Hi Everyone!
Happy Tuesday! Mo was on vacation last week so it was a little crazy around here. However, I was able to patch it all together and keep it going. I will explain in this newsletter how I held it together without doing all the work myself. Now, this is worth checking out!
I am also going to announce the winners of the PriceMiner contest today.
Don’t miss the fre
e teleseminar that I will be hosting on Thursday night. I am going to be interviewed by Kevin Nations (home-based business expert) about the “Dralle Method.” I can’t wait to share my secret system with you all. Click here to get on the call for FREE.
Finally, tonight at midnight the price of my eBay Boot Camp goes up. There are fewer than ten seats left. When you wake up tomorrow all the seats may be sold. Don’t miss out. Click here to sign up.
This ezine is published twice a month.
October 17, 2006 Volume II, Issue 14
- A week without Mo
- Priceminer Contest Winners
- Free Teleseminar Thursday, October 19th
- Last Day to Purchase Boot Camp Seat at Low Price
A week without Mo
As many of you know, Mo (Maureen) is my trusty assistant. She took a long-needed vacation last week and was gone for about ten days to Chicago to see her family. I didn’t want to hire anyone to come in for just a week so I made do with my high school helper, Haley, and my mom who is in town.
Partying with Mo at eBay Live in Las Vegas
It worked out quite well (not as great as when Mo is here–but still OK) and I want to share with you how I scheduled my time. I think there may be some valuable lessons for you to utilize in your own eBay business plan.
I made it a point to have cut-off times each day for specific tasks. As far as the specific tasks, I delegated the checking-in of monies to my Mom, relisting to both Haley and my Mom, and the packing and shipping to both gals. I took over Mo’s traditional job of filling out the sold item forms, pulling store sheets, and finding the merchandise to ship. I also answered all the questions and the “my messages.” It worked out fine and I was even able to list 100 things that week!
Every morning, I would go through the completed auctions for the day and pull all the store sheets for what has sold. I would do this at 8 am and would not do it again until the next morning. I have learned over the years that stopping your workflow to deviate from the schedule (like checking in and packing that one last auction that closed at 2 pm) can take 1/2 hour. It is a time-waster and you have to have these rigid cutoffs so that you keep up your assembly line routine.
At about 10 am, my mom started checking in all the Paypal payments and checks. As she was doing this, I would start finding all the merch and getting it staged to be shipped. By noon, we were finished with this work and the packing and shipping would start. Usually, my mom was done by 3 pm, but some days there was so much to ship that Haley would take over from 3 pm to 6 pm. Our little system worked quite well! BUT, I am very glad that Mo is back in town!
Photo of my staged merchandise
These are some of the items that I sold this weekend. These items (along with their I Sell sheets) are ready to be packed (by someone else!)
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Check out the I Sell system here.
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Here is my schedule for a day without Mo:
8 am — Fill out completed auction paperwork, pull store sheets
for sold items,
check-in Payments
10 am — Pull items to ship
Noon — Cut off for the day,
last check-in for completed auctions and last Paypal check-in
Noon to 3 pm Pack, ship, and do labels
3 pm UPS picks up
Done with packing/shipping for the day
I also want to mention that I would do some of the checking in of completed auctions the night before. THE BIG POINT HERE is that afternoon–nothing new that has sold or been paid for gets shipped out until the next day. You must have that rigid cut-off or you will be spending too much time on one item. That one package can wait until the next day when it will fit much better into your assembly line process.
As you all realize, an eBay job is never finished. There is always one more package you could ship, or one more item to list, or one more thing to relist. Make your eBay business and your life sane and have cutoff times each day.
As an example, I try and list my 100 items on the weekend so that I have the week to write, spend more time with my kids and work on other business ideas. However, I often find myself thinking “wow, all 100 new items are already on, I could list 50 more things this week”. When this happens I stop, take a deep breath and honor my cutoff. I know that I make a great living with 100 things and that my personal and writing time is important.
It is funny, but I would rather list items on eBay than do anything else. It is addictive–but in a good way. To keep your eBay experience positive, you must have a limit on how many things you are going to put on each week. Honor that number and take a well-needed break once it is accomplished. FYI, I was just interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about being addicted to selling on eBay. Watch for this article to come out sometime in December
Priceminer Contest
As most of you know, PriceMiner is one of my favorite research tools. It is the best site for antiques and collectibles research and I use it daily.
In the promotion that we ran at the end of August for my new book, Money Making Madness, Jim Kamnikar of PriceMiner was kind enough to hold a drawing to give three of my readers a free year of his service! Here are the winners. And CONGRATS!
John G. from Hainesport, NJ
Judy M. from Blue Eye, MO
Carl T. from Philadelphia, PA
Happy eBaying and Congratulations to the winners!
Teleseminar Thursday, October 19th
I’m going to REVEAL my “Dralle Method” during a FREE teleseminar just for my ezine subscribers on Thursday, October 19th, 2006. Reserve your spot now.
This teleseminar is a phone call where you join others calling in to hear me share my eBay experiences. This call will also be a super sneak preview of my next “eBay Boot Camp” happening in November 2006. The LAST one I will be doing this year.
Take my word for it…you DON’T want to miss this FREE call!
Click here to reserve your place
eBay Boot Camp
Tonight at midnight the price of my eBay Boot Camp goes up. There are fewer than ten seats left. When you wake up tomorrow all the seats may be sold. Don’t miss out. Click here to sign up.
Happy Buying & Selling!
Lynn
P.S. If you aren’t making all the money you deserve on eBay….you must check this out.
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Lynn is an experienced eBay Power Seller, author, and teacher. If you want to know the eBay tips, tricks, and tools that Lynn uses for buying and selling at an online auction click here.