Last year for the first time in 33 years of working in Information Technology I am unemployed. I was laid-off my last job as a Computer Applications Specialist/Technical Support Lead person after 23 years. While I was working full-time in IT I have always done another job or business on the side. Here are a few of the things I have done.

- I guess most of us have tried Network Marketing at one time or another. I’ve been an Avon lady, a Tupperware lady, Warm Spirit, Arbornne, you name it. I usually ended up spending more money than I earned.

- Years ago, I had a business where I taught people how to use their home computers. I just wasn’t comfortable going into people’s homes alone. Sometimes the computer was located in the bedroom and most of my clients were men.

- I have also trained as a Private Investigator and I received my registration from the state of Virginia. Some of that work can be scary.

- I am a Real Estate Agent. My fees are current but my license is presently on inactive. Last year I thought I might go back into an office, but I love selling on Amazon/eBay.

- I have experience in planning large events; I was the Director of the Maryland Wahmfest (Work-at-home Moms expo) for 3 years. I organized an expo of over 40 vendors and had hundreds of people attend the expo. I also organize a huge catered event every year for my mother’s birthday.

- I have worked as a Mystery Shopper for over 6 years performing evaluations of upscale stores, restaurants and hotels. I am presently with one of the best companies that evaluates upscale restaurants, hotels, spas, cruise lines, and resorts.

- I love selling on eBay and Amazon. I am an eBay Trading Assistant and Education Specialist trained by eBay. I love teaching other people how they can make money online. I use to write on eHow.com, so I still get residual income from the 30 or so articles that I wrote. It’s not much; just enough for lunch money, but it could have been a lot more; the more articles the more money in most cases.

So here is my “what would you do?” I love having a business, my father was self-employed and always told me to start my own business and not work for anyone. Now seems like a perfect time. I did pretty well on Amazon/eBay last year. I have enough stuff to list on eBay for a year or two, but I need help. Lately, I have been thinking about getting a job and doing Amazon/eBay part-time like I have in the past. I know I can make a living on Amazon/eBay but I am afraid. It is hard to say that I am scared. Here are my options the way I see it, I could:

1. Get a job.

2. Keep working eBay/Amazon by myself. Every once in a while like the last 2-3 weeks while I’ve been working on my taxes, I’ve been in a funk. I haven’t been doing much on either. This week I’ve had about 11 orders on Amazon, where I should have had at least 30 and I have not listed anything on eBay.

3. Keep working eBay/Amazon but hire someone to help me. That scares me, but I don’t know why. I would want them to work out of my house, just a few hours a week. I know I should check their background. I don’t want an employee, maybe an independent consultant.

4. Take my eBay/Amazon business to the next level, think big. Hire help but see the big picture. Hire more than one person to help me list the 100’s of pieces of new/used designer clothing, jewelry, books, magazines, and other items. Hire them as consultants, but plan to hire employees. That scares me. And where will we do the work. I am already using a bedroom and the basement of my house.

5. I have a lot of knowledge and skills. I always wanted a Personal Assistant or Errand Service business. I even wrote the business plan and met with a guy in McLean, Virginia who was running the same type of business. I once called these two women in Boston, this is back when not many people were doing this type of business, and the one thing I remember her telling me is, “your life will not be your own.” Many, many years later, I am single with a grown son and up for the challenge.

I’m not sure I listed all the options. I just know I told myself when I got laid-off that I could make more money than I did on my job. IT jobs pay very well. I do know I really don’t want to go back into an office, even though I had the best job, I worked 2 days from home a week. And who’s to say what a JOB would be like now.

I am organized, a self-starter, and I work very well independently. I prefer a creative, unconventional job. Writing this helped me define what I really want. I know that I want to be BIG. I feel this is the second half of my life, the first half was GREAT and the best is yet to come. My mother is 96 years old but she had me when she was in her forties. Whether it is my Amazon/eBay business or a Personal Assistant/Errand Service business, I want it to be BIG. I have been very blessed in getting what I want in life, except when it comes to men; another story for another day, on another blog. I know I want number 4, but I’m not sure how to get it. So until I figure it all out, I’ll keep doing number 2 but try not to get in a funk. I probably needed a break, but I need the money I am not making. I also like the idea of number 5.

By the way I just got a great sale while I was writing this. One item sold for $69, and I paid about $5 for it. Yippee!!

Thanks for reading, please comment. I would love to hear what you have to say. Bye for now!

Did you hear Oprah is cleaning out her closet and auctioning off over 150 items on eBay? The auction will be held March 1st to the 11th. So mark your calendar. The proceeds will benefit the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. You will have a chance to bid on Oprah’s shoes, handbags, dresses, skirts, pants, tops, blouses and outer wear. I love, love, love selling on eBay, so I can’t wait to watch the bidding. I expect the bidding will go pretty high since a lot of people would love to own some of Oprah’s clothing. I recently read her message board and someone was asking for a piece of clothing, and then there was the lady who attended her show and asks for her shoes or boots and Oprah gave them to her. I didn’t see the show, but I recently heard a re-broadcast on Oprah Radio.

I’m sure the auctions will make the most watched items on eBay list. Check here http://theauctionsmostwatched.com/us/ to see what people are watching on eBay. To find out more about Oprah’s items on eBay go to http://stores.ebay.com/Auction-Cause/Oprah.html. For a preview of some the items that will be listed check out http://www.oprah.com/style/Oprahs-Great-Closet-Cleanout#slide. I love the Barry Kieselstein cord bag and those brown boots. They were Baaaaad!!

I would LOVE to list items on eBay for a celebrity. Call me. Hey, they say you have to ask for what you want, or at least that’s what I say. It’s worked for me so far. I love talking about how I ended up with a 30 year career in Computers, I asked and I believed. That’s the beginning.

Thanks for reading. Bye for now.

In my last post I listed the items I’m selling on eBay, in my Amazon store, my Amazon affiliate stores, and my favorite “O List” items from Oprah magazine affiliate store and then I thought I should list them in their own post. I also listed Kim Zolciak’s eBay store. So here are my websites, stores, and other sites.

I really love promoting other people’s products and services and helping them to grow their business. People use to tell me if I like a product or service I became a commercial for the product. I love talking about something I like; you can hear the passion in my voice. For some reason I was never successful in Network Marketing. And don’t meet me on the street and ask me about selling on eBay or Amazon; that is not a ten minute conversation. Thirty minutes later - You: Okay, see you later, Me: Oh, let me tell you one more thing… It’s funny! I never have enough time to talk about finding stuff to sell, my best sales, how you can get started, and so on and so on. I hear lots of people complain about Amazon and eBay fees. I have no complaints. My Amazon store is open 24/7, 365 days a year unless I close it and I hate when I have to put my store on vacation.

My Amazon Store
http://www.amazon.com/shops/jpatriceconsulting

My “O List” Store from Oprah Magazine, a few things that they think are great
http://astore.amazon.com/bagladaucblo-20

My Amazon Affiliate Shoe Store
http://astore.amazon.com/01182010-20

My Amazon Affiliate Pet Supply Store
http://astore.amazon.com/01172010-20

My Items for sale on eBay
http://shop.ebay.com/elegantbaglady/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1

The Auctions Most Watched on eBay
http://theauctionsmostwatched.com/us/

Kim Z Couture Closet
http://stores.ebay.com/Kim-Z-Couture-Closet

Coming soon!
http://thebestinvintage.com

Follow me on Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/bagladyauctions

Okay, enough for today. Thanks for reading. Bye for now.

Happy New Year!  Okay, I know its February 9^th, but I have not written in my blog for a while.   It is 6:27 AM, and I should be still asleep, but I’m up thinking about more snow that is coming today.  We were already hit with a massive snow storm on Friday night into (2-5-2010) Saturday afternoon.  I shoveled snow on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  I did not measure but I know it had to be at least 30” and now they are calling for another 18-26 or something like that.  I just don’t know where we will put more snow.

Postal service was cancelled on Saturday, but I was able to arrange for pickup on Monday.  Wow, I go to the Post Office almost every day and I have never arranged for my postman to pick up my packages.  At first it was because you have to have a least one Priority Mail package for them to pickup, and then I did not think I would have my packages ready, because I am usually still packing items at 4:00 PM when Oprah comes on.  Some days it takes 4-5 hours or more.  I usually start at 10 or 11 AM.  I pack through The View at 11, Court TV at 12:00, All My Children at 1:00 (I just started watching soap operas again after losing my job, I hadn’t watched a soap opera in over 30 years), Dr Oz, at 2:00, Ellen, at 3:00, and Oprah at 4:00.  It felt soooooo good when the postman picked up my packages yesterday.  I know people who have been scheduling pickup for years. 

I just started printing my own postage about 7 months ago.  I SAVE SO MUCH MONEY.  Do you hear me?  OMG, I save money printing my own postage.  I was paying $0.80 for delivery confirmation on every package and now I pay $0.19, oh and I forgot delivery confirmation is FREE for Priority Mail.  Well, I do use more ink, but I usually use coupons at Staples or Office Depot when I buy ink and I buy the large reams of paper at Costco.  To give you a rough idea of how much I saved.  I printed postage for over 950 packages, and I saved $0.61 for each package or $0.80 for Priority Mail.  This is a very rough estimate because I don’t feel like figuring all the Priority Mail packages, but at 900 packages, I saved $549, so really it is a few hundred dollars more.  WOW!  Now if I stop driving the 8-10 miles to and from the Post Office that is an additional saving.

Okay, this blog entry was really supposed to be about, did you know the Real Housewife of Atlanta, Kim Zolciak is selling on eBay.  Read more »

I am not sure why it is so hard for me to write in this blog daily, every other day, once a week, or even once a month.  I have so much to say and so much knowledge to share.  I love shopping at yard sales, thrift stores and estate sales for stuff to sell and telling other people how they can make good money doing it too.  Hell, last week I went shopping in my basement and storage unit.  My BFF loves to visit my house and she tells people she is going to my store.  I have so much stuff that I really don’t know what I have.  But I have been working on getting rid of a lot of it.  I had a great 2-3 weeks on eBay and Amazon, but now I have to put my Amazon account on vacation and go help out with my 96 year old mother.  I know when I say 96 years old, it makes me sound old, but my mom had me [very] late in life.    It is a blessing to have her still with us.

I probably won’t have Internet access, but I am taking plenty of work with me.  I am going to work on Hallmark Christmas ornaments, blue jeans and jewelry from my basement and storage unit. I have two large plastic bins of Hallmark ornaments.  I am going to list them on paper and photograph them.  I will probably get the jeans out of the way first by measuring and photographing them, that is a pretty easy job.  I am also taking hundreds of pieces of costume jewelry with me, but I am not sure I will get to work on any of the jewelry.  Hopefully, I can organize it better.  I have so much jewelry it is overwhelming.  Some of the pieces I bought individually over the years, but I also buy jewelry by the bag.  Most of the pieces in the bags are junk (remember junk sells) but I have found some good stuff in the bags.  It is fun going through all the pieces of jewelry when I buy it by the bag.  A lot of the jewelry is vintage pieces. Read more »

I’ve been MIA for a little while but I am really going to try to write in my blog every few days.  I have lots of tips and ideas to share and also I get lots of questions so I have decided to do an ‘AskJean’ about eBay or Amazon or about other ways that I make money. 

I love writing on ehow.com although I have not written an article in a while I know the potential is there to make lots of money.  I get a small amount from ehow every month and that is based on the articles I wrote months ago.  I also like affiliate marketing although I haven’t done a lot of it, I made some money from being an Amazon affiliate. 

Today I’m taking a little break from eBay and Amazon.  I have some things that I have to do today for Amazon like add tracking numbers, but other than that I’m going to try to take it easy.  I just finished planning and hosting a big event for my mother’s 96 birthday.  When I got back in town on Sunday I had 18 Amazon orders that I had to pack and ship yesterday.  So today I’m going to have a little ‘Me Time.’

I was laid-off my job in May and I’ve been working really hard since then on Amazon and eBay.  I hit the ground running as they say and I hadn’t slowed down.  I really want to make a living on Amazon and eBay but it can wear you out.  I realize that I need some help and eventually I will hire an assistant.  I also thought about starting a personal assistant company.  As much as I love eBay and Amazon sometimes I need a break from it all.  Anyway, leave your comments; ask questions, I promise I will respond.  Thanks for reading!

I’ve been away from blogging for a little while and away from eBay for a couple of months.  But my Amazon business is still booming and in the next (5) days I will be telling how yours can too!  Why not subscribe so you don’t miss these valuable tips to make your bank account fatter!.  The beginning of February I was getting so many sales on Amazon and then all of a sudden it slowed down to 1-2 sales a day and some days no sales at all.  ;-(  But it is starting to pick up again.  I find when I am listing more and more books, CDs, and DVDs I get more and more sales.

I was recently laid off my job or I should say RIF from my job, so I have been listing a lot more stuff on eBay.  I love selling on eBay but with the economy the way it is, it seems people have slowed down on spending money.  I have been hitting the thrift stores pretty hard.  I always say the fun part about eBay and Amazon is shopping and finding great deals and the sales you get after listing the stuff.  I am much better at shopping than I am at listing.  I have a basement full of stuff to list and also a storage unit.  I’m almost embarrassed to talk about the storage unit because I’ve had it a while.  But as I said it’s the hunt that is so much fun.  I could go to a thrift store everyday, but I don’t, but I know people who do.  There is this one thrift store that I just love and it seems a lot of other people love it too because I see the same faces everytime I go.  I’m going to post some of my favorite thrift stores in my area in my next post.  

I wrote this blog post the end of February but never posted it.  Since then I listed a bunch of stuff on eBay and all of it has closed except some things that didn’t sell and I ended up relisting them for 30 days.  I kind of like being able to list items for 30 days for $0.35.  In most cases the items sell during the 30 days.  I will be posting more stuff this week or this weekend.

A blogger is giving away a $25.00 eBay gift card to one lucky winner. Win a $25.00 eBay Gift Card  Just leave a comment on his blog to be entered in the contest.  Contest ends Sunday night Jan. 11th 2009 @ 11:59pm (Pacific Time).

I wish you all a new year filled with good health, peace, happiness, success and prosperity. The new year is a good time to reflect and look back on the months gone by and decide how we can do things differently or continue as we were. Many people make resolutions to exercise, get out of debt, lose weight, save money, get a new job and so on. I haven’t made any resolutions but I would just like to make this year better than last year. Last year was a good year, I don’t have any complaints, but I do want to become better physically fit, volunteer and give back, try to eat more organic foods, pay off a few bills, have more fun, laugh more, make more money (so I can help others), have multiple streams of income and just work at being a better person in every aspect of my life. I want to live my best life(as Oprah would say). In a week or two I will sit down and make some goals for my eBay and Amazon business and decide what direction I want to take.

I hope you all have a great year, make it your best!