From time to time I like to give ideas on how to create a multiple source of income to my readers.  Here is one that I think that anyone can start and have potential big rewards.

Multiple Source Of Income Idea Short:

  • Tap into the world’s most powerful marketplace
  • Build a following to your products
  • Participate in an industry that you are passionate about
  • Start small and grow larger when you want
  • Huge potential sales
  • Great for retiree or student

1st Year Potential:

  • $100,000 – $1,000,000

Investment Level:

  • $200 – $10,000

Home based?:

  • Yes

Geography:

  • Global

Business Idea Overview:

We live in a time where anyone can access and operate in the most efficient marketplace the world has ever known.  The internet holds many resources and opportunities to launch a successful business.  This is a great way to create a multiple source of income.  Why not tap into this powerful marketplace today and make a good living doing it.  While many retailers such as Amazon or auction sites such as eBay sell everything and anything it is wise to take a deep dive and specialize on a niche.  If you have a hobby, special body of knowledge or an analytical mind, you have the ability not to be all things to all people.  You can set up a specialized eCommerce site that specializes on one thing and sell it one at a time.  Let’s say for instance that you love fishing.  You breath, eat and sleep fishing, then this opportunity may be for you.  You can acquire lots of fishing lures or set up a relationship with a manufacturer to “sell one lure a day” on a specialized website.  You can almost do this with almost anything; clothes, books, quilting supplies or toys.  It doesn’t matter, just pick it and begin to create a multiple source of income!

Business Potential:

While the internet is crowded with eCommerce sites that sell many different things to many people, you can harness the millions of people on the internet.  There are relatively few sites that focus, focus, focus.  Let’s say you do your homework, build a following and market the right products you can be looking at $10 Million a year in sales with high margin potential.  To capture the power of the internet you will need to create a large following and have well run operations.  You might be wondering how this translates to $10 Million a year.  If you sell 1,000 widgets a day at $29 a piece for 365 days a year you arrive at the number.  Remember that this is a 24 hour day/365 days per year marketplace.  Also, consider that there are about 700 million people that are on the internet and if you get sales from 1000 of them it only represents .00014% of the population.  The key will be to drive traffic and get a following which will take time and a lot of energy but the payoff is huge.

What is the service or product that would be offered?

As stated earlier, it does not really matter what you sell.  What matters is that you set your business up to be the site that people visit to see what deals your offering and view you as the expert or the go to site for it.  If you are a car enthusiast and want to sell items for cars you will need to focus even further.  Let’s say you like the Ford brand, then focus on something like Ford Mustang accessories from model year 1965-1971.  It will narrow your pool of buyers but they will come to your site looking to buy.  Another example could be a site that focuses on sports memorabilia.  You could acquire a limited run of Superbowl XX items from a seller on EBay and sell that one day while the next you sell a DVD of the movie “Miracle on Ice”.  The great thing is the possibilities are endless and you sell through your stock until it is gone.  If you end up with a couple of things from a bunch of different items you could position that as a once month blow out sale.  String a few of these sites together and you are looking at serious potential.  There are many avenues to take with this idea and you need to sit down and think what you could be passionate about almost to the point of being evangelical to find the right niche for you.

What is the value to the customer?

There are several things of value to the customer with this one.  First, you will be connecting with a market that is already interested in your type of products.  You will be building a following based on what you have to offer on your site with products for sale only being one aspect.  So, simply stated you will give access to, for a specific demographic, a group of buyers interested in what you have to sell.  Also, you can position that you are offering deals once a day on a limited run or “buy” of product.   Secondly, you will need to build a following by offering something other than a place to buy product.  Let’s say that you are selling travel accessories.  Remember that you are selling one item a day or one thing a day across a couple of categories in travel accessories.   Will you get some activity with people looking for the best price…yes, but the customer that you want to capture is someone looking for the best value.  Maybe you offer additional benefits to members who sign up and give them access to a blog or white papers on travel experiences.  You can offer links to other resources or have reviewers of products and let people vote on new products they want to see.

Who would be the sales targets?

Your sales targets are the demographic you are trying to reach.  If we look at an example of rock climbing enthusiast we can gain a lot of information.  Through market research you discover that your demographic is mainly males 20 – 35 years, with at least some college with an average household income of $58,000 per year.  You go on to find that the majority of climbers have no kids and equally as likely to be married or not and live in the western US or Canada.  You also find the demographic among women are about the same as men, but the age range is from 18 – 28.  You also find for each demographic that they also enjoy hiking, camping and travel. There are more than likely to be liberals who support environmental causes.  What this information tells you how to market to them (on college campuses), where to market to them (in Seattle vs Boston) and if they would be open to dual type products (rope for camping and climbing).  These are just a few examples how to use this information to reach and sell to your customer.

How to market your services?

The key thing that you will need for this type of business is a very good website that displays products and can take orders.  You want to drive traffic to your site.  A few ways of doing that is being active in blogs, print ads, Google adwords, press releases and articles all concentrated on your niche.  Once people arrive at your site you will want one of three things: 1) purchase your products, 2) follow – give you their email so you can keep marketing to them or 3) share – become viral.  If they don’t purchase right away you should incorporate a web 2.0 strategy here, you will have to have a site that interacts with the prospective customer through blogs, contests, video, vote for products and so on.  A key thing that you want to do is get their email so you can keep in contact about the daily sales through RSS.  You will have a much higher margin of success collecting emails if you offer something in return.  Examples of these are members receiving 10% off products, access to the blogs or news concerning your niche.

What would you need to run the business?

Two key things are needed; products and a way to store and ship them and an eCommerce site.  Before you buy your first products to sell spend time working with a web designer (if you can’t do it yourself) to build a site for your niche.  It doesn’t have to be the fanciest sight but should be professional.  The site should capture Web 2.0 elements, be able to accept credit card orders and interface with a fulfillment center, if needed.  On the product side you will need a dependable source of product or inventory.  Remember the whole theme here is that you are offering up one new product per day (or some other interval).  Depending on your theme you may be able to establish an arrangement with a drop shipper or manufacturer that will ship your products directly.  If you are doing something with antiques, small lots of products or custom products you may have to take ownership and need to fulfill them in your facility.  There are many things to address if you are doing fulfillment like who your carrier will be and how you will pack your product.

 

Joe Edward

Joe Edward