The most common question that is never directly asked is: "How can I launch an online tea retailer for $10,000 or less?" The questions I usually get are a little less more circumspect, but it all comes down to wondering whether it is possible to build a successful business with limited resources. I've answered this question several hundred times over the past few years. The answer depends on an accurate measure of available resources and YOUR definition of success.

It is still possible to launch an online tea retailer on a shoestring budget and find success. You just need to choose the perfect strategy, perfect product collection, perfect partners and perfect message. For most new businesses, success is a matter of having the funding necessary to allow time to perfect the business model and operation. The less money you have, the more important it is that you don't make mistakes.

There is A LOT of money to be made in tea, but if it were easy to find the perfect path, everyone would be doing it. E-Commerce is the second installment in a series of articles on how to get started in the business on a shoestring budget.

A good Point of Sale (POS) system can be a cornerstone for your business and a tremendous aid in managing work-flow and implementing reliable systems. A bad POS system can complicate and frustrate your operation and leave everyone (customers and employees) with a poor impression of your operation. In this second installment I'll describe what I've chosen for Adagio and why.

Depending on your technical aptitude and proclivities, choosing a Retail Point of Sale system may feel like a joy-ride of potential or a carnival fun-house full of trap doors, warped mirrors and grinning sales people. The simple truth is that a good Point of Sale (POS) system can be a cornerstone of your your business and a tremendous aid in managing work-flow and implementing reliable systems. A bad POS system can complicate and frustrate your operation and leave everyone (customers and employees) with a poor impression of your operation. In this first installment I'll give you a little guidance into choosing a POS system.

The truth is that the market really doesn’t have much use for another under-sized, under-funded, “me-too” online tea shop. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a wealth of opportunity hiding a few steps off the beaten path.