Why would someone buy from me.
There are businesses out there, with a lot more talent for finding sources of products then I have right now.
They must have a network that would give them the resources, that I just found. What would prevent them from going to the same sources that your information provides me.
ANSWER:
First I have a recommendation and it is meant in the kindest of way - you need to get more confidence in yourself before you ever begin even thinking about going into any kind of business.
We do not provide personal coaching or mentoring - a good book that I read about 29 years ago was titled "The Magic of Thinking Big
" - that book and a couple of the Dale Carnegie books helped to boost myconfidence which is something I think you need to do based on your email.Once you make the step into a business, look at what you can do better than your competition. There will always be competition in every business, you cant run from it and you cant hide from it, it will find you.
If you are unsure of your abilities, start out by selling stuff on Ebay - you learn how to deal with people (customers), learn about shipping, customer service issues, etc. and you can do so basically free or for the low fees ebay charges you to sell there.
Here is a link to a web page in our site where you may download an ebook (no cost) about selling on ebay (I paid $29.99 for it about 6 years ago) it is now available to you at no cost:
Free eBay Auction Selling Book
I hope you will take my suggestions and follow through with them and once you have a greater confidence in yourself, move up one step at a time in business and instead of worrying about the competition, watch them, learn from them and see how you can do better than them.
QUESTION:
I received my Import Export tool kit today and it all looks very good. I will be getting my office and stationery set up this week. What do you think of using a P.O.Box on business cards and letterhead?
ANSWER:
The publisher of the toolkit has used a PO box since I first started working with them back about 15 years ago and it has not seemed to affect their business credibility.
The positives of using a PO box is not having people show up on your doorstep, unannounced, as I have over the years (I can think of at least 3 with one being on the afternoon of a July 4th during a family picnic).
Sometimes if the PO box is through a UPS mail center or place like that, you "used" to be able to use their street address with just a #111 behind it but after 9/11 I am not sure that is allowed any longer.
Again, I will defer back to our publisher, they have not encountered any problems that I am aware of so it would seem to not be detrimental to your credibility as I have always thought that it might.
You will have to weigh the options and make the decision yourself, as I stated above there are positives and negatives to both sides of the argument and making that decision is all part of you being in business - decisions, decisions.
Last, here is a little proverb I came across in a newsletter recently. It seems to be extremely applicable to most people when it comes to their thoughts of starting a business:
“Fish see the bait, but not the hook. Men see the profit, but not the peril.”
-- Chinese proverb