Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

[jeffrey]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

Your total is amazing Jeffrey - I am in awe.

It's taken a lot of work, but it shows that you can do a lot of things if you put your mind to it (and give up TV). It also helps that I have great motivation to reach the goal - I don't want to spend the entire year of 2006 listing to Nate tell me "I told you you couldn't do it!"

[jeffrey]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

<b>Previous Total</b>: $994.73

<b>Current Total</b>: $1064.69

<b>Inventory</b>:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 34 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

<b>Time Spent Since Last Post</b>: 0 hours 23 minutes

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

I hit the $1000 mark! Only $4000 more to go. The flag from the trunk sold right in line of what I thought it would sell for at just over $50 and the hunting badge came in at just over $20. They totaled $76.22 with $6.26 in ebay and paypal fees for a profit of $69.96.

I will be heading to a flea market tomorrow and see if I can find some more items to keep the challenge on track.

[jeffrey]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

<b>Previous Total</b>: $1064.69

<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 had 11 more sake cups sell today for a total of $149.10 with $14.84 in ebay and paypal fees for a profit of $134.26. That gets split in half for $67.13 to be added to the total.

The older WW1 cups don't sell near as well as the later cups - I'm sure that it has do do with the color and scenes depicted. The earlier cups are basic usually in gold while later cups are much fancier - but the truth is that the earlier cups are much more difficult to find.

Off to find some more inventory.

[joeswife]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

hi
i wanted to let you know i read this thread with interrest. i wish i could do this also. and im trying to think of things i can sell too. i want to do this myself....i dont think i can make the 5000 mark, but id like to try to see what i can do.

thanks for shareing.
ericka

[jeffrey]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

hi
i wanted to let you know i read this thread with interrest. i wish i could do this also. and im trying to think of things i can sell too. i want to do this myself....i dont think i can make the 5000 mark, but id like to try to see what i can do.

thanks for shareing.
ericka

I don't think that the actual money earned is near as important as trying to do new things or place new ideas you've had into motion. If you make the effort and keep trying to come up with new ideas on how you can earn a little extra in your spare time, then it puts in a bit of a better financial position. I hope that you give it a try and see where it leads.

[joeswife]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

<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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

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

[Bluezy]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

$1000!!! Fabulous Jeffery!

[jeffrey]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

<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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

(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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

(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]

Re: Turning $20 Into $5000 - Jeffreys Challenge

<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.