1. Don't waste money on advertising. I must have spent thousands of pounds over the years on adverts which NEVER paid for themselves. Don't make the same mistake! Instead, concentrate on getting editorial and having products featured on shopping pages of magazines and newspapers. This kind of publicity is seen as a form of recommendation and is far more effective than advertising. It's also cheaper and a lot more fun! Recommendation (or perceived recommendation) is what you need to make your business stand out from the crowd. After all, anyone can put together an advert - it doesn't mean that you are actually any good. These days, I never pay for advertising; I put all my efforts into PR and am having far more success as a result.

2. Don't spend too much money on stock. This is one of the major causes of bankruptcy amongst new businesses. It's tempting to think that you have a keen eye for a bestseller but it isn't always the case, and you could get stuck with lots of stock you can't shift. I used to order more than I needed just so that I didn't have to pay for carriage (above a certain amount, orders are usually carriage-paid) but soon realised the foolishness of this approach. It's not worth risking bankruptcy just because you have an aversion to paying carriage charges! Buy as little as you can each time, and build the cost of delivery into the selling price. This way, it doesn't matter how little you order as you have covered the carriage costs anyway.

3. Create an ecommerce website. In a niche market, you have to make the most of every sales opportunity and the internet is a great way of reaching a bigger audience. It's really cheap, there are virtually no overheads once it's set up and you can reach people all over the world. Mine uses off-the-peg ecommerce software called Actinic (www.actinic.co.uk); the 'look and feel' has been created by the web designer, using my own ideas. I'm very happy with it - it is economical and works well. I've heard horror stories from people who have had expensive but ultimately flawed ecommerce solutions made just for them, so this off-the-peg package has been great for us. My website (www.periodfeatures.net) cost around