I never finished college.  It bored me, so I quit.  Frankly, it is a decision that I have never regretted.  I am kind of a free spirit, I like to do what I want to do, and that varies.  Sometimes I do a certain type of work, then I get bored with it and move on to something else.  It’s just my nature.

Because of my free nature spirit, I have gone through many jobs over the years, and even many niches within the same type of work.  I’ve been earning money online for more than 10 years now.  I have earned my living exclusively online for about 6 years now.  But, how did I get started in earning online?  Let’s have a look.

In 1997, a friend e-mailed me and told me about eBay.  I had never heard of it before, they were still relatively new, so I went and checked it out.  Wow, it intrigued me.  I started buying a few things on eBay.  I learned the ropes of how eBay worked by buying on the site.  I bought quite a few things there, because I found it convenient, and also I was intrigued at being able to actually buy things on the Internet, something that was almost unheard of in those days.

Being the entrepreneur that I am by nature, it didn’t take long and I had the itch to sell on eBay.  I had to learn how to do that, but I didn’t consider that a hurdle.

During this time, I didn’t have too much money, I sort of lived paycheck to paycheck, but I was happy.  It happened to be May of this particular year, and I had just gotten a very nice tax refund, around $5,000.  Feyma and I went to do some shopping at Costco, mostly for groceries.  While there I saw a big pile of REX organizers, from Rolodex.  I had been wanting one of these things, it was a credit card sized PDA, and I wanted one, but they were too expensive for me at that time.  Online, you could buy one for about $150 in those days.  At Costco, they had them for $49!  I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I didn’t buy one.  Too conservative with my money, I guess.

When we got home, Feyma told me that she was surprised that I didn’t buy a REX and try to sell it on eBay, after all it was 1/3 of the normal price!  Oh, wow, this was a business opportunity.  I went back to Costco to get a REX to sell on eBay.  Hmm, I thought… how many should I buy?  Two?  Three?  Well, I remembered that I had that $5,000 tax refund in the bank.  When I got to Costco, I bought 100 units.  That’s right, I blew my entire tax refund on REX units.  What if they didn’t sell?  Well, Costco is very liberal about giving refunds on unused products, so no biggie, I would just return them if they didn’t sell.

I got home, and got busy, started listing my new found product on eBay.  When I woke up the next morning, I already had bids for higher than I had paid for the units.  By the time my auction ended, I had sold the REX for over $100, so I more than doubled my money!  I started listing 3 or 4 REX’s on eBay at the same time, with auctions ending at different times, different starting prices, etc.  I sold out of the 100 units in a week or so, and went back and bought another hundred.  Sold all of them too.  I made between $25 to $80 per unit.  I made less on the units sold at later dates, because others started finding the deals, and were in competition with me, but still, $25 was a nice profit, and I was happy with it.

I made a nice chunk of change from selling those REX units.  It only whetted my appetite too, because from that day forward, I have made money online in one way or another ever since.  It was a great way to start!

Do you have a story on how you started earning money online?

What? You are not yet making money online?

What are you waiting for?

One person that I get inspiration from is marketing guru Seth Godin.  Seth and I hold a lot of similar beliefs, and I enjoy reading his site.  The other day, Seth had an article on his site that really spelled out the way I feel.  His article is entitled “The sad lie of mediocrity” and it talks about the pitfall of just being mediocre.

In his article, Seth points out that:

Doing 4% less does not get you 4% less.

Doing 4% less may very well get you 95% less.

That’s because almost good enough gets you nowhere. No sales, no votes, no customers. The sad lie of mediocrity is the mistaken belief that partial effort yields partial results. In fact, the results are usually totally out of proportion to the incremental effort.

I could not agree with Seth more!  Always do your best, and that is when you will reap rewards, even greater rewards than you ever expected.

This theory applies to any kind of business that you engage in, and in particular to online endeavors.  On the internet there is less to make you stand out, so the things that do make your business stand out must be taken advantage of to the fullest.  Doing your very best, offering the very best of customer service and such is one way to make your business stand out!

Firstly, none of us really knows what the situation is.  Let’s just agree to accept what they are saying and that our financial system is on the brink of collapse.  Without a cash infusion, the banks have no money to keep the system running.  I don’t know if that is true or not, but for the purposes of doing a bailout plan, I will accept that scenario as true.

Well, the government plan is to basically buy bad debt from the banks for a total of $700B.  This takes bad debt off the books, and also infuses cash into the system, which can then prime the pump and get cash flowing again.  The taxpayers get nothing but $700B in debt, and a bunch of bad paper, which likely won’t ever be recovered.

I read that $700B amounts to $10,000 for every household in the United States.

My plan:

1. Every household is given a voucher (not cash) worth $10,000.  The voucher can only be used to pay off debts (credit card, mortgage, etc) at a bona fide financial institution.  The voucher has no cash value, except for paying off debts at a financial institution.
2. Each household uses his voucher to pay off some of their debt.
3. The banks turn the vouchers back to the government in exchange for cash.
4. Suddenly, the banks have the $700B, the taxpayers owe $700B, just like the plan that they are trying to push through now.  The difference is that the taxpayer has reduced his debt by $10,000.

For anybody who has no debt to pay off, they can sell their vouchers to others.  For example, if I am in debt, and you are not, your voucher is worthless to you for paying off debt.  I could buy your voucher from you for a discount, say $8000 and use it to pay an additional $10k against my debt.

Anyway, that is Bob’s plan.  I believe that it accomplishes exactly what is being aimed at now, but in addition gives relief to the taxpayers too.

What do you think?  It seems too simple that nobody else has thought of it.

With the growth of the Internet and the tremendous money-making potential of online tools, trends, and technologies, a good income is indeed possible. Your income potential is only limited by how hard you are willing to study and then apply your knowledge.

Is it possible to be a 100% virtual earner, earning your money from the Internet? What are the ways in which you can make money at home, using your own computer? What does it take to become an Internet Entrepreneur? How does one succeed at an online business in the midst of today’s economic crises?

Bob Martin asked those same questions when he moved from the United States to the Philippines. Now living in Davao City and making his name as one of the top Internet Entrepreneurs in the country, “Mindanao Bob” is making more money now than when he lived in the USA. Bob wants to show you how you can do it too!

With Virtual Earner: A Business Forum by Bob Martin, you can uncover many ways to earn a living in the Philippines. Invest in the potential of the Internet and reap the benefits of strategic online, offline and hybrid ideas for business. Don’t miss this opportunity to discover and prove –as Bob did– that making a living in the Philippines is NOT IMPOSSIBLE!

Details

VIRTUAL EARNER: A Business Forum by Bob Martin

Speaker: Bob Martin
Venue: K-1 Coffee Shop, F. Torres Street, Davao City
Date: Saturday August 9, 2008
Time: 3:00 pm (the seminar will start sharply at 3pm)
Seminar Price: P3,000

To register for the seminar, please either e-mail or call (or text) John at (0921) 467-8372.

The forum is created to provide an intimate and informal venue for learning how to make a living in the Philippines. It will also serve as a medium for opportunities to discuss new technologies, products, services, and business ideas with a qualified expert who has explored the possibilities on the Internet to become an 100% Virtual Earner.

Who is Bob Martin?

Bob Martin is an Internet entrepreneur based in Davao City. An American who has lived in Mindanao for the past eight years, Bob has resided in General Santos City, and now in Davao City, while owning and managing dozens of Internet Businesses.

For the past seven years, Bob has made his living exclusively through the Internet. He serves customers all around the world, and has used the Internet to enhance his earning ability to the point that he is making more money now than when he lived in the USA and had a regular job. Bob wants to show you how you can do that too!

“Becoming successful on the Internet is great, but one thing I really enjoy is helping others achieve the same,” says Bob. “It makes me feel good if I can show somebody a few simple methods, or share my thoughts with them, and watch them learn how to make a living themselves. I don’t really like it when others copy what I am doing, but when they look at what I do, and mold it a little bit to fit their interests, they can come up with something that is patterned after me yet totally different from my business. I think that is great, and it gives me a lot of joy to see a friend become successful by doing this.”

Bob has a business background in Retailing and in Manufacturing, having previously managed discount department stores and an electronics store in the USA. He is also a published author of more than a dozen books. His latest book is entitled 49 Ways to Make a Living in the Philippines.

Early Bird Bonus! - For the first 10 people who sign up and attend the seminar, they will receive a FREE COPY of Bob’s book, 49 Ways to Make a Living in the Philippines! That’s right, a book that is selling for $49.00 will be yours free when you sign up and pay to participate in the seminar(but, only for the first 10 people)! So, don’t miss out, sign up today!

To register for the seminar, please either e-mail or call (or text) John at (0921) 467-8372. Remember, the first 10 people who register will get a free copy of Bob’s eBook, 49 Ways to earn a living in the Philippines! ]]> http://business.auctiontopia.com/2008/07/26/im-giving-a-seminar-in-davao-city/feed/ http://business.auctiontopia.com/2008/07/22/determining-value/ http://business.auctiontopia.com/2008/07/22/determining-value/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:38:36 +0000 Bob http://business.auctiontopia.com/?p=139 If you’re going to get involved in business, usually that means you’re going to be selling something.  Not all businesses mean outright sales to make money, but, it can be argued that every business involves selling something.  I’m not going to make that argument right now, that’s a whole different story there.  However, for the sake of this article let’s agree that if you want to make money, you have to sell something.

The question is, how do you determine the value of the item you’re going to sell?  I mean, it if you have an item that’s really worth $100, and you’re selling it for $10, you’re probably going to sell a lot of them, but it’s a losing proposition. I mean, even if you don’t realize you’re losing money, you’re selling the item for less than it’s worth, and that’s not good for the seller.  On the other hand, if you’ve got an item is worth $10, but you think it’s worth $100, and you price it at $100, nobody will buy. In your mind that item is worth every bit of $100. But, if nobody else thinks is worth $100, it’s not.

I used to make a living selling stuff on eBay.  I guess I have about five years experience of selling on eBay, and three to four of those years eBay was my primary moneymaker.  In those years without eBay I wouldn’t have really had an income.  It is my opinion that eBay is the perfect marketplace.  If you put an item up for sale on eBay, you get what the item is worth.  Now there are things that you can do to influence the worth, but in general, the final price of the auction is what the item is worth.  When I say that you can influence the value, what are you talking about?  Well, a lot of things enter there.  The quality of your description of the item is a big factor.  You should have a lot of good pictures.  You should play the item and make it look really good.  These things, and others influence how much you’ll get for the item.  If, for example, you list an item with like a one sentence description, no photos, and little information, you probably won’t even sell the item.  If you do though, you’ll get very little for it.  How can that be?  How can an item be worth the final price, yet you that hardly anything for it?  The value of the item described is worth the price you got.  You gave it a poor description?  Well you did let people know what it was, and the price they gave you was based on what you told them it was.

in the end, it is my believe that the value of an item is based on this statement:

An item is worth precisely what a willing buyer will pay for it, and a willing seller will sell it for.

This simple sentence, precisely defines what an item is worth in my opinion.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, make sure that you are not underpricing the item that you’re selling.

I have used a lot of methods to monetize websites, I’ve done it through advertising like AdSense, affiliate ads, and other methods.  Over the last six months, though, as I have alluded to before, I have taken a special interest in monetizing one of my sites.  This particular site did not monetize well with any kind of advertising that I tried.  However, it was the site most precious to me, one that I love a lot, and really a daily part of my life.  Because of that, I wanted to find a way to make money from it.  So I introduced several new moneymaking possibilities on the site.  These included things like advertising services, much like what Mark is talking about in his video.  Recently, I started offering a few e-books that were really targeted to that site as well.  You know what?  That is my number one earning site now!  And, I’m doing things that I enjoy, things that I love, and in a lot of ways things that I would be doing every day anyway, even without the site.

You know, I have come to the conclusion that offering my own services and selling my own products is the way that I like to go.  Firstly, I find it is more profitable.  Secondly, I have control over what’s on the website.  I am not at the mercy of Google or somebody else putting ads on my site that I can’t approve.  Thirdly, the premium products that I’m selling offer additional value to my readers.  These products are specifically about the topic that I write about, thus it is certain that these are things my readers are interested in.  A year ago I was strongly into the AdSense  thing, but mostly, I kind of abandoned that.  At least I’ve decreased it.  Most of my sites are highly specialized, very niche oriented, and my niche is very narrow.  In terms of how many people it attracts.  Because of this, it can be difficult to get ads that are targeted properly.  However, when I create my own products and advertising things that I do myself, I get to choose how targeted those things are.  And believe me, they are targeted to my customer.

Yes, I still make money off of AdSense, but not nearly what I used to make.  And now my earnings from Google are about one third of what they were last year.  However, my total earnings are higher than they were last year, and these self-made products and services are what accounts for that.  Whenever you’re selling advertising, unless you’re talking about direct ad sales, you only get a portion of what the advertiser pays.  People like Google or others get a cut as well.  When you make and sell your own products, or selling your own services on your site, you get the whole thing.  You can actually sell it to the customer for less than what Google would and still get more money from the sale, because you’re cutting out the middleman.

The other thing that I find is it is easier to make that money.  Why?  Well, if you build up a good side and you have a good following the people, those people trust you.  They know you.  Many of them visit you everyday online and read what you have to say.  You have established a relationship with those people.  Thus, if you come out with an e-book or some other product that you did yourself, they know what to expect.  If they thought that your writing wasn’t very good, they wouldn’t be visiting your site anyway.  Since they obviously feel that your site has value, by extension they would also feel that your products have value.  If the product that you offer is something that they are interested in, it’s likely that they’ll buy.  So it’s good for you, and it’s also good for them because they get information that they want and need.

Thanks to Mark for bringing up this topic on his site, 45n5 is a site that I like to visit every day.

In the article, though, I committed that I was going to put more concentration in that business to try to bring it back to life again. I mean, it was not dead (yet), but it was headed that way. My sales were down to only about 1/3 of what they had been in their hayday, and they were progressing downward.

What action did I take? My first thing was that I made some small, subtle changes in the website to kind of update it a bit. I also instituted a weekly sale. On the home page of the site, right up front and center is a listing of the items that are on sale that week. Why is something like this important? Well, it shows that somebody is home. The site is not just on autopilot. Somebody is behind the scenes making changes and there to assist people. When I put up a sale, I put what dates the sale is good for, something like “Prices good through June 15, 2008.” Why? Because it shows that it’s current, not something that I threw up there 3 years ago, and the site is long since dead. That gives people confidence.

Have I seen results? You better believe it! It’s been only (less than) two months since I published that article. You know what? I have seen sales increases of up to 100% per week compared to what I was seeing two months ago! That means that I am still down about 30% from where I was a couple years ago when the business was at it’s peak. However, traditionally, this is the slow time of year for the business in question. Mid-May through the beginning of September has always been the low time for that business. So, I am feeling that if I continue to nurture the business, keep my hand in play there, and build customer relationships, coming up in September and beyond, I could well expect to see the business recover completely.

It’s a good feeling to restore something that you have allowed to wither. It’s also a good lesson not to let it happen again. We get lessons in life every single day. Do you listen when the messages come? It’s really important to keep your ear tuned in for such messages!

One of the things that I learned from my first mentor was that Customer Service is the most important thing about any business.  Actually, I’ll expand it and say that Customer Service is the most important aspect of any part of your life.

Now, in some parts of your life, you may have to look at the word “customer” a little differently.

Marriage?  Your spouse is your customer.  Treat your customer right, and you’ll have a customer for life.

Friendship?  Your friends are your customers.

It applies to any kind of relationship.  However, this blog is about business, so let’s focus on that.

I contend that the very best way to keep a customer for life is through making mistakes.  What?  That doesn’t make sense, right?  Well, first, let’s all agree that everybody makes mistakes.  No matter how hard you try, how much you concentrate, you will make a mistake sooner or later.  It is how you deal with that mistake that will decide if you just lost a customer, or strengthened your relationship with that customer.

I have had incidents where I, or one of my employees has made a very serious mistake and a customer told me that we had lost his business for life.  He would never shop with us again.  Well, the gut reaction is to get mad, tell the person off, and say goodbye!  Forget him, right?  That’s not the way I do it.

First of all, consider that the reason that the customer is mad is because YOU made the mistake to begin with.  If you handle the situation right, you will not only keep the customer, you will also have a stronger relationship with him when he sees that you take care of mistakes.  Go out of your way to not only correct the mistake, but go above and beyond what the customer would expect!

Just as an example, I have a business where I sell flowers.  Roses and such.  Generally, we deliver these flowers to a man’s girlfriend in most cases.  If we make a mistake, the guy usually gets quite angry, because not only have we not done what he wanted, in many cases we might have even made him look bad to his girl.  That’s like playing with fire.  For example, let’s say that we delivered flowers that were not fresh, already wilted.  The lady tells the guy that the flowers were not so nice, then he gets angry at us, and says we can kiss his business goodbye.  We go out of our way, and we then delivery maybe 3 times the amount of FRESH flowers to the lady as our way of saying “we are sorry” to the customer.  Not only that, we tell the girl that it was her boyfriend who sent the additional flowers.  This not only corrects the problem, it makes the man look good!  You can bet, 9 times out of 10, the guy is so happy that he forgets all about his threat to start shopping elsewhere, and becomes even a better customer in the future.

Customer service is all about how you handle mistakes, which are inevitable.  Treat your customers good, step up to the plate and fix the problem when you made a mistake, and you will go far in business.  If you don’t do these things, your business may not survive long.

How true is that statement?  Well, it’s very true!  I used to believe in it less than I do now, but events over the past few years have illustrated to me how true it is.  Both in my personal life and also in my business life things have happened that time and again show me that nothing lasts forever.

However, there are things that you can do to stretch the lifespan as long as possible out of whatever it is that you are trying to preserve.

Let’s look at business, since that is what this site is all about.  I have a business that I started up about 7 years ago.  It’s been a super business.  I have made some really nice money from this business.  It has kept me happy, healthy, with food on the table, etc.  There was a time when I thought that the business was invincible.  A couple of years ago, I decided to concentrate on the business less than I had been.  I thought that this particular business was so well established that it could prosper even just with the guidance of my staff.  Of course, I would keep an eye on it, but I would involve myself less and less in the day to day operations.

So, I set out on this path a couple of years ago.  It did very well for quite some time.  However, about a year ago, it started declining.  At first, such decline is virtually unnoticeable, because you just count it as a normal fluctuation, the regular ebb and flow of business.  But, it has continued to spiral downwards.  New competition came in.  We didn’t make many changes, just maintained the status quo.  That is my fault, because I put the thing on auto-pilot.

That is a huge mistake.

Now it is time for me to jump back in and get the business back on track.  Honestly, that is something that I enjoy doing.  I don’t enjoy running a business, but I enjoy innovating, making changes, etc.  That is part of the personality profile of a true entrepreneur.  Entrepreneurial people enjoy starting businesses, but then they tend to walk away when things are going smoothly.  That’s what I did.

So, I have come up with a list of innovations that I need to make to hopefully get my business back on track.  It won’t be an easy thing to do, but I am drawn to do it.

What about you?  Do you believe in the statement that I used as the title of this article?  Innovate or die.  Nothing lasts forever.  I just hope that through innovation I can prolong the life of this particular venture.

Let’s face it, if you are in the business of becoming a clown at local kid’s birthday parties, you won’t want to change into the local norm.  The kids probably won’t be too excited if you come to the party in a business suit.  But, for other businesses, if you show up in a clown suit, you probably won’t get the job!

As you probably all know, I am an American, but I live in the Philippines.  If I tried to do everything the American way, most local people probably wouldn’t hire me to do local jobs.  If I try to blend a little of the Filipino way into by business, though, I am more likely to be successful.  I don’t have to be totally Filipino in my ways, as a matter of fact, if I did I probably would lose some of my value.

For instance, if I was doing business consulting locally, the local businessman might be hiring me so that he can get a bit more of American style business-practice into his business.  However, if I went totally American it might turn him off.  For example, here in the Philippines, the day is broken up between work, and three different breaks.  In the mid morning, they have “marienda” which means snacks.  Then, at noon there is lunch, followed by the afternoon marienda around mid-afternoon time.  In America, if it is a busy day, the business man might work straight through the day without even taking a lunch break.  If I consulted a business here to do that, they would be aghast and probably fire me.  If they accepted my advice, and instituted such a schedule many employees would quit. But, if I choose to adapt these important Filipino customs into my American style business methods, it might be a hit, and help the Filipino businessman make a better living.

You have probably heard the old saying - “When in Rome, do as the Romans do…” well, you don’t have to go 100%, but it is just a good idea to incorporate some of the Roman ways into the way you do business.  The results might surprise you!