Quick Start GuideThe Quick Guide is meant to be a supplement to the seminar and Camtasia videos. The Camtasia videos can be watched over and over as a tutorial. The Quick Start Guide will enable you to dive in further to the material. Explore the links and concepts mentioned here. If you cannot click on a link, copy and paste it into your browser. See the Dropshipping section below to learn about the ‘Ebay Research’ Spreadsheets.

So what can I do from Home?

Craigslist – Buying and Selling on craigslist is an excellent place to start and to continue with indefinitely or as the need arises. It works well in conjunction with Ebay and allows you to build up your confidence buying and selling online.

Ebay - Ebay is the world’s marketplace. If eBay was a country it would be the 9th most populous nation on earth. People all over the world use eBay and it continues to grow eBay is one of the most successful companies in the history of US business.

Virtual Assistant - A Virtual Assistant (typically abbreviated to VA) is an entrepreneur who provides professional, administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office.

Freelancing – Taking on short projects or assignments. Could be a hired specialist.

Digital Nomad – Working from anywhere on the globe thru an internet connection.

Vlogging – Maintain a video blog around a niche topic of personal interest.

Youtube – tutorials, exclusive video content, viral videos, etc - http://www.webcookingclasses.com/

Blogging – Maintain a blog around a niche topic of personal interest.

Writing - Article Writing, Travel Writing, Ghostwriting, Copyrighting

Sell Downloads – ebooks, ringtones, audio books, podcasts, etc.

Affiliate Marketing - Promote items you believe in and are passionate about for a percentage of the total sales price. Promote brand name items you are passionate about or gladly recommend to others.

Dropshipping – Sell brand name and/or generic wholesale items at near retail rates. With dropshipping there is no shipping involved on your end – the manufacturer ships it for you .

Usually the manufacturer is located in China. Can be used in conjunction with ebay and/or with an ecommerce site like shopify.com

Domain Investing aka. Flipping Domains – This area is now and is going to be HUGE. Buying, selling, investing in domain names. This is about building a digital real estate portfolio and the assets in the portfolio are referred to as ‘web properties’. Most of the websites in the portfolio are less than five pages and they do not have to be a dot com to succeed. Building up traffic is building up value – for either an eventual resale or through monetization via affiliate income. Flipping domains is similar in process to flipping houses. The return on investment however is exponentially greater as domains cost less than $10 to register. ‘Flipping Domains’ could be the next gold rush.

A combination of these

A major shift has been happening in the world ever since the Internet was created. It has radically altered the way we live and work on a scale not seen since the beginning of the last century with the great inventions of that era. The light bulb, car, railroad, telephone poles and highway systems are examples of how our lives have been forever and irreversibly changed since those days.

From where we stand now in the course of time, the internet is the great invention of our era and yet it is still VERY young and new. Although invented in 1969, it wasn’t until 1996 that the internet started to radically change our lives. In other words, the Party is just getting started! The world economy is in the tank but the online world is booming.

“Right now, the ratio of people who make a living online to people who spend a lot of time online is low compared to what it will be. This means that it's easier now to get your message out in front of potential buyers.”

- Corbett Barr, ‘Author of the New Economy Superstar’

A few Lessons I have learned:

Rule #1 – Do What is Fun!

When faced with a myriad of choices, do what is fun or interesting for you – there is a niche for everything online.

You will get far more success by getting involved with something that gives you enjoyment or that is interesting to you rather than doing something JUST for the money.

Aim for Monetization AND Enjoyment

Examples:

Lucy Goosy is not having fun

Ever since her 8th grade Geometry class, Lucy Goosy has hated math. She reads an article about the incredible money being made online by Virtual Assistants crunching numbers for Accounting Firms and creating top notch Excel Spreadsheets. Priding herself in her ability to learn just about anything, she decides to dive in and learn everything about accounting and excel. After 4 months of grueling work her results are mediocre at best. She gives up in frustration and is convinced the whole Virtual Assistant idea is for the birds…

Rebecca Rightly gets it right

Rebecca Rightly loves to write. She learns that people on Elance are paying top dollar to writers of good sales copy (sales letters). She dives in and learns the ins and outs of writing for this market. After four months of diligent work she has enough income coming in to quit her $7/hour job at Chuck E. Cheese.

Also…

• Offer something that is scarce and has value. The more scarce it is, the higher amount you will be paid.

• People value that which makes them feel good

• Think of the Global marketplace, as well as local

• Don’t underestimate the importance of SEO

• Go Niche – If you try to sell to everybody, you’re selling to nobody

• Better to Bill by the project, not by the hour

• Fail quick and move on - Don’t get married to a project idea

• Do your research. Especially keyword research. See what people are buying online and act accordingly – assuming this is an area of interest.

• Competition is not a bad thing online – don’t let it dissuade you from pursuing an area of interest.

The Long Tail Concept

The Long Tail is a retailing concept describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities – usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities. Ebay and Amazon are examples.

Dropshipping

See the China Wholesale Spreadsheet for more links to Dropshippers. I had my team in India gather those. My suggestion is to investigate them further by going to the websites and cross checking with sites like fraudwatchers and resellerratings.com

http://www.resellerratings.com/

http://www.fraudwatchers.org/

For instance, here is a rating/review of Chinavasion:

The ‘ebay research’ spreadsheets were also gathered by my team in India over the holidays. I had them find the hottest selling electronics and also cross check the items that were listed on Chinavasion.com (Chinavasion is a wholesale dropshipper). Go to the links as long as they are active – you can learn a lot just by studying the final sale price of the item, whether the item sold or not, your competition on ebay, your approximate profit margin, and so on.

I am not suggesting you use Chinavasion, but I do suggest you research them along with the other sites mentioned. Chinavasion has good reviews from a number of people and seem to genuinely care about your success. I have called and spoken with a rep in China via Skype. The individual was very knowledgeable, friendly and spoke good English.

How Dropshipping works:

Where to evaluate dropshippers:

http://www.resellerratings.com/

http://www.fraudwatchers.org/

Tool for calling remote locations:

http://skype.com/

Virtual AssistantWhat is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant (typically abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant) is an entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office

AWESOME LINKS!

Ebay Links:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/eBayInk/videos/7/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/microsites/websitesolutionscenter/article71112.html

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2006/november/169204.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGNWqP1whYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTnf2cJUxLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7keFhBdDY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdWNfUdubY&feature=related

Paypal

https://www.paypal.com/

How Paypal works

https://personal.paypal.com/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/Sign_Up_for_PayPal

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_auction-outside

Drop Shipping Links:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dropshipping&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.wholesalematch.com/blog/

*more links are in the Drop Shipping Spreadsheet

Elance Links:

http://www.elance.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lniTWMOwEj4&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmniMo7bKMo

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=elance&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt7gZObNm2U

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyElance?feature=pyv&ad=4202530668&kw=odesk&gclid=COj5jtfpoZ8CFRQhnAodM0N8Kg#p/u/0/2xvfO46jEDY

Interview with Craigslist Founder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7L93bMzTdQ

Digital Nomad Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plyXq0kHJEc&feature=player_embedded#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-e9QIj8nCA&feature=related

Outsourcing Links:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=outsourcing&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ECWU36O12c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbjkIE_CQI8

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=odesk&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/12/08/no-more-excuses-how-to-make-an-extra-100000-in-the-next-6-months/

Virtual Assistant Links:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=virtual+assistant&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZIp9fo2rs&feature=related

http://2minuteswithava.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB60ArL6CzY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ECWU36O12c

http://www.vaclassroom.com/

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=virtual+assistant&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtd8luXYrrY

Freelancer Links:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=freelancing&search_type=&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1M5huCJ-hE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqwA8BPRNHY

http://www.guru.com

http://www.odesk.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_TlwBqO0nk

Great Blog Links:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/

http://www.skelliewag.org/

http://www.readwriteweb.com/

http://thefuturebuzz.com/

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

http://www.workingnomad.com/

How to spot a Phony:

http://www.resellerratings.com/

http://www.fraudwatchers.org/

Overkill, BIG RED LETTERS, ridiculous claims and excessive

question marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! always make me suspicious

Examples:

http://www.fastdomainriches.com/?hop=amirrad15

http://www.quickflipformula.com/?gclid=CNis-vTonZ8CFQOdnAodTH9RJw#ic

This is a good example of a legitimate business opportunity:

http://www.dnflipping.com/

My Advice regarding Scams:

Most information is freely available online in various formats. The key is to connect with the right authors, teachers, bloggers, groups, forums, etc.

Pay Close attention to the Satisfaction Guarantee or Money Back Offer – and don’t be afraid to exercise it!

Some of the advice can be quite good in ‘so called’ scams. If the information is good, its up to the individual to put the strategies into practice.

Is the “opportunity” something you would find interesting or enjoy? If not, skip it.

Craigslist Email Samples:

Ebay Email Samples:

Example of a SPOOF

Elance Screenshot: