Quality - Marketing Skills - Knowledge - Customer service
Being involve in the community being knowledgeable and sharing your knowledge (and I don't mean sharing hatchling pictures and an advice or two during hatchling season and hatchling season only), I am talking about being invopved year round helping others with sound advice based on solid experience. This is often the first step to earn a good reputation, people will get to know you and trust you.
Good marketing skills know your market, know how to promote yourself, take pride in your animals, take great pictures (don't be one of those taking puctures of a snake in a dirty cage, or on a dirty towel)
Treat your customer the way you would want to be treated, be there before, during and after the sale.
Build strong bases when it comes to your collection, don't buy an animal just because it's cheap buy an animal because it is quality and fits your projects, don't be one of those building there collection on animals they scavenge from CL. Buy quality animals, care about lineage and quality.
If you want to be successful you have to treat this seriously like a business, putting 2 snakes together is the easy part and it just not enough, the majority of people failing do not know how to market themselves, make poor decisions, lack the commitment, patience and passion and just do not have a business mindset.
This is comming from someone that has been doing this for a decade
