Zappos.com is one of the Internet's true success stories. After launching nearly ten years ago as a one-person operation selling just four brands of shoes out of a loft in San Francisco, it managed to survive the tech bust and is now a thriving online retailer that boasts a workforce of 1,500 people and expects to pull in $1 billion in gross sales this year.

Want to know what puts a spring in this site’s step? Well, for just $39.95 a month Zappos chief executive officer, Tony Hsieh, is giving entrepreneurs a chance to walk in his loafers. On Tuesday morning, the online retailer launched Zappos Insights, a web site that allows members to access video interviews with company executives, submit questions to them or download original articles on the inner workings of a firm that now carries 1,415 brands and nearly 2.5 million products on its site. And, if you happen to be in the neighborhood of the company’s headquarters outside Las Vegas, Hsieh is offering up tours of the operations, too.

Zappos.com isn’t the first company to think its insights are worth paying for. Walt Disney (DIS) and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company have been schooling businesses about customer service for years. And Ben & Jerry’s has long offered sweet tooths tours of its ice cream production plants.

If the early interest is any indication -- the site signed up its first member five minutes after launching -- entrepreneurs are craving this kind of insider information. That’s no surprise to Aaron Magness, the executive who oversees Zappos Insights. “We often have [business people] stop in and ask for advice,” he says. On an average day, Zappos.com hosts six to 10 tour groups, which are typically populated by stalled business owners and executives looking for inspiration. “We wanted to find a way to package all their questions and make answers available every day,” says Magness.

However, the “meat” of Zappos Insights’ offerings are the video responses to user questions. Currently, the site houses about 30 staff-produced videos that span topics such as “the impact of today's financial crisis” and “Zappos.com’s culture.” In one eight-minute clip starring Zappos CEO Hsieh entitled “the importance of open and honest communication,” viewers find out that he's an avid user of Twitter, a free social messaging tool that allows you to tell other people what you are doing at any given moment during the day. In the video, Hsieh says Twitter is particularly useful for business people who want to stay connected to their personal and professional networks.

In addition to videos and original articles, members can also access information on Zappos’ five-week training course, which includes a week-long stint at its warehouse in Kentucky. At the “KY Bootcamp,” as Zappos employees term that week of training, new hires learn the layout of the warehouse and how to interact with customers. Members also get a look at Zappos’ coveted hiring application and learn more about the two sets of interviews that await applicants. The employee-authored handbook is also a popular read. (The 2008 edition has 479 pages containing hundreds of short essays written by Zappos employees, vendor recommendations and is even peppered with a few quotes by Jimi Hendrix.)

But doesn’t such transparency equate to Coca Cola (KO) giving away its secret soda recipe? Hsieh isn’t worried -- yet. “It’s not something we need to hide from,” says Magness. “There’s room for everyone to be successful.”

-- write to Diana Ransom at dransom@smartmoney.com 

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