Diary of an eBay store

As a fellow broke entrepreneur, when I write entries for this blog, I’m also researching the information for myself as well as trying to help others. I wouldn’t suggest anything for another person to do, if I wouldn’t do it myself, however, I might offer resources that are valuable to someone else, but they may be out my own price range. As long as they fall within what I consider affordable for those in my target audience, then I’ll write about it.

Thus, my previous entry about the eBay stores really stayed on my mind long after I posted it. As I said, I have bought and sold on eBay since around 2000, but I never opened an actual store, and during my research to bring the information here, I started considering if it was something I could actually do. I also wondered if there were other means of getting products for the store besides the one or two I’d mentioned? In the process of delving deeper into it for a follow up entry, I found an array of options for opening online stores for little or no cost, including stores complete with drop shipping and click and drag interfaces, and other wholesale resources with which you can stock your eBay store at prices low enough to still provide you with a wide profit margin. I picked up quite an education on the whole niche industry, from how to spot a middle man who is draining your profits, to questions you should ask to ensure that you are dealing with a legitimate supplier source.

So in addition to everything else I’ve got going on, I’m so intrigued by the whole eBay shop thing that I’m going to open one. I’ll document all of my steps so if you’re hesitant at all about jumping in, you can follow along and see how it goes for me. I’m putting together a series of entries that will show you all of the alternatives for getting started with an ecommerce store for very little money or even free. I’ll also show you various options for both purchasing wholesale products and dropshipping, as well as the pros and cons of each method.

I’m really excited about doing this and I hope we all learn from it – if anyone wants to take the journey with me and open their stores at the same time, I invite you to discuss it here and we’ll compare notes and help each other along the way.

I’m still compiling the notes for the introduction of the series, and then I plan to get started with the shop within the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Sleep it off

Recently, I was knee deep into developing what will be one of my biggest web
projects ever. All day long, I was thinking in code, seeing lines and lines of script whenever I blinked for more than a second, and when I did manage to sleep at night, I was practically dreaming of solutions and processes that I needed to put into action the next morning. On the off chance that I was not in front of my computer, I would attempt to watch a movie and find myself staring at the tv screen but instead seeing my pc monitor in front of me while I worked over some design issue in my head. I was completely and totally immersed in my project and that’s literally all I could think about. It was nothing for me to sit down at the computer and pass 6-8 hours straight without stopping to eat or even use the bathroom. This was an even bigger feat considering I’d done it with a family going on with their lives behind my chair.

After one particularly grueling and frustrating day spent at my keyboard, I stood up and immediately buckled to the ground in pain – my knees and legs had locked up from stiffness and cramps shot up my thighs! I had put in a marathon 10 hours of work on the site and had barely taken a break. I remember phones and doorbells ringing, my kids trying to get my attention, but I was so focused on doing a perfect job that I effectively blocked all of that out. I’m always amazed at how I can work nonstop on my own projects but it absolutely destroys me to stay at my job for eight full hours. When you work for yourself, its so much easier to commit yourself to perfection no matter what the cost, you work feverishly and don’t clock-watch, because you are the boss and if the company succeeds you are able to reap the full benefits of that success and not just the little bit that’s parcelled out to you in your paycheck.

Thus, we put ourselves in the position to burn out a lot faster than if we were working for someone else. Many entrepreneurs have a tendency to go into their own businesses with all guns blazing, so to speak, and before you know it, you’re working 16 – 20 hours a day and just dragging yourself to bed in the twilight of the morning. You may think its all okay because its YOURS but remember, one of the reasons you started your own business was to have freedom from long hours and stressful deadlines, and to enjoy more time with your family. If you find that you’ve just recreated your former workplace in your den, then its time to stop and take a breather. It’s okay to take a day off – in fact, its necessary. When you work nonstop on a tedious project, after a while all of the information just bottlenecks in your brain stem somewhere and very little useful data is getting through. How many times have you reluctantly forced yourself to “sleep on” a problem and when you returned to it, you had a renewed sense of energy and vision, and your issue was suddenly quite simple?

Burnout is a real concern for entrepreneurs because, unlike in a traditional job, you’re trying to meet your own extremely high expectations and there’s no holiday from that. Be proud that you have such a high work ethic and have been blessed enough to be able to pursue your passion. But remember to celebrate your freedom by enjoying time off and relaxation. Leave breathing room in your projects for you to take a break and think away from the computer or desk. Take notes, if you will, from the comfort of your bed or in the wicker chair in your backyard. Then put the notes aside and go smell the flowers!! Learn not to feel guilty about leaving work behind for a moment. When you return to your work, you will find fresh ideas and a transformed approach to your work.

Believe that you will do your BEST work when you are healthy, rested and recharged.

Does anyone NOT know about eBay?

As far back as I can remember, my big sister had closets and closets full of designer clothes. When she was a teenager, the local malls weren't good enough for her - she had to finagle ways for her and her friends to travel to other cities to shop the malls with the fancier stores, and bring back things that others in her school had only seen in magazines. Today, although she's a more settled and practical wife and mother, she still has several closets full of clothing that are either unique, vintage or cutting edge fashion. She can still sniff out a designer deal from miles away, but somehow she's managed to hold on to at least a closet's worth of items from as far back as twenty years ago. It's always fun to visit and go through her things and laugh at how some of them are back in style and selling for hundreds of dollars today.


So naturally, everytime she comes to me and asks how she can make some extra money, my fingers start itching to set her up an eBay store. She would be the perfect candidate, she has tons of inventory that she is looking to sell, she wants a part time income that she can operate from home, and she has expert knowledge on her product. At around $17 per month, she could easily clear out her closets over time and make a nice nest egg in the process, as well as build up a steady clientele for the next phase of her store - wholesaling designer clothing and accessories. I've been off and running with her plans for years now, but I can't get her to cosign. She's not comfortable enough to go online and set it up herself, and we live hundreds of miles apart so its rather difficult for me to supervise the complete setup and operation of the store for her. The plan at this point calls for me to vacation there and spend the time taking photos of her items, setting up her store, and training her on the complete process of taking orders and shipping. So my dream for her is on hold right now.

But over the years, I have convinced at least twenty people to become eBay sellers. It's so easy and almost guaranteed to bring you some amount of success, that it should be a high school elective. It speaks to the most basic consumer principle - selling and buying. Even my 8 year old has been an eBay seller (through me) since he was around 4, when he discovered he could sell his unwanted toys and Yu Gi Oh cards there and make a little money, he's been hooked ever since. Although the problem with his sales is that he would conveniently ignore the part about eBay fees coming out of his profit, so I always ended up losing in those deals! Now that he's older, whenever he wants to sell something, I make sure to explain the small print so that he understands and not think there is no price to pay for every dollar earned.

There are two distinct types of sellers on eBay, those that just like to sell casually, maybe things around the house or things they've found at yard sales; and those that have turned it into a business and are Powersellers or operate eBay stores. I love that there are opportunities for everyone to make it whatever they choose. You can start small and grow, you can focus on a niche market or become a virtual flea market of your own, you totally control your business and target.

It's such a simple process although it can be intimidating if you're not a regular user of the site. If you're interested in giving it a try, I would suggest you just spend some time hanging out there searching for things, reading feedback ratings, learning to identify the difference between the good sellers and the ones you want to avoid. Equally important, learn to identify the reliable buyers and the ones who just might leave you holding the bag. Browse the eBay forums and read some of the questions and answers there from both beginners and experienced users.

Then, if you like what you see, set up an account and make your first bid/purchase. It's been years since I opened my account but its still absolutely free to register and bid on items. Get familiar with the way it all works, go through a few small auctions and see how easy and addictive it can be. I often find myself searching on eBay for things I know I can get in the stores but I get a certain thrill out of bidding and winning it online.

In case you just want to establish a consistent side income by selling, your regular eBay account will work fine, you don't need to set up anything differently. When you want to buy, you buy, and when you want to sell, you just sell, there's no special configurations or upgrades you need to make. Lots of people do very well just shopping deep discount stores, warehouses or even garage and estate sales, and then offer the items on eBay for a nice profit. Remember, an item widely available
in your area may be a rare find in another state or even overseas, so don't assume that it would be worthless - the entire world is eBaying at this point so it opens up a wealth of otherwise unreachable consumers. Another relative of mine goes to thrift stores and buys clothing and purses, then resells them on eBay for sometimes double what she paid - if you shop at the right times (delivery days), and in the right areas (look for thrift stores located near more affluent communities) you can get incredible bargains.

As I said earlier, the eBay stores are a very reasonable monthly fee of around $15. Having a store, as opposed to just selling from your account, allows you to manage your business, well, like a business. It has all sorts of inventory, accounting and management tools that help you with invoicing and shipping, as well as marketing. The eBay store identity also gives you a little more validity as a seller, and it allows you to build and design your presence into something that entices the buyer and turns them into a repeat customer. Not only that, you can purchase a domain name and direct it to your eBay store, then submit to the search engines so you can boost your rankings and ensure maximum exposure for your auctions.

I think when you approach eBay like a true business and not just as a way to clear out your attic, you really have the potential to turn it into a serious stream of income. People are leaving their full time jobs and concentrating solely on their eBay stores, and as with anything else, when you have the ability to devote yourself fully, the growth is unlimited. Those stories about people making well over six figures yearly are real and the income is attainable - if you choose your products carefully and market them the same way you would market any other enterprise. Powersellers don't just list their items, go to sleep and wake up to thousands of dollars in their Paypal accounts. They use various promotion and advertising methods to market their stores, as well as search engine optimization techniques to ensure that they appear in your searches just like any other website. With millions of sellers on eBay, you need to stand out in the crowd, or else your Widget store is just another store selling widgets. Derek Gehl, the internet marketing guru, has a comprehensive cd course that examines the insider secrets to making huge profits on eBay. Now, generally, I take these types of announcements with a grain of salt, but his course is highly recommended by Roger Zimmerman of Pickaguru.com, and he's not an affiliate of any kind so he has a completely unbiased opinion. Derek is well respected as being an expert and for developing quality products and not just junk that you can find elsewhere on the internet, so if you're interested in looking at this further, I would suggest reviewing his product to help you get started.

What a lot of people don't know is that eBay maintains a guide to the most popular searches on the site, and its absolutely free and available here. Download that and browse to get an idea of what people are looking for - that should help you hone in on what YOU should be selling. It's updated monthly, so be sure to check for a new one each month to see how the trends may have changed.

If the whole shop/resale tactic isn't for you, you might want to explore product sourcing and/or drop shipping. Product sourcing is a way of purchasing bulk inventory of the products and then reselling them. But the trick to this is to get an account with the manufacturing source - and they're not just opening their doors to everybody, or else everybody would be doing it! There are a lot of places online that claim to be direct sources for inventory, but if you investigate further, you'll find that these are still middle men who are making money off of selling the product to you, so you are still paying more than you need to. What you need is a direct link to the company that makes the product so its from their assembly lines to YOU, and there are only a few legitimate methods to obtaining such an account. Those methods are explained in the free eBook download here.

The book also discusses drop shipping, which is totally wonderful because you don't have to carry or stock any product! When you run an auction for an item that will be drop shipped, you have to be able to rely on the drop shipper to pick up the ball and complete the order in a timely fashion, and hopefully seamlessly so the customer doesn't even know that it has come from a different source. Again, the key is finding a reliable company that will work with you and maintain the quality of customer service that you need to provide. Drop shipping is one of the best ways to get started with your eBay business because it requires no upfront money to purchase inventory, all you need are your sources and your eBay account. Expect to pay a small but reasonable amount for access to your source catalog - but its well worth it when you are getting unlimited, authentic drop shipping accounts and not just some email leads that go nowhere.

For more information, please check out the sources above and see if eBay could be a low cost solution for you to get started!

Young and Broke

Thanks, Amanda, from the Young and Broke blog, for linking to Really, Really, Broke Entrepreneurs! Her blog has a lot of really good common sense articles and advice that are interesting reads for everyone, regardless of age!

I don't see myself here...

At the nail salon recently, I browsed through the stacks of magazines in the waiting area, and the February issue of Essence caught my eye. On the cover was the headline, The Million Dollar Black Woman: 3 Real Women Give You Secrets for Building Wealth. Intrigued, I flipped quickly to that section, already plotting in the back of my mind how I was going to quietly tear out the pages and sneak them into my purse. Unfortunately, I didn't have to commit that minor offense that day because the article didn't speak to me at all. Don't get me wrong, they were great inspirational segments about truly awesome women who are either already millionaires or on their way to becoming one very soon. But how they got there, the paths they took, the tools they had at their disposal were all foreign to me.

The first entrepreneur featured was Tiffany Pointer of Atlanta, who bought her first condominium at the age of 22. She didn't have a lot of money, according to the story, but her FICO score of between 760-850 qualified her for 100% financing. When she sold the property a mere two years later, she pocketed a $70,000 profit and the rest is pretty much history. That infusion of money allowed her to pay off all debts and make several other real estate purchases. Nice.

The next woman was Erica McGeachy-Crenshaw of New Jersey who bought a home inspection franchise with a stock market nest egg and donations from family to come up with the required $40,000 startup, as well as financing obtained by having excellent credit. What I did appreciate from her story was that she bought her first stock at the age of 16 by investing $1000 she'd earned from a part time job. This is an important lesson for teenagers that its never too early to start planning for your future. Today, her company is worth over half a million dollars.

The third and last profile belonged to Ann Marie Hall-Sparks of Chicago, who used a variety of tax-deferred investment vehicles to build a stock portfolio worth over $2 million. It wasn't very specific on what moves she took to get to this point, but it did mention that in addition to her already burgeoning portfolio, she began investing 80% of her money into riskier stocks and mutual funds, and 20% in bonds, so she took a very aggressive route towards building her wealth and it paid off handsomely.

Their stories didn't help me on MY journey to becoming a success, because at this point in my life, I can't go backwards. Their profiles will be wonderfully inspiring though for a young person just starting out, but for me, and many others like me, we have to approach it from a different angle. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way poo-pooing their incredible achievements or what lessons we can learn from them, I'm just being real here - where I am today, being told about a franchise opportunity with $40k startup fees or real estate cash profits that can be flipped into an empire - that does nothing for me right now. Show me how to turn $100 into $500 within the next couple of months, and then I'll flip the $500 into $1000, and then I'll see where I can take it. Actually, if I had an extra $1000 right now, I'd probably encourage my teenage son to purchase an inflatable bounce house and get him started in a little side business.

The sidebar lists six ways to make your first million, among them was to work on your credit, save regularly, and eliminate debt. All very good advice in the long run but overall, pretty typical of what you see everywhere. This is why I enjoy pulling together information for this site, because I like to show that even though you don't have stock investments or perfect credit, you can still realize true entrepreneurship and get started with the bare essentials. You have to start somewhere, why sit around waiting for everything to be perfect, for all of the ducks to be in a row? Being an entrepreneur is what's in your soul, not what's in your portfolio or your bank account. Start with what you have and accomplish what you can TODAY.

Start an Inflatable Rental Business

In the spirit of broke entrepreneurs, I'm going to highlight some business ideas in which you could get started for the lowest cost.

A few years ago, I was looking for an inflatable for my son's home birthday party. I had the hardest time finding one that was located close enough to not elicit ridiculous delivery fees, until a friend of mine tipped me that her nail tech owned an inflatable that she rented on weekends at really good rates. The story was that the woman and her husband purchased it for their own kids, but started getting requests from neighbors to use it, so they decided to begin renting it at prices that evidently blew away the competition. Well, my party was a huge success, everybody wanted to know where I got the inflatable and how much I’d paid, so I referred them to the owner, and I know of at least three of those people who have rented from her since.

Fast forward to this year - bounce house rental businesses are literally everywhere! Yet, there's still plenty of opportunity in this field for startups because there never seem to be enough availability. The problem is, each rental is generally for a minimum of 4 hours, and if its for a kid's party, you're only looking at a rental period of perhaps from 9 - 7 give or take a couple of hours. So you've got a maximum of maybe three rentals daily, not including the amount of time it takes you to deliver and setup, take down and deliver to your next location. That could add as much as an hour between rentals. That's why there's still plenty of room for more inflatable rental providers because they are so popular during the warm months that you could almost guarantee rentals every weekend with all of the birthday and graduation parties, church and school events, business promotions - the possibilities are endless. You could even start an inflatable rental network among your competitors so that you can call each other to help with bookings.

As for the cost - if you look for brand new inflatables, you're looking at upwards of $3,000. But there’s always a bunch of them on eBay in the range of $300 and up - they are used, often liquidations, out of season models, etc, but as long as they're durable and reliable, and you get some sort of warranty on the condition, these are perfect for you to launch your business. I discovered that they design these with different styles each year, so although The Simpsons might be the hot design right now, a person wanting an inflatable is not likely to cancel their party because all they could get was a plain red and blue style. You can't go wrong with the standard kid-friendly colors, and as you land more bookings and increase your profit, you can add other styles to your inventory as you find them at reasonable prices.

They also come in different sizes, so starting out, you may have to get one of the smaller sizes as opposed to the super megadeluxe model, again, when you're 4 years old, they're all huge! My local daycare had a grand opening and they rented several of the smaller inflatables and had them all over the playground. They were less intimidating to the toddlers and preschoolers, and they were able to have enough available for everyone to get a turn. So don't overlook the value of having at least 1-2 of the smaller models for events such as this.

Look for quality, durability and warranty, and try to get a partner to go in with you so you will have a little more to spend on your first bounce house. If you both could put up $400-500, you could easily pick up a great inflatable and start taking orders almost immediately. It's actually preferable that you have another person to go with you to do setup and take down, so this is an ideal business for two - or more, as your business grows. It is best to have a small truck or trailer available to haul the inflatables around, but if you do not have one you can use, you can rent the trailers from a moving company. This would cut into your costs, so you'll want to try to purchase your own as soon as possible, or try to maximize your rentals by booking as often and as far in advance as permissible.

For instance, ask the rental company about a deal or discount if you book and pay for four consecutive weekends at once! Then check out auctions, liquidations and used equipment sales for an old but good quality trailer you can pick up cheaply and maybe even fix up and decorate with your business logos and signs.

Don't forget to hang signs or banners on the inflatable while its being rented, so neighbors and passerbys will be able to clearly see who provided this service, and when they need to rent, they will remember to call for you. The newer models have built in business card holders right near the opening, but you can create your own little pocket to hold your business cards and stick it in a visible area so the party guests can conveniently take a card.

Besides a bright and cheery website and colorful business cards, make sure you do a targeted campaign to local schools, daycare centers and churches, who might call you for social events; or businesses who would rent an inflatable for a special sale or grand opening. Be sure to get listed in the many Moonwalk Directories both online and offline, because renters tend to seek businesses that are located near them and can deliver to them quickly.

Depending on where you're located, these types of businesses do most of their bookings in the warmer weather, but don't close up shop just because its cold outside, make yourself available to places with the capability to have it indoors - this is where your smaller bounce houses would be most desired, so don't do away with those just because you've earned enough to upgrade to the larger models.

Let's look at a reasonable model of what you could expect to earn in this business. With most people booking for four hour blocks at an average of $80, you could potentially fill 3 gigs on both Saturday and Sunday, so that's 6 bookings for the weekend for a total of $480. Working like this every weekend would get you an average of $1920 for the month, lets say during the summer months of June, July, August, and most of September. You've already made back your investment with the first month, so after that, its all profit. And this is working with just ONE bounce house.

The next month, search for a deal on a second bounce house, maybe a nearly new model featuring some popular cartoon character - so now you can double your bookings. Or, what I would do is just work as much as I could the first year with one, to gauge the market and really get a handle on whether or not this is going to work for me - then purchase additional inflatables during the "off" months from other businesses who may either be closing or just reshuffling their inventory. Then you'll be prepared for an even bigger season the following year as you launch with new products, more advertising, and more experience.

There will be legalities involved such as rental agreements and liability insurance, but the cost of this should factor nicely into your profit margin. You don’t want to skimp on these areas because you are providing a service with which someone could potentially be injured, so having a well executed agreement and proper coverage keeps everyone safe. I found a few places online with great information about getting started – these are just links that I grabbed for convenience but I have no knowledge or experience with any of these companies to specifically endorse them.

International Moonwalks Rentals Directory – this is not only a directory, but for $20, you can download a package of business documents for running your own rental business

Association of Inflatable Rental Company Operators - this appears to be the premiere source of information for inflatable rental companies, great, in-depth info here. Especially worth reading is about checking insurance requirements for your state.

Buy Inflatable Things - what I did like about this site was the abundance of free newsletters and great photos. You can get an idea of what kinds of products are out there - then you can go and find them cheaper!

broke entrepreneurs

With the China toy recalls....

...I'm thinking, this might be a GREAT time for some enterprising toy developers in the US to push their American-made marketing campaigns! Especially with Christmas just around the corner. If you've got a product that you can put together with your own resources, think about ramping up your promotion and see if you can get a few seed orders to start with. Push the "safety" aspects of it!

broke entrepreneurs

How cool is this?

I saw one of these on a car and I was kind of scared to flag the car down and ask about it - although, I'm sure that's what the owner had in mind when she put it on! It was for Avon, it said something like askmeaboutavon.com, and that stuck in my head for literally WEEKS. I said, I HAVE to get one of those! I tried searching for it online but nothing I typed in would bring me the correct results, I kept getting those huge magnetic backed signs instead. Last night I finally found them! They're called I.D. IT! Plates and they're out of Canada where they're actually assembled by hand and polished to a gold or matte finish for durability. They look SHARP! I like these so much better than bumper stickers or even the magnetic signs because they just look classy and I like that they only show your URL so there's that mystery aspect to them! You know the person looking at it in traffic is going to have it stuck in their head until they get to a computer and go to your website and wham! you got them, a potential customer. For less than $50 - with FREE delivery even, and think of how many people will read it as you go through your normal day, sitting in traffic, parked in the mall parking lot, even passing on the street - you can't BUY that kind of exposure anywhere else.

I'm ordering one today - okay, I'm ordering one on Friday when I get paid, lol, cuz after all, I'm broke! But seriously, I love these and I can't wait to get mine. It will actually make my car look BETTER!

Go to I.D. It! Plates and read more about them.

broke entrepreneurs

Ready, Fire, Aim!

While looking for something to share with you today, I stumbled upon this article by Brian Armstrong of Start Breaking Free, that I thought just really great! It represents a trap that so many of us get stuck in while trying to become entrepreneurs. I know I certainly recognized myself while reading it. Read on and enjoy!

Ready, Fire, Aim! by Brian Armstrong
Many successful entrepreneurs have been known to act even though they didn't feel 100% prepared. I believe this is one of the most important skills to launching a successful startup. Once you have an idea, take the first step toward completing it now, and figure out the details later. Those who have to wait until all their ducks are in a row will be stuck waiting forever.

I will tell you a secret: the ducks will never all be in a row!

The minute you get that last duck in line, another one will pop out. It's called a startup company, because you have to do just that: startup. Even if you aren't quite ready.

It's imperative you go ahead and do your best with what you have now. At some point you will have to exit the learning stage and enter the doing stage. Don't get caught in the "analysis paralysis" of continuing to learn more and more. At some point you'll have to just pull the trigger, whether you have every possible contingency covered or not.

After pulling the trigger is when the real learning will start, because then you can see where your shot actually went. It is no longer theory or discussion, it is actually happening. Only then, after actually taking the first shot, can you begin to correct your aim.


When doing my first startup, I was full of uncertainty and doubt. What did I know? I had read a little bit about incorporating, but I couldn't afford any actual legal advice. I didn't know how to pay business taxes. I didn't know if anyone would buy my product. I didn't know how to find customers. But after reading a little bit, I just decided to go for it, ready or not. The effect was dramatic because experience was the best teacher I could have had.

Sure, I made a few mistakes (and I still do when launching a startup today), but it wasn't anything I couldn't recover from. One of the best benefits of using "ready, fire, aim" is that you find out quickly whether your plan will work!

It's time to realize and accept the fact that you will not be entirely prepared when you startup your first business. So what? Do it anyway. No one is entirely prepared the first time. But they have the courage to act in spite of their fear. That is what makes them a success today.

Please visit Brian's great blog on becoming an entrepreneur at StartBreakingFree.com!

broke entrepreneurs

Consider Email Marketing to build Client Lists

Here's an idea that entrepreneurs should investigate more - email marketing as a powerful way to promote your products. Now I'm not talking about that unsolicited
spam that fills up everyone's mailbox , I'm talking solely about using email lists that have been built by the customer voluntarily submitting their email address. This marketing campaign begins with what is called an Opt-In list, and that's exactly what people are doing when they come to your website and enter their name and/or email in the sign up, they are opting to receive email communications from you thereforth.

Your Opt-In list can easily be built by offering a free newsletter about your industry to your website visitors. Use a simple CGI code to place a subscription box on your website that will capture names and email addresses of your subscribers. Avoid problems by making it a double opt-in, meaning that the subscriber must confirm their subscription before they join your list, that keeps jokesters from ruining your list by sitting and filling it with fake email addresses, or using it to spam their friends. Keep the newsletter relevant to your business, as that is what your visitors will want to hear about. If you're selling handmade dolls, put together a regular newsletter of Doll Making News featuring information about doll shows or resources for dollmaking materials. Within the newsletter, you can place an ad and link back to your website, and offer a discount or special for the subscribers, be creative and make it interesting so they'll look forward to seeing it in their Inbox regularly.

Email marketing is a powerful and effective tool that can take several forms.

1. The free newsletter, which will not only inform and entertain your customers, but gives you the opportunity to advertise directly to each of them.
   
   
2. The "More Information, Please" mailer, which could help you close many sales. Provide a link on your website, or in your publication, for readers to click on if they would like more information. When they do, you are being invited to deliver a more personal presentation to the visitor, which gives you a chance to give complete information about the product or service, roll out the most effective sales pitch, and include your call to action at the end. Do this is in a short sequence of mailers and it is very effective in closing sales or, if you have an affiliate business, getting the click through to your sponsor’s site.
   
   
3. Email can also be used to quickly and efficiently broadcast announcements to your entire list about new products and services that you think will meet their needs.

There are 2 tools you need:

1. An autoresponder
2. Email signature file

Your domain name provider will usually provide email services that include Autoresponders that are easy to set up and configure by a control panel. If this is not available through the company from which you purchased your domain, then most hosting companies provide email services, even if you did not buy the domain from them. There may be some user level programming involved but it is pretty straightforward and proper Help documentation should get you up and running quickly! Don't let the name scare you, it really is quite simple. You set up the message you want delivered, set the parameters such as schedule and frequency, point it to your email list, and you're done. The server goes on autopilot and does all of the mailing for you and even reports back on invalid addresses or Unregister requests.


Which brings me to my final point - you should be always be succintly clear in your sign up agreement of what it is you are offering and what you plan to do with their email address. If in addition to the newsletter, you want to send them special offers from time to time, state that in the agreement. If the offers will be from your company, or you have a network of partners that you'd like to share the list with, again, let the visitor know what they can expect to receive in their email box. And if they change their mind after getting a few issues, or decide that it no longer serves their needs, alway provide an Unregister link within EACH newsletter mailing, so that they can quickly and conveniently click and have their name removed from any additional mailings. The last thing you want to do is annoy and alienate your clients by continuing to send them unwanted mailings - they could return to your business in the future, or refer a friend - but not if you leave a bad impression!

broke entrepreneurs

Thinking of how to get started?

Are you still tossing around ideas of what type of online business to start?
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to get your feet wet with an internet business. It is very cost effective to begin and has great potential for earnings. These types of marketing programs are a great way to start off your business by earning some capital to begin your enterprise, and it is the cheapest, easiest way to start your online business. All you need to do is to pre sell your visitors and get them to click through to your sponsor's site, where their sales page completes the purchase and you collect commission. Once you have started to earn, you can develop your business knowing you have a consistent source of income.

Here are some steps to help you to begin:

Choosing an affiliate program: You will need to join a variety of affiliate programs to best judge which ones perform (payout) the best. You can join an affiliate network like Commission Junction or individual companies with whom you've done business online and appreciated their offerings. Visit their websites and look for links to their individual affiliate programs.

Decide which affiliate programs will have products and services that match your current market. This is very important because you don't want to offend your audience by displaying ads that are totally irrelevant or offensive to their needs. Choosing the proper market will result in sales for both your affiliate program and also your linking business because you build a community of trust between yourself and your clients

You will promote your affiliate products via a coded link. It is smart to keep this linking as seamless as possible so as not to lose your client or distract them from the focus of your sale. Too many clicks and popups will prove to be irritating, and your site visitor will be tempted to just close the window and go elsewhere.

There are several ways to market your sponsor's product or service - review them all and choose the best ones that provide a hassle free experience for your website visitors and potential clients:

• Direct marketing, including advertising on related websites and targeted publications and Pay-Per-Click campaigns like Google Adwords.
  
• Passive marketing such as search engine submission
  
• Social marketing sites like MySpace, YouTube, Forums and business networks etc. Advertising in forums is considered distasteful and could be construed as spam, so you should join the community, participate in the discussions and use your signature area to display your website address
  
• Newsletter marketing: Offering a free newsletter through your website allows you to build a client list and keep in touch with them on a regular basis. Be sure you have exciting and interesting content for your newsletter so that you're not perceived as spamming their mailbox with ad content only.
  

If you don't already have a website and just want to test the waters, try setting up a blog focusing on a particular niche market. Then choose your affiliates based on the subject of the blog. Similar to the newsletter, you'll want to keep the information fresh and consistently updated, to keep the traffic returning and viewing and clicking on your ads.

A great affiliate program that lets you start earning money almost immediately, is MoreNiche. It's a fantastic way to earn while you learn all about the affiliate business with their detailed guides on getting started and building your traffic. Most affiliates just give you some code and rely on you to build your own clientele, but you'll appreciate the support you get from MoreNiche.

broke entrepreneurs

Calling All Broke Dreamers!

Tired of reading about entrepreneurs who claim they started from nothing? Then you find out that they really maxxed out their credit cards to the tune of $25,000, or they got a $50,000 loan from their parents, or they collected $75,000 from friends, or they cashed out a 401k for $100,000?

Those stories don’t help the people who have nothing but a dream, the people who have really, truly great ideas but are just struggling to cover their bills with their paychecks and don’t have enough extra money to invest in a vision. This guide is for us, because entrepreneurship should not be limited to only those with a bankrolling father and a credit score of 800.

Life has hit some of us harder than others; layoffs, divorces, illnesses have left us with bad credit, holes in our resumes, and empty bank accounts, but our dreams are still alive and intact.

There is a way to break free of the 9 to 5 – but know that if you don’t have the bank account or the investors, it will take hard work, commitment and belief in yourself and your dream.

That's why I wrote the eBook, Really, Really Broke Entrepreneurs, and decided to start this blog. This is where we can hash out ideas, look at other successes - what worked for them, what are the lessons learned, and what can we incorporate in our own journey, and I welcome any and all comments from people who have been there and have something helpful to contribute.

This is the best way to get in touch with the resources you need, the mentors you want to learn from, the people who are on the same path as us all. I plan to post interesting articles about entrepreneurship on the cheap, and success stories of people who struggled and made it - on their own, without a trust fund or an SBA loan, because for many of us, that's just not gonna happen!

Welcome to the haven for Really, REALLY broke dreamers. :)

broke entrepreneurs