Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hey Movingup;

DKing is pretty much right - this is a info media in an info age, and anything that is info is innately suited to being sold on the internet.

Having said that, try this. You have a skill set - cooking, renovation, car repair, investing, needlepoint, retailing clothes to kids between the ages of 12 and 15, how to be a clown, hot organize a social activist group, how to clean chewing gum off carpets ... almost all of these things have a potential audience. Once you have an audience, find  what products they might be able to use in pursuing those areas of interest. It does not have to be your own skill set - talk to people, find out what they are passionate about and why, and then try investigating if there is an audience for that interest/skill.

For example, my daughter signed up and took a series of stain glass making classes. To do that, she needed a frame, a soldering iron, a glass grinder with wet wheel, and a bunch of other stuff. People need to buy those things. So start a website on that, and sell those things... In fact, have a series of such websites for different interests, and they can all use common infrastructure - hosts, design, payments handling ...

That is one way. In general, remember that products that cannot be commoditised are tough sells remotely. If the price tag is high, or the support/warranty is critical, or the product has vague specifications, or if the market is unclear - such things are more of a challenge to sell. People want to touch, smell, feel, test the product, and they want to look in the eyes and guage the dress, language, appearance of the person doing the selling. Thats tough to do online-  not impossible, just tough !

Another option is something which has a more ephemeral value. Entertainment is a prime candidate... The value is completely in the eye of the beholder, and a lot of entertainment can be sold on-line. Books can be serialized, articles can have some value, humour can attract a real following if you have the talent... Tougher as a rule, but an option. For that matter - start an on-line humour club, it does not have to be you with the talent. Become an impressario.

Hope that gets you thinking a bit - be creative. Do NOT permit yourself to begin critical analysis until you have maybe ten to fifteen ideas. For every one you shoot down, come up with two more. Carry a small notepad with you, so that when the spark strikes from something you have observed, you don` t forget it !






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What if we change around the question a little? As it stands, there`s a passive voice: "What, in and of itself, sells best online, without my personal action?"

Suppose we think in terms of "What can I sell online the easiest or with the best potential results?"

Instead of looking at a vague generality, the rephrased question brings forward the idea of both intrinsic value, and perceived value. Right?

Which has a better perception of value: Information or a concrete item (commodity or otherwise)?