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It seems like operating an online business is 5% software hackery and 95% finding a cool thing to sell, finding a supplier, building a supply chain and fulfillment system, and customer support. Think about it like this: if you can find a thing to sell on a street corner, you can sell it online. Seriously. Say you found these awesome fucking USB-C cables for about $1/each from a Chinese supplier. You think people will pay about $15/each for them, so you set up `awesome-fucking-cables.com` and start selling them. Registering a domain and setting up a web shop is the easy part, but it tends to be what people focus on.

Some ideas of the stuff you could sell:

- Kombucha

- Specialty sodas

- Heirloom seeds

- Specialty light bulbs and/or batteries

- Spice packets

- Carpet cleaning powder

- Dice

- Specialty candles

- Prepared origami paper

- Specialty pens/pencils/crayons

- Funky hair accessories (someone recently asked me why there aren't many superhero themed ones because it would be a huge market)


My wife paid for her grad school entirely by selling direct-from-manufacturer fashion goods, from China, to middle-aged upper/middle-class women in central Europe. The crazy thing that made it all work, IMO, was that the website was invite only. The women used the exclusivity as a status in their social circles, and invites as favors.

It's fascinating how these small market niches exist but it really is the other 95% that makes them take off.

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