Re: YOUR sage advice would be apprciated by these four people.

Good questions...

Here's what I would do:

As for John & Stephanie, if I were in their positions I would go the Ebay route but instead of focusing on buying and selling online I would focus on buying in one sector (offline for instance) and selling to another (online). Sort of a twist on the "Chattle Report".

The key for both is to focus on a narrow product niche, they need to become experts. They need to know the pricing on that market inside & out. Most people cost themselves money by being "generalists" but the truth is most rewards are given to "specialists". It doesn't have to be more complicated than that. As they become more involved with their specialty they'll spot other opportunities within their markets. Forget ebooks... there perceived value is minimal. And they quickly become targets for those that freely copy and distribute them for their own profit. Also stay well away from the "Biz Opp" and "Use the Internet to Get Rich" type of stuff. Too much competition. Too many shysters. Too few profits.

Paul should first go his local magazine store and get the following magazines: "Star", "The Globe", "National Enquirer", "Weekly World News", "Saturday Evening Post", "Popular Science", "Popular Mechanics", "Fate", "Baseball Digest", "Horoscope", "Grit", "Cappers", "Good Old Days", "Mother Earth News" and "Crafts & Things". Review these magazines and see what others are selling and how the ads are written. Then start looking for a product to sell. Look for products that are sold at retail but not offered through catalogs or mail order. Look for products that appeal to a narrow niche. Look for products that aren't widely distributed. Test using small, inexpensive classified ads (offline). Use the Internet for online order taking and for giving the prospect more information. Joe Crossman's book on starting a mail order company is filled with tips on finding products and even offers a good plan for bringing products to market on a limited budget. Ben Suarez's 7 Steps book is outstanding also for the beginning mail order entrepreneur. Successful mail order businesses can be started with one product marketed to a narrow niche.

Kate can do something similar to Paul. She could also joint venture with someone that has a concept and limited time. For example I know there are terrific opportunities out there for both importing and exporting. But it takes time to "bird-dog" companies in the U.S. for products that sell products in the U.S. but don't do exporting and for supplies and other things they need that could be profitably imported. I would caution her to stay away from MLM's of any size or shape. She doesn't need a "clue" all she needs is ambition and the willingness to take calculated risks. There are a lot of "smart" people out there that aren't making any money at all because their idea of risk is spending a couple hundred bucks on a website and then submitting it to search engines. It takes a wider view of marketing than that.

As far as web site hosts go I will give you a couple I work with:
www.addr.com and www.isitebuild.com. Isitebuild offers realistic hosting packages for as little as $30 per year.

Lately I've been purchasing domains through www.godaddy.com. You get a domain for $8.95 (or less).

Take care,

Mike Winicki