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Top 10 Low Risk Tips For Starting Your Own E-commerce Company

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Top 10 Low Risk Tips For Starting Your Own E-commerce Company

Tech layoffs have hit hard. Starting in 2022, major brands including Spotify, Google and Microsoft have been laying off tens of thousands of workers. In the wake of the already tumultuous Covid-19 pandemic and rising inflation, many Americans have been thrust into a state of panic concerning their current and future employment.

The good news is, there are low-risk ways to start your own e-commerce company. For example, in 2021, more than 100,000 new American brands joined Amazon. Amazon’s U.S. selling partners have sold over 3.9 billion products – that equals 7,500 items every minute – and averaged about $200,000 in sales per seller.

“Today, Amazon is a preferred partner for nearly two million selling partners worldwide – most of which are small and medium-sized businesses,” says Claire O’Donnell, director of selling partner empowerment, communities and trust at Amazon. “Our selling partners are incredibly important to us, and we work hard to provide them with effective resources to run and launch successful businesses. We offer a robust suite of tools and services, lending programs, and free educational services like Amazon Small Business Academy and Amazon Seller University to make sure it’s easy for anyone to start selling in Amazon’s store and connect with a global customer base.”

Shan Shan Fu is the founder of Millennials In Motion, an e-commerce brand that sells products on Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, Etsy and Poshmark. She also serves as head of business development at Trivium, an award-winning Amazon advertising and management agency.

Here are Fu’s top 10 tips for starting an e-commerce company with her low-risk, low-investment method:

1. Look for products that have high demand and low competition. Using tools such as Helium 10’s Magnet, you can discover which keywords are being searched on Amazon. Look for products with at least 5,000 monthly searches and less than 1,000 competitors.

2. Create barriers to entry to avoid your product getting copied. Avoid “commodity products,” which are products that anyone can sell. Make your product unique with better features, better design, and/or better functionality. Patent your product, if possible. Work within a particular niche and expand from there.

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3. Start with small and light products if you are low in initial cash investment. These products will cost less to ship and less to store than big, heavy, bulky products.

4. If you are on a tight budget, use your smartphone to take pictures and harness apps like GIMP and Canva to edit them. GIMP (similar to Adobe Photoshop) is a free app that allows you to cut out your product and paste it on a white background. Canva is a drag and drop website where you can create beautiful, poster-like images for your product listing pages.

5. Sell your own clothes and belongings on Poshmark in order to get the hang of e-commerce. Honing your skills by selling some of your own goods on Poshmark first will teach you about writing product descriptions, shipping and fulfillment, and customer preferences.

6. Launch on Etsy to test products before expanding your business. For Etsy, you don’t even need a barcode; only images and a product description are required. By testing first, you can save on the cost of launching. The bottom 80 percent of products will not survive.

7. Target your demographic with PickFu. PickFu.com allows you to ask your target demographic if they like your products for only $1 per response. Use it to test photos and product ideas so you don’t waste time or money on a bad product launch.

8. Once you have figured out the top 20 percent winners on Etsy and PickFu, then launch the product on Amazon’s Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) service. It’s important to launch on Amazon using FBA because this will get you the “Prime” badge, which can significantly increase your sales. Plus, you will no longer have to deal with customer service or order fulfillment, as Amazon will handle it all for you.

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9. Invest in Amazon advertising. The pay-per-click platform is a low-cost way to generate sales and increase your organic ranking.

10. Later, you can launch products on Shopify to build your brand and catch sales from influencers. The Shopify app called Shogun allows you to create easy drag-and-drop brand websites. Divert influencer traffic here because Shopify has the lowest fees.

Tracy Sun is the cofounder and SVP of seller experience for Poshmark. She has this to say about Shan Shan Fu. “Our community and their triumphs are the heart of Poshmark and Shan Shan Fu is truly a reflection of that. Her ability to grow her side hustle into a thriving full-time reselling career serves as inspiration to many. Her journey is a testament to the entrepreneurial freedom found through reselling. We are so proud she is a member of the Poshmark community.”

Fu’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from China in the 1990s. Although her father was trained as an engineer and her mother as a doctor, they were not able to pursue their professional careers once they arrived in America due to their degrees not being honored. They had to start from scratch. After working in grocery stores for a long time, Fu’s father decided to move to Mexico and start an import/export business. He met with great success. Since then, Fu felt called to follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps.

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The greatest challenges of running her own e-commerce business, Fu says, are lack of stability and uncertainty. Also, for women’s clothing, a return rate of 20 to 30 percent is not uncommon. This can eat into your profit margins. You may face cash flow problems when you have to pay for inventory and advertising upfront, even though you may not sell the products until months later. That is why Fu recommends her “low-risk, low investment method.”

That said, Fu loves what she does and, she remarks, when you love what you do, it’s like doubling your lifespan. “Now, instead of enjoying just time after work and on weekends, you enjoy time during work,” she explains.

To people looking to tap into their life purpose by starting their own e-commerce companies, Fu offers this advice. “Self-reflection is the first step. Assess and rank your primary joys and drivers for happiness. When you understand what makes you happy, get ready to overcome your fear of failure, procrastination, and lack of progress by embracing the idea of being uncomfortable. When you are uncomfortable, that means you are successfully pushing yourself forward.”

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How Auto-GPT will revolutionize AI chatbots as we know them

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How Auto-GPT will revolutionize AI chatbots as we know them

Artificial intelligence chatbots such as OpenAI LP’s ChatGPT have reached a fever pitch of popularity recently not just for their ability to hold humanlike conversations, but because they can perform knowledge tasks such as research, searches and content generation.

Now there’s a new contender taking social media by storm that extends the capabilities of OpenAI’s offering by automating its abilities even further: Auto-GPT. It’s part of a new class of AI tools called “autonomous AI agents” that take the power of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, the generative AI technologies behind ChatGPT, to approach a task, build on its own knowledge, and connect apps and services to automate tasks and perform actions on the behalf of users.

ChatGPT might seem magical to users for its ability to answer questions and produce content based on user prompts, such as summarizing large documents or generating poems and stories or writing computer code. However, it’s limited in what it can do because it’s capable of doing only one task at a time. During a session with ChatGPT, a user can prompt the AI with only one question at a time and refining those prompts or questions can be a slow and tedious journey.

Auto-GPT, created by game developer Toran Bruce Richards, takes away these limitations by allowing users to give the AI an objective and a set of goals to meet. Then it spawns a bot that acts like a person would, using OpenAI’s GPT model to perform AI prompts in order to approach that goal. Along the way, it learns to refine its prompts and questions in order to get better results with every iteration.

It also has internet connectivity in order to gather additional information from searches. Moreover, it has short- and long-term memory through database connections so that it can keep track of sub-tasks. And it uses GPT-4 to produce content such as text or code when required. Auto-GPT is also capable of challenging itself when a task is incomplete and filling in the gaps by changing its own prompts to get better results.

According to Richards, although current AI chatbots are extremely powerful, their inability to refine their own prompts on the fly and automate tasks is a bottleneck. “This inspiration led me to develop Auto-GPT, which can apply GPT-4’s reasoning to broader, more complex problems that require long-term planning and multiple steps,” he told Vice.

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Auto-GPT is available as open source on GitHub. It requires an application programming interface key from OpenAI to access GPT-4. And to use it, people will need to install Python and a development environment such as Docker or VS Code with a Dev Container extension. As a result, it might take a little bit of technical knowhow to get going, though there’s extensive setup documentation.

How does it work?

In a text interface, Auto-GPT asks the user to give the AI a name, a role, an objective and up to five goals that it should reach. Each of these defines how the AI agents will approach the action the user wants and how it will deliver the final product.

First, the user sets a name for the AI, such as “RestaurantMappingApp-GPT,” and then set a role, such as “Develop a web app that will provide interactive maps for nearby restaurants.” The user can then set a series of goals, such as “Write a back-end in Python” and “Program a front end in HTML,” or “Offer links to menus if available” and “Link to delivery apps.”

Once the user hits enter, Auto-GPT will begin launching agents, which will produce prompts for GPT-4, then approach the original role and each of the different goals. Finally, it will then begin refining and recursing through the different prompts that will allow it to connect to Google Maps using Python or JavaScript.

It does this by breaking the overall job into smaller tasks to work on each, and it uses a primary monitoring AI bot that acts as a “manager” to make sure that they coordinate. This particular prompt asks the bot to build a somewhat complex app that could go awry if it doesn’t keep track of a number of different moving parts, so it might take a large number of steps to get there.

With each step, each AI instance will “narrate” what it’s doing and even criticize itself in order to refine its prompts depending on its approach toward the given goal. Once it reaches a particular goal, each instance will finalize its process and return its answer back to the main management task.

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Trying to get ChatGPT or even the more advanced, subscription-based GPT-4 to do this without supervision would take a large number of manual steps that would have to be attended to by a human being. Auto-GPT does them on its own.

The capabilities of Auto-GPT are beneficial for neophyte developers looking to get ahead in the game, Brandon Jung, vice president of ecosystem at AI-code completion tool provider Tabnine Ltd., told SiliconANGLE.

“One benefit is that it’s a good introduction for those that are new to coding, and it allows for quick prototyping,” Jung said. “For use cases that don’t require exactness or have security concerns, it could speed up the creation process without having to be part of a broader system that includes an expert for review.”

Being able to build apps rapidly, including all the code all at once, from a simple series of text prompts would bring a lot of new templates for code into the hands of developers. Essentially providing them with rapid solutions and foundations to build on. However, they would have to go through a thorough review first before being put into production.

What kind of applications can Auto-GPT be used for?

That’s just one example of Auto-GPT’s capabilities. With its capabilities, it has wide-reaching possibilities that are currently being explored by developers, project managers, AI researchers and anyone else who can download its source code.

“There are numerous examples of people using Auto-GPT to do market research, create business plans, create apps, automate complex tasks in pursuit of a goal, such as planning a meal, identifying recipes and ordering all the ingredients, and even execute transactions on behalf of the user,” Sheldon Monteiro, chief product officer at the digital business transformation firm Publicis Sapient, told SiliconANGLE.

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With its ability to search the internet, Auto-GPT can be tasked with quick market research such as “Find me five gaming keyboards under $200 and list their pros and cons.” With its ability to break a task up into multiple subtasks, the autonomous AI could then rapidly search multiple review sites, produce a market research report and come back with a list of gaming keyboards that come in under that amount and supply their prices as well as information about them.

A Twitter user named MOE created an Auto-GPT bot named “Isabella” that can autonomously analyze market data and outsource to other AIs. It does so by using the AI framework Lang-chain to gather data autonomously and do sentiment analysis on different markets.

Because Auto-GPT has access to the internet, and it can take actions on behalf of the user, it can also install applications. In the case of Twitter user Varun Mayya, who ask the bot to build some software, it discovered that he did not have Node.js installed – an environment that allows JavaScript to be run locally instead of in a web browser. As a result, it searched the internet, discovered a StackOverflow tutorial and installed it for him so it could proceed with building the app.

Auto-GPT isn’t the only autonomous agent AI currently available. Another that has come into vogue is BabyAGI, which was created by Yohei Nakajima, a venture capitalist and artificial intelligence researcher. AGI refers to “artificial general intelligence,” a hypothetical type of AI that would have the ability to perform any intellectual task – but no existing AI is anywhere close. BabyAGI is a Python-based task management system that uses the OpenAI API, like Auto-GPT, that prioritizes and builds new tasks toward an objective.

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There are also AgentGPT and GodMode, which are much more user-friendly in that they use a web interface instead of needing an installation on a computer, so they can be accessed as a service. These services lower the barrier to entry by making it simple for users because they don’t require any technical knowledge to use and will perform similar tasks to Auto-GPT, such as generating code, answering questions and doing research. However, they can’t write documents to the computer or install software.

Autonomous agents are powerful but experimental

These tools do have drawbacks, however, Monteiro warned. The examples on the internet are cherry-picked and paint the technology in a glowing light. For all the successes, there are a lot of issues that can happen when using it.

“It can get stuck in task loops and get confused,” Monteiro said. “And those task loops can get pretty expensive, very fast with the costs of GPT-4 API calls. Even when it does work as intended, it might take a fairly lengthy sequence of reasoning steps, each of which eats up expensive GPT-4 tokens.”

Accessing GPT-4 can cost money that varies depending on how many tokens are used. Tokens are based on words or parts of phrases sent through the chatbot. Charges range from three cents per 1,000 tokens for prompts to six cents per 1,000 tokens for results. That means using Auto-GPT running through a complex project or getting stuck in a loop unattended could end up costing a few dollars.

At the same time, GPT-4 can be prone to errors, known as “hallucinations,” which could spell trouble during the process. It could come up with totally incorrect or erroneous actions or, worse, produce insecure or disastrously bad code when asked to create an application.

“[Auto-GPT] has the ability to execute on previous output, even if it gets something wrong it keeps going on,” said Bern Elliot, a distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner. “It needs strong controls to avoid it going off the rails and keeping on going. I expect misuse without proper guardrails will cause some damaging unexpected and unintended outcomes.”

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The software development side could be equally problematic. Even if Auto-GPT doesn’t make a mistake that causes it to produce broken code, which would cause the software to simply fail, it could create an application riddled with security issues.

“Auto-GPT is not part of a full software development lifecycle — testing, security, et cetera — nor is it integrated into an IDE,” Jung said, warning about the potential issues that could arise from the misuse of the tool. “Abstracting complexity is fine if you are building on a strong foundation. However, these tools are by definition not building strong code and are encouraging bad and insecure code to be pushed into production.”

The future of Auto-GPT and other autonomous agents

Tools such as Auto-GPT, BabyAGI, AgentGPT and GodMode are still experimental, but there are broader implications in how they could be used to replace routine tasks such as vacation planning or shopping, explained Monteiro.

Right now, Microsoft has even developed simple examples of a plugin for Bing Chat. It allows users to ask it to offer them dinner suggestions that will have its AI – which is powered by GPT-4 – will roll up a list of ingredients and then launch Instacart to have them prepared for delivery. Although this is a step in the direction of automation, bots such as Auto-GPT are edging toward a potential future of all-out autonomous behaviors.

A user could ask for Auto-GPT to look through local stores, prepare lists of ingredients, compare prices and quality, set up a shopping cart and even complete orders autonomously. At this experimental point, many users may not be willing to allow the bot to go all the way through with using their credit card and deliver orders all on its own, for fear that it could go haywire and send them several hundred bunches of basil.

A similar future where an AI does this for travel agents using Auto-GPT may not be far away. “Give it your parameters — beach, four-hour max travel, hotel class — and your budget, and it will happily do all the web browsing for you, comparing options in quest of your goal,” said Monteiro. “When it is done, it will present you with its findings, and you can also see how it got there.”

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As these tools begin to mature, they have a real chance of providing a way for people to automate away mundane step-by-step tasks that happen on the internet. That could have some interesting implications, especially in e-commerce.

“How will companies adapt when these agents are browsing sites and eliminating your product from the consideration set before a human even sees the brand?” said Monteiro. “From an e-commerce standpoint, if people start using Auto-GPT tools to buy goods and services online, retailers will have to adapt their customer experience.”

* Image: Freepik

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The Top 10 Benefits of Amazon AWS Lightsail: Why It’s a Great Choice for Businesses

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a popular cloud computing platform that offers a wide range of services to individuals and businesses alike. One of the services offered by AWS is Amazon Lightsail, which is a simplified and user-friendly way to launch and manage virtual private servers (VPS). In this article, we will discuss the benefits of using Amazon Lightsail for your business.

Cost-effective

One of the primary advantages of using Amazon Lightsail is its cost-effectiveness. The service offers a flat monthly fee for each instance, which makes it easy to predict costs and plan for your budget. Moreover, the pricing is transparent, with no hidden costs or surprises.

Lightsail Pricing

User-friendly

Amazon Lightsail is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for even non-technical users to deploy and manage virtual private servers. The platform provides a simplified control panel that includes pre-configured software packages, such as WordPress, LAMP, and more. These packages are preconfigured, making it easy to deploy and set up a web application in minutes.

Scalable

Amazon Lightsail is designed to be scalable, which means you can easily upgrade your resources as your business grows. The platform provides a range of instance sizes to choose from, with varying CPU, RAM, and storage options. You can also scale up or down as needed, making it easy to manage your resources and costs.

Reliable

Amazon Lightsail is built on top of the AWS infrastructure, which means it benefits from AWS’s robust and reliable cloud infrastructure. This ensures that your applications and data are always available and accessible, with minimal downtime.

Secure

Amazon Lightsail provides a secure and reliable environment for your applications and data. The platform includes a range of security features, such as built-in firewalls, DDoS protection, and SSL/TLS encryption. Moreover, Lightsail instances are isolated from each other, which provides an additional layer of security.

Integrated with AWS services

Amazon Lightsail is fully integrated with other AWS services, making it easy to use Lightsail with other AWS services such as Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, and more. This integration provides a comprehensive cloud computing platform, enabling you to build and run complex applications.

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Quick and easy deployment

Amazon Lightsail provides a quick and easy way to deploy web applications, with pre-configured templates for popular applications such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and more. This makes it easy to deploy a web application in just a few clicks, without the need for technical knowledge.

High-performance

Amazon Lightsail instances are built on top of the latest generation of AWS infrastructure, providing high-performance and low-latency connectivity. This ensures that your applications and data are always accessible and responsive, with fast and efficient data transfer.

Easy to manage

Amazon Lightsail provides a simplified management interface, making it easy to manage your virtual private servers. The platform includes tools for monitoring your instances, configuring backups, managing DNS records, and more. Moreover, the platform provides a range of APIs and CLI tools, making it easy to automate management tasks.

Flexible

Amazon Lightsail is flexible, allowing you to choose the operating system and software stack that best suits your needs. The platform supports a range of operating systems, including Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, and more. Moreover, you can install and configure any software stack that you need, giving you complete control over your environment.

In conclusion, Amazon Lightsail is a cost-effective, user-friendly, scalable, reliable, secure, integrated, quick, high-performance, easy-to-manage, and flexible platform for deploying and managing virtual private servers. If you’re looking for a simplified and efficient way to manage your cloud computing resources, Amazon Lightsail is definitely worth considering.

Get started today with Amazon Lightsail

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Binance’s BNB Chain to Offer New Decentralized Storage System

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Binance’s BNB Chain to Offer New Decentralized Storage System

The release of the decentralized storage system’s white paper was having a modest effect on the price of other storage tokens on Wednesday. Filecoin (FIL), storj (STORJ), and arweave (AR) are now trading 2%, 5% and 6%, respectively, above their pre-announcement prices.

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