12 Things You Need to Know when Starting Your Own Wholesale Selling Business

Starting your own business comes with the risk of running into a number of traps many have fallen into before.

It doesn’t matter if you are looking to run a small business or a big one, the same issues need to be handled correctly.

Small businesses have been growing since 1992, rising 49 percent, and in comparison to 4 million jobs eliminated by the big businesses since 1990, small businesses created 8 million new jobs. So, you are certainly not alone.

Maybe you are interested in buying wholesale electronics to resell them on Amazon. Maybe you have found a niche, an undersupplied market, and plan on buying wholesale lots from liquidation auctions to supply that niche.

Whatever your goal and the reasons behind your step towards business ownership, here are some tips to help you through.

The 12 Steps to Navigating the Business Path

1. Development Takes Time

It is important to be involved in the business on a daily basis, but only until it’s developed to the stage where it starts working for you and you stop working for the business. In essence, your goal is to work on developing your business and not just to work in the business.

2. Take Courses

Wherever you work, make sure you make that job a crash course in how to run your own business. Pay attention to every detail of the business, not just the area you are directly involved in at that time. It helps to make notes. Consider every job you work on as an apprenticeship of some sort, and familiarize yourself with all the aspects of that business. The more you learn, the easier you will find your feet once you are working for yourself. Since you are looking to start a wholesale buying and selling business, take note of reputable suppliers that will help your business hit the ground running, scout the best delivery services and make sure you look at the niche markets with healthy demand but not much supply.

3. Consider a Partnership

Working with a partner can work for some people but it often does not. So, if you need help with running the business, hire people to do it for you instead of looking for a partner. The only time you can take on a partner who could either invest in a share of your company, or run the business with you is when you are 100 percent certain that person will be an asset to your business and not just ‘someone tagging along’, for example, someone who already has established a customer base for wholesale electronics online and already has business connections with wholesale suppliers that could help you keep your purchase costs down right from the start.

4. Have Ambition and Targets in Mind

When you are starting your own business, you have to aim higher than a simple monthly payment for yourself. Aim for higher profits, and even if you don’t meet them, you’ll still be making more money. Never sell yourself short. Instead of just aiming for enough, try to aim for something big: not just a higher wage, but a great business overall. Having something to strive for is always good motivation. So, if your initial aim is to establish a name in the electronics resale business by selling laptops, this does not mean you shouldn’t look to branch out into selling refurbished laptops, smartphones, computer accessories, or even TV’s.

5. Build a Reliable Team

Make sure you find the right people to do the job. With a great group of people, you will be able to provide great service and develop great products. More often than not, hiring cheap help or going for the cheaper option will backfire instead
of working for you. This applies to selecting the right suppliers who will be able to provide you with the top grade merchandise at great prices while providing you quality delivery services as well as customer support.

6. You Don’t Need to Start from Scratch

It is often thought that building your own business from the ground up is the best option. However, it is a time-consuming process, which is why it may be better to buy a business that has been undervalued and build from there. It takes you less time, and it is easier to make some improvements to an already existing system than to create your own system from scratch. If you are able to take over a wholesale resale business that someone has started but does not have the time to run properly, it could be your chance. You will already have an inventory and a network of suppliers which you can filter and adjust to your liking over time.

7. Choose the Right Suppliers

Learning the tricks of the trade is key. Making a profit is what it’s all about. In the case of selling items you buy through liquidation companies, the market is getting more and more competitive. Your goal is to buy wholesale merchandise, or liquidation goods in bulk from liquidators and sell them one by one at competitive prices.

The goal is not to make one big sale to cover your investment, but a number of small sales that add up to a significant profit. To help you with every step of this process, we have set up the Ultimate Guide to Selling on Amazon, which you can use to find the best source of merchandise and later turn a significant profit on resale.

8. Cost Isn’t Everything

When you are looking for employees, don’t hire the ones that will cost you the least because that will reflect on the quality of your business. You can’t rely on a good business idea, no matter how great it is, if it is not executed correctly. A cohesive and productive team is what you are looking for, not a cheap one. For you, this means that your customer support, which will reflect on your reputation, has to be top notch. Hire people that will be able to help your customers with all the issues that might occur as well as make sure the customer is willing to buy your merchandise again in the future.

9. Keep the Big Picture in Mind

In order to make your business a success, you can’t focus only on one area of it. The operations, sales and marketing and finance and administration have to be developed simultaneously.

10. Relationships Pay Off

Long-term income-generating relationships are what you have to aim for, not just getting paid once for a job with a client. Develop relationships not only with your customer base but also with your product suppliers or logistics partners. Not only that, but make sure you bring structure into your relationships. This will not only bring your long-term employment but also long-term income. Both liquidators and wholesale suppliers reward loyalty, which results in flexible contracts, better shipping terms and lower prices.

11. Advertise your Business

Although it is important to run an efficient business, it is not worth focusing on efficient operations if you are not bringing new business in. So instead of trying to create new ways of optimizing operations, put an effort into advertising your business. It is hard to get clients in a sea of online resale businesses if no one hears about yours.

12. Keep Accurate Records

Crunching the numbers every day is of great importance to track your progress. It is imperative to track everything from new contacts to the number of sales made.

Tracking all the numbers and keeping all the receipts organized can only help you when the time comes to file your taxes. Try labeling all the receipts you get by describing the nature of the expenses you make.

Learning the tricks of the trade and getting familiar with issues that might get you off track is important to keep your business growing.

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Henley Johnson

Henley currently works as a sales representative for Direct Liquidation, assisting businesses with product sourcing of liquidated merchandise from the largest retailers in the world. Whether you are looking for a pallet or a truckload Henley is here to help you grow your business.

View Henley’s Bio on YouTube.