Many successful businesses have been built by taking a traditional business and making it better. Domino's Pizza was certainly not first to offer home delivery of pizza, but they were first to guarantee it would be delivered piping hot to your door in 30 minutes or less. Amazon.com was not first company to sell books, but they were one of first that would let you buy books from comfort of your own home while sitting in your underwear.

** Focus on a niche. Many businesses have gone broke trying to be all things to all people. The ability to offer a gazillion products under one roof is all well and good for Wal-Mart, but not for most new small businesses. Try to identify a niche that you would enjoy working in and think about starting a business therein. If you love to work outdoors, consider starting a landscaping business. If you enjoy working with numbers, think about becoming an accountant or CPA. When's last time you had your gardener do your taxes? You get idea. Focus on a niche and become an expert in your field.

** A franchise might be an option. Many new entrepreneurs consider buying a franchise operation instead of starting a business from scratch. Franchises are a good way to jumpstart process because they have already done much of hard work for you. They have proven business model, established guidelines for running business, spent millions of dollars on establishing brand, etc. Buying a franchise is typically a very expensive and involved process that is beyond scope of this article. The best thumbnail of advice I can give you is to thoroughly investigate franchisor and opportunity, use your own attorney to do deal, and read fine print in franchise agreement.

** It's hard to swim in a crowded pool. If business pool is already filled with other companies doing same thing you want do, chances are you will fail in face of established competition. To succeed in such a crowded pool you will have to do something to stand out from crowd (and I don't mean greeting customers while wearing a bright red Speedo). If you can't quickly and easily differentiate yourself from a large group of competitors, you're better off choosing another business.

** Above all, take your time. Whatever business you choose to start, I encourage you to take time required to make an informed, intelligent decision. Think about starting part time while you still have your current job (and income) to fall back on. Talk to friends and associates who use product or service you will provide to see if they would consider become paying customers.

Remember, in business you can end up swimming in success or sinking in failure. The key to your success might just lie in sensitivity of your big toe.

Here's to your success.

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

Your goal should be to find a dropshipper that will ship items one at a time instead of requiring that you purchase a fixed minimum number of items each time (single-unit purchases vs. minimum-order purchases). With this arrangement, you don't have to invest your limited cash reserves in inventory that might not sell (and that sits in your garage for months).

Thanks to stiff competition Web has created, many dropshippers will now do business with you without requiring that you pay a setup fee or have a tax ID number. You simply set up a reseller account (you're reseller) and start marketing products on your site. Account registration can often be done online at dropshipper's Web site. With this process, you can literally be selling products within minutes of setting up your reseller account.

Be warned, however, that some dropshippers are not as reliable as others. Also, be aware that some companies who claim to be dropshippers are really middlemen who have positioned themselves between online merchant (that's you) and real wholesale merchandise distributor. These middlemen will eat into your profits and usually don't offer much in way of customer support and service. They can actually hurt your business more than help it, so make it a point to do business only with--and directly with--established, reputable dropship companies.

Spend time to research dropshippers doing business in your particular product category, and try to get feedback from their current customers. Remember that your customer doesn't know (or care) that product they are purchasing from you really comes from a dropshipper. If there is a problem, your customer will come back to you for resolution, not dropshipper, so make sure that dropshipper you use has a policy for resolving problems quickly.

Setting up an online store that offers merchandise from dropshippers doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. However, this brings up age-old question: If I build it, will they come? The age-old answer is: Only if you let them know you are there, but that's another column.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net