Yeah, it's confusing. So what you do is start off slowly... very slowly. Don't grab for it all at once or it'll never be done.

I hope that you're selling OFFline. You didn't say, but if you're trying to do it all online, it'll be far longer before you see any profits. Start it offline and use the offline sales to fund the online part. It's much easier to reach people locally than it is on the Internet.

When you start the Internet side, focus on ONE line of products; either a specialty (like frogs or teddy bears or faries (to name three I've seen lately)) or a production house (like Royal Devon) or an artist/craftsperson (Norman Rockwell, for instance). Don't try to put it all up online at once.

Use the Internet like a business card. It is getting very expensive to list a business website in the search engines and without that listing, it's hard to drive traffic to your site. Use word of mouth, local flyers, local ads, etc, to get the traffic there. Paint your URL on the door of your shop or put it on your car (if you don't have a shop.)

So start offline... that's so easy and so cheap... and then move to the online. Things will work out much better this way!

> Hi,

> I just started a speciality gifts
> retail/wholesale business and I have been
> trying to get it off the ground and running
> and I am so totally lost. I know there are a
> lot of things that I need to be doing like
> getting my website set up, getting my
> message out to my target audience, etc, etc.
> I'm just so overwhelmed by all of the things
> that need to be done that I dont know where
> to start.

> I want this business to be profitable but it
> just seems like im spinning my wheels and
> going nowhere. Do you guys have any advice
> on how I should go about getting this
> business off to a good start????




The Five Minute Mentor