You will need to have your wits about you to make it in e-commerce. No matter what you do, what you make, what you offer or what you sell, there is some pretty steep learning curve that will need to be traversed along the way.
The things is though, regardless of hoe prepared you consider yourself to be, you will always find yourself learning some lessons the hard way. So having consulted with plenty of ecommerce owners from a variety of areas, here are several examples of the things they admit wishing they had known before going into business: 
- You Will Need to Save
First up, saving money is crucial for two reasons. When there is nothing coming in, you can’t simply caution out of the window under the assumption that it will very soon start rolling in. Similarly, when it does seem to be rolling in nicely, you can’t let your guard down and believe that it will continue like that long-term. Unless you’re sensible and have enough of “rainy-day” savings, you will be operating on thin ice.
- Comparison Could Kill
Taking some inspiration from rivals is one thing – comparing yourself all the time is something else completely. The simple fact of the matter is that there will always be brands and entrepreneurs that do much better than you and are able to achieve way more than you. Evaluate yourself making use of your own standards, not those of the other companies around you.
- Lead Generating Skills Are Crucial
Considering the fact that basically any business would quickly become unviable with no customers, there could be little more crucial than finding and keeping those important people. The longer you wait before you begin taking quality lead generating seriously, the more difficult you will find it to get by.
- Hire People Before You Need Them
It does not matter how universally competent or dedicated you are, you can’t and won’t build a successful and large business all on your own. When you consider it, there are most likely plenty of things you could think of that would be helpful for your company, if only you had the time to do them. The thing is though, waiting for your company to reach a certain size before hiring people to help you could be counterproductive. After all, what will happen if your company simply can’t reach this certain size without first hiring people to get it there?
- Network, Network, Network
And by this we don’t only mean trying to make as many online friends as possible in high places. We also mean communicating with your clients, by way of newsletters, mailing lists and so on. If you’re to become an integral and important part of the lives of your customers, you will need to make the required effort. Existing as a simple vending machine is just not enough.