eAction

I promised to keep you posted on my progress with eBay selling, didn’t I?

I’ve finished reading that book, Make your Net Auction Sell, and think I grasp the basic principles. But right now I’m allowing myself some time to research and watch some auctions so I see it in action before I leap in.

Right now I have some practical items to watch. My Dad, aged 89, has taken up a new hobby. He’s making cross necklaces out of horseshoe nails. You have no idea how hard they are to find locally, which is odd because we live in the central prairies of Canada. However, I can find them on eBay, and in checking out other links and doing Google searches, I can compare wholesale prices with the auctions, and get quite an education in the process.

Another one I’m watching is aloe vera plants. I have about 60 containers full, most of them with more than one plant. One large bucket has at least 23 plants as of my last count. I keep running out of containers, and
haven’t the heart to throw them out. Especially since Dad and I eat the gel from a stem or two nearly every day. But I do think I could spare some to sell - only thing is, I’m still trying to figure out how best to pack them for shipping.

Meantime, I’ve shifted my surfing programs to a bare maintenance effort. Got to make time for this newer venture. If need be, I’ll give that up. For now I’m just trying to keep from getting bumped.

You’ve heard me say this before, but I’ll say it again today; it’s all a question of how you use your time. You get to decide how to spend it.

When we are born, God does not give each of us a bank account with so and so much money to spend and invest and make more of. What He does give each of us is 24 hours a day, with 60 minutes in each day, and 60 seconds in each minute.

We can trade our time for all kinds of things. Many people work for others and trade their time for money, then they switch to trading with the money for things they want.

Some people just never catch on; poor and rich alike all get the same gift of time every day, if they learned how to invest their time wisely they could have all they want in the palm of their hand.

I’ve just been reading about this again, and it comes to me that I may have already stumbled upon this principle simply because I lacked money and wanted to do what was in my power to do in the meantime.

The other evening a friend was telling me of a course he wished he could take at a college that would cover everything about computers, and open up all kinds of jobs to him. As he described this, I realized that I have already taught myself most of that for free over the past six and a half years online. I invested the time, and now have skills that I couldn’t afford either
cash-wise.

There are many writing projects and web sites I want to build. Since the only thing I had to work with was time, I have budgeted my days very tightly to give each project a block of daily time, even if only one hour,
or in the case of my next novel, one morning and one evening a month. Some days it feels like I’m hardly making progress, but over the weeks and months these investments add up and the projects do reach completion.

The more I think about this the more I realize I’m onto something. Time IS a precious currency, and it can be converted to skills and goals accomplished, and can buy a good reputation, and even fame eventually.

One of the proverbs in the Bible teaches that the one who is skilled in work, will come to the attention of the king, or leaders in the land. It’s a comfort to know that if we become really skilled at something, chances are good that people will hear about it, and we’ll be in demand, and success will follow. (Naturally, some marketing may help too).

How are you trading with the 24 hours a day God gives you?

This doesn’t earn me any commission, but if you are looking for a web host where you can set up a domain of your own, I can recommend HostingRevolution.com. It is one of the most economical hosts, (as little as $10/year) and offers all kinds of services for free.

With a click or two you can install the software for a shopping cart (one of 3), or a content manager (about 6 the last time I looked!), or a blog (from about 4 or 5). You can have unlimited sub-domains - that’s mini-sites
off your main one, and unlimited email addresses and auto responders. It just goes on and on like that.

I now have all three of mine there, plus some that I look after for clients, and a non-profit mission for which I volunteer as web-mistress. This week I used for the first time, something called Boxtrapper, to snag a bunch of s_amm_rs and black list them from a site. It seems to get rid of them!

You really can’t do better on a shoestring budget than a domain at GoDaddy.com (under $10/yr), and hosting it at HostingRevolution.com - also under $10/yr.

Now if you need a web designer, I’m booked at present, but my rates are quite cheap. I’ve been learning new stuff so I may have to raise my rates, once I have CSS all down pat.

Have you ever bought or sold on eBay?

Recently I had a visit from a young wife and mother, whose only training is in nail-care, and her toddler keeps her on the run most of the day, but she and her sister, a hairdresser, are buying supplies wholesale because they are professionals, and re-selling them on eBay, making sometimes $300 a day!

I’ve bought an ink cartridge and a software package on eBay auction, but have put off trying to sell stuff because I thought I was too busy. This week I’ve been thinking that it’s time to research this and perhaps give up something that is not paying off well, so I’ll have time to give to this new venture.

Now my list of what I could sell is rather eclectic; hand-made family history books, e-book editions of my novel, a very original rag doll in a mink stole, Dad’s spinning wheel, aloe vera plants, and so on.

I’m still in the early stage of considering this– however, I’ve sure learned a LOT just today! There are people who make a career of this; imagine!

Of course, I’ll keep you posted!

In searching for how to sow these “seeds” we all have, (seeds are words and deeds of kindness and hope), I find a principle exists. Our future hinges upon what we do with what we have right now. Something you and I have today is the key to our success in the future.

Take some old familiar Bible characters as examples.

The widow of Zarephath was collecting sticks to light a fire to cook a final meal for her son and herself. She had just enough flour and oil for one meal. But when Elijah asked, she shared it with that man of God, and her oil and flour lasted until the drought was over.

Another unnamed widow, had two sons were about to be taken as slaves because of her deceased husband’s debts. Elisha asked what she had in the house.

“Just one jar of cooking oil.”

He advised her to borrow containers from neighbours, then to pour them full from her small bottle of oil. That oil lasted until she had every container filled! Now she could go and sell the oil to her neighbours,
pay the debt and keep her sons.

So what’s the last valuable item you have left in your possession? It might be some money, but it might be some other resource too. What about your skills? Are you sure none of them are marketable?

Can you type? Write? Sing? Do bookkeeping? Heavy physical labour?

On what topic are you considered a minor expert and authority in your home and community? Is it gardening? Building something? Have you a particular collection of music, or obituary clippings? Got computers all aced?

How about all that old stuff in the attic or garage? Maybe it is time to learn how to market your stuff on eBay, or via a web site.

Take a fresh look at what you have. Look objectively at it like you never have before, and consider how it might be your “seed” to bring you a harvest of income and good will from others.

(P.S. Yes, you may reprint my articles when you ask, and include my resource info).

In case you are interested in research garage-sale-ing at eBay too, here’s a free e-book to download from my site, by Sydney Johnston, who who made over $1000 on her first sale of something she found in her attic. It’s called Make Your Net Auction Sell and it is in PDF format once you’ve unzipped the file.

http://BouquetofEnterprises.biz/B/5p/mynas-masters.zip