The difficulties of running an online business

In late 2020 I started The Bank Engine, with the intention to help a few people understand their money a little bit better. Fast forward to 2022, and our Instagram page has grown to 4,000+ followers with millions of pounds saved and invested as a result of our content.

Due to the phenomenal support from all of you lovely people that follow our page and visit our site, The Bank Engine has also fast become a profit-making business in a way I never would have imagined.

This is amazing, and I am forever grateful but it’s so important to be transparent to you all. When it comes to running an online business, it is not all sunshine and roses. So today I thought that I would share some of the things that I have learnt during my first year and a half of running an online business.

You aren’t in control

This one might seem obvious to some of you, but this is the biggest problem I come across on a regular basis. Since most of our website traffic and revenue is generated from organic Instagram engagement, this business is entirely at the mercy of the Instagram algorithm.

An algorithm is a set of rules or instructions that a system follows. For example, when it comes to Instagram there is a very specific algorithm that determines what posts are shown to what people, and at what time. It runs a lot deeper than many people think.

Instagram hates it when you disappear (aka stop posting) for a short period, and definitely doesn’t like it when you’ve been running ads and then stop all of a sudden. These two very things have resulted in our content reaching 4 times less of our followers within a single week.

As a result, there is a need to constantly adapt and change to what the algorithm desires and to not solely rely on this.

Recently I have set up a mailing list to ensure if Instagram suddenly folded that we can still continue to reach our followers, and generate revenue.

Copyright infringement

I own the intellectual property that makes up The Bank Engine as a brand, alongside the trademark. 

Unfortunately, lots of scammers will try and rip content off of well-established pages, re-upload it on Instagram and use it to try and scam unsuspecting people online.

There have been a large number of copycat scammers that have attempted this, and it is a long, painful process trying to remove these fake accounts from Instagram. In fact, I have lost hours of sleep due to worry that The Bank Engine brand is being connected with fraud.

I have found that by purchasing the very expensive trademark back in 2020, this has become much easier of a process than had I not.

Navigating new challenges

I am by no means an IT expert, so trying to figure out how to get things to work exactly as I want on the website has certainly been an interesting learning curve. There has also been a lot of trial and error with trying to figure out how best to drive traffic to the website, particularly with running different types of adverts on various platforms.

Conclusion

I am very pleased that I have taken on the challenge of building an online business because the skills that I have learnt along the way have been incredibly valuable, and will allow me to share my knowledge in the future.

As the year progresses, I am potentially considering putting together a guide on building an online business/ how to make money from Instagram. As this isn’t financial education-related, it is likely that this is a product I would charge for. 

Out of interest, if you think this would be a good idea please drop me a message on Instagram!

Thomas,

The Bank Engine