How can you make money online in 2022? What exactly do you need to do in order to launch an ecommerce venture of some sort – and how should you be managing on a daily basis to actually profit from it?
These are very complex questions, and we’re glad to have a chat with a serial entrepreneur to have them cleared out! Gar Lee, 30, has kindly agreed to share his first-hand ecommerce experience and to explain what it takes to be a successful online business owner. We’re all ears!
Hi, please introduce yourself!
My name is Gar Lee, I’m born and raised in Seattle, Washington. In my free time, I love to be outdoors. I enjoy snowboarding and scuba diving, I like to play basketball, all kinds of things.
How did the idea to start making money online come to you?
Ever since I graduated, I knew I wanted to get into entrepreneurship. I value my time, I love being flexible, I just don’t want to be tied down. I want to do the things that I want to do. Being in an online business allows me to do that.
Being online is very liberating.
I can work anywhere as long as I have Wi-Fi, I can choose my own hours. And again, I love snowboarding, so just last month I was in Canada for some snowboarding, and currently right now I’m in Thailand to do scuba diving. With an online business, I can do what I want, and that’s why I’ve got it.
What ways of making money online have you already tried?
I’ve been in ecommerce for 8 years now (but I still know that I’ve got a lot to learn!). I’ve done dropshipping and I’ve done Amazon stores, eBay stores, Shopify, and I love it. My most recent store was a Premium store from AliDropship packed with Sellvia products in the gardening niche, like landscaping tools and accessories for your backyard and lawn. I got interested in the Sellvia offering because of the faster shipping, and here I am, giving it a shot, seeing how it’s going to work out and whether in can make money online in 2022.
Why did Sellvia get your attention?
The attractive point of Sellvia was that it would be based in the US. I’m in the US, my customers are in the US, and I like that Sellvia is also based in the US. One of the issues I faced with previous dropshipping businesses was that they shipped from overseas. That means, when your customer places an order, they don’t receive it until way later. With Sellvia, a customer can get their order within a few days, and that’s very good for the business.
Launching a business is one thing, but running it to make it profitable is a whole different story. What’s your strategy?
On a daily basis, what I always do first is check messages to see if there are any customer complaints, inquiries, or questions – ultimately, customers are most important, right? So, if they reach out to you, make sure that you respond to them and address their concerns. Regardless of whether it’s a Sellvia store or any other type of online business, your reputation is key. You want to make sure that you take care of your customers.
Secondly… well, of course you’re trying to be profitable, right? So, I always review my ads, make sure that I keep the ones that are doing well, and turn off the ones that aren’t doing so well. Even the ads themselves can be fine-tuned so that they can perform better. There’s always room for improvement. Every day, as days go by, you collect more and more data, and with the data, you try to make things better.
I’m also doing inventory management – I try to make sure that my products are stocked as much as they can be. Do you know why this is important? Just look at my numbers: things were doing fine in April, with the store and ads all running at full speed.
And May? My bestseller went out of stock, and I’ve decided to pause all ads to make some revisions to the website (product range included) before I start driving traffic again.
Super frustrating! But you know, well, stuff happens.
Oh! So what’s the plan to fix this?
The obvious answer is to look for other winning products, but it’s going to be a long journey.
You see, the niche I initially took is not related to any of my hobbies and maybe that’s part of the issue. A business must have some personal touch, and the best thing you can do to achieve this is to follow your passion from the very launch. So yes, I’m going to rethink this store, upgrade the product offering, and basically build a unique brand around it.
Your numbers look promising anyway! How are you driving visitors and sales?
To promote my stores, I try everything. Some products sell better on Facebook (my first Sellvia sale came from Facebook ads), some products sell better on Instagram, some products sell better with emails… I don’t really think there’s one right way to promote your store. I don’t even think there’s one right way to promote your product. Sometimes things don’t work, sometimes they do – I mean, that’s all part of it.
What’s your advice to those starting out and wondering how to make money online in 2022 and beyond?
If you’re just starting out with ecommerce… I think it’s a process. Don’t expect it to be super profitable immediately – it’s almost unrealistic to think that way. Someone who just started their business needs to understand that the first sale may not come until way later. Don’t get discouraged if things don’t look so good in the beginning – it’s natural. Keep going, be open and creative, try new things. Remember that the world of ecommerce is always changing, and there are ways to make money online in 2022 that simply weren’t available before. Going forward, I, for example, plan to explore new things and ecommerce solutions like Sellvia, maybe start more businesses, and just try to continue learning.
Gar Lee is totally open about his ecommerce experience, his ups and downs, and we appreciate that. We are sure he’s just about to reach a new business milestone with the digital marketing tips from our team – and we’re ready to share our knowledge through free ecommerce consultations with everyone interested!
