Reality Check..

That's right....I'm talking to you.  It's time to get off your ass and list that old stuff you have been overlooking because you don't like it.  Those things that aren't in your "niche."  Those things that aren't exciting to you.  Those things that sit in that corner and just mock you while you play with the toys you love.

Yes, I'm talking to you.  It's time to practice self-discipline and get your space in order.  It's time to rethink your organizational system.  It's time to rethink your shipping and storage process.  It's time to reclaim your house so company can come over once again.

Yes, I'm talking to you.  It's time to get off Facebook and list those things that are piling up.  It's time to take pictures of things even if your kids are screaming in the background.  It's time to get that stuff online before another Christmas passes you by without you giving it your best effort.  It's time to stop shopping for more until you get everything listed online.....SO YOU CAN SELL IT!

Yes, I'm talking to you.  It's time to get your receipts in order for tax time.  It's time to categorize things NOW so you don't have to spend time away from doing what you love later.  It's time to see where your profit margins actually lie instead of misleading yourself into thinking you are headed to Paris in first class seats next month.

Yes, I'm talking to you.  It's simply time to get real.

If you don't you know from experience you will regret it.  You will continue procrastinating and putting it off. You will keep accumulating things until you are on an episode of Hoarders.  Or, you will keep piling up receipts until the IRS knocks on your door for an audit.  This is a business.  It's not 3rd grade recess where we push the cute girl down or kick the kickball over the monkey bars.  It's real life!

Nobody said this would be easy.  If it was easy, and we could do what we wanted to all the time, everyone would be doing it, too.  You chose this life because you didn't want average and ordinary.  You didn't want what all the other "normal" people let themselves get trapped into.  You chose this because you are different!  You are special!  You are an amazing brain of untapped potential that just thinks differently than the rest.  However, the way you reward yourself is to stay on top of things.

Yes, I'm talking to you.  Don't take your foot off the gas because you are a little tired.  This is how it all starts to unravel.  You already know this.  I'm not sharing anything prophetic with you.  I am writing this letter to you to motivate you and inspire you to keep going.  No one ever got their dreams by sitting in a lawn chair with a beer.  And, they didn't stop until it was painfully obvious they were already there.

This can be you........if you only stay disciplined.  So, let's DO IT TODAY!!

(For those of you kind enough to read this, thank you.  Now, even though this may have been intended for me, myself, and I......I beg of you to go to your mirror and read it to yourself.  And, watch yourself take off! It's never too late to get a grip on yourself.  So, don't sit down........go!)

Make Today Count!
Chip

Flip vs Buy and Hold.....some math

This is the constant question poking in my brain.  I don't think anyone short of Alan Greenspan could get the answer correct.....and he likely can't.  

It's the question that forms the very bedrock of your business model.  Do I charge less and burn that inventory out (aka WalMart), or do I charge more and make more profit for less work while risking holding onto an item for awhile and having to store it (aka Tiffany's jewelry)?  Which one makes more sense for me?

I'm a geek when it comes to breaking down things to their simplest form.  It helps me understand things.  Granted, nothing is black and white.  There are always shades of gray.........about 50 to be exact, right?

Well, I've finally put some rough work into the details.  Let's assume (yes, I'm about to make an ass out of you and me) that we have an average profit of $10 if we can unload an item in a month.  And, let's assume we will make $25 in profit if that same item is priced higher and doesn't sell for an average of 4 months.  Which is better?

I buy my shirts for $3, but let's use $5 for ease.  If I sell that first shirt for a $10 profit, I can now buy 2 shirts.  Provided I get them listed quickly, that next month I should make $10 on 2 shirts, or $20.  Now, flip it again and it's $40.  Again, and it's $80.  So, 4 months later, I have netted $150 in profit, right?  Seems like a no-brainer vs letting the item sit for $25.  After all, $150 beats $25 hands down.

Oops.  Look a little deeper.  What is your time worth to you?  It will take significantly longer to pack and ship 1+2+4+8 items (15 items total).  To make the same $150 the 15 shirts made me, I only need to sell 6 shirts at $25.  All I need to do is build my inventory up while I sit around waiting.  If it takes me an average of a half hour to source, list, pack, and ship each item (random time here, but worth knowing about yourself someday), that's 7.5 hrs for the 15 items vs only 3 hrs for the 6 items.  Translate that to an hourly wage, and we have $20/hr for the $10 profit model vs $50/hr for the $25 model.  Assuming 40 hours/week is all you want/can work, we have an income of $800/wk vs $2000/wk.

Look, I'm being overly simplistic here, but one person can only work so much.  There's only so much time in a day.  The difference here is working hard vs working smart.  The only trick is:  Are you buying items that can net you both $10 or $25 depending on how long you choose to wait?

I guess that's a topic for another blog post.....

Make Today Count!
Chip

Autumn Push!

As I push into August and deal with the doldrums of retail selling in summer, I plan to get more active with the blog.  I will try and turn this into a diary of my activity and results with more frequent postings............so people will actually start to follow this blog.

Here we go!