Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

[joeswife]

the only things ive implemented lately for extra money is i found a part time job to help pay bills. and i use coupns and get freebies as much as i can. however, im getting a box of things together for selling on ebay. that is my goal for october, to sell on ebay. i want to have a bit of a stock for it. ive been moving and trying to get things sorted out. thank you for the ideas.

ericka

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Current Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 0 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 5 hour 17 minutes

I'm going to have to change my current plan of action over the next few weeks. I will be heading back to the US for 2 weeks and during that time. I won't be able to list on ebay due to logistical problems. That could leave a large dent in my total if I don't do anything during that time, so I need to sit down and think how I will approach the challenge during that time. If nothing elase, I'll spend time laying the groundwork and getting everything prepared so that when I do return, I'll have everything all ready to go.

I'm off to a flea market in about 30 minutes and hopefully that will add a bit more to my inventory.

[Gailete]

Jeffrey--Congrats on getting over $1000. I've been watching with interest your challenge and seemed like slow going at first, now hopefully it will snowball quickly! I got my first $100 fast, now I really have to put my thinking cap on for the rest and still keep up with my other things to do.

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Gailete

Jeffrey--Congrats on getting over $1000. I've been watching with interest your challenge and seemed like slow going at first, now hopefully it will snowball quickly! I got my first $100 fast, now I really have to put my thinking cap on for the rest and still keep up with my other things to do.

Thank you. As with most things, it just takes persistance and making sure to do a little bit each day. if you can continue to do that, the savings will add up. I still have a ways to go, but it seems the goal is reachable.

[niki_the_tiger]

Great job so far, keep it up! I keep saying I should give it a try too - maybe I will. LOL

[Bluezy]

$1000!!! Fabulous Jeffery!

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Current Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 45 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 6 hour 02 minutes

As I mentioned previously, I will be gone for a few weeks and won't be able to list items on auction like I have been. Since not doing anything isn't an option if I'm going to make the goal, I'm going to try the following plan of action.

I spend the last 45 minutes setting up a number of free blogs that I will use to preview the items I have to sell. The plan is to get all my current inventory on the sake cup blog before I leave. I have also added similar blogs for medals and flags. Medals and flags are my "base salary" - they are what allow me to spend basically a full amount of time on the site while still being able to pay the bills. I was doing them before the challenge started so I have not included any of them in this challenge for that reason.

While I won't count the sale of any of the items on those 2 blogs towards the total, I will count any advertising income that the blogs generate since I would not have created them without this challenge. These should be extremely easy update - since they are preview only, detailed descriptions won't be needed since they will be geared toward those collectors that already know their stuff - and should get a decent following from the collectors as soon as they know the blog exists. That means all I need to do is load up the photos and set a price.

I'm debating whether to add 8% of each sale for the medals and flags to the challenge total. That would be what ebay would charge for a final value fee if I listed them in my ebay store which would be the obvious place to do so. I will think more about that.

To recap, I now have 4 blogs dedicated to this challenge:

1. <A HREF="http://5000challenge.blogspot.com/">The $5000 Challenge Blog</A>
2. <A HREF="http://sakecups.blogspot.com/">The Sake Cup Blog</A>
3. <A HREF="http://japanesemedals.blogspot.com/">The Japanese Medals Blog</A>
4. <A HREF="http://japaneseflags.blogspot.com/">The Japanese Flag Blog</A>

I will see how these go over the next month and if they are producing income, then I might even consider expanding (again, time will be a big factore here). Time to start filling up the blogs with items...

[CJsoccerchic]

(sorry) but what are "blogs" I keep seeing this word, and I've clicked on the link, I'm just not understanding how you make money off these blogs...?

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by CJsoccerchic

(sorry) but what are "blogs" I keep seeing this word, and I've clicked on the link, I'm just not understanding how you make money off these blogs...?

Blogs are just like a journal - a place to write whatever you want and share it with the world. To make money off the blog takes a lot of time and effort - the reason that I've set them up is because I would be doing that work anyway - I won't spend more than a few minutes more keeping them up to date.

If you look at the blogs you will see that there are a lot of advertisements from google in between the posts (the program is called adsense). If someone happens to click on one of those ads, I will get a small amount of money - more information on how it works in this thread <A HREF="http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7714">Earning With Google Adsense</A> - which I can add to my challenge total.

Even with the 4 blogs, I highly doubt I will earn more than a few dollars a month doing this.

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Current Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 0 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 6 hour 02 minutes

The plan to get all the items onto the blogs before leaviong looks like it isn't going to happen. We had a hurricane come through Japan and I got to spend a few days preparing for it and cleaning up after instead of working on the challenge. Nothing compared to Katrina, but enough to put me behind schedule.

Since I leave for the US in a couple of days, I'm going to have to come up with another plan to generate some money for the challenge while I'm gone. I guess the 10 hour flight will give me plenty of time to think.

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1131.82

<b>Current Total</b>: $1167.97

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 22 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 7 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

A good omen. My first cup from the <A HREF="http://sakecups.blogspot.com/">sake cup blog</A> sold for $75. No ebay fees, but take out $2.90 for paypal for a profit of $72.10. Divide that in 2 and it adds another $36.05 to the total. It will be great if I can get a steady stream of people to purchase the cups from the blog before going to ebay.

I still need to decide what I'm going to do over the next 3 weeks while I'm away. If I don't come up with a plan, making the goal will be quite difficult...

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1167.97

<b>Current Total</b>: $1167.97

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 22 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 0 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

I'm currently at the airport waiting for my flight to take off. I didn't get the number of photos I wanted to upload which means I will either have to find things while I'm back home to list or figure something else out. I'm not worried at the moment, but that will change if I can't figure out something and have no income for the challenge for the next 3 weeks.

I figured out something quite interesting quite by accident. I always bring a few snacks when I head to the airport since food at the airport is so expensive. As I was wandering, I found out that airports in Japan have a special area for the airport employees so they don't have to pay the outrageous prices. The store was completely out of the way - down a maze of hallways and basically not marked at all, but the prices were half what they were charging at other stores. Anyone was allowed to purchase items there (I asked) - the challenge was finding it. I'm sure 99% of people don't know it exists. I wonder if they have similar stores in the US airports...

[larosa7357]

Originally Posted by BCompDude

Well I think its a fine idea. . .I have the 20 dollars set aside and am conjuring up ideas on what to do with it as I type this. It is certainly not worthless.

I agree with you! Creative thinking plus the challenge, makes this an awesome idea in my opinion.

This weekend I will be having a garage sale, using the $20 as "starting change". Thought this might be a good way to start. Although I am getting a late start in this challenge, I am really looking forward to it!

Fran

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1167.97

<b>Current Total</b>: $917.97

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 0 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

I'm back under $1000, but it was due to a big purchase. My partner and I invested in 120 sake cups for $500. That comes to just under $4.20 per cup (which is under our target price of $5 a cup that we set) and we figure that we can earn a minimum of $10 per cup so hopefully we'll more than double our investment on that. It could be quite a bit more if a few of the cups are popular and fetch a bit more than expected.

I haven't done anything on generating money since heading back to the US. This weekend is already filled, so it will have to be next week that I begin getting things in order. If not, when I return back to Japan I'm going to have a ton of things to do.

Due to this time where I haven't been able to work on the challenge, I'm getting a bit nervous about whether or not I'll be able to meet the goal in time. I'll wait and see what happens next week before getting into a panic...

[niki_the_tiger]

You have quite a bit of stock right now, so I think that will help things out. It will take some work, but I think you can do it. You have done a great job up til now, just keep it up.

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $917.97

<b>Current Total</b>: $917.97

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 0 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

Well, I didn't do anything on my trip back to the US so I find Oct coming up and still a long way to go to reach my goal. I will be putting in some extra time to try and make up for my absence and lack of doing the challenge while I was away.

This is one of the reasons I don't like ebay as a permanent job. While the money isn't bad in certain areas, if you take some time off for vacation, your income stops including about a week on either side of the vacation. That is because you have to wrap up all your outstanding auctions before you leave and then it takes another week before the auctions begin selling again after you return.

It's time to hammer down and get to work on all those cups. I'm off to take pictures now!

[CJsoccerchic]

Have fun with the picture taking!! I just bought myself a digi-cam - and I HATE it!!! I'm sure yours is much better then mine.. hee hee

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $917.97

<b>Current Total</b>: $919.76

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 1 hours 15 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 7 hour 24 minutes

Three months to go and still not at $1000, although that is a bit deceiving due to the large inventory I currently have. I need to sell that inventory, however, to have it count for my total. I spent over an hour taking photos of all the new cups, cropping them and loading them onto my computer. Now that is done, I can begin listing them on ebay this week.

It's going to be an extremely busy 3 months if I'm going to reach the $5000 goal. I still think it will be possible, but it will take a concerted effort to pull it off.

The trip back home didn't help as it disrupted the routine I had formed. It also didn't help with the blog - since I wasn't updating it as much as I had been, the advertising total came in at only $1.79 for all the sites. I think I had hoped to generate at least $10, but hopefully I can do a bit better in October.

[niki_the_tiger]

You can do it!!!

[jeffrey]

<b>Previous Total</b>: $919.76

<b>Current Total</b>: $913.76

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 1 hours 20 minutes

<b>Time Spent Total</b>: 1 day 8 hour 44 minutes

I'm back in business! At least for this challenge. I listed 20 auctions from the stash of sake cups which cost $12 (split in half for a total of $6 off my saving total). This is kind of an experiment too. I haven't had much luck with these auctions ending on weekends (they sell, but not for as much as they do midweek), but I thought I'd give it one more try.

Although it is a bit ambitious, my goal this week will be to list all 142 cups and the 7 bottles I currently have in inventory. If I can accomplish that, I'll have a good idea where I really stand with this challenge in the middle of the month when everything has sold. That means a busy week in the limited spare time I have, but since I was gone for that long period, it has to be done.

It would be nice if the cups could bring in about $2000 in profit which would add an extra $1000 to my total - keeping my fingers crossed there. It's difficult to tell with this bunch of cups. Most seem to be fairly standard patters and a lot of them come with chips and cracks which will keep down their selling price. As with most things put on ebay, a little luck in timing (having two or more people want the same cup) makes a big difference. I just need to stay focused this week to be able to get everything done.

If I can pull of the goal of getting them all listed, I should be in good shape and can take the next steps I need to reach the challenge goal.