Looking for a hot date?

With working so much I know that many of my corporate co-horts just don't have the time to date lately.

One thing for sure - is they don't have time to waste on non-quality people!

JustSayHi is a free online dating service where you can meet other people and really connect! In a city as small as Ithaca - it's good to be able to look outside and know that there are other singles out there!

Not to mention, the other dating services charge mad amounts of money and that still doesn't guarantee that you will meet Mr. or Miss Right!

PS3s, Baby Alives, Elmo TMX, and Wiis!

Well, one thing I've learned from a business aspect is that I never want to do E-bay again!

Their fees are so damn expensive and it's just not worth it. Plus, between non-payers and broken merchandise through the mail services -- it's just a big pain in the ass for $20!!

The Baby Alives were a hit though -- and aside from all of the crap I had to deal with..they were the hottest item of the Christmas year!

I also got my hands on 3 PS3s at Wal-Mart. I put one up on Ebay and it didn't even sale! I think I put it up for $550 and that would have allowed me to break even. I didn't even have one bid! So I returned the 3 back to Wal-Mart for a full refund.

We ended up getting an Elmo TMX for Grammy and boy did she hate it! I looked on Ebay and they were going for less on Ebay than the stores!!!

Unbelieveable how hot and cold these items are! I realize it's all about supply and demand and when items are available at the store then there isn't such a high demand for them on E-Bay --- especially because people have to pay for shipping.

Saturday I got a call from Game Crazy that they had a Wii in stock. I just couldn't bring myself to posting it on Ebay -- even though it probably would have been the best money maker of the season! It's just such a pain in the ass!

Lesson learned --- I will not be doing Ebay next year. Making daily shipments to the postoffice, broken baby dolls, and non-paying customers do not get me in the "Holiday cheer!"

Screwed.

So, not only have I been stiffed by a non-payer on Ebay....but I got a nasty email from someone who purchased a Baby Alive doll and the damn doll must have broken via transport to Boston!

So, now I had to ship her out a new doll, pay for the shipping, and then I'm going to have to pay for the shipping of the broken doll back to NY.

Pain in the ass.

I don't think I'm going to do this next year unless I stumble across a major winner. Baby Alive itself does pretty good it's just the assholes who don't pay that make the Ebay process suck!

Goddamn Baby Alive.

So one of my Baby Alive dolls didn't sell last week. Another one someone purchased and then never returned email, and never paid for it.

Today I get a damn email that one of the dolls I sent out last week - the dolls eyes aren't blinking.

To say the least I'm pretty pissed about my bad fortune with E-Bay and I think the hassle just isn't worth the $20 I've made so far.

Not to mention - at this rate - I'm actually LOSING money!! How pathetic is that?!?!

I love PayPal!

Okay, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when Margot mentioned doing paypost cause I didn't want our website that we put so much time in to go to waste with tons of advertisements -- but we've almost made 900$ and they money is - NICE!

I was going to put the Wii on Ebay -- but we're having so much fun with it. So I'm going to keep it.

I posted 3 more baby alive dolls to end this weekend - so hopefully, they'll bring in some $$!

Earnings to date

I've got to find a way to put this in a sidebar:

September:

• PayPerPost: $58.00

October:

• PayPerPost: $197.32

November:

• PayPerPost: $559.84
• eBay: $63.54

Return on investment

To date, we've sold three Baby Alive dolls, for a total net profit of $63.54. The initial investment was $43.29 per doll, for a total of $129.87. That's a return of 49%, not bad in my opinion.

Of course, we haven't received payment or even an acknowledgement from one of the buyers, so I'm not sure how that'll count.

Earnings to date

September:

• PayPerPost: $58.00

October:

• PayPerPost: $197.32

November:

• PayPerPost: $472.84
• eBay: $63.54

Third Baby Alive - SUCCESS!

Well, it looks like I've finally done well with my EBAY'ing!

The third doll has brought in $80 + $18 shipping.

Here's what I've put into it:

Baby Alive doll @ Target - $43.29
Ebay Fees - $5.21
Postage - $13.00
Paypal Fee - possibly $4.00?

Total cost: $65.50

Total Profit: $32.50

Todays EBAY

Today's didn't do too well. I thought it would do better than yesterdays because people would have gone to the store and not been able to find a Baby Alive doll.

Here's the breakdown:
Baby Alive Doll at Target 43.29
EBAY Fees: 4.28
Shipping: approx: 12.00
Paypal fee: 2.30

Total of: 61.87

Unfortunately, this doll only brought in $68.99. So my profit margin was: $7.12.

Damn, all of those paypal and ebay fees are killing me!!

Last nights EBAY sale.

Last night I sold my Baby Alive doll for $84.00 total.

Not too bad.

I figure this to be the breakdown:

Doll from Target $43.29
Fees from Ebay: $4.79
Shipping: approx $12.00

Total: 60.08

For a profit of: 23.92

Not too shabby.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to send a shout out to all of my business buddies who read this blog.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Another business venture?

So my friend Diane has asked that I help her with the marketing and getting her business off the ground. She's starting a eco-friendly directory. She wants to sell advertising to local business that recycle and are eco friendly and somewhat non-corporate.

I think it's a good idea - but might be hard to make money on.

She's only received one quote thus far and it was for 10,000 copies and $8,000. Also, there's an extra $1,000 just to put it in the newspaper.

Because I've worked at the newspaper I told her I would help with that end. She wants me to sell some advertising too and the commission is 20%. I just don't know about that part.... I mean I guess if I have a free day or whatever I can do that.

It's so hard selling an advertisement tool when it has never been published and you just don't know the quality of the product. People aren't always willing (especially small businesses) to spend $100 - $1,000 on an unproven marketing tool.

I hope it works for Diane. In the past she's tried to do a marketing coach type business and I'm not sure that brought in a whole lot of money. She's trying to figure out something so that she can stay home with her daughter.

Here's to women and business *cheers*

Next Wednesday

I will go for my first day at school! Getting pretty excited and really that's just going to be a day when I get to see how things are done and meet a few of the teachers there.

I don't think the kids will scare me out -- I mean I did go to a school with a graduating class of 1,200 kids and I don't scare easily.

Especially, since I was one of the bad kids when I found out there was a sub. What could these kids do that I haven't possibly done?

Don't answer that.

Hats?

One of my friends just wrote and said that her son loved the hats that I made when he was born and that I should sell them.

Hmm...

Then I IM'd Margot and she said that we should put a link on our website and also put pictures and an order form up.

Of course I'd have to figure out how to market these hats and also how I would find the time to make tons and tons of hats!!

But they are awfully cute. Plus, I guess my labor is free these days.

Today...

So today I went for my Independant Medical Exam for Worker's Comp. Ever since that back injury at my old job my back just hasn't been the same. The IME was about an hour away and the doc was a complete quack.

We'll see how it goes once we get his report.

Another job idea...

So today I went to school #2 and #3. I turned in all information with the exception of my diploma. Which I have no idea where in the hell it is!

So, I had to fax over a form to get a copy of it along with my transcripts.

School #2 is just waiting for my diploma to process my application and present to the board. School #3 seemed more than eager to get me started and 11/29 I will go in for orientation! I took a tour of the school with the principal and I was very impressed with the different classrooms.

Hooray -- a way for Grammy to stay in daycare. Plus, I think this subbing thing could be a lot of fun!

Crazy ass bastard

So this morning Margot woke me up saying that the new PS3 is going for $2,000 on Ebay! That woke me up faster than anything.

Within 5 minutes I was out of the house and on my way to K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Of course I got there and within 15 minutes of the stores opening they had been sold out!

So I acted like I always go out at 7:30am to buy ... uh ... Diapers! Filled the cart with diapers and some new panties for Grammy!

No get rich quick scheme today!

Another get rich quick scheme X 8

So, I'm up to eight Baby Alive dolls! Can you believe it? It feels like just yesterday that I only had 2!

I called up Target today to see if they had any Elmo TMX and of course they didn't. Then I asked about Baby Alive. She said they only had 6. So I picked Grammy up from daycare and we bought out Target's stock of dolls!

I think I'm going to post the weekend after Thanksgiving cause I have a feeling that's when parents are going to go to the stores and realize you can't get these dolls!

I hope they go for at least $40 more than I purchased them for. I bought them for $39.99 and the lady at Target told me that they were going to go up to $59.99 November 22nd.

Woo Woo!

Making money.

So today I moved forward with the whole idea that I'm going to do some subbing on my off days and the days that G is at daycare.

I never knew how much there was to subbing! I had to fill out the application. Then look for my diploma. Of course it's nowhere to be found! I swear I saw it a few months ago but I've looked everywhere and I can't find it.

So I have to order a diploma and transcripts.

I turned in my application to TCSD and I plan on turning in ISD, DCSD, and SSSD Friday.

I also had to pay $99 to get my fingerprints taken! They send them to the department of education and the FBI!

Hope nothing comes up! Just joking.

Hopefully, I'll be able to bring in some money - each day I work I pay for a week of daycare. And we'd love to be able to keep Grammy at daycare.

From another business prospective...

I've already purchased 2 Baby Alive dolls and plan to purchase more if I can find them in the stores!

I purchased them for $39.99 each and plan on selling them for at least $75/piece on Ebay!

I also have my eyes open for the Elmo TMX dolls. I totally want to get my hands on those. They sale for $34.99 and they are in very high demand. They are currently going on Ebay for close to $75 a piece plus shipping.

Gotta get the hook up from the Target sales associate to get the info on when they are going to get the Elmos!

Tomorrow's a marketing day...

I'm going to drop G off at daycare, then I'm going to pound the pavement and start peddling my business!

I figure I'm going to hit the Medical Professional Building. Then I can do all of the doctor's offices in front.

All in a days work - of course!

Things I need to do to get more business

I think first and foremost I just need to get out there more and in front of my audience. Last week when G was in daycare I was able to get quite a bit done.

I stopped at a Law Office and dropped off brochures to the paralegal. Her parents were at ALT. The Assisted Living place that I used to work at. We had a very good repoire and then her parents had to move out due to finances. It was nice to see her at a funeral a few months back. When we talked we caught up on how her parents were doing and I also plugged my business. She asked me to drop off brochures since she does wills and also execution of wills and deals with many seniors and their families.

A great referral source!

Then I went to a local nursing home. I met with their admissions coordinator and gave her my brochures. Then we just talked about senior gossip in the community and I caught up on some of the old residents that I had at ALT. She deals with a lot of medicaid and not many private pays. Plus, their nursing home now offers companion services too if a resident needs to go to a doctor's appointment. So they probably wouldn't use me for that service.

The last stop I made was at the local hospital. I only ran into one discharge planner. Someone who looked very familiar but I couldn't place a name to a face. Come to find out, she was someone who we used to bowl with on our Sunday LGBT league. Oh yeah --- maybe I'll get the family hook-up.

It's all about connections -- hopefully, I'll get some business soon!

Senior Solutions!

So, I decided to open a business blog to discuss many different topics such as marketing, sales, and overall business tactics that I've seen effective in a business setting.

Of course with that being said. I have a business - however, it's somewhat inactive! When I resigned over 1 1/2 years I started the business with thoughts that I would use the extra income to pay for the little things.

I did a few consulting jobs here and there and then nothing.

Getting down to the root - I just wasn't out there enough. Since I am a stay at home mother to a 2 year old. Time isn't always on my side!

Plus, since my business is so rare - it takes a while to get the word out, then the education part is pretty time consuming too.

It's all about staying in front of your referral sources and letting them know how easily accessible and willing you are.

Now I'll step off of my pulpit.