There is one place that you should always check first, and no
it’s not my website. It’s the good ole government site the SBA.
The Small Business Administration provides a multitude of material
on starting your own business. Visit
http://www.sba.gov . That’s
the US site, you can find your country by typing in the country
name and small business administration in google. Such as Australia
small business administration, www.business.gov.au/
United Kingdom small business administration www.sbs.gov.uk/
You may discover that a number of the ebooks you have
purchased are a rehash of the information you can get there
for free. You also don’t have to deal with all the affiliate links
to get to the info.

There are a huge number of other websites on the net that
provide a ton of information. Depending on what specifics
you’re looking for it is not too difficult to look up the
answers. Keep in mind that these other websites are operating
as a business. You should check multiple sources and spend a
lot of time researching before making any purchase of a system
that promises your success.

One other site that I will mention, and no it’s not an affiliate
link, is

http://www.startupnation.com/index.asp

Startup Nation provides a vast assortment of business information
you can use. While it is a great site, it is a business and before
you purchase any of the services they offer, do your homework.

Imagine if you will a futuristic military logistics system that you could view on a wall or a laptop computer. It would allow you to instantly acquire real-time data on items expended and that need to be replaced to support organizational needs.

Imagine that the view you have is of the earth’s surface, like a Google satellite map, and with a single click you can zoom in to any portion of the world where you have logistics or resupply responsibilities. A single click and you can instantly obtain an accurate logistics situational assessment of a broad, wide-ranging area.

Click again and your view and focus narrows even more. At this new level, you get a more detailed, local assessment of the logistic situation, say of a particular country. Click once more and you’re presented with a picture of the logistical situation of a particular city or perhaps a company within that municipality.

Sound like the far off future? Not at all.

The hardware and software to accomplish the “futuristic” scenario just described has been developed and is available for use practically worldwide. And the implications are phenomenal in terms of the production, moving and storing whatever types of materials a given company might require. But there’s a big problem looming for those who might mistake these modern tools for cure-all logistic wonders.

Granted, much of the hardware and software capabilities available in today’s marketplace comes to industry from military applications where the concepts were battle-tested and proven effective in all types of terrain and environments. And the software and hardware has been refined to the point that now most of these “futuristic” applications can be run on a simple hand held device like a Palm pilot.

These applications literally allow the operator to “see” the logistic situation of the entity that is being examined and to quickly assess and make reliable logistic estimates based upon the scenario presented. But, guess what. The system isn’t perfect.

In fact, the system is far from perfect because it’s reliability hinges on something that often times proves quite unreliable – the human being.

Any logistic system such as the one envisioned above requires three distinct and separate components to provide useful logistic data to the end user. First, the person designing the system has to have a thorough understanding of the organizational needs of the company or entity that will utilize the system. A miscalculation in this vital area can have devastating effects on the system’s overall reliability and usefulness.

But let’s say the planners get it right and the logistician now holds the “perfect” hardware and software combination required to produce an accurate logistics assessment for his particular needs. That leads us to our secondary concern – the person inputting the logistics data at the organizational level where the goods are required. If that data is faulty, then the information others in the supply chain rely on is equally suspect and prone to inaccuracies.

But let’s say we’ve got the perfect system, and our logistic operator at the organization level inputs accurate data. That still leaves one final area of concern – the recipient of the logistic estimate.

In other words, the logistician on the receiving end of this equation must make reasonable judgments when interpreting the data the system provides. That’s the reason it’s called a logistics “estimate.” And if he doesn’t interpret the data he receives correctly and develop a reasonable resupply strategy based upon it and his logistical experience – no amount of “futuristic” software or hardware will help.

A prudent logistician will realize that software and hardware tools are just that. Tools to help him make better supply decisions. No tool yet has been developed that can replicate human experience and common sense. Perhaps that’s a good thing.

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Ian Del Carmen is an online business professional running his main site at http://www.ianDelCarmen.com. His other sites include http://TheOnlineBusinessProfessional.com, http://MobileEbooks.net, http://InfoProductLaboratory.com, and many more…
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What is interesting is that there are many ways to get started working EBAY for an extra income. The main thing is to get a plan and work the plan. Gather up some income products from around your home, your relatives, garage sales, thrift stores, salvation army, big lots, consignment shops, etc. Invest a set amount, say $200. Make sure that you get items that are useful or entertaining and that provide a quick turn over. The way to do that is to think about your own buying habits. Would you purchase this item if you saw it advertised, does it appeal to a mass market, is it a niche product people might be willing to purchase? What you want are items that you can pick up for very little money and that you can put up on EBAY for a small price and, thereby, create an immediate cash flow. At first, you will want to return almost all your profits back into purchasing some more items to sell. You will do this until you have a comfortable amount of money invested in your business and then you will have set up your own profit stream.

To get your items ready to market what you need to do is to take a quality digital photo of the item from different angles. For smaller items, you should use a whiteboard backdrop to get the maximum amount of light with few reflections. For larger items, outside shots work well, just have the sun behind your back when taking the picture. You also need to write up a very good description of your item and do not try to hide any imperfections. Point out the usefulness and benefits as well. A description that is fair and honest will result in much better comments received in EBAY feedback. I will explain this more in a later paragraph.

You can open a starting seller’s EBAY store for just $15.95 a month and have about five pages to sell your items. You also receive a free month when you start your store, so you can get a feel for how it all works. You will have to pay EBAY for their sale fees which amount to an insertion fee and a selling fee. I will attempt to explain each in an example format.

The insertion fees differ based on the listing price, but for example, you will pay a fee of $.60 for an item listed from $10.00 to $24.99 and when that item sells, you will also pay 5.25% of the selling price. If that price is $24.99, then you would pay $1.32, so it has a cost of $1.92 to sell this item. Since you have several items to sell, you will want to know the following qualifications. The insertion fee for multiple items, dutch auctions, and fixed price items is based on the opening value of your listed items. The opening value is the starting price or fixed item price multiplied by the number of items you list. The maximum insertion price from EBAY is $4.80.

The final value fee charged by EBAY is determined by taking the multiple items or dutch auctions final value fee of the lowest successful bid item and multiplying it by the number of items sold. The final value fee charged by EBAY for a multiple value fixed price listing is calculated on per item sold, based on the final sale price of the item.

A EBAY Store is a very effective way to display your items, drive traffic to a website, or to display a couple of your best items in EBAY auctions and get people to visit your other items through your store listing on your auction websites.

After you sell an item, you will be eligible for “feedback.” This is where the buyer makes comments about your service, your responsiveness to email questions, and general comments about how it was interact with you as a seller of EBAY items. You want this to be 100% or as close as possible to it. If there is a dispute on any item, you will try to work it out and make sure that the buyer is satisfied within your own selling descriptions. You have a right to have your terms met, but you also have to satisfy the buyer as much as possible. You want return customers and you want others that will check your feedback section to be sure to find good comments about your service. This enables those who have not conducted business with you to know your track record and feel more confident that they will have a good buying experience with your company or store. Another thing that happens is that you should return the feedback to the buyers account so that they also have the good notations on their membership listing as a buyer. For instance, “buyer pays promptly, buyer is easy to deal with, buyer is welcome back to your store,” etc.

If you have any qualms about listing or do not know how to list, there are actually places you can take your EBAY items and have them do the marketing, listing, and selling for you. However, if you really want to make this a good source of income, I suggest learning to do the listings yourself and capitalize on more profits. But the key thing is to GET STARTED.

EBAY will only continue to grow as more and more people make money with them, so why not capitalize on this easy to do program. Go where the people are looking to buy…that is EBAY right now!

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Ian Del Carmen is an online business professional running his main site at http://www.ianDelCarmen.com. His other sites include http://TheOnlineBusinessProfessional.com, http://MobileEbooks.net, http://InfoProductLaboratory.com, and many more…
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A high level of skill with a range of equipment, or a friend that is prepared to loan you some money would be strengths. If you have never run a business before that could be a weakness. A ready, enthusiastic market would be an opportunity, while several businesses almost identical to the one you are thinking of starting or a weakening economy would be threats. This type of analysis can show you if your business idea is viable and should encourage you to exploit opportunities and help you decide how to tackle threats.

Decide on your Unique Selling Proposition…

Why should a potential customer come to you and not a rival? Will you specialize in a certain area? You should be able to identify where and how you can contact your potential customers and have an idea of the demand for your type of service or product.

Write a Business Plan…

There are many versions and it seems every bank and business advisor has slightly different requirements. However every version should keep you focused on what you want to do with your business and the strategies to achieve this in a certain time frame. It should identify the services or products you intend to offer initially, and those you hope to expand into later. Remember the plan is a working document. If you miss deadlines you should be able to modify the plan to get your business back on course.

Once you have decided on the type of business you want to start do some research to see if there are any gaps in the local market. Find out your competitor’s pricing. You could get friends to ask for quotes from the competition, or use a more direct approach and have discussions with a local expert. Remember, a company could be a potential competitor or a potential joint venture partner. Perhaps you could approach them with an idea for a product or service that would complement theirs.

When setting prices do not immediately assume undercutting is the only solution. You need enough income to cover your overheads and a low price may give the impression that your skills and work have little value.

Cash flow is another important element in starting and running a business. Make sure you do not have to make too big an investment before you get paid. You should know how much you have to earn to at least break even.

After working through your business plan and giving cash flow a good deal of thought you should know whether your proposed business is viable.

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Ian Del Carmen is an online business professional running his main site at http://www.ianDelCarmen.com. His other sites include http://TheOnlineBusinessProfessional.com, http://MobileEbooks.net, http://InfoProductLaboratory.com, and many more…
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