Part or full time

[Simon]

Hi All

Have worked on a site for the company I work for but thinking of setting up my own BP web shop. Are you all working on this full time or are others managing to run the shop as well as hold down a full time job?

[mikeyred]

Hi,

I am a part timer as such, for the moment at least but hopefully it will grow. I work fully at two other companies and just about hold it together but hoping for Green Bear to take over as the main source of income and keep in the same extravagant lifestyle of say Dave at HP toner. If I get to those dizzy heights I will be a happy teddy bear :)

You have to be careful to be fair or you could be a jack of all trades and a master of none..... where have I heard that...... oh the wife..... moving on...... Yes it can be done with a bit of planning, I am lucky that I network with our ICUK offices in London from home and the other companies are mine. Just have problems remembering what hat to wear when I pick up the phone :confused:

[Dave]

hoping for Green Bear to take over as the main source of income and keep in the same extravagant lifestyle of say Dave at HP toner

Bloody hello Mike if only you knew the truth you would laugh your head off. With my mortgage, loans and credit cards I must account for half the national debt :(

Wish I lived in a sprawling villa on Sandbanks like you do :D

[Simon]

Sounds like it has to be done then!

[little-linguist]

I've worked for myself for about 3 1/2 years now full-time. Before that, it was a part-time job as I was 24 and trying to get a mortgage for the first time - self-employed work doesn't really count as far as the bank's concerned when assessing to give you a mortgage (unless you have several years of accounts). I had no choice but to work 30 hours / week elsewhere to have a proven source of income. Luckily once my mortgage was in place, our sales had increased enough for me to give up my other job and work for myself full-time.

So yes, it is possible to do part-time alongside another job. Blooming hard work though and can be difficult to manage (e.g posting items out / receiving deliveries if you're out at work every day during "normal" working hours). Obviously, if you're going down the drop-shipping route that wouldn't apply.

[Gillf]

Hi,

I started it alongside a day job but after a couple of years went full time in the business. Having only the business (only!!!) certainly makes a difference to the quality of everything including life. I still work long hours but it is all for me now :D

As said above it is possible to run a BP shop alongside other employment but it is tricky... the trickiest bit is customer service. Speaking to customer about your product or service in another business environment can be difficult... as you can imagine it certainly was for me with the products I sell.

Good luck with your venture.

Gill
www.ever-so-sexy.com (http://www.ever-so-sexy.com) - Luxury sexy lingerie.

[Simon]

Posting and communication are my biggest concerns. I figure I will be popping down the local post office two or three times a week in my lunch hour, which is fine. I'm not sure how customers will take it only being able to contact me by email during working hours.

[Dave]

Posting and communication are my biggest concerns. I figure I will be popping down the local post office two or three times a week in my lunch hour, which is fine. I'm not sure how customers will take it only being able to contact me by email during working hours.

You would need to provide customers with telephone number should they have any queries regarding your products and service. You could always have an answering machine and remotely access it to pick up messages and call them back.

Responding to e-mails and telephone messages for your own business can be very tricky whilst you are still employed

[Neil]

I think it all depends what you are going to be selling as to how you manage your store.

We started our site on a lets see what happens basis and were totally unprepared. We employ 7 full time and another 7 on a casual basis, during the peak time in the spring I ended up having 3 packing orders for 3 days week for sales from the Blue Park site, which actually distracted from our main business which is the main income. Then had to move them over and to try and catch up on other work. I can see the internet site overtaking our main business within 3 years.

Next year we wil be better prepared for having the experience under our belts, we have had custom designed packaging made which means the product is arriving in pristine condition with the customer.Also our existing customer base visits us regularly so we must be doing something right. Also we know where most of our new sales are coming from and can target the advertising more effectively - One of the best promotions i did was give away a product for 1p each to existing customers only, its surprising how much you make!!!

If you are going for it expect it to be damn hard work, expect to work 7 days a week and a lot of late nights. But at the end of the day, there is nothing like working for your self.

Also make sure you get a good website design it will make all the difference to your conversion rate.

If you can do it part-time to see what happens - i'd go for it.

Neil

[Neil]

We try to discourage contact by phone - even though its on the website for confidence reasons. Most customers prefer email now i think.
We have even given up on the idea of eventually taking phone orders - its not needed in OUR situation.

Neil

[little-linguist]

I'm not sure how customers will take it only being able to contact me by email during working hours.

Yes, this is the hardest part. A lot of people won't bother leaving a message and go elsewhere if they can't get in touch. I've no doubt that part of the reason that our sales increased dramatically once I was working full-time for the business was that customers could speak to somebody rather than deal with an "anonymous" webshop with an answerphone.

I suppose it depends on what you're selling. If you are selling something that explains itself well in a catalogue (whether online or in print) and most of your customers are fairly youngish, then probably most will just happily order online and rarely have cause to get in touch by phone. If, however, you are selling items that people are likely to want to ask lots of questions about before deciding whether to buy, or your the likely age of your customers is, urm, a bit older , then be prepared for the fact that they would much rather be able to speak to someone and / or place their order on the phone rather than online.

[Simon]

Thanks for all your replies! Not afraid of a bit of hard work, which sounds like it may be a good thing. Watch this space in January 2010!

[Neil]

Forgot to say:

There's a learning curve steeper than the'Mont Blanc'

If you have kids - go home put them to bed, remind the wife who you are, then go back to work!

Learn to say 'NO'.


Neil

[petad]

Hi All

Have worked on a site for the company I work for but thinking of setting up my own BP web shop. Are you all working on this full time or are others managing to run the shop as well as hold down a full time job?
Having a partner/other half at home makes a huge difference, so I suggest a dating site if you're not already sorted ;)

[Neil]

Have to agree with the above, although i can't work with her personally as it ends in arguments my wife comes and works with the other staff when we are busy. The feedback she gives me is invaluable. Couldn't do with out the girl who works directly under me either - tells me as it is, whether i like it or not!!!!