IT’S NOT LIKE THE INFOMERCIALS

When you start a real online business no one throws you a beautiful pool-side party, complete with beautiful pool-side people. If someone sells you a packaged deal (whether it is a wholesale products company or a website design company) you must realize that they are slipping you a very limited asset. And they are giving the same information and opportunities to thousands of others. It is, frankly, like a feather in the wind: so much fluff that you will become exhausted and discouraged chasing it.

Before you start any new venture examine your goals and dreams. For many people the goal of earning extra money is to get out of debt. Others want to start a new business in order to quit their jobs (or stop being unemployed) and become their own boss. Whatever your reason write it down, be as specific as possible. Put it somewhere that you will see it everyday. Read it while brushing your teeth and before you go to sleep every night.

TO BEGIN AN ONLINE BUSINESS YOU NEED TO DO TWO THINGS FIRST:

1. Incorporate. This will become critical as you approach suppliers to purchase wholesale. It also makes you appear more legitimate and it is somewhat of a legal protection of your personal assets. It’s been my experience that it is better to utilize a law firm in your area to incorporate rather than an online service. In addition to having better control of the process you also will have forged a relationship for future legal questions and needs. Once you receive your incorporation it is a good idea to set up a separate checking account (shop around for the cheapest one).

2.Research your idea. Unless you have millions to start your business you will need to find a specialty niche for yourself. Going large will require big bucks to purchase inventory that will sit on your shelves collecting dust while you wait for buyers. Better to start small with as little inventory as possible.

•To find an idea examine what you really enjoy. My family loves animals, particularly cats. So we started a cat themed website, TwoPennyCat.com. It is a small niche in the very large market of gifts. Perhaps you love cameras. The first thing to do is check out the competition.

•Do a search for cameras. When I Googled “cameras for sale” I discovered there are thousands and thousands of commercial sites. Vintage cameras also yielded thousands of potential competitors. But when I searched for “camera parts” only two commercial sites appeared. This could be great or really bad. It could be that there is an unmet need or it could be that there is very little need.

•One resource (there are others) you may use is Wordtracker (which gives you a 7 day free trial) to determine how many people have been searching with the keywords “camera parts.” These services, and others like them, may be worth joining for your future research of keywords to build into your website.

•However, if you’d like a fairly decent-free-gauge of how the market is going, check out ebay.com. Do a search for “camera parts”, use the ADVANCED SEARCH feature, and then check the box “completed sales.” When I performed this search I found there were 1600+ items in the category–which tells me this is an active market–and I was pleased to see that of the first 48 items 26 sold, almost 50%. This is not bad at all for ebay. I’ve seen many categories where perhaps only 5-10% are selling.

•Therefore your conclusion may be to look seriously at camera parts as a niche to begin with. You can always add to your site and portfolio as your business booms!

THE NEXT STEPS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
•talk to local camera stores and get their “feel” of the need for parts and where you would obtain the parts

•spend lots and lots of time examining your competitors’ websites. Take notes. What brands are they offering? What pages do they have on their website? Does it appear that they are prosperous? Do they have advertisements on their sites, how do they market? You may want to order something from them to examine their procedures. Also look at related sites such as camera repair.

•devote significant time researching how you would obtain your products. Are there minimums and, if so, how much? If you buy a part for $10 do you have to place an order for $500?

If this idea begins to look less than appealing to you put it on the back burner and look for something else. If you have expertise in cameras, perhaps in repair, you could start an informational website and make your money with advertising and selling ebooks (which will be a slow build but could be very lucrative, low cost, and relatively low effort). Information is king on the internet.
This approach works great for many people. Check out this highly successful website, BuildEazy.com. This clever family gives away blue prints/plans on all kinds of home projects (and sells some of the more elaborate ones) and makes enough money on ads to quit their jobs and do this full time. You have to realize, however, that it didn’t happen over night. When you check out their site you will find hundreds of plans people can download. They now receive something in the neighborhood of a million visitors/month. This is why their advertiser’s love them so much!

Take your time developing your niche idea. Don’t jump into anything. Perform your searches and investigations as if you are advising a dear friend what to do. Keep perspective. In the online business “if you build it they will come” is sadly not true.

Good luck. Post questions.

NOW HERE’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE FUNNIES:

☻The Bathtub Test
During a visit to a mental health facility, a visitor asked the Director how he determined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.
“Well,” said the Director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a
teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty
the bathtub.”
“Oh, I understand,” said the visitor. “A normal person would use the
bucket because it’s bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”
“No,” said the doctor. “A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?”