It's Time to Make Money Online

Warning - The 3 On-Line Business Models Everyone Must Consider Before Starting...

So you're ready now to make money online. Congratulations on completing all the steps up to this point.

Once you have an idea for a product or service, then it’s time to consider what business model you’ll use to structure your business. This is important to do before you start to make money online.

This will determine how you actually deliver your products or services to your customers.

Read and consider the pluses and minuses of each one, before you decide. You might rethink how you want to run your business after reading this.

I Want to Sell My Own Product

1. Traditional Business model. This is when you already have a product you want to market to make money online.

Maybe it’s beautiful pottery you create and now want to sell, or no-lose fishing lures that you have designed.

You can’t just throw up a website with some pretty pictures and expect to make money online - just watching the orders roll in...

There is much more to be concerned about before you begin.

• If you are making a product, you might need to patent it. Check into this, because if you’ve created something unique, you’ll want to protect your right to manufacture it.

You won’t make money online if your fabulous unique product is on the shelves of your local department store. If you have a great idea, protect it!

On the other hand, check to see if what you are making is copyrighted or trademarked.

You can’t legally sell it if it’s already registered to someone else.

• How are you going to make or manufacture your product? Are you going to do all the work yourself, or hire a few employees to help out?

Also plan how you are going to handle growth.

• How and where will you store your products?

• How will you handle billing? Paypal has made it easy to handle the billing part of the business. All you will need to do is establish this service on your website.

• Shipping. If you are warehousing your own product, you’ll have to take care of the shipping too.

You’ll have to familiarize yourself with the shipping providers in your area - schedules, costs, locations etc...

And don’t forget to about shipping and packing materials.

• International selling. Every country has rules about what can be sold and imported. You’ll need to research this to find out where you can legitimately sell your product.

You will also have to fill out customs forms when you send stuff to other countries.

There are standard forms for customs and you’ll find them at the company you will be using for shipping.

• Employees. If you plan on hiring others to help you make money online, then you will be responsible for employee taxes, workers comp, payroll, and all that other fun stuff that comes with having others work for you.

• Consider e-Bay. This is a great way to get your product out there and make money online.

There are some really good comprehensive books that will walk you step by step through the process of making money online through becoming an E-Bay business.

Our favorite is "E-Bay Income. How Anyone Can Build a Highly Profitable On-Line Business with eBay", by Cheryl Russell.

• Other Ways to get your product or service out there. Here's a list of tools you'll need to market your business effectively...

A good Website

Blog

E-zines

Article Marketing

Email Marketing

For a more complete look at this subject see Internet Marketing

• If all of this is sounding like a great big headache, you may want to consider Network Marketing.

This way of distributing goods and services cuts out most, if not all of the issues listed above. Of course, there are other things to think about when considering Network Marketing (also called Multi-Level Marketing, or MLM).

We’ll cover those in our articles 6 Reasons to Consider MLM , which will explain exactly what it is - including the advantages and disadvantages, and our article Muli Level Marketing - The Pros and Cons Which will help you decide if this would be a good option for you.

I Want to Make Money Online - Selling Someone Else's Product

2. Product or Service sales. This is just setting yourself up as an online store.

All the above points apply to this as well. The only difference is that you will be getting your products from someone else (wholesale) and turning around and selling them in your online store for retail.

If you want to do this, there are a few more points in addition to the ones listed above, for you to consider.

• As a legitimate business, you will need to get a resale license or sellers permit. This will allow you to buy inventory at wholesale without paying sales tax.

Each state has different rules and regulations, so be sure to contact your state’s department of revenue for direction and assistance.

Read our article How to Make Your Home Internet Business Official, for some pointers on how to make your business legitimate.

• Sales tax. Yes, you will have to learn how to figure this out according to your states regulations, and file the necessary documentation. Your states department of revenue will just love to help you with this.

• If you are purchasing products at wholesale, you may be required to buy a certain amount. How much room will you have to store your merchandise?

If you have to buy and store a lot of product, how long will it take you to sell it all?

If you have to buy 10 cases of Organic Beauty Buffers, will the demand for this item be strong enough for you to sell them in a reasonable amount of time?

• Where are you going to buy your merchandise? This research can easily be done online.

There are thousands of wholesalers out there.

But watch out - they aren’t all legitimate. Make sure whoever you deal with is a reputable company.

Maybe Direct Selling is Right for Me

3. Direct Sales. “Direct Selling is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location. These products and services are marketed to customers by independent salespeople. Depending on the company, the salespeople may be called distributors, representatives, consultants or various other titles.”

This definition comes from the Direct Selling Association.

This is a great place to start if you think you would like to consider this type of business.

Their website is www.DSA.org. This will also give you an idea of the companies that follow this business model.

• There are thousands of direct sales companies out there for you to choose from to make money online, that sell every product and service imaginable.

So you should have no problem finding a good solid reputable company, with a product or service you’d enjoy selling.

To narrow down your choices, you might want to stick with the ones that have the Direct Selling Association approval.

To obtain this approval, a company is held to the highest industry standards. That way you can be sure you’ll be working with an honest, ethical, reputable company.

• If you think it would be difficult to make money online dealing with the issues we covered earlier, Network Marketing may be a good fit for you.

Some, but not all, of these companies are structured as network marketing businesses. Many direct sales companies utilize the network marketing or MLM structure. All network marketing and MLM's are direct sales, but not all direct sales companies use the MLM model.

• Many of these companies are automated and online, so you won’t have the worries and hassles of shipping, billing, taxes, and warehousing your products...

• If you select a Multi-Level-Marketing company, you will get the added benefit of enjoying residual income- that’s income that pays you over and over for doing the same activity once, and also pays you for the efforts of others.

But you will be responsible for training and developing distributors underneath you - your downline.

Read our other articles to understand fully the benefits and drawbacks of doing your business this way.

• Many direct sales companies are set up to sell their products and services in other countries.

They’ve already taken care of all the issues that go along with selling and shipping products into other countries, so you don’t have to.

• If you work with a direct sales company, you will have to follow their rules and regulations regarding advertising, and product claims.

You will have to operate within their policies and procedures.

So think about this when selecting a company. For further guidance, read our article How to Choose the Right Company for Your Home Business ?

You can start to successfully make money online using any of these 3 models.

The key is to find the one that suits you the best. You probably have a pretty good idea by now of how you’d like to run your business.

But if you don’t, we have more ideas that might help guide you in your decision. Read our article How Much do You Know About Network Marketing? for more ideas.

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