I hope everyone had a successful and profitable Christmas season on eBay.  Any particularly successful sales?  Would love to hear about them, leave a comment below.

Sometimes, the solution to an eBay problem can be solved simply by having a second set of eyes to look over the item listing, to help bring that final piece of the puzzle into focus.

Other times, it may be that you are needing a little nudge from someone else to keep you motivated to keep selling.

Here are some of the phrases I most often repeat to others when I am helping to motivate them:
“Take baby steps!” – It is quite common to get fixated on the end result before you actually get started with a project. The result in their mind is a grand accomplishment that brings lots of success, wealth, and happiness. There is nothing wrong with thinking big, everyone does it. Just be sure to remember the little steps you will need to take to get to your grand finale. Take some time to map each little step, this is more motivating than just skipping ahead to the end and stumbling backwards to have to start over again. Especially, when you cross of each accomplishment along the way!

“Look at how far you’ve come! I’m so proud of you!” – It feels great to look back and think about how far you have come in your eBay selling. Remember how you used to have a hard time with little things that you now breeze through. Remember that first eBay sale, and how it made you feel. Taking the time to remember what you have accomplished can motivate you to accomplish more.

“Keep your focus crystal clear!” – I know the money IS motivating! But, what is it that drives you to stay focused to keep moving forward and keep improving your eBay business? This could be your kids, saving for a vacation, being able to quite your day job, financial freedom, or maybe even a few of those combined. Whatever your reason for motivation, keep it in focus and don’t lose sight of it no matter what.

“I support YOU” – Be supportive and/or have a support system! I can’t even begin to tell you how many spouses don’t want their significant other selling on eBay. I can relate. My husband wasn’t always behind me on this either. Since then we have worked through it and he supports everything I do online. He tells me to “Do whatever it takes.” Those four words are VERY motivating for me! There are many eBay community groups, forums, Facebook groups, and people on Twitter who are die-hard eBay fanatics, providing lots of people who are willing to listen and offer support to the beginner and advanced eBay sellers. Support is extremely important and extremely motivating in every way.

I’m always here to help you – send an email, leave a comment, Tweet away. Send me a message if you have a question or just need help getting out of a rut!

If you have thoughts on how to help motivate others, share it by leaving a comment below.

I hope this helps you keep motivated!

Marketing. It can take time to establish a following and a reputation for quality, but have a plan from the beginning can help speed things along. Here are some tips to help get your marketing efforts headed in the right direction.

What is Marketing?
For those who aren’t sure what marketing is, it is how you let others know about the products you have for sale. Think about companies such as Nike and Coca-Cola. These are reputable brands, however they had to present their products to the public in a variety of ways to get noticed.

Online marketing strategies for websites can also work if your only online presence is with an eBay store. Some marketers may even use eBay as a sort of test market, before they decide to take the next step to a website just for selling their products. eBay charges a few fees for their services, but these are nominal when you compare it to the money you can make selling on eBay. Remember, it usually takes money to make money. So, if you are serious about creating a profitable business sooner or later you will have to spend a little money.

Where to Begin

Spread the News – Start with word of mouth, or viral marketing. Let your friends and family know about your new eBay business venture. Send them emails that include links to your auctions so they can see what it is you have been busy doing.

Email – There is also another use for your email. Each time you send an email you can include a signature line. Use that signature to link to your auction listings or eBay store. Just add a tagline like, “Come and see what is new on eBay!”

Customer Feedback – Ask for feedback from your buyers. By increasing the amount of positive feedback, you elevate your standing on eBay. Most people will leave feedback anyway, but send them an email to follow up after you ship your products as a customer service gesture to gauge their satisfaction and remind them to leave feedback.

Business Cards – Order some business cards and use them. Add your business card to each package you ship, this can help to keep your name fresh in their minds. For electronic informational products like eBooks and special reports, include a business card resource box on the last page of the product.

Reward Repeat Customers – Offer coupons and other promotions to your repeat customers. By offering a discount to customers when they next bid or make a fixed price purchase, they are more likely to come back. A shipping discount is always popular and is well liked by many eBay buyers.

Freebies – Adding a little something extra for free is always appreciated. For example: you sell a bicycle. Add a bicycle pump or stickers (for a kid’s bike) as something extra for the buyer to use. Include your web address or logo where applicable.

Each of these ideas combine to help create a marketing plan. If you have a separate website, the number of marketing strategies you can use increases. Don’t confine yourself to just one form of marketing. Develop a well thought out marketing plan and follow it through each step to reach your maximum success with your eBay store.

Many people who join the work from home force, have this common false impression. They went into it thinking that it was going to be easy to work from home. The truth is it’s not easy. It takes a lot of control, focus and a clear plan to be able to achieve a productive work day from home. Because, you most certainly didn’t decide to work from home just to put in 80 hour work weeks and still not see your kids. Did you?

Remember to take breaks and refresh your mind.
Keep to a schedule, even if you are working in your pajamas! By working in smaller amounts of time, you will be able to stay focused on direct tasks. Set a timer or cell phone alarm, anything that will remind you to walk away from your computer and be done “working” for the day. Or designate breaks throughout the day, even just get out of the house for an afternoon with your kids

If you have a hard time sticking to a daily or weekly routine, I suggest seeking assistance with your scheduling. Try spending about 30 minutes with someone else discussing what you need to complete each week. Think of it as a weekly coaching session to help you keep on track. Maybe even sit with an eBay buddy. Develop a schedule that maps our what you need to accomplish each day. Try to maintain the balance between your work and your family – do not over extend yourself.

Get organized and stay on task.
Many people get there best ideas when they are away fro their desks. Ever had a great idea while relaxing in bed, taking a shower, or driving your car?

Be sure to write them down right away, while they are still fresh in your mind. It’s best to get them down on paper or even as a note in your cell phone. A clear mind leads to a productive day!

There is a ‘notes’ feature on most cell phones, and it is a great tool that is readily available, so start using it. It especially comes in handy when pen and paper are out of reach. Most cell phones even have the option to email, so send it as an email to yourself!

Later, once you are prepared to sit down to work, set up an organized plan. Tackle small amounts of tasks to complete in allotted amounts of time. Maybe allot an hour or two each. Try your best to stick to your schedule and don’t over budget your time, otherwise you will find it difficult to get anything accomplished.

Work on each task one step at a time!
It is a common thought that once a task in completed you will be raking in the sales. That is easier said than done! Just take your time and do it right. It can take several years for many online businesses to get established, so be patient!

It has taken me a little more time to realize that I should be applying the same gut feeling I have about my family, to my business also. I mean I think of my business as my ‘other baby’, don’t I?

Unfortunately, when I first started out I went through a lot of trial and error. I will even admit that I got caught up in the ‘next big thing’ that came out every week and in the end all I had was a lot of useless information that didn’t even really apply to anything that I was working on. After I tried working on a few of those projects from the information that I had received, the results were nothing but a big let down. How many times was I going to set myself up for yet another fail at someone elses benefit?

I got smarter and became more focused. Now when I receive the latest ‘get rich quick’ email, which were always a BIG waste of my time, I am ready to delete and even unsubscribe from every one of them. There is no such thing as ‘get rich quick’. I learned that lesson.

Is there anything you are wanting to know more about when it comes to eBay? Leave me a comment or send me an email and I will do my best to help you out.

Be Consistent!
One of the obstacles that I have discussed in the past about eBay selling was consistency. Be sure to work at a pace you are comfortable with. Your business isn’t going to grow overnight. Working long hours and pulling all-nighters is only going to make you feel overwhelmed and increase the chances of giving up. You can’t and shouldn’t expect yourself to list hundreds of items to your eBay store in one day. BUT, if you work consistently at listing a few items each night (or whatever you are comfortable with) – your goal of filling your eBay store with inventory will be accomplished before you know it! An added bonus to listing items this way is that it will keep the Search Engine traffic coming. If you do not keep a constant flow of listings the traffic decreases, and eventually so will your sales.

Stay Focused
I am a very schedule oriented person. If something is a minute later than I have scheduled – it can throw my entire day off! I’ve been improving on not letting certain things bother me – but when it comes to my focus on my business, then I must keep to a strict schedule. It allows me to stay focused and accomplish what I need to get done in a reasonable amount of time. Placing your focus on one thing at a time will ensure that you put 100% into each thing that needs to be done. This helps to ensure that everything is done right the first time – and that feels good!

The fact that we are work at home MOMs and we still have a responsibility to uphold a house, along with our business!
You still have to maintain your eBay Store during your kids breaks and vacations – so have you considered getting yourself an associate? This option is not one that has to be overly-expensive. Just someone to help you through the more hectic times of the year so you don’t lose your sanity, while trying to balance everything and ensuring organization during your children’s breaks and vacations!

Here are a few ideas for possible associates:
Your kids - are they old enough to help out?
Maybe they can assist you with keeping track of your inventory or take pictures. Most kids love being able to help out, just try to keep it fun and interesting for them.
Do you have a child(ren) old enough to watch their younger siblings? Try leaving your older children ‘in charge’ while you read through emails, or list items to your store.

High School students – Find out if any high schoolers would be interested in being an ‘eBay Intern’, especially effective over the summer months. You get some help and they get to learn about Internet Marketing and the eBay Business.

Colleges or churches – try finding volunteers from local churches or colleges. You may be able to find someone who could be your ‘eBay Mommy Associate’ for service project hours.

Other Work At Home Moms – Maybe you know someone who is trying to get started on eBay, but is struggling and would like to learn more. You could help them set up a consignment store, selling your inventory as your Personal Trading Assistant until they are set up and operating! Just be sure to set up clear guidelines so there are no misunderstandings later on.

Next time your feeling overwhelmed and need a little help, try one of these ideas and get the help you need.

Do you have piles of papers; packing slips and invoices that need filing, or articles that have been printed out and have yet to be read? Try this: It’s what I call the ‘paper game’. Take the pile of papers stacked in front of you and make them go away for good. And I don’t mean just throwing them in the trash.

Starting at the top of the pile, take the first piece of paperwork and don’t put it down until it has reached it’s appropriate place. Keep doing this with each piece of paperwork until you have made the entire pile disappear.

Now on to your eBay inventory. This can be a tough one for some of us – that’s OK. How you keep things organized may depend on the type of items that you sell. Storing clothing is easier than storing toys. I started out using the big rubber bin method:

So, yeah I’m 5ft. tall, and as my business grew so did my bins – all the way to the ceiling! I found this to not be the most effective way to organize. Nor a productive use of time when I had to spend time searching for an item to ship and it happened to be in the very bottom bin!
So I cleaned up my bins and switched to the shelving method:

I found this to be MUCH more organized. When I have an item sell, I can see it, just reach out and grab it in seconds, and ship it on to the buyer. I just feel much happier with an organized space. Oh, and the treadmill in the last picture – sold it on eBay.

How do you organize your space? Leave a comment below with your organizational tips and ideas.

I had something that I was recently working towards.  It was so important to me, but at times I felt stuck.  A few years ago my husband’s job became unpredictable due to the fluctuations in the economy.  It was a scary time, and as such my natural instincts were to protect my family.  We spent a lot of time considering what to do in order for us to survive.  My work online helped a ton with our expenses, but it came down to needing health insurance.  So, I went back to working a “normal” job.  Even though I had not been in the working world for over 4 years, since the birth of our first daughter.  It was incredibly tough to leave her, even though I knew she was in good hands as she started Pre-K.  I also was secure in that we were prepared if anything should happen to my husband’s job, and that did wind up happening.

Jump ahead a few years – it was a tough ride!  We added another addition to our family, and my husband landed a job but makes half what he was making before.

That whole time I kept working on Boutique Bargains and selling on eBay.  I wanted to be back home so bad!  What did I do to accomplish this?  Late nights, early mornings, outsourcing, joint ventures, anything to keep my business growing.  Plus keep up with my two growing girls.

I love what I do, and I wanted to be home with my girls again and did anything I could to make it happen.  I knew in my heart that I would someday be able to leave my job and still feel comfortable that my family would have what they needed.
The biggest step to my being home full time again was my husband getting new health insurance through his job.

My goal was to be home again full time in 2010, and I made it!

Well now I have two; one school age and the other a toddler – and things have changed. With the younger one I was trying to remember what I did with my older child when she was that young. For the most part, I try not to work when my kids are around. I need to be able to concentrate, so it is better for all of us if I focus on them.

Thankfully, I now have one in school full time – so it is a bit easier to manage. During nap time I can get through emails and make any phone calls, and also run around and get some housework done. I’m also able to get pictures taken and edited, ready to use in my eBay listings.

When my oldest gets home from school, I help with homework, cook dinner, and get them both into a bedtime routine. Work will not be on my mind again until they are both in bed. That is when I take the time to list anything that I’ve taken pictures of, write blog posts, and check email again before I head to bed!

My oldest is now also able to help me get eBay items ready for pictures and even help me organize inventory for a small allowance. She has also become a great mommy’s helper at times when I have an urgent email to answer or an important phone call to take.
These are just the things that work for me ‘most’ of the time. I’m able to keep up with things. I find it much easier to do a little each day than fall totally behind. I have found it much harder to catch up once I have fallen behind.

I would love to hear how other eBay or work-at-home mom’s manage their business with kids at home, so please leave a comment below.