STARTING YOUR MAIL ORDER BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH
By Gregory H. Bey
Most of the people who start a mail order business begin with little or no experience. Most people want to know: what's the best business to start that will make the most money? This is not an easy question to answer, however, if you plan to be among the tens of thousands of people who join this industry each year, please allow me to share my experience with you.
LET'S BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING
Let's face it, most people want to start a mail order business are usually having some kind of financial problem--being laid off from a job, increasing debt, etc. There is also the single parents who need an income, but wants to supplement the fixed income.
What do these people have in common? They all need extra money and even though they want to start a business, they don't have a lot of money to invest. Since mailorder is a relatively inexpensive business to start from home, it's the one most of these people tend to start.
DOING YOUR HOMEWORK
Many people rush into their networking or mail order business without doing any real research on the business that they intend to start. This is usually the first crucial mistake that the beginner makes. Learning all that you can about the business you intend to start will save time, money and setbacks. The fact is, if you don't educate yourself in the beginning, you will severely limit your chances of succeeding in your own business. People are usually in a hurry to get started and they don't want to take the time to do a lot of reading and research.
If you're in a hurry, here's a way to learn a great deal in a short time. Do exactly what you're doing now, read the articles in mail order business publications. The benefits of reading the articles are:
* The people who write these articles are in the business they are writing about.* These articles will provide you with the most current information about your business area of interest.
* These articles will provide you with inside information, tips, business resources, current trends and the very valuable personal business experience that these people have had in their own efforts. You will also learn how to avoid and solve some of the problems that you'll face while trying to build your own business.
I suggest that you subscribe to as many of these publications as possible. Save all the articles that are of particular interest to you, keep them so that you can refer to them when you're looking for information on a particular subject.
There are many areas that you will have to deal with in operating your own business, such as:
* Choosing your product or service* The legal aspects of your business
* Federal and state taxes
* Supplies and other business tools
* Budget and financing
* Marketing and advertising your product or service
* Business to business and customer relations
You will find articles on all of these topics and many more in the trade publications. Yes, reading the trade publications will provide you with an inexpensive, up-to-date way to get a thorough business education.
USING THE INTERNET AS A LEARNING TOOL
Although the Internet is being promoted as a place where the small business person should advertise products and services, this marvelous new technology is one of the greatest learning tools of all time.
Much of the business information that you can obtain on the Internet is absolutely free. There are news groups, ezines and government sites that will allow you to download valuable information on any subject imaginable. If you own a computer and are online, you can sit at your keyboard and quickly learn all that you need to know about starting your own home based mail order business.
Gregory H. Bey has been in mail order marketing for more than 10 years. To learn more about his money-saving offers, contact him at:
Day-Star Communications 7023 Hermitage St Pittsburgh, PA 15208-1110
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