posted on October 18, 2001 02:28:39 PM
I’m interested in making a living working on my own. Sales on auctions are not enough for me.
I’m curious if others here who are supplementing their self employment with auctions or vise versa, just what type home-based or self employment you operate.
posted on October 18, 2001 06:07:40 PM
ladele
If auctions aren't enough try adding more tradtional outlets
We operated a couple of booths at a flea market for years pre-ebay. if you are a couple you can sell the same items at two markets.
Depending on what you sell , try a spot in a antique mall, do shows, sell thru classifieds ,antique trader .
open a storefront or a combantion of all of the above.
posted on October 18, 2001 06:11:54 PM
I have done well in a home based business selling energy and weight loss products for the past 9 years.
When your at the end of your rope:
Tie a knot and hang on!
To borrow from an old adage: It's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
Over the last five years we have had a multipronged approach to our "home" based business....
We have a brick and mortar open 3 days a week, an online catalog, do tradeshow weekends, wholesale to other brick and mortars, and sell on ebay.
Diversify what you sell and where you sell it. From our experiences, no one venue or product line is going to last forever or provide all the sales you need. If there is a slump on ebay our website picks up the slack and so on. If leather sales lag, corset sales increase...
Best of luck. It can be really rewarding but it is usually much more work than doing 9 to 5 for the man. After 15 years in corporate America and 7 years of working for myself....I'd never, ever go back to a corporate lifestyle.
posted on October 18, 2001 10:18:26 PM
I work for a food demo company in a job I can do from my home. I coordinate the schedules for the demonstrators going into the stores and get paid an override for doing so. It's a fairly steady income and I can increase it by doing a few demos myself. I also work a day or two a week down at the regional office. My schedule is flexible and I can come in when I want as long as my work gets done in time. This is a fairly easy way to make money, however, it does involve supervising and hiring or firing as needed which some people don't like to do.
That job, plus the auctions have supported us for over a year now.
posted on October 19, 2001 02:23:57 PM
There's many ways to make money working from home. A lot of them are incredible sinkholes if you aren't careful--I was briefly exposed to one "home-based" business that had more meetings than corporate America ever would. If you have to go a lot of meetings, it's not a home business.
posted on October 20, 2001 04:22:18 AM
AT 3 A.M. I WOKE UP WITH THIS VERY THOUGHT ON MY MIND. HOW CAN THIS COMPUTER MAKE ME MORE MONEY?? I THOUGHT, MEDICAL. NOTHING WILL STOP MEDICAL INFORMATION, RECORDS ECT. OR OTHER LEGIT COMPANIES THAT NEED COMPUTER ENTRY INFO WITH NO IMMEDIATE TIME FRAME. ANY IDEAS? WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, SHIFT GEARS.
posted on October 20, 2001 08:23:29 AM
I am in the same boat - the auctions are just not enough. I am getting into manufacturing my own products to sell both in our area and online. I am also writing two science fiction novels - not as a hobby but seriously to sell.
posted on October 21, 2001 06:31:09 AM
Great posts, thanks for all responses. I’m looking for other income sources but not through selling my online items elsewhere. It is very “small potatoes” and I haven’t found items that would net me a larger profit (unlike some here) <wink>
I’ve been interested in those of you who are self employed with some other means of income besides your auctions. Of course, ones talents and interests will differ. Some may paint murals as artist and others paint houses as laborers, for example. Just interested in hearing what else you’re doing to “make ends meet” so please keep posting them!
posted on October 21, 2001 07:05:11 AM
I am sure a lot of us could say more but the statute of limitations has not run out on how we make our money on the side. There are a lot of black economy jobs and activities - and they will increase the more regulation there is. I know of several people who run what is basically a taxi and limo service but because of the web of licensing and regulation here they are underground. They are called jitneys, and get new clients by word of mouth.
posted on October 21, 2001 12:24:37 PMmballai - you are so right! Watch out for all the MLM home-based business scams out there. Sure, they say you can make $10,000 a week, etc, but a very, very, very small percentage of people actually are able to make that kind of money, or any decent amount of money at all. My husband and I have been sucked into a few of these types of operations (big company names that you would recognize) in the past, and it's true... You spend more time going to meetings and buying motivational tapes, and listening to how much money everyone else is supposedly making, that you are spending more time and money trying to succeed then you are actually making. They always tell you about all the successes, but they never tell you about the millions of failures. It can be very brain-washing. We know couples that actually cashed in all of their investments so they could "concentrate" on making the MLM business work, and still ended up failing. I'm not saying you can't make good money at it, but there is a much better chance you won't.
Me, I am sort of in the same boat as you, ladele. I am expecting my first baby in 10 days. Yes, October 31st, I'm going to have a werewolf baby! LOL... Anyway, I started my maternity leave last week, and I am hoping to be able to do enough things on my own to be able to make enough income (in addition to my husband's) that I won't have to go back to work next summer when my leave is over. I at least don't want to go back to work full-time... I think at this point I am mostly looking into online sales in addition to eBay (having my own store set up). I have been researching wholesalers, etc for the type of product I want to sell. Right now I am hoping that eBay sales will provide me with the money I need to set up my store, get merchant accounts, get some inventory, etc. It's a lot of research no matter what type of business you want to do on your own from home.
I also write but my novel is going nowhere it seems... OH! And I play the piano and my husband suggested that I could teach piano lessons for extra money too which I thought was a good idea. So I might work on finishing my Grade 8 piano so I can teach piano lessons, music teachers like this make $15.00 or so for a half hour lesson last I heard and you do it from your own home so that's basically $30.00 and hour, not bad. So if you have any skills like that maybe that's an idea.
Anyway, I am still brainstorming as well for other possible ideas. Great thread.
posted on October 21, 2001 01:08:48 PM
a friend of mine found a new career after working for her hubby for many years.
after her hubby retired ,she feels she needs a job to bring in some bacon,so she went to work for someone who brokers electronic parts and components worldwide,there seems to be a global network of folks with pc ,phones and fax buying and selling commodities of all stripes-oil,gas,metals but more so,electronic components those you need to fit pc or scanner or whatnot.
say a company in singapore or hong kong gets an order from us or german company to make pcs,they source all over the world looking for components,brokers submit quotes and see if they get accepted.
pace is fast and it can go on 24 hours a day as the whole world out there is busy buying,selling and swapping.
knowing a foreign language helps,knowing the customs and cultures of a region also helps,as most of the buy and sell occur in ssia,knowing chinese is a plus.
of course knowing electronics help greatly,knowing international payment methods and knowing there are a lot of crooks out there help,the scams in that business make ours look like a spore in the air.
you can work your ass off looking for that order which you can sink your teeth in,send sample thru fed exp,then submit a quote only to find out money never arrive,why??the other party is just like you,he is a middleman and since he did not receive money,he cannot pass on any to you.
so back to square one.
anyway,there are some crumbs out there ,say a filipino company looking for a projector or a motherboard for an older pc,if you dont mind spending time making less,you can build a relationship with small company which is hard currency strapped.
you never know ,someday they can hand you a big order.
NO, YOU DO NOT SEND SAMPLE IN TAMPON BOX ,nor do you use USPS,federal express air is the way to go.
if you are willing to risk some capital and lots of time and you dont need much sleep,you can work at home and start an exciting career.
