ONLINE SUCCESS: KEEP IT SIMPLE....TOO EASY? HMMM

When I was in college (the first time around), I was always told to find a niche and keep it simple. Little did I know at the time, I was learning a sound business principle. After all, there is nothing simple about Ebay, Yahoo, or Google.

Or is there?

There was. At least at first. All three built their “foundations” on one particular thing they did well. Ebay for instance was the place to buy and sell Pez dispensers in its early days. Yahoo was only a search directory and Google a search engine. No other real products or services. In other words they kept it very simple and did what they did best.

I'm an entrepreneur. My mind is complex. Chances are, if you are reading this, so is yours. Some days we are ready to conquer the world, some days we are in bed late licking our wounds from trying to conquer it yesterday.

Zen is at work here. There is a yin and a yang pulling us in either direction. The secret is to get centered, focused, and open to learn.

There are many “opportunities” on the Internet. I put opportunities in parenthesis because, as you may know from my previous writings, I do not believe in Internet gurus. The only way they are gurus is that they make money off your hard earned money and time promoting themselves. If that is a guru to you, go get him, tiger. To me, it is another snake-oil cyber-sales con man/woman.

The other day I was looking at some statistics of what were the top sellers (especially at Ebay); and, of course not surprisingly, Ipods, consumer electronics, Armani, Gucci, and the usual suspects. I even did further research to find out the few legitimate wholesaler/drop shippers Could this be my “big break”? When I say big break, I do not mean “finally make money on the Internet”. I have been doing that for several years and it is virtually on autopilot now. Am I in the league with Bill Gates? More like a barbarian at the gate. But I do okay.

So I looked over the list of brands and items and common sense (fortunately) took over and replaced my ego. If these, are indeed the biggest sellers, someone out there is selling them, probably a lot of sellers, and I am not the only one reading this and making a big new discovery.

I have a slight advantage over some entrepreneurs (and this is not to discourage you, you can have the same advantages if you work at it); I own a large cartoon site with copyrights to the images.

I own several stores that sell a myriad of produc

ts, but none of them really specialize in a niche product. I want to try what the superstars tried when they got started. My “success” evolved over the years by having a following; but not necessarily because I was using the marketing technique of “finding a niche”.

So after more research I opened a “funny apron shop”; yes that's right, funny aprons. Nothing too sexy about funny aprons of course. I don't expect Austin Powers to come forward and say “Funny aprons, Shagadellic!!!” But you never know. The minute I started listing the stores in directories and search engines, people started buying. Yes, a cyber-field-of-dreams. Build it and they will come.

Find your niche today on the Internet. It is not rocket science. Find out what the top sellers are and refuse to sell them. You are in a land of sharks and unless you have a trust fund and a lot of patience the sharks will look at you as their main en tree'.

Then research further, and find a product on the web that people need, and use, and make it a little different than what others are selling.

Sure, I did a Google search and plenty of folks were selling aprons and some even selling funny one; but not one vendor was selling cartoon-themed offbeat aprons geared toward the baby boomer, who, like me, was weaned on Gary Larson's Far Side, and missed it greatly, or at least the offbeat humor of it after Gary retired.

Though I don't, for a moment, put myself in that great cartoonists league, I do understand the spirit, the essence of the humor, and can purvey it adequately if not professionally onto quality cotton products such as aprons.

Sure I sell totes, key chains, sweats, t-shirts mouse pads, etc. on my other sites, but this new site is just one who is looking for funny unique aprons whether as a gift or collectible.

Find your niche whether it is cell phones (a certain kind), chocolate, pet treats, organic dried fruits, your own private coffee label (yes I have one of those too), or whatever you think will sell; perhaps do an informal survey or focus group and you would be surprised what people want.

The promote, promote, promote with blogs, article writing, ppc engines, pinging, and every other method of which you can think. Suddenly you will wake up successful. The odds are on your side. The harder you work, the more research you do, the more action you take, the luckier you get. In fact, the big dogs did the same thing to become big dogs, and they have nothing on you, if you just allow yourself to take the action. Keep an open mind and be prepared for some mistakes. You will make some.

It is not how many times you fall down that count, but how many times you get back up. So get back up and get back to work. Good luck!