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Tagged: going fulltime
- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 9 months ago by Jay.
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01/30/2017 at 11:48 pm #11464
I currently work full time for a online thrift store company listing on their own site similar to eBay. I list minimal of 40 listings a day. I got the job because I had experience selling on eBay and knowledge about vintage and antique things.
Since working at my full time day job I have little time to list for myself and improve my eBay store.
I make a really good profit for my company to the point that I ask myself why do I not do this for myself full time?
But it is so nice to get a paycheck weather you have a good week or not.
But I know that I would eventually make way more for myself.
I just cant take the plunge.
Anyone out there have great encouraging stories to share with me.
I have a lot of inventory to get started.
Also how do you figure how much to put back to buy more inventory? It seems I spend all the money I make on eBay buying more inventory.Thanks
Arrowsr5 -
01/31/2017 at 5:57 am #11470
Many scavengers enjoy that eBay is a low stress way to make some extra cash. They enjoy getting a regular paycheck (and might even enjoy their job!) They may get benefits, retirement accounts, etc, but its the perceived security that is most valuable to them. eBay helps earn extra cash to go on vacations, pay down the mortgage, pay for kid’s schooling.
But there’s the other group of scavengers (like us) that really felt like we had nothing to lose. We couldn’t imagine continuing to work for someone else. It didn’t feel like security. It felt like a trap. It felt uncreative and dull. We knew the people who hired us could lay us off at any time. We seemed to spend all our time working but had very little to show for it. We worked very hard but were unfulfilled.
It made sense to us to put all our time into our own ideas. We were willing to take the risks and make all the profit. There is that huge gap between quitting a job and having a working business. But if you can make that leap, there’s nothing better for people like us.
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02/03/2017 at 7:15 am #11683Anonymous
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Do you get health insurance, sick time, vacation time, 401-K maybe at the thrift store?
Don’t forget to factor that in.
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02/03/2017 at 7:51 am #11684
I do have health insurance, and retirement through my husbands work.
Thank you Jay for your very thoughtful post. It was helpful.Arrowsr5
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02/03/2017 at 8:39 am #11696
First, I would talk the emotional component out of the equation. Then,take the amount of money you need to net on a regular basis as a baseline. Say it’s $4,500 a month. Assume a 25% margin to level up the down months and level out the up months. So, your baseline is now $6,000. Now account for taxes,any benefits, etc. I’ll add 20% for that here, but you’ll need to assess that based on your state and circumstances. Baseline is now at $7,500. You know best what it takes to get that done listing wise based on your work experiences so far. Now consider how long it will take you to build up your own store to achieve that based on the model you will employ (e.g. quick nickel v. Slow dime, etc). From that you can extrapolate your time line and developers your project timeline. Assuming you want to build this up on the side while still working full time, you can develop your time line with built-in risk factors. For example, a super cautious person, would work on the side until the side ebay business outpaces the full-time job earnings on a consistent basis for a certain period of time. Another approach with more risk would be developing the side store until half the earnings are achieved and sufficient numbers are available to extrapolate an estimate for a 40 hour work week. I could go on, but it really comes down to the fact that you need a cushion to bridge the gap between your current safe earning model to a full time commission only earning model.
I went from a full time mostly commission job working for a company, to a self employed job twice so far in my life.what I did was to work my side self employed job long enough to earn more than my full time job for 3 months in a row. Then I quit my W2 job. It worked for me, but the period of time I worked the 2 jobs was grueling.
Another way to go is to bank 6 months worth of bill money, then quit your W2 job.
Things to consider are, will you be able to remain focused and drive yourself without being at a work place environment? Will you be able to achieve a work-life balance at home without the self employed job taking over your life? It can be difficult for some to work from home.
More to consider: Will you have the support of your husband and family? Or, will there be conflict there to attend to during and after the transition. How will you feel about working alone? That’s a biggie if your daily work life is rich in friendships. You’ll need to figure out how that can be replaced in other ways.
I wish you all the success!please share how your process goes. So many of us contemplate the same!
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02/03/2017 at 8:46 am #11698
This is the best walk though of the decision of going full-time eBay seller vs working a W-2 job. I’ve favorited this post for the future since its a common question.
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