There are never enough good businesses. When we started our first e-commerce business, we entered a very narrow niche competing with businesses that had been around for decades. While less than half were really selling on-line, those that were had years of on-line brand awareness as an advantage. Furthermore, most products were price-protected by the manufacturer, meaning we could not advertise them on-line below a certain price. This eliminated competition by price.

Doesn't sound much like a potential gold-mine, eh? We decided to provide better product information, better service and better after-sale support than anyone else. It didn't cost us more to be friendlier. It did, of course, take more time to produce more product information and more photos, but it didn't cost us anything but our time. And in the process of writing about the products, we learned enough to provide excellent after-sale support.

The result? Within the first year, we climbed to the top 2% of on-line dealers in terms of sales volume. And, after 5 years, we had amassed over 6,000 customers coast-to-coast who preferred to do business with us.

It's the 80/20 rule. Perhaps the most consistent law of nature: 20% of businesses in a given market will generate 80% of the revenue. We believe the same exists for the online marketplace, as well. This goes hand-in-hand with our first point above.

The key is doing what it takes to be in that top 20%. If you use the same business practices, techniques, software, web design, etc. that the 80% use, guess what? You have to try to share 20% of the revenue pie.

Our experience has taught us that if you're willing to do what the 80% are unwilling to do, then you end up in the top 20%, sharing 80% of the revenue. ESP was created to help others learn what it takes to be in that top 20%.

E-commerce is Growing. We remember when the futurists were predicting that by 2000 we would be buying everything on-line. Well, of course, that didn't come true, but it is a fact that on-line sales are growing at a steady and upward pace.

But, before you get wrapped up in the size of on-line commerce, consider what your goals are. What monthly or yearly sales volume will meet your financial goals in the first year? What about year five? Let's take our own case, for example. When we built our first e-commerce Web site in 2004, we only wanted to earn a thousand or two extra each month. Our sons were in college and high school, and having $1,000 to $2,000 extra would certainly help. We had our Web engineering business going at the time, and it was paying the monthly necessities.

Would $1,000-2,000 be a good place for your start, too? If so, let's assume that to earn $2,000/month net, you would need to sell $10,000 worth of products and services. What is the total size of the on-line market in your niche? That may be a hard number to pin down, but let's assume it's $10,000,000. A pretty modest national market size for any hard goods niche. Using these numbers, that would mean you need a 0.1% share of the market to reach your goals. That's 1/10th of one percent! If you know what you're doing, that should be a walk in the park.

What we found with our first e-commerce business is that by doing that top 20% of effort, the on-line store took off running. By the end of the first year, we were netting $8,000-10,000 each month, while working from home during normal business hours. Of course, we want to be clear: we won't and can't guarantee these or any other financial results for anyone taking ESP. Our contention is that if you do what we teach, then you will be doing what the top 20% are doing.