There are hundreds of things you can do to make money online. One of the easiest, most fulfilling and most intuitive ways of doing so it to sell something online. This is something that most people already understand – you’ve probably sold dozens of things in the offline world. Selling those same things (or others) online may be a new experience but it certainly is something you already understand.

What do you need to do to start making money online in Kenya by selling stuff online? I’d argue that you FIRST need to think hard about your business. Selling online is no different from selling anywhere else. Your business plan must make sense if you are to succeed. You must think realistically and sensibly about what you want to sell, where you will find it, how much you will sell for, how you will deliver it to customers and how you will market and advertise your new shop. This is the hard part.

Next, you should think about technical issues – i.e. find a way to set up an online shop. E-commerce technology has existed for years and there are lots and lots of options here. A sad note is that in Kenya, even very simple online shops will usually cost you at least Kshs 50,000/-. This is a bit high, of course, but it is justifiable given the complexities involved.

Of course this was true only up to last week. Last week DukaPress was launched. What is DukaPress? It is a tool that lets you start your own simple online shop in less than 15 minutes. Have you ever tried to get a blog over at WordPress.com? That’s how easy it is to get a DukaPress shop up and running.

Why DukaPress?
There are many other options to DukaPress (akina Magento, osCommerce, CubeCart, etc etc), so what makes DukaPress worth it? In my opinion, DukaPress is probably the simplest way to get a fully functional online duka. Take Magento, for example, it has a fantastic feature-list but actually setting up and running a Magento shop is a nightmare that is too much to bear for the average person.

How Easy Is DukaPress?
Have a look at this online shop. That shop is powered by DukaPress. It was built in ten minutes! It is a fully featured shop and can accept payments via: AlertPay, Paypal, MPESA, yuCash, and ZAP among others. If you want to build the same exact shop in even less time, you can do so!

All you need to do is:

• Download DukaPress
• Find a suitable web host. Or sign up with Pamoja Shops
• Install DukaPress
• Load the sample data
• Configure your shop, upload your own products, and start selling!

How easy is that? Should take you a few minutes in total if everything is ready! If you’re stuck, we’re here to help.

DukaPress is and always will be free to use, and it is from Kenya.

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Newton thought up the Law of gravity; the founders of Google came up with a breakthrough by inventing the concept of PageRank to rank websites. Do you think you can replicate these feats, much less come up with one from scratch?

The reality is that 99.99% of aspiring entrepreneurs don’t have the mental chops to come up with some totally original idea. These are all smart people but chances are that even if you do happen to come up with a great idea, it will either have been done already or it hasn’t been done for a reason.

The Good News
Before you abandon all hope and embrace your life as an employee, there is some good news. There are millions of entrepreneurs in this world who had just as much originality and creativity as you do. They didn’t come up with the Next Big Thing and they’re wildly successful. What they all have in common is that they are good marketers.

Yes, that evil word – marketer. But the fact is that most successful entrepreneurs are successful because they are good at selling their business. They didn’t come up with some earth-shattering idea that their competitors couldn’t match. They just did a better job at marketing their own business.

Car Dealers Haven’t Invented Anything Lately
Car Dealers are interesting because they are basically selling a commodity product. If you don’t want to buy a car from a particular dealer, you can go to the dealer down the street that sells a car in the same class for a similar price. And if you want the exact same car, go to another dealer 20 miles a way who sells the exact same model. There is almost no room to differentiate their “product” from their competitors’.

But I’m sure that we’ve all seen or know the local car dealer that has 5 dealerships, 3 houses, and is absolutely loaded. Somehow they found a way to turn their commodity product into a goldmine for themselves. Why?

They are good marketers.

Maybe everyone knows their name from annoying billboard ads or painful TV ads. However they know them, the fact is that they do. Now I’m sure that these car dealers also run a well operated business. You can’t afford to bring potential customers in and give them bad service. They still need to be good business operators. But the fact is that their marketing skills got the name of the dealership out there and people in the door.

Do You Know How to Market?
So don’t spend all your time trying to think of the Next Big Thing. It’s a waste of your time. And honestly, you might come up with a great idea but if you don’t know how to sell it, it’s not going to be successful.

You’re may not be smart enough to come up with new ideas. Spend your time learning how to sell and market and you can sell anything. It could be the most boring product – it doesn’t matter. If car dealers can do it, you can too.

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Download it here: DukaPress

What is DukaPress?
I think this question is best answered with an example. Please have a look at this online shop. That is a fully functional online shop ready to start selling. It can process payments made by credit card, bank transfer, cash AND all three of Kenya’s mobile payment gateways (MPESA, ZAP, and yuCash). And you know what? We set the shop up in 15 minutes at the cost of 0 (zero) shillings.

Do you want your own online shop through which you can sell online and accept MPESA and credit cards at the steep price of zero bob? Then you want DukaPress.

DukaPress is made in Kenya, with love.

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Plus, of course, I don’t own a credit card.

But as I build my business, I find that I do more work online. Most of my clients prefer Paypal, because it’s safe and reliable, even though they charge a small commission on transactions. I got myself a Paypal account some years ago using my mother’s credit card [thanks mum!] and I’ve been using it to buy stuff related to my business.

Recently, I got a client who insisted I open a Paypal account in my own name, because it was easier for him to pay me that way. And no, I didn’t tell him to ask my mother. I opened the account, but I couldn’t receive money through it, because the service isn’t offered in Kenya. Paypal.ke lets me buy, not sell.

I tried to attach my debit card onto the account, and as part of the verification process, the Paypal people charged $2 to my bank. It’s a safety measure to prove that it’s my card. The transaction would appear on my card statement with a secret four-digit code. I would take the code and enter it into my Paypal account to prove the card was mine. The $2 would then be refunded.

Oddly, when my statement came, what I got was a six-digit code, and when I tried to enter it into my Paypal, the card was blocked. I first tried to type in all six figures, but of course, it only took the first four, and pulled an ‘access denied’. I then tried the last four digits with the same result, and by the time I tried a random combination, I could almost hear the buzzers ringing and the metal gate clanging shut. After that incident, any time I try to use the card to pay for anything, even if it’s on a totally separate site, Paypal politely refuses.

Kelvin suggested I try Moneybookers, and it looked promising. I went through the same process, opened an account, attached my debit card, allowed them to charge my account for verification purposes. This time, the process was slightly different. Moneybookers was to charge my account with between $1 and $3. I would check my card statement, find out the exact amount, and fill in that information to prove myself. Unfortunately, Moneybookers can’t refund.

The trouble is … the amount on my statement was in Kenya Shillings. And with the exchange rate moving constantly, I couldn’t verify the amount to specific cents. Le sigh.

An associate told me about a system KCB has with Paypal, so I checked it out. Apparently, KCB has a debit card specifically for use online! How cool is that?

What happens is you open a prepaid card account with KCB. You don’t have to be a member – I personally bank with Barclays and NBK, and I was worried about joining a third bank. So I was relieved to hear I didn’t need a regular KCB account.

The card account takes Ksh 1000 to open, and all you need is a copy of your ID and a passport photo. The guys have a digital camera on the ready, just in case.

As far as I know, the account has no minimum balance and no service levies. You can receive money online once you attach the KCB card to your Paypal account, and you can withdraw the funds from any ATM at a charge of Ksh 20. You can top up the card at any KCB branch; you simply deposit the money at the counter using the 16 digit number on your card. It’s kind of like M-Pesa, with shorter banking hours.

Of course, you still need to have a Paypal account in the first place. You can get one at www.paypal.com, which redirects you to www.paypal.co.ke. It’s a pretty straightforward process, and I’ll be writing more on how succecsful the KCB card actually is. Specifically, I’m curious to see about verification.

I opened my card account a few days ago and haven’t received or used it yet, but it seems like a good deal. I don’t know if you can use it with agents other than Paypal, but you probably won’t need to; Paypal is already the Safaricom of the online world. Hopefully, its service is better.

The second step in working online [where Step 1 is deciding to work online] is probably getting a KCB-Paypal debit card. How else will you get paid?

Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.Similar Posts:

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What the researchers found is that the group that had control over their visitors were happier, healthier, and were prescribed less medication than the group that could not control the visitors. 6 months after the study concluded a very sad after effect was noticed. A higher than normal percentage of the group in control of the visits passed away or became much sicker. What the researchers concluded (but hadn’t anticipated) was that being in control not only makes you happier and healthier but losing this control is much more damaging than never having the control in the first place.

Entrepreneurs Need to Control
One of the common characteristics of most entrepreneurs is their independence and need to control. When you think about it, it’s not that surprising. Some of the most oft-cited reasons for wanting to be an entrepreneur are:

1. Be Your Own Boss
2. Ability to Work From Home
3. Set Your Own Schedule

In each of these cases, an individual is control of their work environment and their day-to-day activities. They intuitively know that gaining control makes them happier than not being in control.

The Reality of Owning Your Own Business
The realities of being a business owner don’t always match with the idyllic lifestyle of the entrepreneur who is their own boss and sets their own schedule.

You’re often in a deadline business. You can never rest on your laurels. There are always deadlines to meet. Customers that leave you. Customers that pay you slowly (A few that don’t pay you at all). Projects that get canceled. Amazingly, you are always on the hot seat – even when things happen beyond your control. Client expectations are often unreasonable. Competition is stiff.

How to Get Control Back
A clever entrepreneur is business owner who has built systems and processes into their company so that they aren’t critical to the day-to-day operations of their business. They don’t “hope”. They take control by creating systems that eliminates most of the uncertainty of a business.

• Instead of hoping that existing clients give good referrals or people just happen to find you online or in the yellow pages, they create a predictable marketing system that delivers new prospects whenever they want to grow the business.
• Instead of relying on client defined projects, they create products and services that they sell. They aren’t subject to unreasonable client demands because they already have the product.
• Instead of worrying about cash flow and slow paying customers, they set up a billing process that means they get paid for the products that they provide.
• Instead of trying to count on unreliable vendors, they define the production process.

These are a just a few examples of how you can gain control of your business. By not having to work for every single prospect and every single dollar that you’re owed, you can spend your time building your business or doing whatever you want. And once you gain control over your business, and hence, your life, you will become happier. It’s just human nature.

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What does this mean (again)? Action speaks louder. Don’t just think about it, or even just talk about it. Do it!

A video worth watching, yes?

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Don’t Give Customers What They Want
In the show that I was watching last week, he visited an Indian restaurant that was bleeding money. The biggest problem he found in the restaurant is that they gave their patrons too many options. The customers were able to customize the sauce that they wanted. The owner came from a sales background so he had a noble strategy – he just wanted to give the customers what they wanted. Great intentions but bad results.

The problem with this strategy is that everything suffered in the business because their was no consistency:

• The customers thought they knew what they wanted but the fact was that the experts (the chefs) could put together a better combination of flavors that the customers would enjoy
• The orders would not come out in a timely matter because there were so many different combinations and the chefs could not operationalize the preparation
• The waiters could not stand behind and recommend different dishes because they were all just slight variations of each other and could not be differentiated from each other in blind taste tests
• The customers were left paralyzed with too many choices and felt unsatisfied that they weren’t getting what they want (having too many options is a classic in limiting sales because of “paralysis by over-analysis“)

Less is More
The lesson in this when running your business is that you should limit the options for your clients. Too often, we try to satisfy the wants and desires of our clients and what we end up giving to them is something that they don’t really want. They may think they want it when they “order” it but they leave our “restaurant” unhappy with the whole experience.

Even worse than a restaurant, we get clients who just get up and leave. If we don’t present a clear offer with a limited number of options, they’re less likely to become our clients.

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95% of all businesses fail within their first 5 years

If you know people who started their own businesses, they are probably just getting by or they have already boarded up and shut down their business. It’s just the reality of running a business.

Why Do Most Businesses Fail?
I’m sure that there has been plenty of research and analysis into why businesses failed but if you just look at it objectively, I think it makes sense.

• Most new businesses are coming into an existing market and their competitors have a big head start on each part of the business
• Any obvious profit opportunities have probably already been discovered and exploited by these competitors
• Competitors in the market have real experience with what works and what does not
• While the product is the most important part of the business, entrepreneurs need to know how to do everything in a business (accounting, marketing, sales, customer service) and there is a bit of a learning curve with these activities

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
One of the biggest things to remember when setting up your business is that you don’t know what you don’t know. As much as you plan, you can’t plan for things that you don’t know you need to care for.

You Need Money
One of the things that I get asked the most is how to take some of the first steps without any money. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s very possible. With all of the mistakes that you make, you’re going to need money to help get you through the bad times until your business finds its way. Your competitors probably have more experience, more time, and more resources than you so you need some money to keep up with them.

The advantage that you have is that you’re more nimble and don’t have as much of a cost structure that they do. It is much easier for you to change direction until you find what works for you and your business. If you’re using your only resource, time, instead of money, you lose that nimbleness, your only advantage.

Some Businesses Get Lucky
Some businesses are successful when they start but this is usually because they were able to change their direction as they went. If you look back on them, they didn’t have the answer but they were able to buy enough time to figure out how to get their operation running successfully:

• TiVo’s initial business model was based more around of the concept of being able to apply super-targeted advertising options to clients. Now, they’re more of a subscription-based option, which is much simpler than the original vision
• Google was always a search engine from the beginning but there was never any plan on how they would capitalize on their search engine for several years. Even their Adwords program, which is their primary revenue stream, took several iterations before they got it to work successfully.

If you talk to just about any successful entrepreneur, I’m sure you’ll find that there original vision didn’t match up to what they became. There were changes that they made along the way to get to that point.

Accept that you will make a lot of mistakes (whether it’s multiple decisions in your businesses, or multiple failed ventures) until you gain the experience you need to be truly successful. And don’t be afraid to drop some of your ideas as soon as you realize that they aren’t going to work.

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No matter how gifted you are at your craft, someone somewhere is better. And it’s immensely depressing when you meet that someone.

I’ve just spent four days at one of the prettiest places on earth, thanks to a generous client. We were having what is called a moderation workshop. The author of a book, as well as a team of teachers, editors, and sometimes potential clients, sit together with the manuscript and point out the pros and cons.

It’s a very intensive process, and often, participants don’t sleep – which is ironic because you’re put up in the prettiest places, with the prettiest beds. My room, for example, was right at the beach, so I could hear the waves  and smell the fishermen. The resort also had a disco, seven pools, 25 water slides, go karting, and a gym … none of which I used.

Anyway, the people at the workshop were very, very good. They pointed out things that I’d never have thought of. They’re not quite rivals, since they don’t work freelance, but they had me reconsidering my vocation. It was like jogging with Usain Bolt.

Fortunately for me, these team members live far, far away, and we’re unlikely to fight over clients. But it did make me wonder about other freelancers within the same work pool.

In any field, you’ll have thousands of competitors. A lot of them will be better than you. But that doesn’t mean they have to earn more than you do. You just have to stand out. Find what Kelvin calls your Unique Selling Point.

When I first read that article, I got slightly depressed, because I couldn’t really think of one. But the thing is you don’t have to spot one. You just need to make one.

Case in point. My ‘rivals’ are brilliant editors. Yet the client included me in the team. Why? Well, for one thing, I’ve handled previous projects in the series, so I have some experience with it. Also, I’m a writer as well as an editor, so I can bring in some flair and creative license.

It might also help that I’m assertive, cheeky, and have purple hair. I admired the put-together look of a fellow editor – she’s so beautiful and stylish. She’s a total MILF, and you can’t tell she has teenage children. Although she’s a lot of fun, she’s quiet and reserved, and it takes some coaxing to bring her bubbly side out. Conversely, it’s easy to get some pep out of me, and when you’re working 12 hours straight for days in a row, it helps to have pep[si] in the room.

There’s someone else I look up. She’s efficient, professional, and very grown up. We recently got pitched for different parts of the same project. She won quality control, because she’s got that no-nonsense thing going. I got creative … mostly because I have purple hair. The client saw each of our selling points and used them to build a cohesive team.

As a business person, be sure to floss your USP. It could be speaking politely, finding out the kids’ names, getting some nail art, wearing a power suit, walking in rollerblades, or riding a bicycle to work. Find the one thing that makes you different from other people in your filed.

Me, I like nice people. I’ve often bought a basic product from a nice salesman instead of a perfect one from some guy with ATT.  So build that thing that makes you seem different. It could be what wins that tender.

Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.Similar Posts:

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DukaPress. Coming soon. Sooner than you think.

Interested? Be sure not to miss any updates by subscribing to Like Chapaa today, or signing up to receive free email updates so that you are notified as soon as we officially launch.

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