The next five chapters detail various money-making methods. Some ideas will overlap and/or fit into more than one category. What should be your main objective for the rest of this book? Find ideas that excite you.
If you feel fairly confident about where you want to go, feel free to skip to that chapter right now so you can get started sooner. Then come back and read the others later. Ideas are like plants. They cross-fertilize, if we let them.
So let’s see what’s ahead...Chapter 14 -- Start Generating Profits
Chapter 14 reveals the first major way to generate profits... sell your own goods.
Most people start their auction businesses by cleaning out their attics and garages, selling off the accumulation of “stuff” that they have. But then once your home treasures are gone, what do you sell? You’ve now got auction fever.
The easiest way to find goods is to start haunting garage sales, flea markets and the like. These are just the most obvious ways to find products, however. There are so many more possibilities.
For instance, what about selling merchandise that isn’t in your possession, you may never see and you definitely don’t have to ship? (Sounds very appealing to me!) And the coolest thing about this is that there is absolutely no risk! After the merchandise is bought, you order it with the money you receive from your buyer.
MYNAS! is filled with stories of “ordinary” people who have realized their goals on the auction sites and then gone on to set even greater goals. Where did I get these stories?
Many of them are friends and acquaintances that live in my city. Others are people I have met on the Internet, in chat rooms or on auction sites. Some of these I have met in person. Others are friends I have never seen and most likely never will.
In other cases, I have seen interesting sellers on the sites and written to them. I explained what I was doing and asked them to tell me about themselves. We all like stories. Knowing that other people, just like ourselves, are succeeding is very empowering. I would like to share a short e-mail I received from a former buyer named Tony...
Hi Sydney!
Remember me? You sold me the Stefanchik course on eBay. Well I got a few good ideas from him and have definitely improved my business!
Chapter 15 -- Stand Out With Unique Items
There are all kinds of reasons why people shop on the Internet, but one of the strongest is because the Net offers unique items. Chapter 15 honors the many talented and creative people who want to express themselves...
... by creating beautiful and different items.
There are an increasing number of home businesses being started by craftspeople... people who take pride in their work... who do what they do because they can’t help it... who see themselves as more than an interchangeable part in a corporate machine... who simply must express themselves or endure lives of frustration.
Do you have something you would like to do, something you want to create? Or do you know people who feel this way but know nothing about marketing or how to sell their products?
Chapter 16 -- Sell Goods You Don’t OwnFor the most part, Chapters 14 and 15 concern themselves with the high volume sellers -- those who choose to sell lots of smaller-priced items.
In Chapter 16, we concentrate on those who would prefer to sell fewer and larger profit items. These bigger ticket items are usually such things as cars, industrial equipment, airplanes and the like.
Even though it seems hard to believe, there are millions and millions of people who don’t own a computer, or aren’t on the Internet yet (imagine that!), or know nothing about auctions. And they don’t want to learn either.
I can guarantee you that there are people very near you who can’t dispose of some large ticket items and don’t know what to do. They are...
... frustrated and discouraged. You have an opportunity to be their white knight. After all, someone sold an $8,000,000 hotel on an auction site so the possibilities are as vast as your imagination.
Chapter 17 -- Promote Your BusinessChapter 17 is for those folks who have their own business (or want to be their own boss). Don’t be alarmed by this. We’re not talking about the owner of an office building with 200 employees.
We’re talking about... You!If your office is in your basement or spare bedroom, and you are the CEO, receptionist, marketing director, accountant, sales staff and janitorial service of your small business, you have come to the right place.
Of course, larger businesses use auctions too but mostly it is the e-playground of the entrepreneur, the owner of the one-person or family business (Small Small Businesses -- SSBs).
And when you add Site Build It! to your marketing toolbox, your small business will flourish. Site Build It! will help you harness the power of the Net to attract more potential buyers. And then you can monetize this traffic by introducing other streams of income off your Web site to complement your auction selling.
Chapter 18 -- Learn from the ProsI have learned the auction business through my own experiences, and by observing what my fellow auction sellers are doing. Chapter 18 shows you some really great listings... and some really awful ones. Keep in mind that the terrible ones can be just as valuable as the superior ones. If we know what not to do, we can avoid costly mistakes.
Chapter 19 -- Where to Sell Your GoodsIf you want to maximize your returns, you need to choose carefully where you sell your goods. Chapter 19 gives you the criteria to help you in your decision-making and suggests some potential sites.
Chapter 20 – The Wrap-UpAnd then there is “The Wrap Up,” Chapter 20. Its content reflects its title!
The most common way to get into the auction game, but definitely not the only way, is to sell products you already own, or that you can acquire for a low price. So let’s use that as our launch pad to begin a truly remarkable and exciting business venture...
