Today, one of my co-workers wrote an article that I wanted to share.  I have been mulling over writing this same article for the past week, and to my surprise, Bryan came in today and said, “you know, I was thinking about something and I wrote an article about it”.  So believe it or not, we must have some kind of screwy connection or something.

Just to add to Bryan’s article, I wanted to share a few “common misconceptions” about selling online…

• You cannot expect to start a small business without having passion.  Trust me, if you don’t have a passion for what you are doing, you will quickly become bored.
• All good things take time.  This concept that so many potential business owners think that they can be successful in one month is just baffling to me.
• Knowledge IS POWER…  If you don’t take the time to learn what you’re doing, you’ll go nowhere.
• You must invest time and money into your business in order for it to become successful.
• Building an online business has just as much overhead as opening a store in the mall.  You may be able get it started for less, but did you ever hear the saying, “if a tree falls in the forest, and there is nobody that hears it, does it really make a sound”?  The e-commerce version of that quote would be, “if a website has no traffic, is it really even a website”?  Don’t think that if you build it they will come…  Nothing could be further from the truth.
• Something must “differentiate” you from the competition.  It is either your knowledge, passion, selection, customer service, or even price, but if you are exactly the same as everyone else – why will people shop with you, vs. another website?
• Make sure your profit margin works.  “A dollar lost one million times is a one million dollar loss”.  Nothing will put you out of business faster than selling below cost.
• There is a cost to your time, and labor as a whole.  The time to prepare and package an order for shipment has a true cost.  Don’t forget to factor this into your profit margin.

These are just a few.  I could probably write a book on this topic.  And by the way, check out Bryan Shaw’s article: Creating a Successful Website Starts With You…