One of my experiences

I have tried my hand at several different kinds of businesses throughout the years. My first stab at a small business was selling that SMC merchandise, you know the company, the ads are often on TV with Tom Bosley promoting them. The business was a flop but it gave me the experience of marketing and promotion. At first I was selling the products using their catalogs and mail order. This was before the internet became widely used like it is now so I was forced into buying magazine ads to promote the business. I also rented out a small section of a larger store and they sold my products for me. The store owner wanted to retire and was slowly giving up on the store. The store soon went out of business and thus ended my largest amount of monthly profit. I soon gave up on mail order after that. I did try to sell the products on eBay when eBay was young but I soon found everyone else seemed to have the same products to sell. The lesson I learned from that was to never, but never try to sell what everyone else is selling, you will not get very far do so.