Book Review: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site

“Want to know the most profitable, lowest-risk idea for your home business? It’s selling used books online, which is growing 33 percent annually, according to a November 2005 study by U.S. publishers. Learn how to start your business part-time, then work as little or as much as you want. This step-by-step guide, written by one of the most successful and highly rated sellers on Amazon.com and eBay, includes everything you need to know:

– Where to find books Find books in your own neighborhood to resell profitably to a worldwide pool of ready buyers. Get the best sources for valuable used books at low prices.
– Where to sell Learn how to list your books to sell at the best price on Amazon.com and eBay, and even your own Web store.
– Which books to buy What to look for in fiction, nonfiction, and collectibles to resell at the highest profits.
– Grading and pricing your books How to describe and price your books. Learn what buyers are looking for.
– Handling customers Tips on handling online book buyers. See the author’s time-tested scripts for responding to customer issues. Learn how you can get and maintain high feedback ratings.
– Fulfilling orders Easy-to-use ideas for storing, organizing, and shipping your books and handling returns.
– Automation tools Maximize your efficiency with these tips on automating your business. Automatically notify customers about shipments, and print postage to ship your books without leaving home.
– Taxes and legal requirements How to register your business to obtain the proper permits and be exempted from paying sales tax on your inventory.
– Exclusive list of wholesale book distributors Exclusive profiles and contact info for 32 wholesale distributors of used and new books. Order inventory at up to 90 percent off retail, shipped right to your door.

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Global Domains International announces new income stream for affiliates.

“As Global Domains International grows, we’ll be adding special products and services that you may promote as a GDI affiliate. While these additional products and services you’ll be able to offer will not take our focus away from our domain and WebSite package, they will provide you with a substantial opportunity to earn extra cash in specialized niche markets that are often simple to tap into.

The service being offered as a beta-test of our new income streams is lead generation for a company called Rockwell Financial, Inc., or “RFI”. Rockwell Financial is a leading USA home loan lender located in San Diego, California.

Rockwell has instant access to 200+ competing banks nationwide and more than 30,000 home loan programs. Their goal is to get their customers the very best deal on a home refinance, home equity credit line and/or new purchase loan. They promise no obligation, professional, courteous, and prompt service, including a free analysis of your current debt situation, to determine which program makes the best financial sense for you, or the prospects you send their way using the special WebSite URL we are providing to you as part of your affiliate with GDI.

Whatever the goal may be — whether it’s to free up cash for any purpose, to secure a better loan rate, to purchase a new home, or to consolidate debt, Rockwell can help you and your prospects.”

Learn more about Rockwell here.

If you haven’t tapped into this powerful income opportunity, get your free trial today!

Starting and managing a business takes motivation, desire and talent. It also takes research and planning.

Like a chess game, success in small business starts with decisive and correct opening moves. And, although initial mistakes are not fatal, it takes skill, discipline and hard work to regain the advantage.

To increase your chance for success, take the time up front to explore and evaluate your business and personal goals. Then use this information to build a comprehensive and well­thought­out business plan that will help you reach these goals.

The process of developing a business plan will help you think through some important issues that you may not have considered yet. Your plan will become a valuable tool as you set out to raise money for your business. It should also provide milestones to gauge your success.

Before starting out, list your reasons for wanting to go into business. Some of the most common reasons for starting a business are:

* You want to be your own boss.

* You want financial independence.

* You want creative freedom.

* You want to fully use your skills and knowledge.

Next you need to determine what home business is “right for you.” Ask yourself these questions: [Go to SBA.gov]

A market in its entirety is too broad in scope for any but the largest companies to tackle successfully. The best strategy for a home business is to divide demand into manageable market niches. Small operations can then offer specialized goods and services attractive to a specific group of prospective buyers.

There are undoubtedly some particular products or services you are especially suited to provide. Study the market carefully and you will find legitimate opportunities. As an example, surgical instruments used to be sold in bulk to both small medical practices and large hospitals. One firm realized that the smaller practices could not afford to sterilize instruments after each use like hospitals did, but instead simply disposed of them. The firm’s sales representatives talked to surgeons and hospital workers to learn what would be more suitable for them. Based on this information, the company developed disposable instruments which could be sold in larger quantities at a lower cost. Another firm capitalized on the fact that hospital operating rooms must carefully count the instruments used before and after surgery. This firm met that particular need by packaging their instruments in pre-counted, customized sets for different forms of surgery.

While researching your own company’s niche, consider the results of your market survey and the areas in which your competitors are already firmly situated. Put this information into a table or a graph to illustrate where an opening might exist for your product or service. Try to find the right configuration of products, services, quality, and price that will ensure the least direct competition. Unfortunately, there is no universally effective way to make these comparisons. Not only will the desired attributes vary from industry to industry, but there is also an imaginative element that cannot be formalized. For example, only someone who had already thought of developing pre-packaged surgical instruments could use a survey to determine whether or not a market actually existed for them.

Learn More from SBA.gov

Objects moving by themselves, disembodied voices, ghostly apparitions — who you gonna call? Forget the ‘Ghostbusters.’ We called a paranormal investigator and a marketing expert to find out how these haunted small businesses can put their ghosts to work.

Just one look at new network TV shows of the past few years, and it should come as no surprise that all things paranormal are haunting our collective unconscious. From cable reality shows that follow real life ghost-hunters to the fictional mediums, night stalkers, and ghost whisperers that haunt the big three broadcast networks, all things otherworldly have seen their stock rise.

Ghosts? Give Me a Break!
While there are no easily obtainable statistics on the number of “authentically” haunted businesses out there, a quick online search will put you in touch with hundreds of businesses – mostly “destination businesses” like hotels and bed & breakfasts — that claim to have a haunted history, and use this fact front-and-center in their marketing. One well known example is the RMS Queen Mary, the fabled Art Deco era liner permanently docked as a hotel in Long Beach, CA. Her several on-board ghost tours are a year-round draw.

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