In with the New in 2015

Well, out with the old and in with the new. 2014 is about to be gone and so are my 30's. I don't want this coming year to be the same as previous years. I am going to pursue prosperity this year, instead of just playing with it.

I have done some wonderful things for myself in preparation of turning 40.

I just finished listening to a very empowering book titled The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class by Keith Cameron Smith. And, I just reread The 4 Hour Workweek for the umpteenth time. I also listened to a bit of The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. All three are paradigm shifting and possibly life changing (if you're willing) books.

I purged my EBay inventory and my personal belongings.

I let go of a lot of emotional garbage.

I stopped trying to eat my problems away and lost 40 lbs.

And it only took almost 12 years, but my marriage is in a wonderful place. (Ok, that didn't have anything to do with my impending birthday. But it's still awesome.) My husband supports my upcoming business endeavors.

So, I feel like I am going into the new year lighter, freer, more enlightened, and supported. All of this has come about with the Lord's help, of course.

Selling Broken Cell Phones on eBay

I have a definite plan for my online business. And like all businesses I need some cash money to bring my plan to fruition. I am not talking thousands of dollars here. The majority of what I will be doing will involve free resources. But I finally had a reality check some time ago that it really does take money to make money. 

Content Mills Came and Went

I did have some success building my business for free with writing for content mills like eHow, Yahoo Voices, and others in 2009. But those places and Google are subject to change their minds at any time, and they did. I went from making several hundred dollars a month to only earning an Adsense payout ($100) every three months. And I have been there every since.

Hello eBay (Again) 

So, I am not going back to content sites for the purpose of trying to make some quick money. Instead, I am going to sell some of my old "stuff" on eBay. I am starting with a broken Droid 2 cell phone. It met its demise when it was dropped on concrete and it wasn't in a case. I have checked completed listings and found out that they can sell for upwards of $32 on average, less if the screen is broken. (I am so glad mine isn't.) Not bad for an item that is clearly labeled as "broken", "not working", or "for parts only". The pic is a screen shot I took from my eBay app for my iPad. I just typed "broken droid 2" into the search box. The green price tags are completed listings that sold.

When I decided to make money online again I was planning on just selling on eBay. I actually got my start there in 2003 with a Christian book store. As I was researching what it is like to sell on eBay today I found out that Amazon can also be profitable. Then I dug a little deeper and discovered that selling ebooks, affiliate marketing, using public domain content for blogging, Ebay and Amazon arbitrage, and other options all have profit potential if I am willing to work at them. And I will be utilizing several of those in my business model.

Should I?

But again, I need some start up capital. So, off I go to take some photographs of my phone. And then I will glean from how the successful auctions were worded. I am strongly considering starting the bidding at just $0.99 to possibly start a bidding war. But I don't know if I'm bold enough to go that route. I do know for sure that I am offering free shipping. Because the sellers who made that choice sold their items for a higher price than the ones with $9.99 shipping. I will just ship it in a USPS, small, flat rate envelope.

A lot of my belongings are in storage t the moment. But when I get my hands on it I will also be auctioning off my Wii console that was struck by lightning (sort of) a year ago. I am now glad that my Honey told me not to throw it away. Because I see that I can probably get around $20 for it on eBay. That's not bad for something that is now completely worthless to me.

Remember Your Disclosure Pages

Well, it is importent that I start this blog off right. And also, I need to make sure that my other blogs are compliant with FCC regulations. So today is blog disclosure day for me. If your blogs are monetized in any way then it is imperative that you disclose that fact. Otherwise, your site could get shut down. Boo on you FTC.

I have been noticing that bloggers disclose how they are compensated a few different ways. Some make a statement at the end of each post. Others direct you to a disclosure page or a privacy page on their site. That seems like the easiest route to take. Also, it seems easiest to use a template or to fill in the blanks in a handy dandy generator and then let the generator work it's magic. That's what I decided to do.

That is when I quickly discovered that I need to provide an email address in case someone feels the need to contact me. Honestly, I currently buy domain names and then redirect them to a blogger blog. I know people have very strong feelings for and against that method. Yes, I have been made aware of the many benefits of using Wordpress, thank you for asking. Let me just take a moment to digress further and say that I am ok with my choice. So, I am hopping on over to Yahoo and setting up emails for each of my sites. To eliminate confusion I will use the same name for my email and blog. So for this one you can reach me at OnlineProfitsDayByDay at yahoo.com. Yes, I understand some people might not take me seriously if I don't have a "legitimate" address. But this is where I am at the moment. And again, I'm OK with that.

So, this is what I am doing today.

1. Getting email addresses for each of my blogs.

2. Creating a disclosure page using a fill in the blanks generator.

3. Making that page clickable from anywhere on my site.

4. Then, laughing maniacally because I have foiled the FTC's evil schemes again.