The Allure of EBay

It was September 1999 when my husband and I had our first experience with EBay, as buyers. At the time we were just getting involved with scuba diving and needing to build up our equipment. Well, how handy was it to just sit in front of the computer screen and discover all that we needed to outfit ourselves from head to toe! On top of the selection and great prices, there was the excitement of timing the push of the enter key at just the right moment to achieve the Winning Bid honor! It was all so easy. As a buyer. For some reason, making the transition from buyer to seller was daunting for us. After a while the phase of our EBay pursuits faded, and though off and on I mentioned that I would love to get rid of some of our "stuff" on EBay, I couldn't get past the "wanting" stage to the "doing" stage. I always said it was because we didn't have a convenient way to take and then post the necessary photos to use for listing online. But it was more than that.

Fast forward to spring 2008. By this time we had moved to the Gulf Coast and had down sized from 3000+/- sq. ft. to 1400 sq. ft. You know how when you move you think you have done a good job culling out your unwanted possessions, but then you realize, like a rough draft, it takes more than one attempt to finish the job completely? Spring cleaning had hit and I started going through some boxes we had put to the side and finding more and more things that we realized we needed less and less. Well, I started telling my husband that I wanted to get rid of this stuff and there was no reason we couldn't list it and sell it on EBay. By now we had a good digital camera. I figured everybody else was making money on EBay, so why not us? Well, time passed and I found myself still "stuck". Why couldn't I just get going and post our things online? Could it be that hard? What's the worst thing that could happen? Everyone else can do this, why can't I? Then I realized, it's because I didn't know how. Being a seller is different. You have to know how to do something before you can do it, and I didn't know to sell on EBay, nor where to learn.

And So We Begin

Not wanting my blog to be all full of flash forwards and flash backs, tonight I began working on an outline of what I have been doing as an Internet Marketing Newbie, up to this point. If the whole point of this blog is to be a record from the beginning, I figured I'd better start at the beginning!

Just a little more than a year ago, my husband and I had the joy of selling our business after having developed, created and run it for over 15 years. We scaled down, packed up, and moved from living on beautiful wooded waterfront acreage, to living in the balmy climate of the Gulf Coast. For all practical purposes we are now "retired". To clarify though, we're a couple of "not ready for the rocking chair" type of retirees. There is still plenty of living to do, places to discover, and new things to learn. Oh, and a lot of odds and ends that we have realized we can live without and want to get rid of.

During our short time being retired, we have enjoyed ourselves, and relished having the freedom to do what we want, when we want to. In fact, now that we have enjoyed our first year of time-off, we've started thinking of how we could make a little extra income. With the recent changes in the economy, it started us thinking. Of course you never know what tomorrow will bring, and with that, can you ever really feel that you are totally "prepared"? Completely through trying to add "a little bit more" to your nest egg? We both enjoy working on our computers and with our past business, feel comfortable being online. So, what could we do on our computers, online, working from home to create a bit of an income stream? Little did I know, my husband would come up with an idea that would start this whole ball rolling!

Internet Marketing: Just Starting Out

For me, when I start something new, something I know nothing about, but have a strong interest in, it can be exciting, confusing, intimidating and enthralling, all at the same time. Being brand new to Internet Marketing with the hopes of creating and growing multiple income streams has me feeling all of the above, and then some!
As I begin this new venture and personal journey, I imagine I'm not the only person, or the last person, trying to figure out how to develop an income from working online, so, why not chronicle my progress? Why not record from the beginning why I'm doing this. Map out what led me to this idea. Outline what I try. Explain what I learn. Share when I succeed, and even, when I fail. This will be a great way to see my own progress, but even more valuable, I intend this diary to be something that others can follow and learn from...maybe be encouraged by, inspired by and motivated by.
Who knows, my foray into Internet Marketing may be nothing more than a great education in how other people are making money on the internet, or it could turn out to be the perfect way to launch into a new and exciting stage of my life and discover how to combine my interest and callings with a way to make a living.
I'm ready to find out...