" Do your research - This involves every aspect of the import / export business. You want to ensure that you have a great product to bring in. So, you need to do exceptional research to make sure that no one else has already cornered the market. Essentially you need to be the first one... maybe second, to bring the product to an area. Research the demand; research the distributors; research a good purchase price and selling price - research to prevent any mistakes in your business.
" Negotiate - Whether it is for the purchase of a product, the shipping cost, the storage cost, or the sales price, you should always be willing to at least TRY to negotiate the costs of these. Negotiate longer term deals for storage or shipping in order to bring the cost down; and push for higher sales prices and provide the distributor with incentives to sell. Every aspect of this work at home business can be negotiated - that's just the name of the game.
" Always maintain a demand - This requires that you carefully monitor how much of a certain product you are bringing in and shipping out to distributors. You never want to leave the distributor (and therefore the retailer) with a surplus of goods they can't sell. As long as there is a demand for your product you can have a steady supply of business in import / export.
" Keep searching for opportunities - They will come from all over. You will hear of demands for products and you need to be ready to pounce on budding opportunities to capitalize on those open doors. Even with your business bringing in good cash, you will want to make sure that you never have a lull - and you can do that by bringing in the right products at the right time, and always keep on top of emerging trends.
Import / export is an extremely lucrative work from home business - for the person willing to put the work into it. It isn't hard labor, but you do need to have a keen sense of business and an eye for a good product to bring in, or to send out to other markets.