rodney cannon, Author at Getting Supplies for your Online Store

Love Your Online Store

Do You Love Your Business?

-The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. – Debbi Fields

-“It is more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”-

It is more fun to be the one who creates their own destiny rather than being the one who is controlled by it. As long as you run your online store your way you are in control. You will be the one who determines how your online store is run.

What I am getting at is that since you are going to be running your store then you might as well love the store that you are running. I hope that you have picked a sector that you enjoy. A business sector that you are enthusiastic about. If you have not then it will show through in everything that you do. You will get bored and from time to time do less than your very best. You will not give it your all.

Think of it this way you are in a relationship with this business. If you love this business you will treat it better. You will want to spend more time with it. It will be more of a joy and less of an effort to conduct business each day.

Ask yourself do you love the business that you are in. Do you enjoy coming to work at it each day?

If you do then I have no real advice for you. If you do not love it then I would suggest that you do one of two things. Either learn to love it or find a new line of work.

“But I have been at this for months or even years. I cannot go back to that 9 to 5 job I use to have. I have invested so much effort.”

Sure you did, but can you see yourself spending the next ten or twenty years working at this particular business? Running this store? You may think that you are too old to change, but people have changed jobs and opening new stores at all stages of their lives.

To love what you do is the heart of being a success at the business you are in. That love will translate into more effort. That love will translate in to time spent. That love will translate into making more money. If you are the best cheerleader for your business then it will have to make an impression on your customers.

Love what you do and your customers may grow to do the same.

Good luck and please take a moment to check out an offer I have selected for visitors to this site. It is free to try. The offer is for free business publications. Yes, people still actually read magazines. I picked up a magazine about blogging three years ago and here I am. I have half a dozen blogs that make money and two websites. I am just suggesting that you never know where that next new idea will come from. Someone will say something or you will read something and you are off down a road that may make you a great deal of money.

Good luck with your store and have a nice day.

Digital Supplies for Your Online Store

Supplies For Your Online Store

Did you ever think of using Digital products to supply your online store. Most of us started in the retail sector and those retail roots are hard to cut. We still think about selling in terms of physical items. Things that we can touch and package and ship.

Perhaps it is time to look at finding supplies for your online store in a whole new light. Perhaps you need to catch up with the digital revolution.

“But I don’t understand it. I do not know how it works.”

Really? You did not understand how this works, but here you are. The learning curve is not great. There are tutorials available. There are many sites and services that will provide these good. Just sign up and begin to market.

“But I don’t know how to market them. I do not know how to deliver them once they are sold.”

You do not have to and that is the cool part. You do not have to package or ship a digital product. You do not have to come into contact with it at all. You function as the retailer and the middle man. You collect payment as both and the wholesaler is the one who
delivers the digital product.

Sounds like stealing?

Sometimes on a very good day it feels like it.

Where do you get this products for your online store?

You could get some or all from a place like Clickbank.

Click bank is free to sign up to and to market their products. They do charge a fee for publishing and marketing your work, but that is another story for another day.

Or you could try a service like Payloadz. They offer eBooks, Music, and software. They allow you to sell their products and will be happy to help you sell your own items. I will be using them to sell an ebook I am finishing on the topic of online marketplaces.

Good luck with your business guys. I hope to post again soon.

Leaders Lead

Leading the Way

Some of us work alone and others work with a team or group of people. This largely depends upon the size of your business and its needs. Perhaps during only certain times of the year you will hire people to help you out.

Once you have these people what happens next?

Some will hope that they just sort of pick up a clue here and there and some how find a way to pitch in.

Others will bark orders none stop. Napoleon will have nothing on this warehouse dictators.

Some will lead by handing out list of things to do and still other will try to lead by example.

Here is some basic advice.

A leader should always be responsible. Take full responsibility for what happens on your watch. If things go well it is thanks to the group or team effort. If things go wrong for what ever reason in the end it comes down to you.

Be responsible.

Own it.

This is your chair and for better or worst people are going to blame you anyway so you might as well be a stand up guy.

Be the most enthusiastic person in the room. Hey this is your business, this is your project and if you are not its number one cheerleader who is going to be? The guy getting paid minimum wage?

A leader must be competitive. Love to compete. If you do not I suggest you learn to love it. Your energy will spread. If you are passive your workers will pick
up on that energy. While if you are competing and aggressive they will be do.

Imagine that you are the lead of a pack. There is money to be made out there. It is waiting to be taken and all you have to do is hustle out there and get it.
Tell me what kind of pack is a passive go along to get along, it is all good, it is all okay type of leader, driving? A pack of doves. A pack of snails? A pack of turtles?
A pack of gum that is waiting to be chewed up by the competition and spit out.

Try to achieve something like a sense of competitive anger. Controlled anger (no yelling and screaming and
flipping over cars like the incredible Hulk), but still a kind of anger that they job is not getting done faster or better or more efficiently. This type of leader leads a pack of wolves. A pack of lions. A pack of Huns storming the gates of Rome.

“Hey, you are getting a bit carried away. I sell stationary. I sell flowers. I market ebooks. I repair dolls.”

Does not matter. All that matters is how you do it and how well you do it. Become a good leader and you will become a better business man.

Okay that is it. Remember to stumble us on Stumbleupon and add us to your google plus.

Still A Good Business Day

Still A Good Day

The worst day that you will every have as a independent business person will outshine 99 percent of the best days that you ever had while working for someone else.

Think about it. You are your own boss and most likely your only employee so at the end of this day all of the credit belongs to you. Yes, I know that when we fail we know who to blame, but even under those circumstances it is far easier to deal with your own mistakes than those of others. You know what you did wrong so you know how to correct those mistakes. It does not take a meeting. It does not take a memo. It does not take hours of finger pointing. You know how to correct it and move on. You know this during the good and the bad times. You know what is best for your business and if you do not you at least know where to go to get the help you need.

I would like to suggest some things to you that might aid your business. Most of us got into the business that we are in hoping that it would grow over time. Who starts a business and says to themselves I want to reach this certain level and stop right there. Who does not want to grow and improve and make more profit?

What I would like to suggest to some of you who are running an online business is that this may be the time to look into adding services.

If you do not have a website why not? If you are earning a living by working at one of the online marketplaces you are still an employee of someone else. Sure Ebay and Amazon will not put it that way, but they can stop you from running your business on their sites any time that they wish. That sounds like having a boss to me.

Get your own website. If you do not know how to build one or do not have the time then below is the banner for a site that can walk you through it.

Also you should think about collecting information about your customer base so that you can go back to them again and again. You will need a service to do that for you unless you have many free hours on your hands.

Thank you for reading this post. I hope that you found something of interest here. I hope that you will spend time here at my site and if possible support those who advertise here. Also please remember to add us to your google plus and stumble us on stumbleupon.

Compete to Win

Lessons from the Summer Games

A few years ago the US realized that if it did not alter its approach to certain events in the Olympics it was going to continue to lose ground to countries like China. (Yeah, losing ground to China seems to be a national theme lately.)

China saw a chance to own the medal count by dominating certain new events where they could rack up multiple medals while in these same events the US would win none. Fringe diving and gymnastics events. A few swimming events as well. It took us a while to realize this and a while longer to adjust to this. The adjustment took probably 4 years longer than it should have due to the fact that it was done as a national team adjustment rather than done by athletes on an individual basis.

What I am suggesting to you is that you are in a constant competition. You are competing with every single business that offers the same services or sells the same types of products as you. The moment you realize this and adjust to it the better. The moment that you understand the fact that you have to change and grow and adapt. That there are businesses out there that would love to see you lose this competition. Not because they hate you or want to see your family starving, it is as said in the Godfather, it’s just business.

The question for today is what are you gonna do to grow and change your business? What new services will you try to help you gain an edge over the competition? In what ever business we have chosen we are all targets to some extent. What I am suggesting is that it is always harder to hit a moving target.

It is time for you to go out and get new tools and learn new skills to compete and win. If you can not win by out working your competition find a way to out market them. If do not have the resources to out spend your competition then you can always out tech them. If you can drive more business through advertising and social media then do it. If they are better at that than you then go out a find a service that can help you win. If they have a technological edge over you then either find a way to overcome this or get some help to do this.

If you do not do this then I promise you that someone who you are not yet aware of is doing it to you.

Compete to win.

.
\

Getting Started, Part 1

Getting Started, Part 1

I forgot that some of you are here for the first time. That some of you do not have your business off the ground yet. You are just getting started.

Do not worry, it is not that difficult to start an online business or service. You do it the way most things are done, one step at a time. You figure out what you want your business to do for you and what it will take for that business to provide this.

If it is a regular cash flow or long term security it will be up to this business to do that for you.

You are going to need a base of operations. Some place to hang up an open for business sign. Online we do this at an existing website or at our own website. If you are starting out I would suggest that you use sites like Ebay or Amazon or Ebid to learn the basics. And then move on to building your own site.

Why do I need a site of my own?

Because it is yours. You own it. You can not be removed from it or fired from it or suspended from it. You can not have the rules change on you because you set the rules of operation there. You will not have to pay sellers fees at your own site. You will not have to compete with others undercutting your prices at your own site.

How do I build my own site? They are difficult to put together. I can barely turn on a my computer.

I understand. It took me almost two years to learn all that I needed to learn before I built this site. Now I teach others. You can visit the DIY section of this site and follow the tutorials there. It is so much easier than you think.

If not you could always try the service below. They can do it for you and offer 24 hour 7 day a week help with any and all questions that may come up.

Again, why do I need my own site if I am going to run an online business or store?

The final answer is freedom. You will be free to make it or fail on your own. You will be free to grow at your own pace and control your own future. Freedom is always worth what ever it takes to achieve it.

Good luck and remember us on stumbleupon and Google plus.

It’s About the Work

Going about it Olde School

You can do it the old fashion way. That way is just to go out and do it. Trial and error. You will make mistakes. You will fail more than you succeed.

You will want to quit a few dozen times if you are lucky, but at the end of the day if you are willing to grind it out you might make it.

Yes, that is what I just said. You might make it. I will not promise you that you will make it because no one except God can do that. All I can say that if you keep trying and keep learning as you go you will be giving yourself a great chance at success. You most likely will reach your goals if you keep moving forward. The one promise that I can make you is that if you do nothing and wait for the business that you wanted and the freedom that you desire to fall into your lap it will never happen. In the real world you have to hustle for it. You have to do the grunt work. You have to make it happen.

My site is designed to offer you advice on how to supply your online business and if you need it how to DIY your own website. This is a site and not a magic shop. If you want to make your dreams come true you are going to have to wake up and get to work on them.

Good luck with your website and or online business. If you find information provided here of some use to you remember to mention this site to a friend. Stumble us on Stumbleupon, add us to your google plus and if an advertiser has something of interest to you please visit them. They help to pay for the existence of this site.

Thank you for visiting. Have a nice day.

The Lone Road We Walk

The Lone Road

There are going to be times when we as business people will have to wall alone. Usually this is because we have no choice. In an idea world we are all surround by positive and uplifting people, but the real world is populated by frightened naysayers. Voice that will whisper if you are lucky and shout if you are not that you can not do it. Or perhaps you can do it, but today in not the time and the way you are going about it is not the way. These are the voice of those who know everything and have accomplished next to nothing. Give them all the attention that they deserve. I would suggest five seconds and forget about them.

At the end of the day you are responsible for how your business runs. Do not get me wrong, these same voices will be the first ones to speak up when things are going well. They will want to share the good times, but not the struggles. The road will at times seem too long. It will be bitter and it will seem as if it goes round and round in circles. But do not give up. Failure is not the end unless you allow to be. If you are willing to learn from that failure you can grow stronger and accomplish all of your business dreams.

This online business or store that you have decided to run was never going to be a walk in the park. Some part of you always knew that it would be a long road, but that part also knew that you would persist and make it to the end. If you have not made it yet have a little fate, you are closer than you think.

Good luck guys and get back to work.

Your Go To Players

What Makes Your Business Tick?

We are in the middle of the summer movie season and the film industry has a certain way of doing business. They build their industry around what is called tent poles films. If everything else fails the profit that these movies bring in will keep the massive studios going. They are The Avengers, Spiderman, Men in Black, Batman and the Pixar films. These tent pole movies are their go to products.

What are your tent pole items? What are your go to products? What makes your online store tick? What keeps your online business afloat even when everything else is going bad?

Burger King has its Whopper and MacDonald’s has its french fries. Your business has it’s what?

Do you make most of your money from Ebay or Amazon and you just throw a bunch of stuff up for sale and hope for the best or do you go with a plan. I would suggest that if you want to support your family you come up with a plan and find a go to item. Your circus is coming to town and what is the one-act that you know will make the audience scream and gasp? What can you count on?

If you do not have that go to item where can you go to get it?
That is mostly up to you. I have some resources that I use. Some that work for me, but I can only suggest things. You will have to decide for yourself.

If you need help I would suggest business and or trade magazines. Yeah, actual magazines still exist and in this area they can be very useful. You can read about resources and find out about new developments in your niche. Below is a banner for a service where you can order some free business magazines. Sounds like a waste of time? Two years ago I was sitting in a doctor’s office and I picked up a beat up copy of a website magazine. Two years later I have two websites and seven blogs of my own. I wish that someone had told me about websites and the power of SEO years ago. What I am trying to say is that you will never know until you try it what resource will be the right one for you.

Okay that is it for today. Remember to stumble us on stumbleupon, recommend this site to a friend and try something new for your business. If not each day then at least one new thing a week.

A Winning Business

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

Many refer to the world of business as a playing field and those who run the biggest and best businesses on earth call it a battle field. Whether you are playing a game or waging a war the goal has to be the same and that is winning. How are you going to win today. How are you going to accomplish more than the next guy? Why will your customers pick you over the competition?

I believe that as an online business person it comes down to a few basics. They have not changed much since the beginning of time.

Quality of merchandise or service.

How quickly that service or product can be delivered.

The cost of the service or merchandise.

Beyond these three is the Branding of that service or merchandise. How many people know that you and or your service exist? Letting people in on the fact that your business exist is equally as important as the other basics.

“Well I sell on Amazon or I am a Powerseller on Ebay.”

Good for you, but I heard you say Amazon and Ebay. At the end of the day you are working for their business and not the other way around. Hey, I understand. I use to think that way. Now I use Amazon and Ebay as a resource to market and promote my own websites. They exist to act as a portal by which customers are introduced to the services that I offer. I refuse to depend upon them. Those companies could crash and burn, nothing is too big to fail and what if one or both decides to suspend my account or review it. This could put my business on hold for weeks or even months. This has happened to many business due to no fault of their own. A few days without a steady income can damage a small business. A few weeks can destroy it. Having your own website is very important. It is at the end of the day your own brand. My brand is cannonexcel7, I promote it each and everyday. If I treat it well my brand will help me to retire comfortably within the next ten years.

What is the name of your brand? Do you have a website? Would you like to have one. I have provide information at this site on how to DIY your own site. If you are too busy or feel uncomfortable doing it yourself then you could try the services of the company listed below. Click their banner ad and try their trial offer.

Good luck with your online business and remember to stumble us on Stumbleipon and add us to your google plus.

Author: rodney cannon