One further note on drop shipping.

There's no need to find a conventional supplier for merchandise, and selling the same thing as every other site on the Internet or every other catalogue might be a great way to guarantee no revenue.

When thinking about drop shipping as a technique for starting a bootstrap retail business, why not create a collection of products that you can make uniquely your own?

One way to do this is to consider what products might have value to customers but simply aren't marketed anywhere in a unified way so that the public can find them.

Some examples might be a co-op of independent clothing designers or a group of self publishers in a particular field of interest.

While each individual small business person marketing their own product on their own website might take years to develop a following sufficient to make a living from their work, a single marketer with a website or catalog might increase traffic and business for them all.

Unlike suppliers selling more conventional items, these small business people may be thrilled that you are trying to get them additional exposure and willing to make special drop shipping arrangements. They may even help promote your business.

When putting together our own experimental bootstrapping venture IndieTune here at bootstrapme.com, we considered the plight faced by independent recording artists and producers, who, while creating something quite unique, lack the ability to market it like a large retailer.

By combining their output in one place, we hope to create both a venue through which independent musicians can market their products more effectively and an alternative for music fans tired of the same old major label offerings.

Sure, it may be harder and slower going at first to find your own unique blend of products instead of being one of a million sites selling a "stone finish sitting angel" or "frosted acrylic angel vase", but in the end you'll be the only show in town.