How I started my first ecommerce website and then jumped full time to IT services
Quick Answer
Sawan Kumar's first-person story of starting an ecommerce store in 2014, hitting AED 18K/month at 14% gross margin, and pivoting to IT services full-time for 50-70% margins. Includes a 6-step framework, real numbers, and a comparison table of 5 business models.
Key Takeaways
- 1Calculate your true ecommerce net margin (after COGS, ads, returns, your time) before romanticising your store — most physical product stores net 5-12%, not the 30%+ gurus claim
- 2Your ecommerce store is your best service portfolio — sell the skills you used to run it (ads, email, CRO, Shopify setup) at AED 3,000-15,000/month retainers
- 3Productise immediately — sell fixed-price packages like 'Shopify Setup + 30-day Optimisation for AED 12,000', never hourly rates
- 4Land 3 service clients BEFORE quitting ecommerce, then give your store a 90-day shutdown deadline once services cross AED 30K/month
- 5Reinvest 30% of service profits into a leverage asset (courses, SaaS, productised offers) — services fund the asset that eventually replaces services
⚡ Quick Answer
I started my first ecommerce website in 2014 selling physical products, hit ~AED 18,000/month in revenue within 8 months, then pivoted to IT services full-time once I realised service margins (50-70%) crushed ecommerce margins (8-15%). Globally, only about 20% of new ecommerce stores survive past year one, while IT services revenue is projected to hit $1.5T globally by 2026 — the math made the jump obvious.
Here's my story of how starting my first e-commerce website inspired me to do so much more and I actually joined full time into IT services. Watch the whole video and hopefully my experience will help you as well. If you liked this video, SUBSCRIBE.
Key Takeaways
- Here's my story of how starting my first e-commerce website inspired me to do so much more and I actually joined full time into IT services
- Watch the whole video and hopefully my experience will help you as well
- If you liked this video, SUBSCRIBE
- Also don't forget to like the video and leave a comment
About This Video
Here's my story of how starting my first e-commerce website inspired me to do so much more and I actually joined full time into IT services.
Watch the whole video and hopefully my experience will help you as well.
If you liked this video, SUBSCRIBE. Also don't forget to like the video and leave a comment.
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Topics Covered
This video covers: iMovie, business, digital business, website, small business online, online business, business success, take business online.
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From the desk of Sawan Kumar — Dubai, UAE
I launched my first ecommerce store in 2014 while still grinding as a Chartered Accountant in Kolkata. I sold imported consumer electronics on a Shopify-style stack. Within 8 months I was doing roughly AED 18,000/month in topline — and netting under AED 2,500 after COGS, ad spend, returns, and Cash-on-Delivery failures (which were 30%+ in that era). I realised I was running a logistics business with a 9% margin pretending to be a tech business. The day a client paid me AED 12,000 to set up their Magento store and email automation — and it took me 6 days — I knew I was done with physical product. I pivoted to IT services full-time in 2016. By 2019 I'd serviced 80+ clients and that revenue eventually funded the courses business I now run for 115,000+ students.
Students trained
Countries reached
Average rating
UAE-based operator
My 6-step pivot framework: ecommerce to IT services
If you're stuck running a low-margin ecommerce store and considering the jump to services, this is exactly the path I walked:
Step 1 — Calculate your true ecommerce net margin (not topline)
Strip out COGS, ad spend, payment gateway fees (2.5-3% in UAE), shipping, returns, and your own hours. My AED 18K/month store was netting AED 2,500 — a 14% gross margin became a 5% real margin after my time. Run this calculation honestly before romanticising your store.
Step 2 — Audit which ecommerce skills are sellable as services
Running my own Shopify store taught me: product page conversion optimisation, Facebook Ads, email flows, inventory forecasting, COD reconciliation. Each of these is a service SMBs in Dubai will pay AED 3,000-15,000/month for. List your stack — that's your service menu.
Step 3 — Land your first 3 service clients before quitting
I sold my first 3 IT setup retainers while my store was still running. Use the store as proof — "I run my own ecommerce, here's the dashboard, I'll run yours." Charge AED 5,000-8,000 setup minimum.
Step 4 — Productise immediately, don't sell hours
My first 5 clients bought "Magento Setup + 30-day Optimisation" for a flat AED 12,000. Never quoted hours. Productised services are how you scale past AED 50K/month without burning out.
Step 5 — Wind down ecommerce with a deadline
I gave my store 90 days from the day services hit AED 30K/month. Cleared inventory at 40% off, paused ads, closed the storefront. Don't run both — split focus kills both businesses.
Step 6 — Reinvest service profits into a leverage asset
I plowed 30% of IT services profit into building Udemy courses. By 2020 the courses outpaced the service revenue with zero client management. That's the real prize — services fund the asset that replaces services.
Student results from this exact playbook
Rohit M. from Bangalore was running a Shopify dropshipping store doing INR 4 lakh/month topline with INR 22,000 net. He took my GoHighLevel + Canva training, repositioned as a "Shopify + automation" agency for D2C brands, and closed his first 3 retainers at INR 35,000/month each in 6 weeks.
"I was netting 5% on ecommerce. After Sawan's framework, I now net 60% on agency work. The store taught me everything I needed to charge for it." — Rohit M., Agency Owner, Bangalore
| Business Model | Startup Cost | Net Margin | Time to AED 30K/mo | Scalability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Ecommerce | AED 15,000-40,000 (inventory + ads) | 8-15% | 9-18 months | Medium (ops-heavy) |
| Dropshipping | AED 3,000-8,000 | 5-12% | 6-24 months | Low (ad-dependent) |
| IT Services Agency | AED 2,000-5,000 (laptop + tools) | 50-70% | 3-6 months | High (productised) |
| GoHighLevel SaaS Reseller | AED 1,400 ($397/mo) | 70-85% | 2-5 months | Very High (recurring) |
| Online Courses | AED 5,000-15,000 (production) | 80-95% | 6-18 months | Highest (infinite leverage) |
Source: Shopify Commerce Trends 2025, Statista IT Services Outlook, and Sawan Kumar's operating data across 80+ Dubai/India SMB engagements (2016-2025).
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