My eBay Seller ID has Changed...

 GroovyEducator is now LowerysLoftLLC

If you are looking for me on eBay and want to do a seller search, I am no longer GroovyEducator.

You can type it as LowerysLoftLLC or lowerysloftllc.

I don't plan on changing it again but if I wanted to I would have to wait 30 days.  By making everything Lowery's Loft, I thought it would be less confusing.  I will still be Groovy Educator on TpT and on my education blog.

I am slowing transitioning and trying to grow this business.  Any advice is welcome.  :)

www.LowerysLoft.com

I'm so excited!  Lowery's Loft has a new home - www.LowerysLoft.com.

It has a link to my eBay store and a link to my blog.  It also has a link to my Groovy Educator blog.

I still plan on blogging.  It feels great to finally hit the ground running.  Working from home can be a challenge in that it's easy to get off schedule.  I am tweaking my "home" work schedule and have even purchased business cards.

My DBA (doing business as) paperwork has been filled out and, and, and...It's just exciting!

As always feedback is welcome.  This is an ever evolving process with loads to learn.  That's why I love it so much!

List, List, and List some More...

Well,

I cannot believe how much time has passed since my last post.  Where does the time go?  Really...

It has been a tumultuous month.  My dearest Dad died at the end of March and I am still reeling from the loss.  He was my eBay mentor and biggest supporter.  He believed strongly that I can make a living off eBay.

Right now I am praying he is right.  Tomorrow is the deadline for letting my school district know that I will not be returning next year.

I have been on a leave of absence since the end of November due to my Fibromyalgia (not contagious- just a pain disorder that I am learning to live with).  I have been blessed with short term disability and thought that I would have that through the end of May.  Surprise!  Nope!  It unexpectedly ended and for the first time in my life I do not have the security blanket of a steady check.

Aside from loving to teach children how to read, I loved the security of the job.

Change is so hard.  Life is unpredictable.  In my Dad's honor I am going to give my all at eBay and hope for the best.  Right now I am growing my store.  If you have any suggestions on how to spread the word about my eBay store I am open to suggestions.

I am giving myself until June to see if this can be a sole source of income.  If not, then I promised my husband I would get another job to make ends meet.  I love him so much.  He supports me in this endeavor.  It's just so scary to be so financially tight.  We can do it!

Without risk there is no reward...at least that is how the saying goes.  I just can't give up yet.  I need to try to succeed at this or I will regret it for the rest of my life.

I've managed to get over 780 listings.  I am trying to reach the magic number 900 so I can ask eBay for an increase.  Once a month you can ask for increases.  My goal is to reach at least 2000 listings.  Ideally I want to net a couple of hundred dollars in sales a day.  That would be selling 20 ten dollar items.

So far with the increase in listings, I have not seen an increase in sales.  Hopefully this is only due to the fact that Tax Day is looming.

It is way late and I am rambling.  If you have any expertise in this area, I am open to suggestions.

I am chasing the dream ... on a wing and a prayer... (okay enough cliches for tonight).

Listing Signed Necklaces on eBay

 Miriam Haskell is a fabulous designer.  She created a very versatile 52" necklace.  It can be layered as pictured.  You could even add a fancy brooch to upcycle the piece.  If you ever run across a Miriam Haskell piece hang on to it because they are harder to find and more costly.

Whenever I am shopping for items to sell, I look for tags on the necklaces because that is often a signed piece.  Signed pieces are easier to describe and sell because often there are people that like a particular designer.

 If the signature is not on the tag is will usually be found near the clasp on or the clasp if it is a signed piece.  When it is in one of these spots it is often super tiny so you need a magnifier.


I found a "loop" in the coin section at the bookstore.  It is a 16x powerful magnifier that folds up.  When I worked the flea market, I learned about these type of magnifiers because a male shopper had one hanging from a lanyard around his neck.  He used it to inspect the pieces that he purchased.

 I try not to think of the pieces I may have underpriced and still underprice due to my lack of knowledge.  I focus on each aspect of this journey as a new learning experience. 

When photographing a necklace, try not to overlook the clasp.  It can be an indicator of the age of the piece.  A person who is a an avid jewelry collector will look for these type of details.  Others will have a better idea of what they are purchasing so the outcome is often favorable. Close ups of the piece are essential for indicating more subtle details that cannot be noted in the average picture.

                                                                       

Right now I am focusing on learning how to list items as accurately and efficiently as possible.  I plan to have a notebook on my desk just to jot down these ponderings so that I can research them in my spare time.  I can't express how exciting it is to learn a whole new "area."  I have focused so much of my time on classroom best practices when I was teaching that I missed out on learning about this type of topic.  I really appreciate the layers of knowledge that are required in learning about jewelry.  Aside from types of clasps, types of beads, types of chains, types of gems, types of metal, etc...There are also oodles of designers to learn about and what influenced those designers,  AND there is all the historical periods.  Oh my it is overwhelming.  That is why I want to share, share, these tidbits as I learn them. 

It's time to "Tweet" for Business - Learning to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business

I have been a "pin-a-holic" on Pinterest in an attempt to grow my business.  It is a platform I that I have felt very comfortable with from the beginning.  Perhaps it is the structure and organization...Twitter on the other hand not so much.

That is about to change.  I am resolving to focus more of my energies on Twitter.  It seems so random with tweets - small snippets of information.  That can be a good thing. 

The eBay mobile app makes it very easy to share your postings in the most popular social networking arenas (Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter in no particular order).  All you have to do is click on share your listing after it posted and then select which social network you want to share it with.  It's that simple.  With a couple more clicks you can share to all three!

I have been religious with Pinterest and somewhat on Facebook.  I hesitate with Facebook because it shares to my personal page and not my business page.  I do not want to barrage my family and friends with numerous postings.  Twitter, I've avoided because it can get overwhelming trying to learn too many new things at once. 

It's time to "Tweet" to grow my business.  The question is how to grow followers.  Customers that are interested in purchasing from my store.  When I make a sale on eBay, I've been including an information sheet that includes my return policy and main website www.GroovyEducator.com that links up to my blogs and eBay store but I have not really been pushing the social media.

What made me want to spend more emphasis on this is silly really but on an episode of American Idol there was mention how important social media is.  I hope I didn't lose you yet!  Well that planted the seed.  Tonight when I was visiting eBay's seller information center, there is was again-mention on utilizing social media.  You can follow @ebayforbusiness to learn more from eBay!  How neat is that.
If you are interested in following me, here is the info: @GroovyEducator

I will work on tweeting new items in my eBay store as well as products in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.  I have been focusing so much on eBay lately that my TpT products have been pretty stagnant.   It's hard to balance it all because I have so many interests.  In time I will work on tweeting when I have a new blog post.

To get started I am just going to tweet away and hope that more followers find me.  The theory is that people only want to follow someone worth following...At least that is what I am guessing. As I learn more I will be sure to share more. 

If you have knowledge in any of these areas and would like to share/comment, I would love that.  It would accelerate the learning curve substantially. 

From being a teacher for many years I have learned that sharing sessions with colleagues is often the most effective professional development. There's even a term for that now:  Learning Communities.

Okay, it is late, late, late and I am beginning to ramble...

Here's to "Tweet" dreams!  (cheesy play on words I know...)

Overcoming Self Doubt

When I wrote the last post, I was over the moon at achieving top rated power seller.  Now I am full of self doubt because I keep questioning whether or not I can make this my livelihood.  I've been a teacher for years because I love the children and I loved the stability.  Now I have my own child that I want to be there for. It has been a challenge finding balance with being the kind of teacher I want to be and the kind of involved mom I want to be, especially now that I have fibromyalgia.  For years I've lived paycheck to paycheck and fear that may always be so.

With eBay I love the idea that the earning potential is limitless!  BUT...How is that achieved?  I am trying to grow my store and will continue to do so.  I just hope my vision is realistic.  I want to have my own business with every fiber of my being but at the same time I want to be economically free,  not fearful if there will be enough to cover the bills.  If you read this and are a successful seller or know someone who is...

Can you please leave a comment and assure me it is possible?

I probably shouldn't write this post and admit to this self doubt but I'm human and I do doubt myself from time to time.  I am as much of a realist as I am an idealist.  I have my baby girl and my husband to consider. 

Tomorrow I will wake up rearing to go again.  I will visualize a successful business and continue to do my very best to learn, grow, and sell.  

When I was a second grade teacher, I made a bulletin board with DREAM, BELIEVE, BECOME written in clouds that hung next to the bright sun (symbolizing success) and above our classroom tree (symbolizing growth).  It was always important to me to encourage the children to be self motivated.

Now I need to heed my own advice.

DREAM, BELIEVE, BECOME

Picture courtesy of www.mycutegraphics.com

Top Rated Power Seller on eBay!

If you read the headline you may understand why I took a short break from blogging.  I have dug my heels in the sand and focused on sell, sell, selling on eBay.  It has been an extraordinary adventure thus far and I am sure it will continue to be one. 

An educator at heart, I love learning. It has been a balancing act trying to study, read, and list as much as I can while being the best mom I can be to my "almost" two year old daughter.  Now that doesn't sound like too much of a balancing act but you have to factor in my recent diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.  It has changed my world...

A Little Personal History...  (Feel free to skip this part.)

This would have been my fourteenth year as an elementary school teacher.  I love teaching!  In November I had to take a leave of absence because I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  I have always been one of those annoying overachiever type people who have to do everything 110%.  With fibromyalgia, there is a lot of pain.  If you have ever suffered from chronic pain or even had the flu, you know that it's impossible to stay full steam ahead. (Can you tell I like cliches?)

My body hurt SO bad all day long.  Stress aggravates the symptoms.  Because I was so sore, I had a hard time focusing after school on paperwork so it took longer.  I found that I was COMPLETELY out of steam by the time I got home.  There was no time to recharge because my sweet dear daughter was waiting for me when I got home and I had to be mom for her.

To make a long story short I had to go on a leave of absence while I figured out what to do.  I've had a gazillion appointments with different doctors and specialists.  I recently got a second opinion and the result is the same....So in an effort to find a more stress free life where I can pace myself, I turned to eBay.  It is my dream to make this my livelihood so if you have any suggestions or advice I am open.

Becoming a Power Seller

Slow and steady seems to be the best way to start.  In education Harry Wong, the author of the First Days of School, emphasizes the importance of starting the year slow by thoroughly teaching the rules and routines in a way which there is a firm understanding.  There is a lot of review.  That is how I approached eBay.  In the beginning I did a lot of research on eBay success stories.  I mostly read articles I Googled and listened to sellers on Youtube.  I listed a few items making sure that I was very honest in describing their condition.  I later chose to take a lot of pictures as the majority of my description. 

After some time I was a little frustrated in that I was listing more and was limited by selling limits.  In retrospect, eBay's selling limits are VERY practical.  They afforded me time to craft my packing technique, create a schedule (still struggling with this somewhat), and figure out pricing (still learning here too).

Each month I worked on reaching my selling limit and then requested an increase. 

Let me go back and say I did not begin with a store.  After about a month I opened Lowery's Loft at the basic level.  I subscribed to the monthly rate as I wanted the freedom to move up to the next level.  When I finally reached my 300th listing, I moved up to the $59.99 a month store.  I rarely sign up for yearly subscriptions so I am paying the month to month rate.  I like the freedom of moving up and down as I see fit.

This week I reached my 400th listing and achieved Top Seller status.  I hope to keep it by continuing to think like a buyer.  Oh I forgot to mention when I started out I bought several items off eBay and analyzed the seller.  From a buyer's perspective, I took note of the packaging, correspondence, and overall impression of the seller.  I took many mental notes and applied what I consider to be best practices.

In my classroom my number one rule was "Treat others the way you want to be treated."  That applies to eBay.  From my perspective that is the road to becoming a Top Rated Power Seller!

There is so much to say.  This is a brief overview.