Is Starting an Online Business Risky During a Pandemic?

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With businesses closing left, right, and center, you would be forgiven for thinking that starting an online business during a pandemic is a terrible idea. For some, it may be. However, what you must realize is that it is (mostly) brick and mortar stores that are closing their doors. 

Online businesses, on the other hand, tend to be thriving. Starting up a business of any description is always going to be a risk, but starting up an online business during a pandemic may not be quite as risky as it first appears.

Reasons to Not Consider Starting an Online Business During a Pandemic

As we said before; people are buying online much more in the midst of this pandemic. However, it doesn’t mean that they are spending a lot of money. In fact, a lot of people no longer have the income that they had in the past. This means that they do not have much money to spend online at all. So, while there are sales to gain from an online business, there is going to be a lot of competition for the limited amount of cash. This means that you will need to do something incredibly unique if you want to stand out from the crowd.

You must also remember that starting an online business is a learning process. We are not telling you that you can start up a business right now and be making money hand over fist by tomorrow. It may be weeks, sometimes months before you can see any sort of return on the money you have invested. Even then, there is no guarantee that you will make money with an online business but if you put the work in, you could see a return sooner than you think.

Running your own business takes a dreadfully high amount of motivation too. As in, you really are going to need to knuckle down and do the work. 

Creating an online business is going to demand a lot more time and effort from you than a standard job. If you are not willing to put in all of that hard work, then this is absolutely not going to be a good business for you. The reality is, you can’t get demotivated from your first failure. Heck even your third or fourth. See this as a positive and learn from it.

While we are on the subject of money, you do need to remember that starting an online business is going to involve some investment. It doesn’t matter whether you go down the eCommerce or affiliate marketing route, you are going to need to be spending money at some point. 

Therefore, if you do not have a lot of it to spare and you need something to see you through this pandemic, then you absolutely should not start an online business just yet. Wait till it passes, then consider it.

“Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand.” – Oprah Winfrey

Reasons Why You Should Consider Starting an Online Business During a Pandemic

Right now, you have a captive audience. People are not leaving their homes to buy goods. The vast majority of people are doing their shopping at home. This is fantastic if you are running an eCommerce website or work as an affiliate because people are already going to be naturally searching the internet for goods that they would have normally have gone to their local store for. It is likely that this is something that will continue for the foreseeable future, so if you gain a foothold now, you may profit for a long time to come.

Starting an online business takes a whopping amount of time too. It is likely that you didn’t have the time to spare when you were working a full-time job. However, now you are likely to be stuck at home for the long term so you can really knuckle down and get an online business rolling. This includes doing your research to ensure that you are doing the right thing with your business. You may as well put all those spare hours to use, right?

Of course, starting up an online business now can help you to be a bit more financially independent. If your business is a success, then there is no need to worry about losing your job in the future. You will be working for yourself, and you will have full control over your income. And something like this will happen again. It may not be a pandemic, but there are a whole host of situations that can result in you losing your job. If you sit at the head of a company, then you can probably weather most storms.

To cap it off; starting an online business now will help you to gain skills that you can use if you decide to enter the workforce at a later date. An example of this is you will learn how to do SEO, create content, and run websites. So, even if you are not planning to do this long term, it could help your employability later on. 

If you keep your online business running when you do finally enter full-time employment again, you may even have a nice little bit of side income that can see you through when times get a little bit rough in the future. A better scenario will be to quit your full time job altogether and join many other entrepreneurs in the life of freedom.

“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” – Scott Belsky

Conclusion

While there is a lot of money to be had in the world of online businesses right now, you have to remember that starting a business does come with some challenges. You will also be starting a business in a financial climate that we have not experienced for a really long time. It is going to be a risk. If you have money to spare, then, by all means, jump on the risk.

It may end up paying you dividends later on down the line. Just be smart about it and if you’ve got some money set aside to invest, it could be the best decision you have ever made. One thing is certain – you’ve got the time so make the best use of it.

How are you spending your time during the coronavirus pandemic? Share your thoughts and stories below!