Hello all, i am new to this business, i have spoken with the folks at island inkjet and tonerworld about their franchises , any way i was not sure about how that business model will work in the USA,as luck would have it, before i could go any further i found out about recharger mag. and attended the expo. last year in Vegas and decided i do not need to pay someone $30K just for a name that is not known in the USA.
My question is,what is the best way to be sucessful in this business, i am in the process of setting up a yahoo store to sell inkjet and laser toners but the competition seems high and the prices are crazy, how can they make any money selling a reman HP 45 at 11.95 with free shipping!
I am at the point, were i am getting a little frustrated abd was about to give up until i landed on Ann Barr's website, i bought 2 of her books yesterday and spent the whole night reading them.
So right now ,i am thinking of 2 approches, the 1st one is to rent a store to sell printer supplies with walk in refill service, since i already bought the refill machine from Ramora- the risk with that, is i am not sure how viable that is, as a business model- especially since in the DC area commercial real estate is very expensive, and also the overhead that comes with owning a store.
2nd approch is to work from my basement and focus on usings Ann's advice on her books and try to get some business accounts, only problem with that, is since i have been hitting the pavements and going to offices and doing some cold calling- by the way i have no sales experience- i got 2 accounts that i have now lost because the got a new copier and they said the toner comes with it.
Is is possible to have a toner supply business without selling printing machines and doing repair? most of the places i call or visit, tell me they already have a contact with the people that sold them the machines.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Isha
inks N Beyond