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12/17/2018 at 8:54 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53488
Love that! This is why we all can get the deathpiles…we love the hunt more than the listing!
Winchester: Amen brother! I was in a similar mindset in 2015 when I took the plunge. Funny, I really go the motivation after binge listening to Jay and Ryanne (back in the eBay Scavengers days).
It is like their podcast can change you… 🙂
almasty: It is very hard to truly track your $/hr, since the hours you put in today won’t result in $ until it sells. I know that right now a lot of folks look at the net profit this week compared to the hours worked this week. But the timing is wrong. The hours you put in this week are invested in future sales (except for shipping).
So for me, I like to periodically track time on each task, and Veronica and I do that a lot, but it is only to get a good average for how long tasks take to see what they are generating. So, I know that I can find an item in a thrift store about every 5 minutes (including drive time). So, if I need to list 125 items each week, then I know that sourcing will take me over 10 hours each week (or 5 hours for Veronica and I together). It helps me plan. Shipping is similar. I know that shipping shoes is about 2-3 minutes each, shirts about a minute, etc. So I see how much time it would take, and what the cost would be for an employee to do that.
I think the statement that eBay is losing clothing to PoshMark is right. This is why we have started to crosspost there. We have had at least one sale there in 9 of the last 10 weeks, and I’m doing all the high-end items there first. So $1,158 in total sales so far…
12/17/2018 at 8:36 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53480I think the one thing that always helps me when I think about “work” is that ALL of us have to do some type of work to live. If we were living 5,000 years ago, all day every day would be hunting, gathering, improving shelter, making clothes, etc. Just like other species, every day involves putting in some type of effort to continue survival and establishing a safe and thriving environment.
Working for a company is the same thing. You put in that time and effort, earn money, then spend that money on the same stuff we did 5,000 years ago, only now with WiFi…
When I have the perspective that whatever I do now for “work”, it is a hell of a lot easier than 5,000 years ago.
In the end, everyone HAS to do something to ensure they survive and thrive. What we do, how we do it, and how good we are at it…all on a spectrum…
12/17/2018 at 8:29 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53478Week of 12/9-12/15
Total Items in Store: 2,713 (Up 62% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 0
Number of Items Sold: 77 (Down 23% YOY)
(Includes 5 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 2 Poshmark)
Weekly STR: 12% (Down 13% YOY)Total Product Sales: $2,456 (Up 8% YOY)
Cost of Items Sold: $529
Cost of Labor: $210
Highest Item Sold: $150 – HUGO BOSS Einstein Sigma Suit
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 29-21 (Still playing for pride!)Clothing
# Listed: 1,681
# Sold: 52
STR: 13%
ASP: $30.87Shoes
# Listed: 464
# Sold: 9
STR: 8%
ASP: $44.64Hard Goods
# Listed: 568
# Sold: 11
STR: 8%
ASP: $28.04Etsy
# Listed: 161
# Sold: 5
STR: 13%
ASP: $35.88Poshmark
# Listed: 98
# Sold: 2
STR: 9%
ASP: $110Amazing how busy this week was, considering we listed NOTHING NEW. Veronica’s surgery went very well, and she is recovering amazingly! Going to be another week or two until she is 100%, but she is doing great.
Business-wise, I started doing more crossposting to Mercari. It is an easy platform to cross-post on (like Poshmark), so the time goes quick. Been getting likes and some comments, but no sales yet. Then this Sunday, I spent the day moving out of one storage unit and over to another. Upgraded to climate controlled and lesser cost. Got my son and our photographer to help, and we knocked it out pretty quick, then hit Raising Cane’s for lunch. LOVE THAT PLACE! If you can, go there!
Regarding the podcast topic, as a numbers guy…I 100% agree with you. I know how numbers work, and I can speak a numbers language to see how a business can run and the life it can generate for someone. But we all have to generate the life we want to live. And if you can do that with a minimal amount of numbers, then so be it. If you are a numbers geek and want to optimize your business to the nth degree (that would be me), then do that. But in either case, you have to enjoy what you are doing, ESPECIALLY if you are wanting to do this full time. Numbers-wise, we took a big hit when I left my corporate world. But keeping my marriage strong, seeing my boys finish school, being able to spend time with them, moving to hiking more…Yeah Jay…those things don’t show up on an Income Statement or Balance Sheet.
I love that the Jay & Ryanne model and the Troy and Veronica model are on opposite ends of the spectrum…and both work and both groups are happy.
Hike Your Own Hike…and Build Your Own Business…
I agree with having the item in front of you when listing. So the plan would be for a remote lister to come by our house, pick up a batch of items to list and take it with them, they can list from their house and then our photographer would pick the batch from them, photo, and bring it back to us.
Mike: Because I’m a hacker…
I can set up a separate laptop at the house that is connected to the SixBit database. Using Google Remote Connection, they can connect to that laptop from any other laptop. Then they are effectively connected to SixBit.
Almasty: Amen, and THAT is where our money truly lies….
Listing is a $15/hr job. Photography is a $15/hr job.
Sourcing is a $50/hr job. That is where the skill lies, and THAT is where we need to spend the majority of our time.
Provided…you have an efficient process for listing what you buy (or you can hire it out, stay on target volume wise, and still get good returns)…
Yep, we know how lucky we are. With clothes and shoes, we do the listing in SixBit and put the SKU on a tag. He picks up the items (clothes are hung on hangers with the tag, then batched into protective bags for transport). Then he can work on his own schedule and we don’t have to be there when he works (he works other gigs, so he does our stuff around that).
My thinking exactly on the house. Downside is…this market is NUTS with high pricing right now.
So, storage units it is. Our photographer and my son will get some extra cash this Sunday, moving all our stuff from the 10×30 unit now to a 10×20 that is closer and climate controlled. Rent the van, do the move in 3-4 hours I think. 1/3 of the cost and we upgrade to climate controlled. Will get a second unit in a few months next door so we are 2/3 the cost, more space, and climate controlled.
Always wanting to level up…
Totally agree Jay. We were just looking for a person to photo and planned to have them at the house. When our guy showed up and we got to talking, we realized how lucky we were to have that quality at that price.
It really showed me the benefit to having people be able to work from their own house. We are looking to use that setup when we get a lister. They can work from home and remote connect to SixBit and list from there.
Craigslist.
Now, he works out of the studio that he set up in his own place. He won’t do our Hard Goods as it takes too long to set up each shot. So we use him to do clothes and shoes to keep up the volume. I work with him on process so that he is quick and can keep to at least $16/hr for his work for us.
12/13/2018 at 12:25 pm in reply to: No eBay listings at all show up in Google search sponsored results? #53310Thanks a TON twizzle! Great to know!
I agree. Great app! I’ve started using it now, using the notes field to state what task I’m doing (listing, sourcing, shipping, etc.)
Mike: That is how I did the business for the longest time. I knew how much to leave in the PayPal account to cover expenses (fees, shipping, and the next week’s purchases) and we only live off the excess.
So, if you plan to purchase 100 items each week at an average of $5 per item, then you have to leave $500 in the PayPal to cover those purchases. Add to that your current eBay fees, $100 for shipping (I always keep that for float), $100 for possible returns (I still do that too), maybe $50 for shipping costs, etc. So let’s say that all adds up to $1000 in expenses you need to cover. Then you only get to transfer (and live off of) the amount over that number each week.
That process would sometimes mean that we would shop and kill it on the weekend, then we couldn’t get “paid” until Wednesday or Thursday, as we had to build back up another $500 for the next week’s purchases first. And if you want to start going to 150 listings a week, gotta save $750 first.
If you don’t have the capital to buy, you can’t spend the week listing, and you can’t make more sales. When you go full time, feeding the business comes first, and feeding yourself comes second…
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