The best way out is always through
Robert Frost
I’m feeling this quote right about now! My checking account is down to $100, and my Paypal account down to $400.
It feels a little like the time I lived in Eugene, where I was feeling the weight of living alone on my shoulders. I was afraid of what would happen in my future. I was afraid of not being able to support myself. I was afraid of not being able to afford toys and losing my disposable income. Back then, I gave up, resigned my position at work and moved home.
Not this time. This time, I either make my dreams come true, become financially independent, or I die. There are no alternatives.
Today is Tuesday so it’s a cheat day. No training, just focus. I went to sleep around midnight last night. I had no choice, I was exhausted after a busy day of training and acquisitions. I went to four thrift stores, acquiring goods that I hope to flip on eBay.
I bought Nerf guns. I think I paid too much for them. I don’t think I’ll be able to sell them unless I sell them as lots of 2 or 3.
I’m out of bubble wrap. I need to find a good dumpster to raid!
The thing is, I don’t yet know where I could find packing materials for free. I definitely have a good source for cardboard boxes, but I haven’t worked out a good solution for packing materials like bubble wrap or poly bags.
I may have to shell out the cash and get some new bubble wrap. There’s a place in town called Action Shipping depot which might have some deals. Or maybe it’s not worth the effort because in-person shops sometimes gouge buyers. Maybe eBay would be the best route for this.
Ooo, Uline has all sorts of shipping supplies. I could totally buy from them, but then they’d send me those fucking paper catalogs every quarter. I can’t believe that they send a full catalog in year 2020.
Holy shit how cool would this be? A bubble wrap machine! that would talk up way less space than a full pre-made roll of bubble wrap!
Too bad it’s $4000 for the machine! That’s way out of my budget for now.
As it stands, I don’t have enough money to make rent, and keep up with eBay acquisitions. Therefore, I think it might be time to double down and work my ass off to ensure that I can make rent.
I have enough food for about 2 weeks. I have enough gas for 1.
I think it might be time to seek food benefits as well. Just for the short term, while I get my business ramped up.
Oh, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to make a P-Memories card sale! It’s my first ever, and I was so stoked!
This gives me so much hope. Hope that flipping cards and other things is worth my time and effort! I simply need to have enough items listed on eBay at any given time, to the point where I can make a living off several $7 items every day.
P-Memories alone won’t earn me enough, but if I have a diversified inventory, there’s a good chance.
If what I believe is true, the 3 red stars on the bottom right means this card is a Rare card. Not bad, not bad!
In the next few days, I’m going to pull the 50 card P-Memories lots that I have listed, and convert them to singles. $25 for 50 cards sounds good, but $7 for 1 card sounds even better!
I can always reduce the price of a card if I think it’s not going to sell. Commons especially, I think people would be hesitant to buy.
The thing I love about trading cards is that they go out of print, and their value goes up. I don’t see any reason why these card values won’t go up. As long as there are VOCALOID fans, I think these cards have a good chance to sell.
I’m not so sure about other card series in Precious Memories. K-ON for example. Maybe K-ON is the same way. I think K-ON will always have dedicated fans.
I’m kinda freaking out. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make eBay reselling work for me. I’m not making enough sales every day, and I’m spending a shit load of money on acquisitions.
Perhaps I reel it in a little bit? Maybe I stop experimenting with “unsafe” acquisitions for a bit, and focus on acquisitions which have more of a guaranteed return?
I just slashed prices on a bunch of my items. Honestly, I don’t know how Cincinnati Picker gets $9000 in sales some months. He must be a lot better at picking items which will sell.
Maybe I’m just not being patient enough. Maybe I don’t have enough items listed yet. When it comes to cards like P-Memories, I can expect up to 3 sales a month. Perhaps I also need to expect a low volume of sales per month on most other categories?
I just checked Cincinnati Picker’s eBay store. 548 items listed.
I’m at 548 items right now.
I think I see the difference. Cincinnati Picker has a lot of higher priced items. Most of mine are low priced.
I think I just suck at acquisitions. My cost basis is too high!
I’m just kinda freaking out. Perhaps I should spend a few days and modify all my prices, so things have a chance of selling. Maybe I should hold off on thrift stores for awhile, and switch to garage sales.
Collectibles seem to be pretty commonly sold on Cincinnati Picker’s eBay store. Maybe I should look for some sweet deals on collectibles.
Maybe I should spend a few days and get all my P-Memories cards listed? They have 0% chance of selling as long as they are unlisted!
Maybe it’s part time job time?
Ugh, I’m frustrated, dismayed, and scared.
I think it’s food time.
Yes, I need a lower cost basis. I need a higher return. Therefore, no more thrift stores!
No more thrift store acquisitions until I figure out what works for me. In other words, no more unsafe acquisitions. If I happen to find Gold’s Gym signs, I’ll scoop those up, because I know I can make a good profit on those. Everything else is considered JUNK and I should stay far away!
It’s junk until proven otherwise. I have lots of items on eBay at this point. Lots of items which will tell me whether or not they’re worth money.
Speaking of things worth money and bad acquisitions… OnePlus One phones! I have 3 of them now, all broken. I won’t be able to flip them unless I get some screens and fix them up. I think I ordered screens… That would be nice to get those outta here and make a profit, but IDK if there is enough profit margin on those to make it worthwhile.
I’m totally freaking out. I’m scared that my efforts are in vain because my expenses outweigh my income.
I should just become a welfare baby. Life would be way easier that way. I wanna suck on the teet of the state and just play video games all day!
Just kidding. I mean that life has it’s pros, but it also has cons. Cons being that I’d be stuck once again, not striving for any sort of excellence. Not striving to make my dreams come true and do hard things worth doing.
Like my BTM idea. I don’t know how many years it’s been, but I’ve dreamed of owning a BTM for a long time.
I wonder if eBay will work for me. I wonder indeed.
I know there are quite a few up front costs that I have to deal with when it comes to eBay. The store subscription is one. I keep upping my subscription level because I’ve been listing so many items as of late. That’s a good thing, I think, but there is the subscription cost that will take a bit to offset.
I can’t get dismayed. Getting dismayed will set me back, and I don’t want setbacks.
I just need to list. I have acquisitions from yesterday that need listing, and taking care of those should be priority #1.
Ok then. List I shall. I shall list the items I acquired, setting for myself a good 30% profit margin. Then I’ll list all my P-Memories cards, taking great care to organize them well, so I can fetch them in the future when they sell.
84. I will remember; often difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations.
81. I am braver than I feel.
78. I am stronger than my worries.
I wonder if there’s something from Paracord that I could make, that people would be willing to buy? Paracord survival thongs? LOL, nobody wants to buy them at the price I am willing to sell them. That listing expires next month, I believe. It has until then to make a sale. If not, then I’m going to forget about that idea. I’m glad that I tried, but it doesn’t look like there’s a market for that.
I can’t see any part time job that doesn’t suck. The most appealing job is one at Goodwill, for an eCommerce associate. They do pretty much what I do, and get paid $13.50 an hour. I’ll pass, because I like my solitude, freedom, and doing only what I want to do.
That’s the shitty thing about Goodwill. Any good name brand items they get go straight to their auction website; they never make it to their sales floor.
I think Value Village does the same thing. Value Village is even worse because they’re a for-profit company. Unlike Goodwill and Salvation Army, I don’t think Value Village does anything for charity.
That’s why I like Salvation Army the most. They have the best items at the best prices because they aren’t selling things online, and they’re a charitable organization.
23. Everything will work out in the end. If it hasn't worked out yet, it's not the end.
29. It is always too early to give up on my goals.
27. I keep going because I believe in myself.
I need extra affirmations today! I’m feeling rather vulnerable.
Maybe I will take today off. Rather, I will take care of myself today, and maybe I will work after that.
25. Every day, in every way, I am becoming better and better.
26. I am happy with who I am.
20. I am imperfect but I'm still perfectly me.
I’m cooking rice right now. I think I will feel a little more positive after eating.
I’m going to finish out this writing session with words of gratitude, as usual. After that, I think I will do some guided meditation. I will look up a Buddhist meditation sutra on youtube and follow along. Sutras are my favorite kind of meditation because it’s the easiest way I know of to clear my mind. Using other meditation techniques which lack vocals leave me too much room for thought. Vocals take all my concentration to hold notes and breath properly, so I find them really effective and I enjoy them.
I’m grateful for Burnerapp. It’s a VoIP app which gives me a second phone number which I can use for whatever purpuse. I’m using Burnerapp right now as my main phone number. This way, I can switch phone providers and not have to worry about porting phone numbers.
I’m grateful for my list of 101 positive things to say to myself. I am using it every day and it brings me hope and peace.
I’m grateful for parchment paper. It is nice and thick, so making organizational cards to put in card organizer boxes is really beneficial. They are sturdy and don’t deform easily, and feel great between my fingers. Parchment paper is nice to write on with my fountain pen as well, which makes it excellent for writing letters or taking notes.
I’m grateful for WordPress. I’m pretty sure I’ve brought this up in the past, but it’s a nice writing platform for bloggers and website owners. It’s nice that people who can’t afford to run their own website can just piggyback off of wordpress.net, and get a free blog for themselves. I’m greatful for the plugin ecosystem with all the great features that can be added to my site.
