous job of growing their followers on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but never realising it is the platforms that control their fate. I have seen so many brands collapse because of platform policy changes or ever just because they were falsely flagged for a violation and never being able to resolve the issue, because the beast is too big to ever get in contact with an actual person with influence – it is at this moment when you realise you never owned your followers, the platform does.

The value for your business is in the list of customer emails – This is a real business asset. Marketing your product on a platform and then selling it through your own online shop is the only way to ensure you own the asset. This is the reason you are always asked to sign up to a website.

Platforms like Instagram are great as they help you get to your customers, but it is your responsibility to turn that into a business asset for the long run.

You have to ask yourself, what happens to my business if Facebook went offline tomorrow? I hope your answer is nothing – otherwise you face a risk that has crumbled other businesses, overnight.

Platforms should only be sales channels, not your business