Because it is the first of the year, you will no doubt begin seeing lots of ads and emails trying to help you to establish some new goals for the new year.  One of the most popular is to set up some sort of online business that generates some sort of automatic stream of revenue.  This article will talk about selling information and how you should deliver it to your customers.  I want to talk about delivery since it generally is the biggest stumbling block that most people face.

Make something

Let assume you have a topic in mind.  Lets say its “Learning the Yahoo Ecommerce Platform”  This is just an example, I know its not as flashy as your idea.  We are going to assume that you have written or recorded a lot of good content and now you want to sell it.  I tend to gravitate towards offering some video content along with some printed text.  People are using video right now and its a hot addition that is sure to help you convey your point.  The problem is once you have your content finished, chances are the individual files, (or videos) are slightly large.  Most of us are concentrating on giving the consumer a good amount of information that is valuable, not on making the size of the file perfect for delivery.  What generally happens is that you have a file or master file that is too big to email and you do not know how to offer it online so that people can download it.

Delivery.  So in order to solve the delivery problem you have two choices.  You can spend some money and a whole lot of time in learning how to deliver your content digitally. (someone buys it and receives a download link) or you can send it to them.  I use to be a huge fan of the digital delivery method but have since switched to the old school system of sending you a cd.  Here is why.  If you are not a tech buff, there will always be someone who does not know how to download your content and they will not be happy about it.  Digital sales offer immediate gratification and if you sell your reasoning well enough, your customers will order your cd.  Here is why:

• The cd can hold a decent size video, so you do not have to worry about any videos where the length was greater than ten minutes.
• You can put a lot of content on the cd, a lot.
• You can add bonus reports or excel files for people to use in their own business.
• You can add in the price of media shipping, into the cost of the product

Burn it, then ship them

My favorite technique is to use Amazon’s Fullfillment program to deliver my cd’s and products to customers.  First of all, it’s amazon, and they are very organized and ship very fast.  The second reason is, If I ship a case of cd’s to them, they will ship them out automatically for me, this makes the automatic revenue stream more refined and possible.  I would much rather ship a case of something to amazon than to deal with individual orders.  This makes life very easy.  If you sell your product on Amazon, its an evern bigger bonus.  Amazon is slowly taking over the world with their Ecommerce platform and you will eventually end up competing with them in some sort in the near future.

You can read more articles about selling information products here.

Hi Everyone, I am sure you have noticed that the site looks different.  We have switched our hosting and we are rebuilding the site.  If you do not mind the dust, we will be changing things, adding menus and repopulating the pictures on our posts.  Thank you for your patience.  We will be back up and running soon with lots more new content.

I read a lot of questions on how to do this, and if you ask enough people you will get a lot of different answers.  I think the key in determining what kind of business you should start should start with what kind of questions you should ask yourself first.  One of the key aspects is starting a business that has some sort of system to operate it under.  A lot of time developing that system is where most of your time is spent.  People that buy franchises have the luxury (or pay for that) of having the system already thought out.

It’s not the business you are in, but the way you do business that makes the difference.  Every business has a formula for making money. You need the determination to figure out the formula for your particular business.  This is where the rubber meets the road.

If you are going to manufacturer an item, you have to think, “How do I create and maintain a constant supply of product for my market” This is very important and often overlooked.  A lot of times outsourcing certain parts of this process is one of the best answers and helps determine your formula.

If you decide you want to resell a product you also need a formula to know at what price point you should sell your product at and what is the market selling that product or a similar product for.  Avoid the “paralysis of analysis” is key here but you have to do some sort of planning in order to be ready to even start.  Most people fail in the planning stage because they do not look hard enough at the plan and the formula for reselling.

Here are some items that are often overlooked for both manufacturing and reselling.

Manufacturing

• Did I factor in my assembly time into the product price?
• What is the final size of the product and will it fit into a standard box so that I do not have to special order one?
• Do I need separate rooms to complete all stages of manufacturing?  For example, a cutting room (dirty) verses a clean room (paint)
• Can I make video and take good pictures to help persuade my buyers that they need the item I am selling?
• Are they similar products out there and what do they sell for?  If there are, is there a 900 lb gorilla that is going to determine my price point (Amazon, Wal-Mart)

Reselling

• Is the product being sold by other vendors on the Internet?
• Is the price the manufacturing offering you give you a good margin?
• If they supply you a sample margin, do they sell it online for less and thus compete with you?
• Is their margin based on the list price (like the MRSP on a car) or on the normal retail price?  Most inflate the margin by calculating it on the MSRP price which is full retail.  Most customers are pretty savvy these days and will not pay full retail on a regular basis.
• Can I use social media to promote this product?

This post is not a question but more of a tip or technique you can use.  How were your ecommerce sales this holiday?  I had the highest sales ever and here is how I killed it.  You must have a indexed site that is established, I also recommend using an email marketing campaign along with this.  You have read about this concept but its worth repeating because its very effective….Give your customer value.  Here is how I did it.

1. Choose the item(s) you want to promote and make sure you have enough inventory and a good a good shipping system in place.
2. Create (yep) some sort of accessory kit or bonus bundle that does not suck.  I say this because there are so many sites or retail storefronts that say, buy this thing and get this really cheap whatever it is, for free.  It’s highly unmotivating.  Blow their mind, its tax deductable.  I shop for bonus bundles when I am ordering from my vendors whether its in the US or I am importing.  Find several items that you can put together that are inexpensive to buy in bulk (importing is great for this) then combine them as a kit.  For example I bought a bundle of stuff that cost me $13 but actually had a retail value of $103.  Take pictures of this cool kit and make decent graphics.  Now think of this, If I just lowered the price of my product by $13, it would have been a snoozer (regular price item is $179 to $229) but if you give them $100 worth of stuff its instant buzz.
3. Create your coupon codes to program your shopping cart.
4. Make a home page graphic to get the most attention.
5. Feature this promotion in your email marketing campaign.
6. Blog it on your blogs (yes more than one)
7. I also run the ad right next to some sort of newsletter sign up box or giveaway, build build build the list.
8. Next write 10 to 20 different variations of tweets about your promotion, Give this to your SEO person.  My guy has over 200 accounts (which is somewhat low) and have them start tweeting. Use good twitter manners and dont spam .   If you dont have someone with that many twitter accounts, find one.
9. Go to every relevant social site and forum and tell the world about the special.  If you can make a video about it, do it, then upload it to all video sites.  My particular product does not do super well on video.
10. I then also blogged the special on my blog matrix, not one blog but many blogs, all theme relevant.

Be organized, make your plan, tape it to the wall and tweak the heck out of it.  This promotion yielded a 98% increase in sales over Dec of 2008.  It will inspire you to have some sort of whopper promotion going every month.  Build one for each month and figure out your own road map.  Of course you will get more of a bump over the holidays, but I make it work much more consistently so that it is now a matter of tweaking.  Good luck!

by Tim Bryce

“Manage more, supervise less.”
- Bryce’s Law

When I got into the work force back in the mid-1970′s it seemed
everyone dressed in a suit and tie, drank black coffee, smoked
their brains out, and worked their butts off. Today, golf shirts
have replaced suits, herbal tea and bottled water have replaced
coffee, nobody is allowed to smoke, and rarely does anyone work
beyond 5:00pm. More importantly, we used to care about the work we
produced; there was a sense of craftsmanship, regardless of the job.

My Brother-in-law in Cincinnati conducted me on a tour of his company’s
machine-tool shop years ago and showed me how he could take a block of
aluminum and convert it into a high-precision machine tool. It was a
pleasure to watch him work, as it is to watch anyone who knows
what they are doing, be it a waitress, a programmer, a laborer or
a clerk.

Quality and service used to be considered paramount in this
country. If it wasn’t just right, you were expected to do it over
again until you got it right. We cared about what we produced
because it was a reflection of our personal character and
integrity. But somewhere along the line we lost our way and
craftsmanship has fallen by the wayside. Why? Probably because
we no longer care.

In today’s litigious society, employees are acutely aware that it is
difficult to be fired due to poor performance. They know they will
still get paid and receive benefits, regardless of the amount of effort
they put forth. Consequently, there is little to encourage people
to perform better. Money isn’t a motivating factor anymore. People
now expect bonuses, raises and other perks to be paid out regardless
of how well they perform during the year.

We’ve also become a nation content with doing small things. America
used to be known as a powerhouse that could tackle large projects,
such as building skyscrapers, designing innovative bridges and tunnels
spanning substantial bodies of water, engineering transcontinental
railroads and highway systems, conquering air and space travel, and
defending freedom not just once but in two world wars. If you really
wanted something done, you talked to the Americans and no one else. Now
we get excited over iPods, cell phones, and other electronic trinkets.

Many believe Craftsmanship is in decline due to the general apathy found
in today’s society. Maybe. I tend to believe it is due to an erosion
of our moral values. Let me give you an example. Having a child in college,
my interest was piqued recently by an article describing the pervasiveness of
cheating and plagiarism in our schools. It is not my intent to make a
political statement here but many of the students mentioned in the article
rationalized their cheating on the fact that one of our past Presidents
cheated and lied under oath, and got away with it. They figured if it is
okay for the Commander-in-Chief to act this way, it was an acceptable form
of behavior.

Arnold Toynbee, the famed English historian, observed, “Civilizations
die from suicide, not by murder.” If the moral fabric of our society
dies, our story is told as evidenced by other great civilizations that
long preceded us. Our perspective needs to be realigned: Our personal
and professional lives must be viewed as one. As Toynbee remarked,
“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” By
doing so, we identify more closely with our work and assume a greater
pride in workmanship. We do not need to hear this from our boss, but
rather from within. As strange as it may sound, I see Craftsmanship as
being patriotic in nature; doing a good quality job is part of leading
a good and honorable life and builds on the individual’s esteem, the
company he works for, and the country he lives in.

The biggest problem though is that we have forgotten how to manage
people. The manager’s primary goal is to create the proper work
environment for employees to produce the desired work products. This
is different than a supervisory capacity that directs how each person
performs the various tasks of a job. In fact, I encourage managers to
manage more and supervise less. I cringe when I see a manager try to
“micromanage” either a Fortune 500 company or a non-profit organization.

Yes, people need to be trained in order to properly
perform their work but following this, employees should be mature
enough to supervise themselves. In the old days, management stressed
discipline, accountability, and structure; three ugly words in today’s
workplace.

Understanding Craftsmanship

Some might say craftsmanship is a simple concept that we should
intuitively know. Not true; most people today have no comprehension as
to what makes up a good craftsman; they have either forgotten or it has
simply passed them by. Craftsmanship can be found in any field of endeavor
imaginable, be it in the product sector or service industry. Craftsmanship,
therefore, is universally applicable to any line of work.

Craftsmanship is not “workmanship”, nor is it synonymous with quality,
although the three concepts are closely related. Let’s begin by
giving “Craftsmanship” a definition: “The production and delivery
of quality goods or services from highly skilled workmen.”

Quality relates to the absence of errors or defects in the finished
product or service. In other words, finished goods operate
according to their specifications (customers get precisely what
they ordered). Such products are normally durable and require minimal
maintenance. Craftsmanship produces quality products. In the absence
of craftsmen, a rigorous methodology or assembly line process is
required to produce quality goods using workers without the expertise
of craftsmen. Such processes detail “Who” is to perform “What” work,
“When”, “Where”, “Why” and “How” (5W+H), thereby assuring a quality
product or service is produced. Such is the underlying rationale of
the ISO 9000 certification as used by many companies today. The point
is, quality is not the exclusive domain of the craftsman.

Craftsmanship is also a human trait. Some might argue a computer or
industrial robot can produce quality products and are, therefore,
craftsmen. However, we must remember these devices are programmed by
human beings in accordance with the rules of the craftsman. As such,
they are an extension or tool of the craftsman.

Craftsmanship can be found in either the overall work process or
a section of it. For example, there are craftsmen who are intimate
with all facets of building furniture, such as a table, a chair or
desk, and can implement the product from start to finish. However,
as products grow in complexity, it becomes difficult to find people
suitably qualified to build them from the womb to the tomb. Consider
military weapons alone, such as the complicated ships, tanks, and
airplanes we now use, with thousands or millions of parts to
assemble. Such complexity makes it impossible for a single person
to have the expertise to build the whole product. The same is true
in the service sector where different types of expertise and
capabilities may be required. In other words, craftsmen have a
specific scope of work. The scope of work may relate to other
types of craftsmen through a chain of work dependencies, e.g.,
Craftsmen A, B and C concentrate on separate sub-assemblies which
are eventually joined into a single product.

Attributes

So, what are the attributes of a craftsman? What makes a craftsman a
craftsman? There are three basic attributes described herein:

1. Possesses the necessary knowledge and skills to perform the work.

The craftsman is an expert in his field of endeavor; so much so that
he could easily serve as an instructor in the subject matter. But the
craftsman is also smart enough to know that education is not a one
time thing, that his world and field evolve as new tools and techniques
are introduced. As such, the craftsman is a student of his profession
and is constantly looking to improve himself. This is exercised through
such things as continued education, routine certification, studying books
and trade publications, and industrial groups. The craftsman willingly
participates in trade groups, often at his own expense, in order to network
with his peers.

It is Important to note that the craftsman does not need to be told
he needs periodic training to sharpen his skills. Instead, he takes the
personal initiative to stay on top of his game. Further, the craftsman
has no problem with a periodic job review; in fact, he welcomes it for
it might bring out a weakness in a skill he needs to sharpen.

2. Attention to detail.

The craftsman understands and respects the process of building/delivering
a product or service and is acutely aware of the penalties for cutting
corners. Earlier we discussed the need for a methodology that specifies
5W+H. The craftsman is intimate with all details of his scope of work,
so much so, he could probably write the methodology himself. Further,
his intimacy of the work process means he can produce a reliable estimate
of time and costs to perform the work.

Although many of the craftsman’s tasks may be repetitive, it doesn’t
mean he easily falls into a rut. Instead, he is constantly looking
for new tools and techniques to improve the work process. As such,
he plays the role of Industrial Engineer who is normally charged
with such a task.

The craftsman’s attention to detail also means that he demonstrates
patience in his work effort. Again, wary of cutting corners, the
craftsman must possess such patience in order to produce the product
the right way.

3. Views professional life as an extension of his personal life.

The craftsman identifies with the end product which is where
pride in workmanship comes from. In his mind, the craftsman has
been charged with the responsibility of producing something, and
wanting to satisfy the customer, puts forth his best effort to
produce it. In other words, craftsmen take their work
personally. This is a difficult trait to teach particularly in
today’s society where the focus is more on financial compensation
than on the work product itself. It may sound naive, but the
craftsman believes he will be suitably compensated for
producing superior results.

Years ago, Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears (NFL) confounded sports
writers who could never understand why Butkus played as hard as he
did year after year for a losing football team. True, Dick loved the
game, but beyond that, the sports writers didn’t understand one thing
about the seven time All-Pro linebacker: Butkus took his job
personally. It was important to him that his opponents know that
they had been tackled by the best player; as he said, “When they
get up from the ground I want them to say ‘it must have been Butkus
that got me’.” Dick Butkus was a craftsman.

The craftsman has a burning desire to produce a superior product/service
because he sees it as a reflection of himself. As such, the lines delineating
their personal life and professional life are blurred. This is a significant
characteristic that clearly separates a craftsman from the average worker. The
craftsman’s work is his life. He does not shirk responsibility, but rather
embraces it with confidence and embosses his name on the finished product.
Conversely, making a work related mistake of any kind pains a true craftsman.

Job titles are normally inconsequential to the craftsman who is more
interested in delivering a quality product/service enjoyed by the
customer. Instead, the craftsman takes pleasure in being touted as
the best in his craft. He appreciates recognition; when someone
makes a compliment about a product, the craftsman views it as a
personal compliment. This too runs contrary to today’s corporate
world where people desperately seek recognition through simple
job titles. Want someone with an inflated ego? Give them a title.
Want something done right? Call a craftsman.

Productivity

“Dependable”, “professional”, and “resourceful” are adjectives that
aptly describe the craftsman. He is not one who fabricates excuses but,
rather, always finds a way to get the job done. The craftsman is typically
your most productive employee. He is mindful of the concept of productivity
that we have touted for years:

Productivity = Effectiveness X Efficiency

Most people fallaciously equate productivity with efficiency, which simply
gauges how fast we can perform a given task. Effectiveness, on the other hand,
validates the necessity of the task itself. There is nothing more unproductive
than to do something efficiently that should not have been done at all. An
industrial robot, for example, can efficiently perform such tasks as welding. But
if you are welding the wrong thing, then it is counterproductive. Going back to
our description of a methodology, effectiveness defines “Who/What/When/Where/Why”,
efficiency defines “How.” The craftsman is well aware of the difference
between the two and knows how to apply both. As such, the craftsman is in tune
with his work environment and corporate culture.

So how do we make craftsmen?

Not easily. Because of the human dynamics involved with the craftsman,
you will need to be a pretty intuitive manager or industrial
psychologist to make it happen. Selecting suitable candidates is the
logical first step. Devise an aptitude test to determine the candidate’s
suitability to become a craftsman. After all, “you cannot make a silk
purse from a sow’s ear.” Aside from specific knowledge and experience
in a given field (e.g., programming, woodworking, construction, accounting,
etc.), here are some other important traits to look for:

• Fertility of mind – judge his ability to learn, to adapt to changing
  conditions, and to look beyond his scope of work. Evaluate his
  professional curiosity.
• Confidence – judge how well the candidate knows himself,
  particularly how well he knows his own limitations. He
  should admit his deficiencies and not fabricate excuses.
• Dedication – judge his loyalty and determination to
  accomplish something. What is his attendance record?
  What outside clubs and organizations does he belong
  to and how active is he in them?
• Entrepreneurial spirit – judge his personal initiative.
  Is he driven to succeed (but not to the point of reckless
  abandon)? Does he have a problem with accountability?
  This says a lot about assuming responsibility.
• Attention to detail – judge his ability to focus on a subject.
  Does he have a problem with discipline or organization? A person’s
  dress, mannerisms, and speech says a lot about a person.
• Reliability – judge his ability to assume responsibility and
  carry a task through to completion.
• Resourcefulness – judge his ability to adapt to changing
  conditions and persevere to see a task through to completion.
  The candidate cannot be inflexible; he must be able to find
  solutions to solve problems.
• Socialization skills – does he work better alone or as a team
  player? His position may depend on his answer.

When you have selected suitable candidates, here are three areas to
concentrate on:

1. Develop their skills and knowledge by allowing such things as:
   participation in trade groups, outside certification and on-going
   training, subscriptions to trade journals, continued education,
   etc. Some companies even go as far as to develop an in-house
   school to teach the company’s way of doing things. If the in-house
   school is good, it will promote confidence through consistency. Even
   if people leave the company, they will recommend your company because
   they know the quality of the work produced. Supporting the education
   needs of our workers is not only smart, it is good business.
2. Teach them the need for producing quality work; they should
   become intimate with all aspects of their work process (5W+H).
   Further, instill discipline and patience in their work effort.
3. Change their attitude towards development so they become more
   focused on delivering a quality end-product. This is perhaps
   the most difficult element to teach. However, it can be realized
   by having them become intimate with the needs of the customer
   (have them visit or work with a customer for awhile – “let them
   walk in the customer’s shoes”). It may also be necessary to
   change their form of remuneration by going to a reward system
   for work produced (as opposed to guaranteed income regardless
   of what is produced). Changing the mode of financial compensation
   is highly controversial in today’s business world. But, as an
   example, can you imagine the change of attitude of today’s professional
   athletes if they were paid based on their accomplishments (e.g., runs
   or points scored, hits, rebounds, etc.) rather than having a
   guaranteed income? Their motivation and attitude towards
   their profession and team would change radically.

   Candidates must learn to respect their institution, the process
   by which they work, fellow human beings, and themselves. They must
   also learn not to be afraid to TRY; that they must put their best
   foot forward, win or lose. Bottom-line: they must learn that their
   work has meaning and worth. If they don’t enjoy their work, they
   shouldn’t be doing it.

“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first,
that you are going to have a good time as long as you live – I have no
use for the sour-faced man – and next, that you are going to do
something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the
things you set out to do.”
- President Theodore Roosevelt
Talk to schoolchildren in Oyster Bay, Christmas-time 1898

Certification

Teaching the elements listed above probably cannot be done in one
fell swoop. Further, companies simply don’t have the time or money to
wait for the craftsman to be produced. Instead, they must understand
the human spirit needs to be cultivated and be allowed to grow over
time. Because of this, it is strongly recommended that an in-house
certification program be devised specifying what the candidate should
know and what skills and talents he should demonstrate. This should be
divided into classes of progressive expertise; e.g., apprentice, intermediary,
and craftsman. The ancient builders in Egypt, Rome, and Greece understood
this concept and devised such classes of workmen. Other disciplines and
schools follow similar tactics (the various degrees or belts in martial
arts for example). Each degree is based on specific prerequisites to
master before moving on to the next level.

An in-house certification program has the added nuance of making
people feel special which greatly enhances their self esteem. If
they are made to feel like a vital part of the company, regardless if
their work of a large magnitude or trivial, they will strive to do
what is best for the company overall, not just themselves. Consequently,
their work adds meaning to their life.

There is one pitfall to all of this; today’s “go-go” management
style fails to see how craftsmanship adds value to the company. In
fact, there were companies back in the 1980′s that shut down such
programs simply to reduce costs. As a result, quality suffered,
repeat business was lost, products were more in need of repair,
absenteeism on the job escalated, etc. Want value? How does
a loyal customer base who has confidence in your products or
services sound? And what effect would employee harmony have,
particularly if they believed in the work they were producing? It
would be mind-boggling, all because we had faith in the human
spirit to produce superior results.

A final note: craftsmanship is not a one time thing. After it has
been instilled in people, it has to be cultivated and perpetuated. If
a manager slips even for a moment, it will go right out the window and
it will take time to bring it back to life. As for me, I like to post
motivational reminders kind of like the one recently spotted in the
Hickey Freeman manufacturing facility in New York,
“Excellence is Tolerated.”

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA)
of Palm Harbor, Florida and has 30 years of experience in the field.
He is available for training and consulting on an international basis.
He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com

Copyright © 2006 MBA. All rights reserved.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Bryce
http://EzineArticles.com/?Craftsmanship:-the-Meaning-of-Life&id=210848

In order to be truly interactive, we really should have put this post out long ago.  So we are doing it now with a call for comments and questions.  What kind of help do you need?  We are prepared to tailor special sections, articles, video, or what ever it takes to get your questions answered and get you moving on your way.  To help you with this please refer to the following sections and include that in your reply or comment.

E-commerce

• Product Ideas
• Store front platforms
• Building the site
• Hosting the site
• Finding products after I get selling my own
• How to produce my own product locally

Importing

• Where to find product
• More information
• Where to find a sourcing agent
• Importing and selling on Ebay
• How to deal with customs.

Blogging

• What topic to blog about
• Where to set up my site
• Costs
• How can I make money at blogging?
• Differences between services
• How fast can I start

Ebay

• How to get started
• Where to host pictures
• Paypal

Information Products

• Where to get them made
• What topics do I pick
• I can’t write, now what?

So now comes the fun part, if you have signed up for our newsletter, take it a step further and ask us a question.  You can email us directly at our email address.  We are all about helping you get going, especially in today’s economy.  It really helps your state of mind when you know you have something going and can constantly work on it.

If you are thinking about getting started with an online or home based business.  You can easily get overloaded with a ton of responses from all sorts of people in the business.  Most will say that their business is the best or most profitable.  A lot of time that is because they think its the best because it is the field they are in.  This is similar to someone saying the pizza is best from their home town just because its what they know and what they like.

What you need is the basic facts to get started, a place to learn the basics.  When you have those basics, then you can go on and start to sift out the gems from the rocks.  There are a lot of rocks out there.  We have found a site that is a video site and it teaches you how to get started in your home based business.  It gives you the basic dynamics of what to look for and explains some very important facts.

Buy a business on Ebay?

If you think a good idea is to buy a premade or existing business for sale on Ebay, then you really need to look at this site too since they really focus on it.  There is a lot of garbage out there and if you do not know what to look for, you will get separated from your hard earned cash.  The site includes a membership and you can easily get through all the material without having to sign up for another month.  The best part is the checklist that you can take with you (print) and use a valuable reference in whatever site you choose to buy (or create).

You can find all this information plus a bunch of free stuff in their guest section.

http://www.internetbusinessnavigator.com

This one I highly recommend.

This is an excerpt from a forum post, but I do believe that it holds a nice little snippet of information, which is the name of the game.

Answer 1

“i would say , that their are so maney ” networks marketers ” that the supply is greater then the demand.”

Answer 2

“The lack of marketing due to cost can be an issue. I suggest the advertising system I am using with great results to promote my own business. It is called The Online Ad Network and you can run as many ads as you like without having to worry about spamming.  (link omitted) You can have your new advertising account up and running within minutes.

You can also build a fantastic residual income referring other advertisers!!!!  It’s simple. And it truly pays to advertise!”

Answer 3

“The main reason is that network marketing takes WORK. Most of the time people talk to their friends and family and then do not commit to finding new contacts for there product. The second reason is that the products are not products that people use or reuse daily. The product needs to be something that will stand on its own, so it can be sold at retail for a profit. The fact is that people would rather work 8 hours a day to make other people money instead of spending a few hour a day building their own business.”

My answer

In my humble opinion it is a combination of things. One being that the programs that exist are over saturated and cheesy. They may be profitable in the very beginning but quickly fade out. There is not longevity to their programs. I think people are drawn to “easy” or “fast” or “automated” when real business is none of these concepts. When they find out how much work it takes, they lose interest. I am more the proponent of building something tangible and real, something that can be controlled, built and sold when your ready. But like I said, that is my opinion, I am sure many will disagree.

Ken

Time management

• So when your product ships from overseas you basically do not touch them or handle them at all when you use fulfillment.  You pay a monthly fee per pallet that covers the storage and a freight charge for shipping the product out.  Most fulfillment businesses ship a lot of packages and are willing to pass some of the savings on to you.
• So basically you do not handle your product at all from the time it leaves the manufacturer to the time it arrives to the customer.  This in itself is much better for most business owners in the long run.
• You have to individually crunch your own numbers to see if it will work for you.  You also need to take into account that your product needs to be a complete unit for the fulfillment scenario to work best.  If you have to combine products or do any type of assembly, it takes away from the profit scenario and increases costs.
• Typical storage charges can be from $8 per pallet to $20 per pallet, depending on where they are stored.

Shipping costs

Another factor is shipping costs.  You do not want to pay full retail shipping to your fulfillment company that is just wrong.  A 20% discount to new customers is not unheard of with a decent volume of shipping.  If you have a fulfillment center centrally located in the country, then you can ship to either the west coast or the east cost with reasonable costs.  If your center is on either cost, you have higher costs when sending to the opposite coast.  For example, if your fulfillment is in California, and you ship to New York, then that is going to cost you more to send a box than it would to Arizona.  Having an office centrally located is a good advantage over time.

Summary

Personally I have done both types of shipping discussed in this article.  I may have switched to fulfillment sooner, had I known some of the details discussed here.  Depending on what type of ecommerce store you run, it may be necessary to use a combination of both types.  Larger operations use more than one fulfillment center to handle shipments.  Usually they have one on each coast to take advantage of the shipping cost savings.  Finding the right system for you involves a bit of homework and some brainstorming.  This is a small price to pay for not being held hostage to all the details of shipping your product to your customer.

Ecommerce Shipping and Fulfillment Part 1

Ecommerce Shipping and Fulfillment Part 2