Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Success is earned.

As I was listening to my morning radio program, I had a thought concerning how people become successful.  We've all heard the stories of how someone went from the depths of despair to being wealthy in a short period of time.  We envy these people.  We wonder why we can't do it.  But the truth is, we can all do it.  We just sabotage our own endeavors.

Speaking directly about an ebay business, I realize that most people who try to do an ebay business really have no clue of the potential they have sitting in their lap.  Never before has there been a way for someone to start and own a business for little or no cash investment.  There are virtually no barriers for people to create an income and take it as far as they want to.  The problem is, everyone wants it now.  We are impatient and have a short attention span.  We have been conditioned to expect instant gratification.

The evidence for this is the amount of credit card debt US consumers have racked up over the last couple of decades.  We can't wait to save the cash for something, we have to have it now.  This carries over into just about every aspect of our lives.  Just look at the car insurance commercials.  It started with 15 minutes or less, and is now at 7.5 minutes.  How long will it be before it is 30 seconds or less?  If you are going to succeed and be able to grow your business to the level you want, then you need to learn how to have patience and to wait for the rewards.

We as a society could take lessons from immigrants who come to our country with not much more than the clothes on their backs.  They live simply and save their money so they can achieve the success they came to this country to attain.  They work long, hard hours and do what they have to do in order to succeed.  We have been conditioned to expect quick results, and to also live beyond our means.  I have been guilty of this as much as anyone.  If you want to have an independent life and to also control your income, then you need to get back to basics and live simply.  You need to buckle down and not just work hard, but you also have to do the research required.

I see people constantly asking facebook groups how to run their business.  They refuse to do the homework.  They refuse to do the research, and then wonder why they are not getting the sales others are.  Knowledge that is not earned is worth nothing. Trial and error are the true methods of learning how ebay works.  It varies from seller to seller and category to category.  There are a ton of research tools available not just from ebay but also from third party vendors.  But don't get caught up in the research so much that you are spending your profits just to pay for those tools.  Be smart about it.  Use the tools that make you a more profitable seller.

Constantly asking others what price you should charge does nothing to educate yourself on a products value.  You will never learn value that way.  I have spent years researching profitable brands.  Why on earth would I want to give away that information?  I earned that knowledge.  It cost me time and money to have that knowledge.  Asking me for that information is an insult to my hard work.  It's time people started taking ownership of their business.  If you are too lazy to look up a product to know it's value, then you have no business trying to sell on ebay.  I'm sorry, but that is the truth.

This post isn't intended to degrade anyone, but rather to give you the honest truth and to hopefully motivate you to do what you need to do in order to be successful.  Take a few moments and do an honest assessment of your situation.  If you can't pick up an item and know it's value, or how to find it's value without asking an online group, then maybe you need to go back to square one.  Learn research first, then move forward.  You'll have a much greater success rate than relying on others.

3 comments:

  1. Well said, direct and to the point.

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  2. Great post! Like you said..it's quite easy to research and find information yourself. It's a business that will work for you, if you work at it!

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