This is What I Learned from My First Online Startup Failure

The Dont’s of Building an Online Startup

It was heartbreaking to see my Startup crumble to nothing within 15 days of its launch. I had put in so many expectations and efforts, at least that’s what I thought.

Back in January 2021, I decided to launch my own Print of Demand business with a couple of friends I met online.

After bingeing several YouTube video tutorials on how to start a Print on Demand business for free, I decided to try it out.

However, by the mid of January, I had to shut down the entire business due to several reasons.

By the end of this blog, you’ll have a clear idea of what to avoid when building your own Startup online, be it in the form of an Agency, Ecommerce Business, Freelancing, Website or any other online venture.

Lesson 1 : Choose Your Niche Carefully

The Riches are in the Niches

Heard this for the first time on Pat Flynn’s Podcast and instantly feel in love with it.

You’ll find several people talking about everything in general, however, the truth is that people don’t find them approachable.

It's simple, people trust and invest their time and money in those who specialize in certain subjects.

In simpler terms, don’t try to be a Jack of all Trades.

I tried to be Jack when it came to choosing the niche for my Print on Demand business. I had decided to go ahead with “Cats” as my niche.

Now, I know that many of you would disagree that “Cats” isn’t exactly a broad niche. However, in the Print on Demand industry, the “Cats” niche is extremely competitive. I failed to realise that I could have easily niched down to creating “funny cat”, “cat food”, or “cat face” based designs.

In other words, I want you to double down on your niche and look out for sub-niches within that niche. Most people fear that niching down would reduce the number of potential leads.

They’re wrong. Niching down helps you focus specifically on people who’ll only be interested in the kind of service or products that you provide.

Lesson 2 : Make sure you bond with your team members

If you’re thinking of building a Startup with your friends, then it might be your best decision ever.

No doubt it feels great to build a startup with friends for support and motivation. However, I’d like to stress on something important.

Only collab with someone who has similar interests, goals and passion as you do. Otherwise, that person or people might let you down.

And that’s exactly what happened to me.

I was excited for working on this startup together with my friends whom I’d met a month back online. I had casually asked them if they would love to be a part of my business and they agreed willingly.

Later did I realise that they were barely interested in my business model and ended up abandoning me out of nowhere.

But it was too late. I was ready to give up and I eventually did. It wasn’t easy for me to handle everything alone, especially when I had divided up tasks among each other.

Thus, I advise that you talk to your team members, ask them if they’re really up for the commitment your startup requires. Be it friends, family, or relatives, make sure they’re committed to giving in their best.

If possible, come up with some kind of informal contract for everyone. People would take it professionally.

Lesson 3 : Invest your time and energy in promoting your Startup

I was lazy. I found Instagram attractive and decided to dive right into it without considering how Instagram’s algorithm worked.

All I knew back then was that I would celebrate my launch with my Instagram followers and lay out seeds of “following my startup account” without watering them.

And that’s exactly what I did. I uploaded an image on my business logo and threw some fancy words around its captions, shared it on my Story and ended up getting 50+ followers from my personal Instagram account.

I was happy with my so-called “promotion” results. I thought that this would start getting me sales as well.

Obviously, I was mistaken.

Here’s how I ended up drowning my Startup’s Instagram account :

• I uploaded the product image every time I launched it on my Print on Demand website. Literally uploaded a direct screenshot plucked right from my website. I could’ve added several other elements such as a call to action(CTA) or sprinkled a few words to attract eyes. But, nothing. All I wrote in the caption was the product name and price.
• I ended up making the account monotonous. All I kept posting were images of products that I launched back on the online print-on-demand marketplace. Simple, bland images of products expecting to generate sales. Huh, silly me.
• The only way I promoted my so-called “Startup” was via Instagram Stories. That’s it. That’s how I expected to bring in sales. I didn’t use hashtags, no outreach, no sponsorships, nothing.
• I gave up too soon. It might’ve barely hit 10 posts as far as I can recall. Looking at 0 sales, I started procrastinating and eventually stopped posting anything at all.
• My team members didn’t contribute much. All I noticed was that they were following the account, that’s it. I know no one likes playing the blame game, but I was disheartened.
• I ignored all the other potential social media platforms that would’ve fetched me better results. I’m talking about Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. I was so obsessed with focusing on organic methods that I failed to acknowledge the power of targetted ads.

Lesson 4 : Never be obsessed with quick results

I was impatient, but for the wrong reasons. I wanted quick results without putting in the desired efforts.

This obsession of mine backfired since I ended up feeling lazy to upload products, post images on Instagram and market my product. Seeing that I wasn’t bringing results, I stopped everything.

It’s said that everything comes at a price. The price for building and scaling your Startup is time. Give it time to grow.

Have you ever watched a seed turn into a tree within a day? No, right?

Your Startup is the seed. Keep nurturing it with effort and passion. Give it time to grow. Soon you’ll see your Startup grow into a tree.

Takeaway

Something I want to confess about giving up on my first Startup. I was really disappointed with myself back then.

But, rather than giving up entirely on the idea of building an online business, I started doubling down on side hustles I could find my interest in.

Today, I’m a Freelance Content Writer and Copywriter and I’m glad that didn’t waste a single second after I gave up on my first startup. Yes, it was a massive failure, but it brought me where I am today, and I love being a freelancer now.

At last, Startups can be built and broken, the real power to build one lies within you. Even if your first startup was a failure, don’t give up on yourself. You can build several more until and unless you have the drive and passion to build one.

Let me know if you had a similar experience with your online business. If not, hope you found this blog insightful.