Home Business Magazine

New Stores:

Discount Tapestries from The Tapestry Standard -Wall Tapestries and Home Decor

Official Sports Collectibles from the Sports Collectibles Store - Real Sports Memorabilia for the Serious Football, Basketball, and Hockey Fan

 

Article as Printed in Home Business Magazine

Sponsored Links

 

How it was in the beginning?

 

The first month of our plan was pure research.  We decided that the Internet, specifically, some form of e-commerce was the business strategy we would pursue. So, after some very focused web surfing, email correspondence and phone conversations we came to an unnerving realization:

 

The Internet is full of bad “ How to start your own business” information.

 

So our development phase was, in a word, awful.  So much so that we devised a back up plan involving a franchise opportunity that would have set us back around $40,000.  You have to understand, we were serious about this.  So serious that we were prepared to invest heavily to make it work.  Fortunately for us, it never came to that.

 

My grandmother owns a successful antique shop in Michigan.  I got on the phone with her one day and picked her brain for hours.  We talked about merchandising, wholesalers, advertising, overhead – just about every conceivable consideration that a brick and mortar store would need to make before it could open it’s doors. 

 

I asked my grandmother what I thought was the most important question of the bunch, “Meema, what should we sell?”  She said “ Andy, the minute you work that out, give me a shout because I’d love to know!  Anyway, just go ahead and find some drop shippers first and then it won’t matter.  You can find out if that product is a hot seller before you spend any money on it.”

 

Drop shipper?  What’s a drop shipper?

 

Meema explained what a drop shipper was 2 times.  The second time I had her on the speakerphone with Audrey listening in and my personal recorder rolling.

 

We knew that day that drop shipping was the answer to our start-up problems.

 

 

How you found us.

 

In addition to having what I know is the best drop ship directory on the Internet, Chris Malta and Rob Cowie are also shrewd marketers.  One search on the Search Engine Google and I arrived at the Drop Ship Source Directory.

 

What you thought of us.

 

Well, that’s a funny story.  You see, I need to refer you back to the beginning of the story where I discovered that the Internet is full of a lot of bad information.  At this point, Audrey and I had already spent several thousand dollars on truly terrible “How to Make Money on the Internet” systems.  So, we had adopted a standard policy of “You need to prove you’re legitimate before we give you a dime”.

 

Frankly, I think Chris Malta’s been through the same Internet meat grinder that we have.  The Drop Ship Source Directory site was not the typical, over-hyped sales site that we were accustomed to.  But what really got our credit card out was his willingness to share information before we spent any money.  There is a free download on the site called “Starting Your Internet Business Right” that we took advantage of.

 

About 3 hours later, we were members of the Drop Ship Source Directory.

 

How you put into practice what we gave you.

 

Between my Grandmother’s revelation about drop shipping and the 500 or so (at the time) drop shippers that were on Chris’ list, we started building an e-commerce based solely on the Drop Shipping Business Model.  Based on Chris’ advice, we chose Yahoo! Stores as our e-commerce provider.

 

Just as an interesting aside, Chris’ material helped us develop our own sense of value judgment when it came to evaluating other niche internet marketing information. So, as we began to educate ourselves about e-commerce and internet marketing, we were always able to refer to Chris for his opinions and guidance.

 

My background in Direct Response Television taught me immediately that there is only one way to successfully sell a product to a consumer – You need to create an environment where a transaction of value can take place.    That “Old School” philosophy coupled with Chris’ Internet marketing savvy helped us evaluate other forms of Internet marketing information with great accuracy. 

 

What the results were

 

Life Changing.  I know that sounds trite, but it’s true.  Audrey and I have achieved financial independence.  If we stopped making money tomorrow, we would have just about 2 years before we would have to go back to work because we couldn’t pay our bills.

 

In the first 12 months, we created several e-commerce stores that generated $110,000 in revenue, and 95% of our products are drop shipped – meaning we have virtually no inventory, which means virtually no overhead, other than our E-commerce Store fees and our advertising.  Audrey and I comprise 100% of The A Squared Artifacts, LLC. work force.

 

We are now at a point where we can field just about any product that has a reasonable amount of demand, all with very little financial risk.  Because we rarely own inventory, if a particular type of product is too competitive or sells poorly, we close the store and go searching for a drop shipper for our next product line.  That’s the beauty of e-commerce.

 

What you did with your success

 

We did exactly what Rob Cowie and Chris Malta did – we decided to share our information and published our own “How To” E-commerce manual.  It’s called “Yahoo! Store Profits, A Step-By-Step” System. http://www.online-store-profits.com

 

 We learned early on that making money on the Internet really depends on 2 things:

1)       Marketing to a niche audience.

2)       Creating an environment where a transaction of value can take place. 

 

The rest of your success is just a numbers game.

 

So, we bottled our formula, wrote a 400 + page set of instruction manuals and set them for sale on the Internet.  The results have been extraordinary.  We just recently got a testimonial from one couple that opened a Yahoo! Store using drop shippers – that store did $40,000 worth of business in September.

 

Whoops.  I guess I didn’t really answer your question.  What did we do with our success?  Well, for starters, we quit our jobs. We bought two kittens. We started playing the guitar AND the bass.  We installed a wireless network in our home, bought two laptops with 17-inch wide screens, and we wander around most of the day pretending to work so our friends and family don’t get too jealous.

 

I still keep my fingers in the Movie Business, and in fact, I just edited a Feature Film.  But I did it because I wanted to do it. Not because I needed to. Most of our business runs on Autopilot (Technology Rocks!), so we can pick and choose what we want to do and where we want to do it.

 

What is your on going relationship is with us

 

Absolutely fabulous!  I mean, every time I call you guys I feel like you drop what you’re doing and listen intently to me.  Seriously, I’ve always felt like your ongoing goal was to help me succeed.  Your directory keeps getting bigger, your site keeps adding information, and the business model of drop shipping is really starting to catch on.  And I believe that that is indeed partly your doing.  And I couldn’t be happier it.

 

Overall what do you think about us

 

On an internet filled with 30 million web pages, where scams, crooks and thieves are constantly trying to separate you from your money, I consider World Wide Brands one of the few, genuine USABLE resources available.  Frankly, you don’t charge enough for what you do. I can’t believe I said that…. I better stop writing.