Running A Part-Time Business From Home: A New Dad’s Experience
We love to hold follow-up interviews with founders of dropshipping businesses! Watching their entrepreneurial adventures and witnessing the changes in their business (and personal) lives is fascinating. So, today, we’re talking to János, our visitor not so long ago, who continues to run and expand a part-time company from home!
Disclaimer: All of the success stories published on the AliDropship site are the product of written interviews. Although the editors can make some small revisions to the syntax, pronunciation, and punctuation, the writing styles, viewpoints, opinions, screenshots and personal images of the respondents are kept intact.
Hey, introduce yourself to our new readers, please!
Hi, I am 33-year-old János. Today, I live with my wife and my newborn daughter in Hungary. As a web designer, I work.
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Can you outline your experience of beginning a part-time company from home?
To start with, I had some limited e-commerce experience before I launched this company. Before, I developed some simple websites and sold goods at local online marketplaces. I have had an essential dropshipping company with a local manufacturer of dog beds in the UK.
I liked this dropshipping model because this is the shortest and most successful way to launch a minimally risky online company of my own. After I came across a YouTube online tutorial about creating an AliExpress dropshipping store built on WooCommerce, I decided to create and start my one. I followed the advice given by AliDropship from their YouTube tutorials, and here I am!
What’s the current performance of the part-time business you’re running from home?
I do only have one shop, and here’s how things happen:
I use the AliDropship plugin, AliDropship hosting, and AliDropship Google Chrome extension to keep it operational, which lets me quickly create invoices. These resources are more than just useful; I would say: they are the backbone of launching an online shop.
I expect to start using some more automated solutions for improved shop management shortly. I know there are lots of excellent alternatives to try!
Is there something you have improved with your product strategy?
I’m also working in a niche loosely connected to my wife’s favorite sport. I do some internet analysis dedicated to this unique item to find the right product, and I try to find the best supplier on AliExpress. I consider its ranking when determining the product consistency (at least four stars is mandatory). I also look at the number of purchases, the quality of the customers’ feedback, and the available shipping methods. I have a more or less stable variety of products, including mainly evergreen products, and I multiply the original price by 2 or 3.
Since revenues are will, I intend to buy some items in bulk. That’s how I could more easily satisfy the consumers and probably market these goods to companies in wholesale. I have noticed that in our region, the goods I would like to sell in B2B are not available or the price is too high, which is why it seems like a suitable opportunity. So, yeah, there are several modifications to the product plan or enhancements to it.
What do you think about the store’s promotion?
I’m just not encouraging it: most of the orders come from Google organically. Still, occasionally I share some Facebook groups’ updates, and I intend to play with some of the promo platforms that I have not yet explored. But I’m not even investing any money to market the company right now.
How are you handling this part-time organization from home?
My company is legally registered—it is enough only to be self-employed to make it possible. It can be set up in a day by a successful accountant.
To process orders and address customer calls, I spend about 2-3 hours a day on administration. The bulk of questions from my customers are about long shipping periods. I do my utmost to keep customers updated all the time to help with their fears. They are, as a rule, knowing and there’s no problem. I talk in a friendly manner with the customers and may even deliver a discount voucher.
I love the chance to work on the internet from home, or some other location. I have a lot more independence now, but much more self-discipline is still required. My friends and family, who used to be a little cynical about my plan, are now seeing the company doing well, and their minds have changed!
I want to focus further on my current shop in the future and launch at least one more store when I have enough time. I don’t have that today, because last December our baby came.
