Say, after spending long hours on eBay and doing much research offline and online, you finally have come up with a niche category of products to sell. But, there is one little problem! You don’t have a slightest clue where to get regular supply of this product for wholesale price. Often, entrepreneurs with great product ideas fail to materialize their dream business plan just because they are unable to find a right supplier. How to tackle this problem?

Finding a local supplier

Success in any trading business depends not only on how good you are in selling, it also relies greatly on your ability to source product at right cost. If you have a fairly large list of products that you are considering to work with you have a variety of options to choose from. You may start your eBay auctioning business based on local liquidators, closeout dealers, government auctions, newspaper classified or Drop-shippers (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/39). But to start a real niche business you need to find a constant source supplier, which could be a manufacturer, a distributor or a wholesaler. Obviously, Internet is easiest place to get initial contact information. Try http://www.thomasnet.com/ or http://www.tgrnet.com/ - both websites are good information sources for industrial products manufacturers.

Bear in mind that many manufacturers simply aren't able to handle small orders and don't sell products directly to retailers. Some times, minimum sales lot is way too big for a small start-up company to manage. However, even if manufacturer does not sell directly to retail levels, they will provide you with information on their products and refer you to their wholesaler or distributor companies, which will be in a position to cater your needs.

For some category of products, your best option is to attend trade or industry shows in order to locate a supplier. Check out websites of some exhibition centers in your vicinity and find one or two trade shows of your area of interest. Make sure that participants of trade show are distributors and wholesalers as oppose to large manufacturers. After all, you need to find a supplier who will agree to work with your initial small orders.

Trade journals or publications of your related field also could be a great source in your quest to find a supplier. Trade journals publish information on industry trend, articles on major players, various industry related event schedules such as trade shows, and often carry classified sections. Sometimes, they also publish specialty issues such as a buyer's guide or a who's who issue. You may consider getting those issues by contacting publishers.

Whenever you're listening to one of big names in internet marketing you hear same speech over and over again when it comes to viral marketing. The number one advice is, write an eBook and give it away for free.

You might ask "What is viral marketing and why should I give something away for free after I spend weeks to create it?". On another note you probably don't even know how to write an eBook and what to talk about.

First things first. Viral marketing is exactly what name implies. You create a marketing effort that spreads like a virus. No, not kind of virus you fear on your computer. Here's an example.

You are running a home business and you're getting pretty good in attracting new customers, but you're working more and more hours to generate this traffic to your business. Well, there are only 24 hours in a day and there's only so much you can do.

No you have 2 options. Option 1: Hire an employee to help you with your workload or motivate somebody else to promote your product. I don't know about you, but thought alone having employees gives me creeps. If you ever had to deal with employees you know what I'm talking about.

That leaves us with option 2; motivate somebody else to do work for us. How do you do this? Easy, number one question you have to address is "What's in it for me?". If you can give this person something in return for their work you’re off to a good start.