MoreHi! I can’t believe that Christmas is just four days away! It is always such a hectic time when you are in retail. I am currently planning a much-needed vacation this January and can’t wait to get away for some R&R.
- Special Announcement: eBay Boot Camp in a Box is Almost Ready!
- Feature Article: How to Hire an Assistant
- The Queen’s Update: I was quoted all over the Wall Street Journal on Monday 12/18!
- Lynn Recommends…
This ezine is now published once a week.
December 21, 2006 Volume II, Issue 21
Greetings,
This week has been soooo busy! We celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a party for fifteen kids at Pump it Up (a party place filled with inflatibles to jump on). Immediately after the party we jumped into my car and headed for San Diego and a two-day baseball tournament.
My son’s baseball team, the Aztecs, played great and they won their first two games. They even mercied both teams. That means that they won by a large point spread. Unfortunately, the next morning we awoke to find that the rest of the tournament had been rained out and we would have to reschedule it for sometime else. What a bummer! We were on the road to victory.
Oh well, life is always throwing us curve balls. One curve ball that I am dealing with right now is that my mother (hired to replace Mo) is much better suited to running the educational (book) side of my business instead of doing the shipping. I interviewed four wonderful candidates for the assistant position this week. More on how to hire an assistant in my feature article.
Back to the baseball tournament and leaving San Diego. As we drove up the 15 freeway, I had this bright idea. I remembered my mom and dad always taking us out for Sunday drives (I hated them) but thought I would drive us up over the 74 so that my dad could enjoy the scenic route. Very bad idea. I had phoned my brother to see what he thought about us taking that winding high mountain route and he said ‘Is it raining?’ No, it wasn’t! So Lee and I both agreed it would be a fine drive. Wrong! There were six inches of snow, black ice and a 5,000 foot elevation with no guard rails. My knuckles were white by the time we arrived back down in sunny Palm Desert.
Snowclouds ahead.
Oh well, at least I arrived home to good news and some great sales over the weekend. Click here to see what that Majolica mug from last week finally sold for. I am thrilled! And I am on my way to breaking even from last week’s purchases because I also sold $250 worth of American Beauty Dinnerware! I did great this week–over $2,000–I hope your week was awesome also!
Here’s to Successful eBaying!
Lynn Dralle,’The Queen of Auctions,’ Creator of the best-selling six-week ‘How to Sell on eBay‘ eCourse.
Many of you have expressed a desire to attend my eBay Boot Camps and for various reasons you have been unable to attend. I want to see you succeed on eBay and that’s why we have been working ’round the clock our new product.
I just heard from one of my LAX Boot Camp Graduates today, Elizabeth Van Pelt from San Diego. She told me, ‘I sold $1700 in November and considering that I hadn’t sold anything on eBay for almost three years (and never more than a couple hundred a month) before Boot Camp, I think that is pretty awesome! I can really see the power of the Dralle Method.’
I am very proud of Elizabeth. Just to let you know, eBay Boot Camp was November 3, 4 and 5th. For Elizabeth to return home on the 6th and still sell almost $2,000 worth in a partial month just shows you how powerful the Dralle Method is!
I am excited to announce that eBay Boot Camp in a Box will be announced for sale in an email on December 27th! In eBay Boot Camp in a Box I teach you the secrets of the ‘Dralle Method’ in over twelve hours of audio and video. We have a very limited quantity of these kits available with the entire original Gift Bag (that I have given to my students who attended my Boot Camps) AND at a special introductory price. So, please be watching your email inbox on Wednesday, December 27th and get ready to start 2007 off with a bang!
It will be just like you were walking into
the classroom when you receive Boot Camp in a Box
with your own Personalized Gift Bag!
One of my LAX boot camp students, Patti Rose, said at the event ‘This Gift Bag has just set me up in business–You have thought of everything!’ It has taken my mom, my sister, and I over a month to gather all the tools that I use on a daily and weekly basis and to get these gift bags ready to ship.
The eBay Boot Camp in a Box will enable you to take your eBay business to the six-figure annual sales level from the comfort of your own home. We have put together an amazing product. The first few kits sold will be the ONLY ones that include the extra gift bag. Don’t miss my email invitation on Wednesday, December 27th. Once these limited kits are gone–they will be gone.
‘How to Hire an Awesome Assistant!‘
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
When my mom took over Mo’s position at the end of October, I was thrilled to have her working with me. Mo and my mom overlapped by about two weeks. Those were the most productive weeks of the year! I realized that it was like having two of me because my mom could take care of a lot of my personal business in addition to marketing my educational products. And Mo was still here to make sure that all the assistant responsibilities were done perfectly. (I miss Mo!) It was awesome.
During those two weeks, as many of you may recall, we completely redid my eBay room floor plan (see ezine v.2 issue 16 here if you missed it), found new office furniture for both the eBay room and my new office, and did a floor move. However, once Mo was gone and my mom started in on all the assistant’s jobs, we found that there just wasn’t time left over to work on the big picture.
We finally decided around Thanksgiving that my mother was much better suited to the big picture and we decided to hire a new assistant. I immediately placed an ad on Craig’s List. Craig’s List is free to post job listings in most cities! Some cities do have a small fee ($25 in Seattle, for example.) What a great site–www.CraigsList.org ! Here is a link to frequently asked questions for posting a job on Craig’s List.
It is beyond the scope of this ezine to cover everything so please use that link. Remember that Craig’s List is regional and does cover almost every area of the country. Rumor has it that eBay has been buying Craig’s List stock. Shocking! Back to my job posting, I made a mistake in placing the ad and I put it in the etcetera jobs category. I only received two inquiries and they didn’t pan out.
We were discouraged so I asked my mom to write a ‘Help Wanted’ ad to place in our local newspaper ‘The Desert Sun.’ She wrote the ad and called it in to them. Can you believe that a 5-line ‘Help Wanted’ ad in a large city newspaper costs over $600 to run for 3 days ? I was shocked. Back to the drawing board.
We decided to make flyers and take them around to the local elementary schools, colleges and churches. The eBay assistant position is perfect for a mom or college student because of the very flexible hours. I found my first assistant (Mari) from a paid ad in one of our local church’s newsletter. You may remember her from my book, The 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay.
While we were printing the flyers, I decided to cancel my Craig’s List advertisement and re-list the job description in a better category. Just like re-listing on eBay–you get a second chance! The category that got us eight great inquiries was admin/office jobs! (Makes more sense doesn’t it?)
Here is a sample of our most recent ad:
Shipping Clerical Admin Assistant to The Queen of eBay Auctions
The Queen of Auctions, author and eBay Power Seller, is looking for an assistant to handle shipping of eBay items and Book orders, reordering of stock and shipping supplies, answering emails and phones, and re-listing items that have not sold. You must be able to handle some medium lifting. It is a part-time to full-time job that can have flex hours. It is really perfect for a college student or mom with kids in school. We are looking for someone who is motivated and not afraid of hard work. You will learn a lot and it is a very interesting environment. Learn while you earn! Please email your resume and any related experience. Thanks!
By the way, we listed this position as salary DOE (Dependent On Experience). The pay range that makes sense for me is between $8 and $12 per hour. You will have to examine your business and your bottom line to see what makes sense for you. I try to start my assistants at the lower end so that I have some room to move them up as they get more experienced. I also love to give bonuses for employees who go the extra mile.
Immediately, the emails started pouring in and I emailed back this query. It is a good idea to do this as a pre-screening mechanism AND you get to know your starting point for salary. Remember, my grandmother always said ‘Whoever names the first price loses’. Wow, her advice just keeps working!
Hi (name),
Thanks for emailing your information.
I have a few questions before I schedule interviews:
What hourly rate are you looking for?
How many hours a week could you devote to this position?
What length of time could you commit to? (I have had two assistants in the past and they both worked for me for two years each)
When are you looking to start a new position?
This job is a lot of shipping and clerical busy work–without much contact with customers and the general public. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks!
Lynn
This was a great pre-screening tool. If the candidates responded, I set up interviews. Even if they wanted too much money per hour, or didn’t seem qualified for this type of work, I still wanted to meet with them. They had made the effort to respond and I will tell you that effort is a great pre-qualifier!
We arranged to meet the candidates every 1/2 hour at our local Wendy’s restaurant. Pick a public place–a Starbucks, fast food restaurant or something close to you for the interviews. You do not want strangers coming to your home.
We had four great interviews this week and I will let you know next week what happens and if we hire someone!
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Lynn’s past ezines here.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com
I was quoted all over the Wall Street Journal on Monday, December 18th. How exciting! I remember doing the interview back in April. It was written by a gal who was addicted to not buying–but selling on eBay! She called to interview me for the piece because she loved my 100 Best books. How cool is that? I haven’t even seen the article yet. I didn’t hear that it had run until the day after. My dad is sending me a copy. We will post a link to the article in my next ezine.
By the way, I am addicted to selling on eBay. It is like gambling, but you always win. Can’t beat those odds!
eBay Power Seller and third generation antiques dealer, Lynn Dralle, is the creator of the online e-course ‘How to Be Up and Selling Successfully on eBay in Less Than Six Weeks.’
If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love this step-by-step course that is guaranteed to be the most complete and enjoyable guide to selling on eBay that MAKES YOU MONEY.
Read what students are saying about it here.
The Queen of Auctions also offers free articles, free teleseminars, how-to books, tracking guides, DVDs, eBay Boot Camps and other resources to help entrepreneurs make their eBay business a six-figure sales machine. Click here to learn more.
The Queen of Auctions/All Aboard Inc.
PO Box 14103
Palm Desert, CA 92255
760-340-6622
Lynn@TheQueenofAuctions.com
I recommend that we all take some time this holiday season to really enjoy our friends and families. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays–we often forget to stop and spend quality time with the ones we love.
I wish you and your family a very Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!
Happy Buying & Selling!
Lynn
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Visit my eBay auctions.
For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:
Lynn is an experienced eBay Power Seller, author and teacher. If you want to know the eBay tips, tricks and tools that Lynn uses for buying and selling at online auction click here.
Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
hi! i am at the job atm so i did not have time to read all of the article, hoeevwr i do enjoy the stuff i read and i will read a little more at your web site when i get home.. I got a a bounch of stuff to finish at work do you happen to have a username on facebook? =) Thank you, Resor Till Los AngelesVA:F [1.9.17_1161]please wait…