The Perfect Work-At-Home Opportunity

Before I start…2 weeks ago in my post Back from Some Time Off , I wrote about how I would/should like to write more often.  A week ago, I started writing this post but work and stress got in the way.  So, it’s been 14 days since my last confession.

I investigated numerous work-at-home opportunities since mid-July without much luck.  Fortunately, an epiphany led me to working at home starting my own website development company among other things.

I actually started looking into making money from home over a year ago.  At the persistence of my son, I started an Amazon seller account.  (I don’t use eBay since I always found it tedious searching for items from eBay – the same product is listed 100 slightly different ways making it hard to compare the prices of possibly the same product from multiple sellers.  Then there’s the stories you hear about scams).  Setting up an account on Amazon is trivial – you do a search for the first product you want to sell, click the “Sell yours here” button, enter contact information, checking account info (so your profits be direct deposited), etc and you are instantly a seller on Amazon.  Listing products is just as easy – the description of the product is already in Amazon’s database and the shipping costs are set.  So you just enter the price, quantity, condition and any other details and you’re done.

The first item I listed was a used Staples Talking EASY BUTTON.  I then dusted off all of the old CDs I no longer wanted and listed them along with some video games that my sons no longer wanted.  What a thrill it was to make my first sale – a Sublime CD…and how funny it was to sell the Staples button.

I actually went out and bought a new one to ship since the one I had was a gift to me which I didn’t actually intend on selling…it just happened to be what was the closest to my computer when I setup my account.

My kids and their friends have had more luck selling than me – video games move much faster than used CDs…I only got rid of 33.  (The biggest profit was $25 for a CD I bought is a bar when I lived in Dublin, Ireland.)

The kids’ success got me thinking about what I could sell that would make decent money for the amount of work involved (in addition to my then full-time job).  I either needed new big ticket items with high margins that move quickly (is there such a thing?) or I needed to go on a treasure hunt and find great deals.  So..

• I went to yard sales and bought video games for next to nothing…my oldest son looked at me strangely when I brought them home…they were dirt cheap for a reason…no one wants the particular ones I now owned…and still own
• I entertained the idea of selling for friend and family for a percentage (I have a box of my neighbor’s Precious Moments figurines in my basement…only one sold so far which is understandable…who buys collectibles when the economy is so bad?).
• I investigated buying wholesale, drop shipment, affiliate programs but it went nowhere…nothing jumped out at me saying “sell me” and there are a lot of scams out there.
• I even looked into estate sales or storage locker auctions – if someone rents a unit from a self-storage company and does not pay their rent for a number of months, the contents are auctioned.  Bidding is for the most part blind since you can’t go into the unit…all you can see is what is visible from outside the unit with the door open.  It could be gold mine of rare coins, antique jewelery, etc but what do you do with all of the other worthless stuff?  And what do you to with the memorabilia that is priceless to the owner?

Nothing struck me as a great idea so I put the idea of making money selling online on hold until the right opportunity hits me.  In the mean time, I am still selling old CDs, bad video games, Precious Moments and Staples buttons…don’t laugh…I have sold almost 50 buttons so far…”That Was Easy”

to be continued…