In times of economic pressure, unfortunately jobs will be lost. If yours is among them, I sympathise. I've been there, and it's not pleasant. However, the cloud may have a silver lining. The online space is still growing, with plenty of room for enterprising individuals to start out in business on their own.

If the idea is attractive, here are some hints to help you get going.

1 Encourage yourself

A friend once said to me of redundancy, ‘"‘I've been a victim, a survivor and a perpetrator, and none of them is pleasant, but being a victim is the worst". It's truly a harsh and unpleasant experience.  

So while you are planning your next steps, take time to recuperate. Do some fun things, spend time with friends who encourage you, read a few success stories, review your achievements, and do what you can to get into a positive frame of mind. Starting a new venture requires vision, energy and hard work. You need to rise above the discouragement, and focus your anger positively towards making your enterprise a success.

2 Choose your proposition

In many online business forums, you will find this kind of enquiry: "I want to start a business selling online. Please suggest what sort of things I could sell".

As the farmer reputedly said when asked for directions, "If I were going to go there, I wouldn't start from here". Deciding what products to sell is your first step, not your last - along with deciding your target audience. Look for a gap in the market where there is proven demand. Ideally, invest where you have some expertise - perhaps related to your previous employment, a hobby or interest.

My Dad, who was a seasoned expeditionary in his time, once saw a sign by the roadside in Africa: "Choose your rut with care. You will be in it for the next 20 miles." The same applies to choosing a business proposition - it's a long term decision. Choose carefully and don't rush it.

3 Start light

You will need resources to get going, but  keep overheads low. Start from home if you can, but do it professionally. Have a separate phone line for the business, your own domain name and business cards. One person I know officially renamed his house after his company, to make his address more business-like.

For selling online, consider an all-in-one ecommerce solution like the ones from Actinic (the company I work for). You should be able to do everything with one affordable package, from setting up the website to printing invoices and processing orders. You can add bells and whistles and bespoke site design when you are generating enough income to pay for them.

4 Get out there

Allow time and budget to promote your site and attract customers. Tell everybody you know. Have some opening offers to encourage people to visit. You can use email and social networking, as well as word of mouth and promotional literature.

Include plenty of informative textual content on your site, and get links from as many relevant sites as you can. This will ensure that it's found and listed by the major search engines.

Try out some pay per click (PPC) search marketing, particularly Google Adwords. It's a good way to get listed quickly in the search results. Use Google Analytics to track the outcomes, and make sure that each keyword delivers more in sales that it costs in bids.

Once the sales start coming, give great service and look after your customers, and you will have every chance of succeeding.

For a limited time, Actinic is offering a free ebook: ‘Selling Successfully Online - over 300 top tips for running an ecommerce website' with lots more valuable tips. Grab a copy while it's available.

Bruce Townsend, Actinic