6. Online/Offline Auctions You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online and offline auctions. I'm not saying all time, but before you go pay retail for these items try bidding on them first.

7. Plan Ahead Make a list of business supplies or equipment you'll need in future. Keep an eye out for stores that have big sales. Purchase supplies when they go on sale before you need them.

8. Used Stuff If your business equipment and supplies don't need to be new, buy them used. You can find used items at yard and garage sales, used stores, used stuff for sale message boards and newsgroups etc.

9. Negotiate You should always try negotiate a lower price for any business equipment or supplies. It doesn't hurt to try. Pretend you are talking to a salesman at a car lot.

10. Search You can always be searching for new suppliers for your business supplies and equipment. Look for suppliers with lower prices and better quality. Don't just be satisfied with a few.

Eventually, I overcame my distaste for self-proclamation and tried my hand at some copywriting. When I compared my efforts with pre-written ads, it was obvious that something was absent. My advertisements were dull and flat, uninspired and uninspiring. Then I discovered secret: copywriting is a craft not an art. It is has rules which need to be learnt and practised. A course of online copywriting lessons was not hard to come by. In fact, I ended up reading several such courses on good old Information Highway.

Rules are fine, I have a good memory. Examples are not hard to come by and it was easy to make a collection of snippets from copywriting courses. I learnt about importance of writing an attention grabbing headline. I can manage that, there are plenty of examples to borrow. I got to grips with selecting buzz words such as amazing, customised, effortless, excellent and, best one of all -- free. So far so good. Use sentence fragments -- not so keen on that idea but, when you think about it, that's how conversation goes in real life, so I'll do it. Sell sizzle not steak --yeah, I get it. Offer benefits, not features --yeah, yeah, I can do that.

Things started to look better and better as I became familiar with rules and I began to daydream about becoming a copywriter (like in film "The Guys" with that nice Anthony La Paglia). My daydream ended abruptly when I found there was one rule of English grammar I could not bring myself to break. The very thought made me shudder and give up any idea of a copywriting career. I can cope with all fragments, buzzes and sizzles. But I could never begin a sentence with "and".