The beauty about an e-commerce web site is that it doesnt matter if you live in Vancouver, British Columbia or even the lower mainland, you can find millions of customers for your goods ands services. And you dont have to an e-commerce expert or hire an army of specialists to capitalize on this economic whirlwind!

Since 1985, I have owned a construction company, a homeschool bookstore, a web sites development company, an e-commerce coaching company and several other internet-based companies. Through all of this, I have become something of an e-commerce expert, but I am always in search of the "perfect" business.

With this quest in mind, I decided to reflect upon my self-employment history and write down the characteristics of the "perfect" business.

Requirements for the "perfect" business:

#1 - No debt.

Debt makes everything happen too fast. It puts too much pressure on your business. Debt is the #1 reason most businesses fail in the United States and Canada.

#2 - Something that can start small.

You dont want to bite off more than you can chew. If you have never had one employee, you do not want to start off with ten of them! Especially with the regulations in Vancouver, BC or the rest of Canada. Remember, all things need a chance to incubate before they can grow...and your e-commerce business is no exception.

#3 - Must include my kids.

The whole purpose for my starting a family e-commerce business was to spend more time with my family. If I start a labor-intensive business in my garage and never see my kids, what is the point?!?

#4 - Low capital investment

If you had a ga-zillion dollars, you wouldnt need to start an e-commerce business!

#5 - Low time investment

Nuff said! Hey, you have a lot to see in Vancouver and British Columbia. You want a business that will work for you while you are out seeing the sights.

#6 - Generate passive income

Again, I cant start creating wealth until my passive income exceeds my monthly expenses. I want to earn money when I sleep (or while Im on vacation!).

#7 - High reward for little risk

Hey as long as we are dreaming, I might as well throw this one in as well. I do not want to take huge risks, but I do want a huge upside potential!

Now, Im not asking much...am I?

Actually, the only thing I know that meets all of these requirements is an e-commerce business. I know of no other business where you can invest less than $65 (domain name and a hosting service) and start selling products within 4 hours. And with eBay, it is even cheaper and quicker than that!

Honestly, anyone can set up a simple web site with a product, drive customers to the site, make the sale and ship the product. This is not rocket science. And it is not the private domain of techies, experts or specialists. You dont even need a merchant account. If you can type a document in Microsoft Word and check your email, you can do this. Believe me. Oh, you may have to know how to apply packing tape to a package, but I think you will get the hang of that!

I live in a small town in Idaho. It is a rural community with a small state college. Of the small population here, one-third is college students. Not exactly a booming economy with plenty of customers beating down my door! So, in order to make a living, I have to find my clients elsewhere. Actually, I find millions everyday. Now, not every one of them buys from me, but the fact remains, I have access to a huge client base through the power of the internet. And I imagine you face a similar problem in Vancouver, BC and the lower mainland.

I sell to people everyday that I have never met. This is an amazing concept. If you already have a business, I hope you see the huge potential you are missing if you are not making some portion of your sales through e-commerce.

What would you give to double your current customer base?

How much do you spend in a year on traditional advertising methods trying to win new customers?

I dont care what you sell, there is something related to your service or product that you could sell on the internet. And the cool thing about the internet is once you set it up, it keeps selling and selling and selling