Hi!
Every morning I try and read a quote for the day from Norman Vincent Peale’s book Positive Thinking Every Day. Tuesday’s quote was “It’s always too soon to quit”! For some reason, this really stuck with me. Read on to learn why.
- Special Announcement: We have a date!
- Feature Article: It’s always too soon to quit.
- The Queen’s Update: Contest for my new book title
- Lynn Recommends Upcoming Real Life Boot Camp!
This ezine is now published once a week.
January 20, 2007, Volume III, Issue 3
Dear friends,
This week was one of fun, excitement, and a lot of busywork. The fun started with the exciting news that a piece of Indiana’s artwork was chosen to be displayed at the school district’s office. We jumped in the car and raced over to see which one. It was her self-portrait. I am so proud of her for being an artist. She follows the beat of a different drummer and I approve!
Indy’s artwork on display
The excitement continued with a baseball tournament in our hometown last weekend. Houston’s team lost their first two games and we thought we were a cooked goose (or goosie which is my son’s nickname.)
But as the quote says, “It’s always too soon to quit” and that lesson was never more evident to me than in the hearts and spirit of those nine little ten-year-old boys.
On Sunday, they were going to have to play three straight games and win all three to take the championship. The first game was at 8 am and the field had ice on it. Yikes! It was 26 degrees here in Palm Desert–a record low. What is global warming anyway?
The game was delayed for an hour while they turned on the sprinklers to melt the ice (an unusual choice.) The Aztecs (our boys) won 7 to 5. The next game was against the first seed in our division. Once again, the boys never quit and won 9 to 3. I was very proud! The championship game was played at 7:30 pm in (once again) 26-degree weather. Our boys came back to win 7 to 6 in a nail-biter! It is always too soon to quit!
Our Champion!
The spirit shown by those boys and Norman Vincent Peale’s quote got me thinking about how many times I felt like giving up on eBay–and how I have never stopped selling. I realized that there were three distinct turns in the eBay road where I had to seriously readjust.
These changes are what finally lead me to the top of the mountain–where my eBay business is really running itself (almost on autopilot) and consistently brings me about $8,000 a month (not including my books and training tools – It wouldn’t be fair to count those.)
Finally, I am excited to announce a live three-day eBay Boot Camp!!! Read on for more info.
Here’s to Successful eBaying!
Lynn Dralle,’ The Queen of Auctions,’ Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.
Many of you have asked me “When is the next 3-Day live eBay Boot Camp?”
Update – we have had to postpone this year’s Live Boot Camp. Watch my ezine for details of the new time. – Lynn
We have scheduled it far enough out so that you will have plenty of time to plan for attendance. We do know that it will once again be held at LAX. It is such an easy airport to fly in and out of and you don’t need to rent a car because all of the hotels offer shuttles. Although, if you are Patti Rose (one of my last Boot Camp graduates), you may want to rent a car to drive home since you will acquire so many goodies!
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“Lots of great tips, lots of great techniques, secrets, a ton of value, lots of fun, and I’m going to make a ton of money with everything she taught me.” –Patti Rose, Santa Cruz, CA |
If you are one of my Boot Camp graduates or have purchased Boot Camp in a Box, you will get the first chance to reserve a spot. AND don’t forget your Boot Camp in a Box purchase price comes right off the price of the Boot Camp. How can you pass it up? We are taking less than 25 students so please be watching for these special emails.
The 3-day Boot Camp will be announced to my entire list of 8,600 soon so if you are at all interested, please sign up quickly. I don’t want it to sell out before you get the chance to reserve your seat. I can’t wait to work with you, getting to know and bond with my first class of 2007.
‘It’s always too soon to Quit!‘
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions
When I started writing this article it dawned on me that I have been selling on eBay for almost nine years! Wow! I started on eBay in September of 1998. What a long eBay career.
I have to tell you that I LOVE selling on eBay. I LOVE the hunt and finding the treasures and then selling them quickly. Immediate gratification at its best! You must love selling on eBay or please don’t make it your career. It is the same with anything–follow your passion, never quit, and the money will follow (that is what my grandmother always told me.)
Over those nine years, I have had three major forks on the road…. And at some of those forks, I wanted to quit and seriously questioned if I could REALLY make a good living on eBay. I had the same self-doubts that you may have experienced. Let me walk you through how I turned it around and have made my eBay business what I consider a super success.
#1 Challenge–Finding merchandise after the shop closed.
From 1998 to 2002 I was spoon-fed my merchandise. It all came from my grandmother’s antique store and I think that there were literally 1,000,000 items there. I wasn’t selling for me; I was selling for her and the business. I didn’t have to rely on eBay sales for my personal income. However, we were selling a lot–up to $20,000 a month. Those were the days!
When I moved to California in 2002, I had over 80 boxes of items left from the shop and began to rely on those items to pay the bills. It turned out that there weren’t any big hitters in those boxes–items that would sell for over $1,000 like I used to find in my grandmother’s personal collections. I was discouraged and wondered if I could really make a good living selling on eBay. I hadn’t discovered my “Dralle” method yet and I started dipping into my personal collections.
I really hit rock bottom in May of 2003 when I had to sell a Moorcroft pitcher that my grandmother had given me. (Read about it below in story number 75 from The 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay.) It sold for over $1,000 and I was able to pay the mortgage–but taking that sticker off of the bottom that said: “Property of Lynn Dralle” in my grandmother’s handwriting broke my heart.
Click here to read the story…
It was the next week that I started going to Thrift stores and hitting garage sales.
This was my first turning point. The garage and estate sales and thrift stores were the places to get my merchandise! No emotional ties and the stuff was cheap!
#2 Challenge How to take the summer off or even a week off!
It was the first summer that we were living in Palm Desert–the Summer of 2003. The weather was over 100 degrees, often getting up to 120 degrees. The kids and I planned to spend two months in Bellingham to escape the heat and the $800 a month air conditioning bills. I decided to move my entire eBay operation to Bellingham, WA. I would find the merchandise, write it up, sell it and ship it in bulk from Bellingham to Palm Desert and my assistant Mari would then ship out the individual orders.
Within a couple of weeks, I realized that shipping in bulk from Bellingham to Palm Desert did not work. It was a huge expense and the breakage when shipping 50 things or more a week was insane. I did this for two months and at the end of the two months, I found that overall I had lost $45. Not a smart way to run a business.
The next summer (2004), I only went for two weeks because I couldn’t stand to continue to lose money. And finally, in the summers of 2005 and 2006, I had it dialed in and got it all figured out. I went for three weeks both summers, did not lose any money, and in fact made $3,500 during those three weeks without working more than 15 hours a week.
It was all due to the Dralle Method of leaving the merchandise in Palm Desert and listing it from Bellingham. I had finally got it right! There is too much to explain in this ezine so if you want to learn more about the Dralle method, click here.
#3 Challenge–The ups and downs of auction sales.
This problem plagued me from day one in 1998 until about 2 1/2 years ago. Some months I would sell $10,000 at auction and the next month I would sell $1,000. By 2004, I was consistently selling $4,000 a month but it wasn’t enough to cut the mustard (pay the bills.) I needed to be bringing in at least $8,000 a month to ensure myself a $100K sales figure.
It was in October of 2004 that I figured it out! Mo had just started working for me and I said to her, “I think we should try selling some other items in my eBay store–Things like dinnerware, flatware, and unusual antiques.” She was new, relatively inexperienced, and quickly agreed. I love Mo for letting the blind lead the blind!
You see, I had thought that only commodity items sold from an eBay store. Things like my books, auction tools, Royal Copenhagen plates, and other items that I bought directly from manufacturers. It turns out that I was deadly wrong. I was amazed to find that anything & EVERYTHING sold from an eBay store! I also found that almost everything would eventually sell–especially if I let it sit in my store long enough!
It was a real awakening to my eBay business plan and a wonderful kick in the pants. It was just what I needed to take my business to the six-figure level. That extra (almost guaranteed) $3,000 a month from an eBay store was what I was waiting for. It turns out I needed the eBay store to round out the edges. For more information on eBay, stores click here.
So those are three of the major turning points in my eBay adventure. I hope that my three forks in the road will help you to understand that if you have passion & purpose, a strong belief in what you are doing, and never quit–you will eventually get to where it is you should be going. I hope it is at the top of the mountain! Your forks in the road may be different than mine (a family naysayer, a lack of capital, or health problems), but remember, “It is always too soon to quit!”
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Lynn’s past ezines here.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com
Thank you so much to the 35+ eBayers who sent in great ideas for titles. Lee (my brother) and I are having fun going through them and categorizing them. We are going to pick a winner for next Thursday’s (January 25th) ezine, so if you haven’t submitted one or two or ten yet–here are the details:
On January 12th I had to submit the title and cover art for my new 100 Best books to my distributor. This is what we are going to submit for lack of anything better at this point:
100 Best Things Number Three!
My mom’s idea and our challenge to you is this. Come up with the catchiest and best title you can imagine for my new book and if we choose yours as the grand prize winner you will receive….a $250 credit on my website or in my eBay store! This doesn’t mean that we will necessarily use your title, but it will be our favorite from all the submissions. How fun! Email your best title now to Contest@TheQueenofAuctions.com for our consideration.
eBay Power Seller and third-generation antique dealer, Lynn Dralle, is the creator of Boot Camp in a Box, the home-study course where you can learn to implement the Dralle Method to maximize your eBay profits.
If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love this step-by-step course that is guaranteed to be the most complete and enjoyable guide to selling on eBay that MAKES YOU MONEY.
Read all about it here.
The Queen of Auctions also offers free articles, teleseminars, how-to books, tracking guides, DVDs, eBay Boot Camp training and other resources to help entrepreneurs make their eBay business a six-figure sales machine. Click here to learn more.
The Queen of Auctions/All Aboard Inc.
PO Box 14103
Palm Desert, CA 92255
760-340-6622
Lynn@TheQueenofAuctions.com
My friend Julia Wilkinson, author of the super cool book The eBay Price Guide (click here) has also just announced a really neat section on her website.
Here is what she has to say about it…“Need a one-stop-shopping place to find newsletters, blogs, communities, and other resources about auctions, eBay, and selling online, all on one convenient page? Check out the new site, Julia’s Auction Links here.
And I am featured! Too Cool.
Happy eBaying!!
Lynn
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Visit my eBay auctions.
For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my website at:
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.