For the last 3 months, I have been preoccupied with One for Humanity. A startup with the sole purpose of supporting artisans around the world by creating an eCommerce platform to showcase their works, which are mostly handmade and one of a kind.
If I’m not working on my online jobs [I have to because it pays the bills], I am busy trying to figure out how to run One for Humanity website as seamless as possible, not to mention, do a lot of A/B testing with our marketing strategies. This blog took a back seat in the last 2 months, that’s how busy I have been!
I’ve already lost count on how many times we’ve redesigned the website and my coding skills leveled up! Who knew I can easily follow coding instructions and get the add-on functions I want to run properly? Not in my wildest dreams! But I’m ecstatic at how much I have learned in a span of 3 months! Heaps.
Of course, starting a business comes with its challenges. And we are not an exception.
Dealing with paid ads that easily burn money, transaction fees that bring down our margins, and unpredictable online traffic just to name a few. I’ve been obsessing looking at different analytics apps before I sleep and as soon as I wake up just to see any progress! And I highly discourage it because it’s what keeps me awake until 4am and disrupts my morning thoughts.
Anyway, it may not be all rainbows and unicorns, but I love working on One for Humanity (OFH). Because of what it can do and the impact it can bring. I’m not even counting on making any profit for the first 6 months as long as we continuously build a strong foundation for OFH to make it last for at least 5 years.
We started OFH with just our Peruvian collection of bags, belts and accessories. To date, we have already expanded our collection of bags coming from 3 other countries, namely: Spain, Colombia and US. And coming soon — Jordan and Guatemala!
Everything is falling to place and we couldn’t be more excited with all these developments! Our main struggle now is getting consistent visitors to our online store and converting them to customers and raving fans! But with limited marketing budget, it ain’t easy but we know it’s possible!
I’ve already spent countless of hours and x-amount of money with no return yet in sight, so is running an online business truly worth it?
Definitely. Without a doubt.
As long as you love what you’re doing, you have a vision, and you are motivated to do whatever it takes, then reaping rewards will soon follow.
If you are eager to know how to start your own online business, catch my next post where I’ll explain in detail the steps you can easily follow.
Meanwhile, thank you for stopping by and sending you love from my side of the world. Cheers!