Exploring My Why
The inevitable question keeps rearing its head - why?
I think it’s good to regularly take a step back and ask yourself, why are you doing what you’re doing? Life is full of challenges, but knowing exactly why you’re doing something can motivate you through figuring it all out.
Lately, asking myself about my why has me wondering where I should take the business.
I like the alchemy of flipping.
I like saving things from the landfill.
I like processing and organizing and cleaning.
It all makes sense that I loved my old junk removal job.
But knowing all this, does that mean I need to ramp up my reselling business? Or write an e-book? Or something else I don’t know yet? What would fit well with my skills?
I’m determined to find out.
By the numbers
Spend: $226.87
Net profit: $782.46 (vs. $733.10 last month)
Listed on eBay: 59 (vs. 62 last month)
eBay rating: 100%
IG followers: 627 (previously 565)
What Sold
Highlights
Big bucks
I just inched out more profit than December. But it’s mostly because of these two sales (above). The My Child Pet bear sold for $170 and Seduced by Madness finally sold for $100.
Big boost
What’s just as exciting as more profits? More followers and subscribers!
And honestly, I had only a little to do with it. Another (much more popular) reseller @stefanyfuson shared my account in her Instagram Stories and resulted in a windfall of new followers. Plus, I shared IG Story quizzes to engage my followers and ran an Angry Birds plush giveaway.
Fresh look
The deadline was nearing. I needed to transfer my website to avoid another yearly renewal and I did. I managed, after some difficulty, to shift my website to the latest Squarespace platform, transfer my domain, and reconnect my email. Whew!
Some extra space
I get some sick satisfaction about making space selling the big stuff. The 22” Batman figure above sat in my kitchen for years before it sold. Plus, I was glad some Facebook parents took the time to bug me about shipping so I could let go of the larger Dinotrux vehicles. I have space again! Time to fill it up.
Fails
It’s easy to be hard on myself.
I’ve been doing this long enough that the Fails section is the easiest to write, but it often feels a bit repetetive. There are some things I want to do that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. There is only so much time and only one me.
That being said, if I add something in, I need to cut something out. Or at least take it back a bit.
I think I can give up on daily Instagram activity. Or if I wanted to do it, I’d need to batch it, so I’m not constantly nose-deep in my phone, not doing other more important things.
I definitely can’t give up on registering my business. I’m only burning myself by not looking into more tax advantages as I hopefully grow.
Going Forward
I’ve been getting back into the ideas of author and professor Cal Newport. One of his books A World Without Email laid out the philsophy that there is a crisis of constant communication that hinders genuine work being done.
While I want to leverage the power of the internet and be more social, it shouldn’t mean I’m glued to my phone.
Instead, I want to produce more genuine work:
Research SEO keywords for people wanting to learn about reselling toys
Write some eBay 101 blog content
Start drafting an e-book for reselling toys
Create more weekly IG quizzes
Create a thank you note to accompany my shipments
