When first starting a small online business it can be difficult to know what is the best use of your time and what sales channels will provide the biggest benefit. Sometimes you follow a natural progression by starting with selling on your own website, then someone will contact you and ask if you dropship, then if it proves to be a winning product they will ask you to sell wholesale.

There are a few different business strategies that are popular now and revolves around dropshipping and wholesaling products. You can source products to sell on your website and carry no inventory, you can sell your own products via wholesalers/dropshippers or direct to retailers with your own program, you can source products that are complimentary to your own products to upsell or cross sell your customers.

Those that are new will ask what’s the difference between Wholesale & Dropship?

In simple terms, dropship is when a retailer or catalog advertises a product, the customer places an order, and the retailer will send the order to the manufacturer to ship the product directly to the customer.

Retailer - Manufacturer/Distributor - Customer

Wholesale is when a retailer places an order with the manufactuer and carries the inventory. This cuts out the middle process and goes to direct from the retailer to the customer.

Manufacturer/Distributor - Retailer - Customer

As you can expect, both have pros and cons and one of them is what it means to your bottom line.

Dropshipper get a certain percentage of the sale, say 25-35% of the retail cost and tend to be one offs (one here and there as a customer buys it), but you also are not paying out of pocket expenses. You only pay your vendor after your customer placed their order so essentially you are giving the vendor the customers money while keeping a small cut for your efforts.

Where if you are buying in quantity you get a set wholesale price since they are buying more product all at once but you are also pre-paying the vendor. You will have “inventory debt”, so the goal is to turn the product over quickly and since you are making more money per piece you can shorten the window of having the liability of products sitting stagnant.  Most manufacturers will have a min number that a retailer must buy to get the wholesale price depending on the vendor it could be thousands of units or a small case.

Wholesale & Dropship Companies

There are thousands of companies on the internet that offer products for wholesale/dropship, the problem? While researching how to effectively build my dropship/wholesale program I found these differences.

Quality products. You are the face to your customers if you sell them crap they won’t come back. Plain & Simple.

Unique products. Do they put any effort into sourcing unique products to offer or are they just unloading a barge of mass produced items that everyone else is selling. This will make your own selling efforts more difficult.

Customer Service & Security. Since wholesale/dropship distributors are middle men, meaning they don’t actually carry products they just connect manufacturers with retailers, you never know who you are dealing with. It could be a person living in the basement with a website and may take all your personal (& your customers) information and disappear tomorrow. You may also have a hard time getting a physical person to talk to you when you have a question.

Deliver. If they are dropshipping to your customer, you want to know that the product is going to arrive on the doorstep of your customer when it is supposed to.

Let me state, that you do not need to go through a wholesale or dropshipping company. You can go direct to the source and find manufacturers that you want to work with. The advantage is you are most likely going to get a more unique product since it’s not being advertised to the masses, the downfall is it will take you more time and effort to manage the process since most mfgs will have different requirements, and you don’t have a company that pre-screens to make sure they are trustworthy.

What it means for the Small Manufacturers

The world of wholesale and dropshiping open doors for small manufacturers to more sales channels and getting their product in front of more people, but it does take work.  Normally, there is some paperwork and emails/phone calls to provide information, follow up and build a relationship with the vendors. You also need to create a description of your products, quality photos and any other promotional materials for the retailers.

I have found that WorldWide Brands has more then proven that they are a great company to associated with and I highly recommend any manufacturer or distributor of a product that has not checked out what they offer to do so now.  The application process is simple, you get a backlink to your site from a hard hitting authority site, and they offer a ton of great FREE resources to learn more about the dropshipping and wholesale process.

I have made great contacts from this resource and best of all it hasn’t cost me as a manufacturer anything to set up my account. I’ll admit, as a small operation we have not used this resource to it’s full potential but we are working on this and with the new information they are giving out we expect to improve our process and service for this sales channel.

I also appreciate how quick their response rate is and of course, they are very personable to work with. This makes a huge difference to me as well. I give them a high recommendation no matter if you are a retailer, manufacturer, ebayer they have what it takes to grow your business.

Check out some of the FREE Ebooks that WorldWide Brands offer. Who better to learn from then those that are experts in the field of dropship and wholesale?

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank; you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something - experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts - there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a “guru” (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry - the Internet marketing industry - not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche - Internet marketing - and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things - email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it - making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) - your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion - your stories - and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of…well fear.

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from “scratch”, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

Yes, for those that must use a wig there has been incredible “silent” advances that only those that use them would know of. Maybe it is the Kanekalon Vibralite that simulates protein rich hair for a natural, lustrous look and feel in the Raquel Welch wigs collection.  That offers salon inspired styles and colors at an affordable price and even includes clip in hair extensions that have been featured in Sex & the City.

Most monofilament wigs or revlon wigs now even feature the latest materials that provide air circulation and form fitting comfort for every day wear. Revlon products are great for women who have sensitive scalps, have experienced hair loss, or simply want to experience the finest, most realistic, most comfortable wigs available today.

There are a few online wig stores that carry products in every price range, from more affordable synthetic clip-in extensions to luxurious human hair volumizers. Some even offer care products which help you maintain them. Stay up to date with the latest celebrity hair trends or transform your look whenever you are in the mood with instant clip-in extensions or clip-on hairpieces.

If you know someone that needs a little self confidence boost then go ahead and check out these affordable options to get a little zing in your life.

Typing Really Fast

I started this post once today, and was interrupted when the electricity went out, I lost my internet connection and lost my post. Tsk tsk on me for writing direct in my blog instead of in a text editor. I was so excited to share the cool new graphic that Domestic Diva, aka Heather made for my website.

New Photo Shoot

My sister in law has a new product photography studio where she specializes in jewelry product photography but has been reaching out into other industries. I packed up the kids and paid her a visit last week to have a few new photos shot of the Tubby Bundle while using my youngest as the model. I was very impressed with her studio set up, the amount of professional photography tools like cameras, stands, lighting and even a cool and VERY large light table. While not new to product photography, she is new to starting her own business and is ready to roll.  If you’re looking to have some new shots done drop her a line and see what she can do for you. Need a baby model? I’ve got a blond haired beauty.

She took some great shots and I was so excited when she sent them to me only a couple hours later.  Like a kid on Christmas morning I wanted to post them that instant, but they just needed a little extra something. First, I wanted them compressed into one image for end user load time and I wanted to add a little something special, but I wasn’t sure exactly what.

That’s where I made the decision to contact a Graphic Designer. I “met” the Domestic Diva, a fellow mom running a cool blog  where else? Twitter!!! As much as I love learning how to do new things I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with other projects so I was more interested in getting the new pictures posted as soon as possible.

A couple Twitter DM’s later, I sent her the raw photos and gave her a jist of what I was looking for and she let her creative juices flow.

Heather offers several different packages of options from blog headers, to cool buttons and even Twitter packages for those that like to bring a little personal bling to their Tweets. And while she didn’t have anything posted like what I was looking for, I asked anyway and she was happy to accommodate, so if you don’t see something, ask!

I would appreciate your comments and let me know what you think of the new graphic, I have it posted on Tubby Bundle now as well.

We watch it happen on the news a couple times a month, someone hitting the mother lottery and suddenly being a millionaire.  However, we aren’t lavish people, we just desire to be “comfortable” like most people. So here is my answer to the questions “What would you do with a Million Dollars?”.

First, I would pay off a majority of our debt, not that we have alot, but not having that mortgage payment would be very nice. Then I would finish this house that has been unfinished for longer then I want to admit.  Of course, we would want to make sure those closest to us are ok financially.

But here is where I came up with this idea, it struck me since I’ve recently started reading the work of Dr. Mani and his approach to supporting his dedication to children’s congenital heart defects with his internet marketing and information product business.

The Foundation

Since my husband is a talented carpenter, I would love to buy a house that is in need of some love & attention, re-vamp the house and offer a few single mothers from the shelter the opportunity of a safe place for them and their children.  The stipulation? They learn how to start their own business and provide for their family.  You know as well as I, there are plenty of smart women out there that just need the tools, education, resources and support to be successful.  With their children in a safe, happy and structured environment  they are given the opportunity  to focus and take control of their life again.

I guess it breaks down to a form of a half way house for the dedicated and hard working that just got down on their luck.  This would be set up in a foundation and we would create one house and get the ladies going and hopefully we could create a chain reaction and create another one. We would just need enough money to buy and renovate that first house and support the families for the learning curve.

This combines so many areas that we are passionate about, adding value to a community, paying it forward and helping others, coordinating resources and teaching, adding to a local economy.

That’s what I would do with a Million Dollars.  What would you do? If you read this post, please leave a comment I would love to see what your desire would be.

HappySailorweb

Originally uploaded by SpecialK8

I’m learning a new trick- for whatever reason my picture won’t post from my blog gallery so I uploaded it to Flickr and I’m posting this picture (including typing this comment) direct from my Flickr account… did you know you can do that? Boy, it’s so easy it took me less then 5 minutes from upload to post.

It even lets you choose the layout of the post and where the picture will be and after I post from Flickr I can always go back to my WordPress dashboard and add more text, html or links and fill out my plugin data. What do you think?

Here is my three year old so proudly wearing his Sailor hat that he only takes off briefly when he sleeps.

Doesn’t he look like a poster boy?

I have a desktop that I can’t believe I bought when I was pregnant with my son (yup 7 years ago…isn’t that ancient for a desktop now?) It was a Dell and I was so P.O’ed because one, I was very excited to get the new computer since I was leaving my full time job and did not have a personal computer, gasp!  Only to be so disappointed with Dell when it came because I was missing a code sticker on the side that wouldn’t allow me to unlock all my Microsoft Applications. I spent three days on the phone being bounced from one support center to another and after 32 hours on the phone (about 30 hours of it on hold) I gave up.

I know I shouldn’t have, but really, I was 9 months pregnant with an 16 month old baby at my feet, overwhelmed at not working full time anymore and my house was under severe construction. By the time I got back to wanting to use the applications that I couldn’t get to work at all because I wasn’t an “authorized” user, it was too late and I just never used them.

That desktop is now so slooooowwwww that I generally only use it for Word and Excel and rely on my little laptop that I got last summer. The downside of the laptop is that it has VISTA that I think SUCKS and I didn’t get Microsoft Office installed because I was afraid of spending too much money… another dumb mistake but I generally work 90% of the time on the internet and use notebook or Google Docs so it hasn’t been too bad.

My family does give me a hard time about constantly having the laptop within an arms reach and being “addicted” but until I am making my million dollars a year I’m pounding my keyboard, listening and learning and tweaking tweaking tweaking.  This brings me to my new keyboard and mouse… ohhhhh it’s so nice… it’s almost better then sex… my fingers are gliding over the keyboard and a fully functional mouse oh my not my little oily finger leaving tracks on my touch pad.

I’m so easy to please, it’s not even a high end keyboard I think I splurged $40.00 on this Logitech Wireless Desktop at BJ’s Wholesale club and it came with the wireless mouse & keyboard… but all the buttons to explore- wait- is that sound? Can I actually control my volume from that little button? Oh and look at that I just popped up my calculator with one button no need to go to Start-and scroll through my folders. Okay 1 million dollars divided by a $27.00 EBook means I only need to sell approx WOW maybe I should scale that a little. The keys have a cheaper, lighter feel then my desktop keyboard and I wish it offered a bit more of an angle to it- the footers don’t add much value to the angle. But the buttons are smooth and easy to push especially since I’m used to typing on the laptop itself.

I found this wireless keyboard and mouse on Amazon for around $33.00 and it had some various reviews. I’m sure there are those that are really into their gadgets so like I said, I’m easy to please- I opened up the box, plugged the receiver into my usb port, popped the batteries in and was typing this post within 5 minutes I’m getting old so I sit at my laptop to work and not across the room so the distance that was one complaint doesn’t apply to me since I can’t even tell it’s wireless except I don’t have wires dangling over my papers.

Guess I’ll throw my husband for a loop and thank him when he gets home and tell him I’ll pretend he gave it to me since he didn’t give me a birthday present last month. That works right?

• Three kids rooms cleaned and organized- do you realize how long it takes to sort Polly Pockets, American Girl shoes and Legos???
• Laundry is completely caught up and put away. This is an accomplishment in itself since I have been out of detergent for four days and laundry from 6 people is enough to bury anyone.
• Three closets cleaned out - winter clothes packed away and snow pants/mittens/hats washed & stored
• The bathroom I use for our 4 Foster Kittens was washed down, disinfected and re-organized. They are getting so big I bet we will only have them for another week, two at the most.

The result? No stubbed toes, four bags of clothes for donation and three trash bags of stuff the kids won’t miss anymore.

What to do today?????

Okay, I’m posting to see if I can be held accountable to myself.

It kills me to be inside on such a beautiful weekend but things need to get done.

• I need to figure out why half the images on my blog have up and disappeared…. out of the clear blue.. just jumped on and poof they were gone.
• Why my theme doesn’t update my “About ME” because I’m finding that very annoying
• Why my plugin for the footer gives me a fatel error message
• Switch my wholesale form over to an aweber contact form with auto messages because I can’t keep up this manual work of emailing every body that wants information.
• Finish Eben’s videos- I can multi task that with packing todays orders

Better get started!