The Power of Shopping Networks You want attention? Go on TV. You want to clear out your inventory? Go on a shopping channel.

Mannix. C-SPAN. The Food Network. Burt Reynolds in Cannonball Run II. Some sharks on the Discovery Channel. Abe Vigoda. The Skipper shouting, "Gilligan!" And in the midst of all this are entrepreneurs.

You know where they are. QVC. HSN. The Shop at Home Network. ValueVision. Even your local access TV station may be offering up some shopping bounty.

And we know what you're thinking: that you would and could never try to sell your wares on TV, where they'd be sandwiched between diamond pendants and Don Knotts videotape collections. You're thinking a shopping network simply isn't as exciting as HBO. Or even as exciting as The Golf Channel. But the facts don't lie: A shopping channel can be a casting couch you can use to secure a reputation and riches.