THE REALITIES OF AN INTERNET BUSINESS
Millions of people are still coming online each year, and many of
those people come to the Internet with dreams of making their
financial dreams come true.
The truth is that building a website to sell products and
services is not the easiest way to make a living online. A lot of
specific knowledge or money will be required to be successful
with a standard website.
You must acquire skills --- or pay someone who already possesses
those skills --- in the following areas:
* Graphic design
* Copywriting
* HTML design
* Perl or PHP programming
* Database programming
* Marketing research
* Promotions
When this is understood, most people throw their hands up in
frustration and walk away from their entrepreneurial desires.
Maybe cash is the problem; maybe the desire is just lacking.
If you have reached this point yourself let me offer one piece of
advice...
DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR DREAMS JUST YET
More people than I can count are making a successful living
online, and none of them own their own website or send a single
commercial email to anyone.
How is this possible?
Two words, "Ebay auctions."
EBAY MAKES IT EASY
Ebay covers all of the difficult technical issues. And more
importantly, Ebay already has floods of visitors eager to
purchase your wares.
Ebay has provided everything you need to operate a successful
business online with three exceptions:
1. Products to sell
2. Time to list the products in the Ebay database
3. Cash to acquire the products
CHOOSING THE KINDS OF PRODUCTS
Before choosing your products, you should ask yourself what you
enjoy the most. You may enjoy cats, NASCAR or even antiques. You
should select products consistent with what you enjoy for two
reasons.
First, you bring to your presentation a real appreciation for the
products your are offering.
Secondly, a job you hate is one you will quit. A job you enjoy
doing will be one that you will want to keep forever. If you are
starting your own business, the hope is that you will be doing it
for a very long time.
I personally know people who have generated a nice living on Ebay
selling cat-related items, NASCAR memorabilia and antiques.
FINDING THE ACTUAL PRODUCTS TO SELL
I recommend against diving in and spending thousands of dollars
buying products that you may or may not be able to sell.
A drop-shipper is a middleman who is willing to permit you to buy
an individual product, and then they will put your business name
on the return address of the product package and handle the
actual delivery for you.
By utilizing a drop-shipper, you can speed product delivery to
the client without risking your own cash to keep a product in
inventory.
If you are lost as to how to find a drop-shipper, take a look at
the drop-shippers directory at the Wholesale Trading Club
http://www.WholesaleTradingClub.com.
Through this site, you can get all of the information you need to
find drop-shippers from which you can order over 500,000 products
from over 1,000 brand names.
LEARNING TO LIST YOUR PRODUCTS AT EBAY
Learning to use Ebay is pretty easy and straightforward. Ebay has
put forward a lot of effort to help people to become successful.
For example, Ebay has an entire area of their site devoted to the
online entrepreneur.
To get an overview of all of the services and tools that Ebay
provides to sellers, you may visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/services/index.html
Ebay also delivers courses and strategies to help you to be more
successful:
http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/index.html
THE IMPORTANCE OF CASH FLOW TO YOUR SUCCESS
Ebay provides tools for both buyers and sellers to rate one
another. The speed of delivery is one of the most important
factors that sellers are rated on. By providing quick delivery,
your buyers will give you a good rating --- and more shoppers
will bid on your products.
Ebay recently purchased PayPal.com to help facilitate purchases
for their buyers and sellers, and they have integrated the two
systems together.
Unfortunately, getting the money from your PayPal account to your
personal account generally takes four days. Even with a merchant
account, the time gap is nearly the same. This time gap expands
the turn-around between the transaction and delivery of the
product unless you take action to speed the process.
If you were doing high volume, you would want to minimize the
handling of a transaction to reduce the chance for a foul-up and
to increase your ratings within the Ebay system.
But how can this be accomplished?
MANAGING CASH FLOW
While you could rely upon credit cards to get the job done, it is
not something I would recommend. Paying credit card interest
rates to process your customer's purchase, is an unnecessary
burden.
Instead, put a sum of money into a dedicated bank account with a
debit card attached to it. When you verify a transaction has been
credited to your PayPal account, then use your debit card to
immediately process the order with your drop-shipper.
But, how can you do it this way on a tight budget?
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THE RESCUE
Let me ask you this. Do you have a 401(k) account?
Experts advise that you not touch your retirement savings for
anything other than retirement income. That is good advice.
Fortunately, it is possible under special circumstances to
acquire loans against your 401(k) accounts.
Beginning in 2002, even the self-employed small business owner
with no employees could open his or her own 401(k), called a
solo-owner 401(k), and borrow from it just as employees with big
companies can.
Weigh this option against the others available to you. It only
makes sense to take out a loan rather than to take a hit in heavy
taxes and penalties for drawing your retirement money early.
Seriously, consider taking advantage of our historically low
interest rates to meet your cash flow needs.
To learn more about creating and borrowing from a solo-owner
401(k), please visit:
http://www.investsafe.com
IN CONCLUSION
It is wise to choose your new business venture based on a model
that has proven itself over the long-term. Ebay has been proving
its concept since 1995; helping thousands of people build a
successful and very profitable business.
The time to act is now. Choose the product line that will give
you the most satisfaction and then get busy. Your success awaits
you.
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