MY eBay MBA is better than your IVY LEAGUE MBA
If you ask me, I got my MBA twice. The only thing the two have in common is that they were both done part time while I worked a full time job and they both helped move my career forward immensely.
The first time was in an actual school setting, part time, three nights a week for two years. The second time was behind my computer, teaching myself how to successfully run an eBay business when I started my first eBay business.
Leading up to the fall/winter of 2002 I think, don’t quote me on the year, it was a long time ago, I wanted to buy a book called “The Complete Far Side Collection”. You may or may not be familiar with it. It is a collection of all the Far Side comics ever made by Gary Larson. It consists of two volumes and each set weighs about 25 pounds and each page is full of some of the best humor you will ever see.
It was sold out everywhere but was selling on eBay for almost $300. The retail value of it was about $150 and I couldn’t bring myself to paying double. Instead of buying it, I got to work. I checked every resource I could think of to find the book cheaper. No luck anywhere.
Then finally I was sitting in my office and it occurred to me to just call the publisher directly to find out if there actually were any of these books left in circulation.
I found the number on the internet and to my surprise, somebody answered, and he was not only very friendly, but extremely helpful and informative. He talked to me about the huge popularity of the book and how limited it really was. He also told me that the only place in his records that still has this book in stock was Costco. Costco! Why didn’t I think of that?
I politely said thank you and goodbye and rushed to their website. They had 50 left in stock at an amazing price of just $80 each. I could have just bought one and called it a great day saving so much money, but I had already gotten my first MBA and was thinking like a businessman.
A little quick math in my head and a few minutes later and I had just charged almost $4500 on my credit card (damn that shipping and tax) and cleaned Costco out of their remaining supply of books. The next hour was spent with buyers’ remorse. What if the publisher releases more? What if I can’t sell them? What if the price drops? To succeed in business, you have to take some risks, and this was my first ever.
The UPS guy who delivered them was not happy. They came in big brown boxes, 2 in each, so yes, they weighed 50 pounds per box. It took over almost his whole truck. I was at work during the first delivery and they left me a note saying they’d come back one more time. We all know what happens if you miss a UPS delivery more than once, they either ship it back to the sender or they make you come pick it up.
I took the next day off from work. You aren’t supposed to tip UPS men I don’t think, but keeping in mind I lived in an apartment building in Queens with no elevator to speak of, so I did anyway. Total cost so far, $4520 and one day missed of work.
My one bedroom apartment was all of a sudden full of heavy, large brown boxes. I got to work and listed my first one auction style and started the bidding high and kept my faith. After all, they were still selling for almost $200 on eBay. By the end of the auction, it sold for around $200 and I was elated.
Now I just needed to sell over 20 of them at this price to reach my break even point. Break even point is another concept I slept through in business school, but learned quickly on eBay. I kept listing, the bids kept coming in, and I kept shipping them. I had to buy myself a handcart from the local hardware store so I could haul them down to the UPS store every week. Another $20. I got to know the UPS guy and made a deal with him on the boxes.
After I made my break even point, 23 sold, the publisher released the second edition into the market and they were selling for about $150. The remaining 26 books ( I kept one for myself) sold for between $120-$180 and all of it was profit. I still to this day have the copy I kept, it sits right on my coffee table. In total I made about $3000 dollars in one month, but more importantly I learned enough to really launch my eBay business.
By then I had a glowing feedback rating from all the books I sent to people, and I knew everything I needed to know about how eBay works. I also got 4000 credit card points from my initial investment in the books. All in all, a great experience, which led to the launch of my current eBay business, which in turn led to the launch of my other online ventures.
I studied finance for 4 years, and business school for my MBA for 2, and I didn’t learn nearly as much as I learned in that one month of selling on eBay. For this reason, I strongly recommend launching your internet presence with an eBay business. It does not include the complications that go along with other ventures like affiliate marketing, adsense or search engine optimization.
Millions of people surf eBay everyday and if you find that one product that everybody else wants, the business law of supply and demand will always work in your favor, and you will make your money online in no time.
For those of you who don’t have $4000 to invest in inventory, or would much rather go into eBay with no risk at all, there is good news for you too. Drop Shipping! Keep checking back for more information about how to start your Drop Ship business.
For now check out my top tools that already have tons of great information and resources.
1 comment:
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