My Business Story

Hi,

Last year around December, as I was taking a long drive across Texas, I was thinking of business ideas.  I had been a fairly avid prepper and reader of survival/homesteading/prepper articles and books. My pdf collection was growing quite large and I had already spent many hours weeding out the junk and cataloging and sorting the good stuff.

I had expressed an interest in starting a business, but my wife told me there was no way that we were going to invest a cent into it.  That's when it hit me!  I would sell my pdf collection online on craigslist. I listed the CDs and mailed them out all over the US.  Within 3 months, I have enough money for a website!

Last march, I launched a website and added the Wise Food product line.  I started selling even more stuff and slowly added more and more products.

Then, I discovered Amazon.  Amazon rocketed me from the 1-2 sales a week category to 1-2 sales a day one.  I continued to look for more products and build my reputation for quality and service.  I re-invested nearly all of my profits into advertising.

Then this past February, as I was leafing through a Cheaper than Dirt catalog, I saw a water filter that looked like a great product.  I contacted the manufacturer and, after a seemingly risky $3k investment (the amount of money I had saved over the first year of business) in product overhead, I was in the water filter business!

I listed them on Amazon and they started selling like hot cakes (those sell fast right?)  I decided that my website needed an upgrade and that my skills weren't up for it.  I hired a guy to build me a website and manage it for me.

The first half of this year has been insane.  I won't make enough to quit my day job, but if I was laid off, I could survive. Now I'm selling 10-20 products a day and making pretty good money.  But best of all, I'm diversifying my income and enlarging my safety net.

I'm content with sales as they are, but would like to increase (of course) over the next year and I've teamed up with a guy who is a power seller on Ebay.  If we combine forces, we'll be able to reach a lot larger audience and increase potential sales. I also have sent many free samples out to blog owners in exchange for honest reviews and will continue to do so.

I'm currently using the cash to save for a small farm.  I'd like to move to a small 10-15 acre farm (selling produce and animal products) and supplement the income with the internet business.  In the mean time, I've expanded my backyard garden and added 3 chickens this year (so I won't be a total rookie when I get the land).

I've learned that there is no get rich quick easy track.  It takes desire, endurance, hard work, and a little luck.

If anyone would like to check out my website, you can visit it over at www.InternetPrepper.com

I'm happy to answer any questions and help out anyone who'd like to start a business.