Profit – The Wealth Maker

January 29, 2018January 30, 2018

How to Choose the Right Product

In e-Commerce, products are represented by images, multiple images that aim to show site visitors how the product looks and feels, how it serves the need it is intended for, and how it is superior to other, similar products on the market.

As you can see, this involves several skills, tools and decisions. The first and most important decision must answer the question: Will this product appeal to the visitors of my site, and does it serve their needs effectively? The next question concerns the price: Is the product priced competitively, while still making a profit?

If you’re like many new e-Commerce entrepreneurs who decided to open their own online stores on platforms such as BigCommerec™ and Shopify™, you might have considered drop-shipping as an alternative to traditional approaches.

The idea is innovative, yet simple. Instead of keeping inventory and worrying about shipping to your customers, a drop-shipping model takes care of that. The products on your online store come from suppliers from all over the world, who, once an order is placed, process the request then ship directly to your customers.

In addition to saving time, energy, space and money, drop-shipping makes adding new products or deleting old ones a fun exercise. All you have to do is brows through a supplier’s catalogue, pick the items you like, modify few things to make the product fit your overall theme and categories, then push the product to your store, and it becomes ready to view, and hopefully sell.

But how would you know that what you have chosen meets your requirements? To begin with: Do you know your requirements? Before seeking anything in life, we must ask three questions: What, why and how. Requirements answer the ‘what’ question. But in order to get to the right answers, we need to have a clear idea of what the business is about; what values it serves, and what objectives it aims to achieve.

One of the collections in my online store, storefour.ca is named Digital. For any product to fit into that collection it must operate digitally, or has a digital aspect to it. Here’s an example:

Digital Scale

LCD Digital Kitchen Scale 1g-5Kg https://storefour.ca/products/lcd-digital-kitchen-scale-5kg-x-1g-weight-food-diet-cooking-measure-tool-electronic-weight-lcd-electronic-bench-weight-scale

C$30.97

So knowing your requirements is the first step to selecting the right product. The second is knowing the supplier. The e-Commerce landscape is so crowded. Finding the right supplier takes doing your homework diligently: reviews, returns, age on business, location, complains. The list is long, but you will figure it out based on what you’re looking for.

Now you know what you want and where to get it. The third step is to find the right channel and process to communicate with the supplier and secure the product.

If we go back to the drop-shipping model, the e-Commerce platform you use plays a key role in helping its merchants find credible suppliers as part of its service. Shopify™, for example, recommends an app named Oberlo™, which connects you to a pool of previously verified suppliers, making your life a lot easier. Yet, to be on the safe side and save your business future hassles, keep doing your research even on recommended suppliers.

The point here is to use all resources available to select and show the best product on your store.

More details on this in our next post, stay tuned!

The Wealth Maker

©Article Image Credit: https://storefour.ca

August 24, 2017November 7, 2017

A new Venture

The world of e-commerce is an exciting, and potentially rewarding one.

Recently I decided to delve in, and went through the process of building an online store.

The result was a decent place for visitors to Be, Love, Create and Live. That is the theme, with products that promote a vibrant, balanced lifestyle; pertaining to the soul, the heart, the mind and the body.

My objective is to grow StoreFour to at least 20K Canadian dollars of net profit every month; ambitious yet achievable.

Here is something you can view and get from StoreFour right now:

So far, I’ve found that bringing interested customers to the storefront and convincing them to actually buy something is the real challenge of succeeding at e-commerce. Building the store, finding the right products, designing, putting and tweaking the processes, all of that was in my turf, and did enjoy it a lot.

That said, as I’m gaining more understanding of e-commerce marketing and sales secrets through learning and doing, I’m getting the hang of it, and gradually enjoying it as well 🙂

A key element of “customer conversion,” which refers to convincing a visitor to buy, is first to drive the right traffic to your website, then offer something that interests the visitors in terms of quality, usability, and price.

It takes consistent monitoring of analytics and learning how to spot the insights and apply their wisdom in action. It also requires getting busy with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), advertisement, and building a good customer list.

Will keep my readers posted on the progress and would appreciate your feedback on any aspect of this new venture…

Keep learning and growing!

Yaman, The Wealth Maker

June 23, 2015June 26, 2015

How Can an Investor Read The Future?

Investing is not only an intellectual enterprise. It challenges all dimensions of an investor’s personality and character. That’s why it is an inner job, before it manifests in the outer.

Nonetheless, an investor is not a fortuneteller, a speculator, or a gambler. He or she sees the activity as a business, which is prone to loss and profit, rise and demise.

Human beings are bound by the laws of cause and effect, and governed by the flow of time. Is that so? We tend to “like” to surrender to such determinism because our minds need to find closure on everything. Without such “unconscious” obedience to these laws, without time, the mind gets lost.

Within each and every one of us is a potential greater than the mind. Tapping into that potential requires awareness and inner work. You may start by paying attention to the mind’s ceaseless thinking, and train yourself to be an observer, not a participant in the thousands of thoughts the mind conjures up everyday! You can reach a stage where you “choose” what serves you and add value to your life, while releasing that which confuses or troubles you.

The mind can’t stop working. This is a blessing. Nevertheless, it could turn into a curse when the mind starts using us to “entertain” itself, especially as it finds itself “free”. Keep it busy with something suitable to its nature, and useful to you and to the world around you. Apart from that, practice the art of “un-participation”. You are not your mind!

Here you might say: I’m confused! Are you telling me to be mindless?

Not at all. I’m asking you to be “mindful”. To be the master of your mind not its slave. There is a huge difference between the two worlds.

How is all of that related to investing? Surprisingly a lot!

When you become in command of your mind, and hence your life, all your activities start flowing effortlessly. You bypass the mind’s resistance to the new in favor of the old and familiar.

That leads to a very important fact, which sets the stage for the rest of this discussion: History does not repeat itself! Each and every moment is independent and new, and it may surprise you.

Does that make me read the future? You might ask.

Not literally. However, it advances you light years ahead in your ability to engage the moments while they unfold, which is, in my humble opinion, better than reading the future.

As you rid yourself of a troubling past, and be fully present here and now, you become “aligned” with true universal principles. Time becomes your friend. Cause and effect your servants. You are no longer asleep, spiritually. You start to “see”. You begin to “know” without thinking. You step into a new realm that has already been within you, but now you’re “awake” to its existence and brilliance.

From this new foundation, your investment decisions (and all your decisions) will change, for the better. You have on your side the best advisor ever, you! The real you…

This can only be proven through direct experience. Do not believe any of the above, but try it and practice it, honestly.

After all, whose life and whose money are we talking about? Doesn’t that deserve exploring something new? Haven’t we had enough of resigning to the old, only because it is familiar? And we all know, too well, that “familiar” does not equate to “successful”. Most of the time, it leads to the opposite.

Any breakthrough, throughout human history, has come about by challenging habitual thinking and exploring the frontiers that laid dormant behind the mind.

Gravity isn’t only physical!

The Wealth Maker

May 28, 2012March 13, 2014

Your Investment Portfolio

Investment, in general, is a challenging activity. It requires research and preparation. One of the first steps an investor needs to take is to check his or her “Risk Tolerance (RT)”. Depending on the result of that evaluation, he or she chooses the type of investment that suits his RT. If one is extremely risk-avert, they should stick to the safest possible investment instrument: Leave your money in the bank and collect whatever the bank pays on saving accounts. On the other extreme of the spectrum, if one is an avid risk taker, investing in stocks of new ventures is something he can handle.

The bottom line is to build a portfolio of investment instruments. Don’t rely on one venue only. A typical portfolio may look like this: 20% liquid cash, 20% high risk stocks, 40% stable, blue-chip stocks, and 20% in other instruments like HYIP’s or term investments such as advertising programs, and the likes.

The above is my own view of a reasonable investment portfolio. I’m sure different investors would come up with different portfolios that suit their stage in life, their RT, and their long-term objectives and vision.

A question may arise: How do I know my RT level? Just go online and look for tests. You will find hundreds of them. Try to pick something from a reliable source.

Please revisit the HYIP post before risking any money in that instrument, for it is highly unpredictable investment, fueled by hype. Can you find reliable ones? That requires deliberate research on your part.

For all online instruments, other than stocks, you will need to have an account with an e-currency payment processor, such as PayPal, Liberty Reserve, Perfect Money, AlertPay, or Solid Trust Pay. Those are the famous ones. Once you sign-up for an account, you need to fund it, then use it to invest in whatever online investment program you choose.

Please be aware that the online investing landscape is full of scam, maybe more than 90%. Before depositing real money, try to investigate the program, through search engines and monitoring sites. And even when you decide to deposit, start small, test the waters, withdraw your initial deposit once it has made enough profit, then increase your involvement gradually. Always retrieve your principal first, and risk your profits. This strategy is called: Zero-loss (my own strategy and term).

For stock investment, you need to open an investing account (sometimes it’s called a “Discount Brokerage Account), either through your bank, or independently (for example, E-Trade or something similar). The account would allow you to buy and sell stocks through a broker, but you can do that online, without the need to actually talk to or communicate with the broker, unless you have a problem, which is rare these days.

There is a lot to say about the logistics of investing and the process of choosing the right investment for you. Please post your question or comment if you need more information on this topic.

Happy Investing!

The Wealth Maker