I like start small stay small. That is my goal initially. In addition it should be a business where I can scale down the hours while keeping the earnings, and s

I like start small stay small. That is my goal initially. In addition it should be a business where I can scale down the hours while keeping the earnings, and semi-retire early. I was looking at ebay. But having spent some time on the Terapeek free trial, ebay.com.au and Alibaba looking at many products it seems to me that ebay sellers are making razor thin margins, or in some cases outright losses. I don't get it. I think the ones making good money are established stores who use ebay as an additional channel. They are trying to acquire new customers, so can take a hit on the first sale, offering free postage or whatever. I don't fancy competing with that. So I am now leaning more towards the sensible suggestion in this thread to stick to what I know. IT/Programming. My current idea is a simple one. To give 1 hour free consultation to a small business to see if I can help them save time/labour using automation. If I can then I give them a quote for a solution, otherwise walk away. Even if I spend hours and don't sell anything, I get a lot of market research and new ideas, so it won't be wasted.