Do you have an Online Business? SocialPay has these 3 Tips to help you Scale-up

Let’s talk about Yemisi. Yemisi is the proud owner of an online thrift store on Instagram called ThriftsWorld. ThriftsWorld is one of the fastest growing online businesses in Nigeria. From her thrift store, Yemisi makes a six-figure profit monthly.

HollUp! Before you all get excited and start thrift businesses, let’s tell Yemisi’s story just as it is. Let’s share her victories and losses and all the different things she has done before she ended up owning a thrift store and indeed some of the things that she has put in place to make the business successful.

Like they say- Overnight success takes ten years.
Yemisi’s journey started when her mother passed at the tender age of five. Yemisi was the first of 3 kids. She had 2 younger brothers Kunle and Bayo. After about three years, their dad married again.

After their dad’s marriage, things got better. Yemisi and her younger siblings got the love of a mother that they had missed out on for a few years. Their new mum was a lovely woman that took good care of them. She also went on to have 2 kids bringing the total number of children in the house to 5. Life was good for Yemisi and her siblings.

Yemisi was a straight A’s student in secondary school and went on to get admission into the university to study Economics at the Lagos State University, Ojo (LASU). While Yemisi was in the university, the financial fortunes of her family took a downturn and her dad struggled to support Yemisi and her siblings in secondary and primary school respectively. Yemisi needed to look for ways to ensure that she could continue her education and pick up her siblings’ bills. All four of them.

So, just as she turned 20, in 200 level, Yemisi had to figure out a way to stay in school and support her siblings and parents. Yemisi started by selling recharge cards but soon discovered that most people now buy recharge cards online. She went through a plethora of businesses including handling menial tasks called “Any Work”, cleaning, catering, and many other jobs. She was finally able to raise enough money and she was able to buy second-hand clothes from Aswani to sell in school.

This is how Yemisi started selling second-hand clothes. From her experience selling recharge cards, she noted that the nature of businesses moving online was a threat to any business that she would start and run and she finally branded the business and named it ThriftsWorld. Yemisi knew that she needed to differentiate herself from every other Instagram business to be really successful.

Here are 3 things Yemisi did to be taken seriously and stand out as an online business.

Branding:

Yemisi invested in a proper brand. She registered her business name, had a logo designed and was very deliberate about her brand. She was consistent in how her business was represented and was very detailed in every area of the brand.
When she sent out any item to a client, she made sure that it was excellently packaged. Since she sold thrift items, she would wash, iron, perfume and package the clothes excellently. Nobody would know that her clients were buying thrift items.

Professionalism:

Yemisi realized early that having a professional outlook was very important. So from when she moved her store online, she started using SocialPay.

SocialPay is an online invoicing and payment platform. It enables Online business people to send out professional invoices and receive payment without the hassles of having a TIN which is required for corporate accounts. SocialPay also makes your business look and feel more established which builds trust and helps the business grow.

Apart from sharing invoices and receiving payments, SocialPay also supports businesses by allowing businesses to take cash advance loans. Cash advances are payments that allow the business to get cash and stock their stores ahead of a busy period or to take advantage of opportunities like Black-Friday sales or other opportunities that can help a business grow.

On SoaialPay, a business can get 30% of the total revenue (or collections) from SocialPay as a cash advance or 50% of total revenue after a 6 month period. The repayment plans are also flexible and you can choose between 10%-30% of daily sales going into repayment till the payment is done.

Not only does your business appear professional to your customers, but with SocialPay, you get the financial support you need. Something that most banks will not do for small businesses. Currently, SocialPay is giving the next 10,000 merchants access to a one-month interest-free loan up to a maximum amount of N 1,000,000.

Customer Experience:

ThriftsWorld has amazing customer service. Yemisi has a hands-on approach to responding to customer enquiries in the DM and also ensuring that customers get their product on time and whenever there are delays, Yemisi communicates with the clients before the delivery time.

Yemisi’s story is inspiring. Remember to put in all the work as an entrepreneur and ensure that you build a brand, be professional, and ensure that your customers get the best experience possible. When starting a business, use the tools available to ensure a professional outlook for your business.

SocialPay is an amazing tool that helps you position your business appropriately and also helps you grow your business.

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