A: Before I answer your question, Samuel, I want you to reach around and pat yourself on back for not letting your eagerness push you into making a wrong decision. All too often we entrepreneurs tend to let our impatience drive us to make decisions that we later regret. In business such haste can be very costly, indeed.

I always compare starting a business to jumping into a pool of freezing water. There are typically two types of entrepreneurs who take plunge.

The first are "Toe Testers." These are those cautious folks who just stick their big toe in pool to gauge temperature of water. It is for these careful entrepreneurs that phrase "testing waters" was coined. Toe Testers enter business pool slowly, a little bit at a time. The lesson to be learned from Toe Testers is to start slowly and don't feel like you have to wade in too fast. Ease into business pool gradually to make sure it's right for you. Remember, many entrepreneurs realize that business world is not right for them only after they are in it up to their necks. And that's when term "sink or swim" takes on a whole new meaning.

The next type of entrepreneur is "High Diver." These are those fearless souls who climb ladder and dive into business pool head first without worrying about depth of water or dangers that lurk beneath surface. It is for these entrepreneurs that phrase "damn torpedoes, full speed ahead" was coined. Quite often these entrepreneurial daredevils find themselves drowning in unknown waters or end up with their heads buried in bottom of pool.

Both types of entrepreneurs may find success, depending on how well equipped they are to handle water they are diving into. Here are a few ideas to help better prepare you for plunge.

** Let your experience be your guide. Start with what you know. If you have spent twenty years working as an accountant or you love to build wooden toy trains as a hobby, consider how you can take that experience and turn it into a successful business. You might also find a great business idea right under your nose. Look around your workplace. Do you see needs that are going unmet or can you think of a better way of doing something? If so, you might have seed for a profitable business.

** Do what you love and enjoy what you do. I can't emphasize this enough. Many people start a business for wrong reason: to get rich. While it is true that many millionaires in this country made their fortunes from their own business ventures, that should not be your sole motivation for starting a business. If you don't enjoy what you do, you will not be successful, at least not from a mental point of view. Sure, monetary rewards can be tremendous, but mental anguish of working in a business you don't enjoy is a high price to pay. I talk to entrepreneurs all time who are running successful businesses, but are so unhappy as a result that they literally make themselves sick. If you don't enjoy what you do business will become a chore, not a joy.

A: Setting up relationships with companies who will ship merchandise directly to your customers for you-- dropshippers, as they're called --is an excellent way to start your e-business and, if done properly, doesn't have to be a costly endeavor. There are literally hundreds of companies out there that will dropship products for you, everything from gifts and housewares to power tools and furniture.

In a nutshell, here's how dropshipping works. You set up an account with a dropshipper (or multiple dropshippers who offer different kinds of products) who provides merchandise that you can sell on your Web site. The dropshipper typically supplies you with images and product descriptions that you can use to build your online store or feature on static HTML Web pages.

You can locate dropshippers with new e-book The 2003 Guide to Top 400 Dropship & Wholesale Companies. YOu will find it at: http://www.dropshipwholesale.net op400.asp.

When a customer places an order for product on your site, he or she pays you for product. You, in turn, place order with dropshipper and pay them for product. The dropshipper then ships item directly to your customer under your company name. To your customer's knowledge, product was shipped by you.

Dropshipping offers many advantages to shoestring online start-up. You don't have to pay for an item until it sells, and your customer pays you, so your personal cash outlay for product is zero. You never have to handle or warehouse merchandise, as order fulfillment is handled by dropshipper. You can also offer a wide variety of items from multiple dropshippers, and your end customer is none wiser.