Growing as an eBay entrepreneur will be much easier if you take the time to manage three types of networks: Your personal network, your professional network, and your learning network.
YOUR PERSONAL NETWORK
The Accidental eBay Entrepreneur doesn't start with a business plan - and things at home start to change very quickly when sales increase. A lot of sellers who start their eBay business in this way are reactionary to their eBay business, instead of being proactive.
This can cause a lot of new tension with your personal networks (close friends and family – your emotional support system) who don't understand how things are changing. Unexpectedly and suddenly there will be new stress at home similar to what you'd experience with a marriage or a death in the family. Everything will change, and you need to manage your personal network's expectations to be in-line with your new business.
Include them in the planning. Explain WHY this is important to you. Tell them up-front what is going to be different. For example, if you have children, you may not be available to drive them around on a moment’s notice any longer.
Sometimes there will be unintended consequences you will encounter when running an eBay business, and you need to keep your eye open to recognize them when they come up and manage them quickly so problems don’t develop. Be aware of how your changing habits will affect the ones you love.
Here’s a big one: Your cash flow is going to change. You will need to plan up-front what to do with the money that comes in with your spouse/partner who may have his/her own ideas about how incoming money should be spent. To grow your business, you will need to re-invest additional income into the business to buy inventory, computer equipment, shipping labels – all types of new expenses.
Discuss strategies to separate work from home. If you have roommates, you may be at home more often during daytime hours when they don’t expect you to be home. Talk about your new routines and put yourself on a schedule.
The people you live with might get annoyed when the family room turns into the eBay room. Talk about where you will physically work, and how you will separate your work space from home space. And most importantly, schedule to set aside special family time and make it a priority to follow-through.
I found this good resource where you can get more home stress management tips:
http://www.wahm.com/articles/family-stress-management-tips-for-entrepreneurs.html
YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
Working from home can be lonely, but one of the greatest things about being an eBay entrepreneur is that you aren't the only one! There are tens of thousands of other smart people doing what you are!
Find a professional network (made of business friends and acquaintances) that you can learn from, and they can learn from you! eBay Meet-up groups (www.meetup.com) are a great place to start in larger cities. They usually meet once per month, and you can meet other eBay sellers in person.
eBay on Location and the eBay Radio Party are great learning events and ways to meet other sellers. Last year, I brought my husband to eBay On Location in San Jose. He was able to meet people who had successful eBay businesses, and that gave him hope for me! He’s an academic and has no experience with business management or retail. He attended Griff’s ‘Know Your Numbers’ workshop and got a basic understanding of behind-the-scene business math.
Not everyone has access to these in-person networks. Luckily, there are lots of on-line options! When you are on eBay's site, click on the “Community” tab and browse through the Discussion Boards and Groups. On Facebook you can ask to join The eCommerce Group or Thrifting-with-the-Boys.
No matter what challenge is facing your eBay business, from dealing with new seller restrictions to the struggle to make yourself take a day off, the people in your professional networks can help!
Especially helpful for me was finding a group that is specialized in women who runs eBay businesses selling used clothing. We chat on-line every day, and learn from each other's experiences. We cover topics like new hot brands that sell quickly, sharing strong keywords, recipes for Crunchy Chicken Salad, helping each other learn. (I actually met many of my chat board friends in-person at the last three eBay On Location events!) You can find specialized on-line groups for all product types.
YOUR LEARNING NETWORK
This last network is often the most overlooked. E-commerce moves lightning fast, and to keep up you will be constantly learning. It is not a waste of time to dedicate as much as 1 or 2 hours each day to learning.
If you commute to a day job and work eBay nights and weekends, read or listen to audio books while traveling. Always have something to read with you, and when you find yourself open you book/magazine/iPad and learn.
Mike Michalowicz, has written a brilliant book called “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The Tell-it-like-it-is Guide to Cleaning up in Business, Even if You Are at the End of Your Roll”. The basic premise is how to grow a business on a shoestring budget, and how entrepreneurs who begin without piles of cash from the ground up run leaner, stronger businesses. I loved this book so much, I bought a copy for my best friend when I couldn't bear to part with mine after I'd promised to loan it to her. Mike has a blog at thetoiletpaperentrepreneur.com, where he shares many of his insights.
Blogs are the fastest way to get new information. Google has a free tool called Google Reader that will keep track of new posts on any blogs you choose to follow and all your blogs are organized in one place.
AuctionBytes, is invaluable to keep-up with the E-commerce news - not just on eBay but they track all the common selling platforms.
John Lawson has a great blog, ColderICE, which is dedicated to Internet commerce education. I especially like his infographics. He's a smart, funny guy and I’ve learned a lot from him.
Richard Brewer Hay (RBH), is eBay's official blogger. On eBayinkblog.com he shares important (and sometimes exciting) news from every part of eBay corporate. This was a great site to learn more about the eBay Holiday ad campaigns when they were launched last month.
TAKE AWAYS:
The fundamental theme of all networks is you have to participate to get anything from them. You get what you give. You can’t just show up and take what you need from them, you need to share and offer in return.
The Fundamental problem of all networks is they can overlap (especially on Facebook), and that can get complicated. But this is another topic for another day...
No comments:
Post a Comment