Pimp My Twenty Bucks - Part Fifteen
UPDATE: I'm not writing this blog anymore, but please visit my YouTube channel The Vocabuverse and subscribe for more great things to come!
Only $7.34 to go…
I feel like a snail trapped in a glacier at this rate!
Last week on Facebook some smart fellow asked me if it was worth the time and effort, and I said, “Yes, yes it is.”
In the old days, before this adventure, my spare time was spent on not making money. My time was spent cursing the cruel world for not handing me itself on a plate.
Ok, so that’s a bit dramatic but I explained to him that the time I have spent on actually buying and selling books hasn’t really been that extensive and when it has, I’ve actually enjoyed it, so spending time on my love for books and “searching” for treasure in Op shops hasn’t been a waste for me, on account of having fun while doing it. And what good is your time if you haven’t enjoyed it?
Perhaps another way of looking at it is this. I spend 40 hours a week in a completely perfunctory task called, “Work”. In particular I spend at least 6 hours and at most 10 hours per day in a dark room, a very dark room mind you, playing movies for strangers who get to have all the fun while I’m locked up, like a rat in a black shoe box, the “creepy projectionist” suffering from a vitamin “D” deficiency, asking myself, “Is this worth it?”
Is it worth doing 40 hours a week, earning a decent average salary, doing something you don’t want to do because you feel like you have to, compared to doing less than maybe 2 hours a week earning between $3-$20 doing something you don’t have to do but because you actually want to?
I’ll take the second option thanks.
As far as I am concerned time is only money when the time is spent doing something you’re not principally fond of!
Had I chosen something that I did not like, like last week’s Baby Clothes mishap (see Part 14 for details) I would have answered, “You’re right, it’s a complete waste of time!” and in fact, I probably would have given up 10 blogs ago!
But apart from enjoying myself I have acquired some other things along the way. The time I have devoted to this small fiscal comedy has purchased me experience – experience I would not have gained by doing nothing.
I have learned how to deal with customers, I have learned the value of marketing my greatest asset – myself, I have learned not to put links that contain the word “Pimp" into customer correspondence…
For the past two weeks I could not figure out why my customers weren’t responding to my emails. After days of not hearing back from them I’d finally hear from them, asking for the bank details I had already sent… I discovered that my emails were going directly to their spam folders!
I had been providing them with a link to these blogs as a shameless act of self-promotion but it ultimately worked to my detriment because the title, Pimp My Twenty Bucks, was considered junk mail.
Shame!
Embarrassed I changed the link to my entry from a few weeks ago – How to Turn $20 into $100 in Ten Easy Steps. Hopefully that will produce the desired effect.
I hope people understand that I have used the word “Pimp" in my title to resonate with the modern MTV generation who think the word has more to do with sprucing something up as opposed to the other meaning of the word. I’ve been assuming my readers are more intelligent than a spam filter!
On the other hand, not only have I not lost the money I started with but I am now the owner of 50 plus books which create the illusion that I am a well read and cultured individual who lives in a house full of dusty books... although I’m not sure how much more of this my wife is going to be able to take.
In any case here is what the week gone by has left me with…
Last week I sold:
Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky for $4
Eagle has flown by Jack Higgins for $6
Naturally I replaced them right away with four books, at the cost of $3, and listed them with the rest of the books from last week that did not sell – putting me at 51 books in stock and now $92.66 to show for it!
That figure should be $94.66 but alas, the customer who purchased Around the World in 80 Days last week decided they didn’t want to pay the specified postage and tried to negotiate a cheaper price. I declined, leaving me $2 out from my goal and with a slightly annoyed conscience…
So the big $100 question is – will this be the last time I have to relist these books before I land on the moon of my fortune?
We’ll just have to wait and see…
In the meantime, if you have enjoyed this series, you can prove it by hitting the “like” button down below or sharing it with your chums on the internet, which would be marvelous!
Click Here to read Part One in this series!
Or
Click Here to read the stunning final of Pimp My Twenty Bucks!
Or
Click Here to see this week’s listings!
Or
Click Here to join my Fan Page on Facebook
UPDATE: I'm not writing this blog anymore, but please visit my YouTube channel The Vocabuverse and subscribe for more great things to come!
Only $7.34 to go…
I feel like a snail trapped in a glacier at this rate!
Last week on Facebook some smart fellow asked me if it was worth the time and effort, and I said, “Yes, yes it is.”
In the old days, before this adventure, my spare time was spent on not making money. My time was spent cursing the cruel world for not handing me itself on a plate.
Ok, so that’s a bit dramatic but I explained to him that the time I have spent on actually buying and selling books hasn’t really been that extensive and when it has, I’ve actually enjoyed it, so spending time on my love for books and “searching” for treasure in Op shops hasn’t been a waste for me, on account of having fun while doing it. And what good is your time if you haven’t enjoyed it?
Perhaps another way of looking at it is this. I spend 40 hours a week in a completely perfunctory task called, “Work”. In particular I spend at least 6 hours and at most 10 hours per day in a dark room, a very dark room mind you, playing movies for strangers who get to have all the fun while I’m locked up, like a rat in a black shoe box, the “creepy projectionist” suffering from a vitamin “D” deficiency, asking myself, “Is this worth it?”
Is it worth doing 40 hours a week, earning a decent average salary, doing something you don’t want to do because you feel like you have to, compared to doing less than maybe 2 hours a week earning between $3-$20 doing something you don’t have to do but because you actually want to?
I’ll take the second option thanks.
As far as I am concerned time is only money when the time is spent doing something you’re not principally fond of!
Had I chosen something that I did not like, like last week’s Baby Clothes mishap (see Part 14 for details) I would have answered, “You’re right, it’s a complete waste of time!” and in fact, I probably would have given up 10 blogs ago!
But apart from enjoying myself I have acquired some other things along the way. The time I have devoted to this small fiscal comedy has purchased me experience – experience I would not have gained by doing nothing.
I have learned how to deal with customers, I have learned the value of marketing my greatest asset – myself, I have learned not to put links that contain the word “Pimp" into customer correspondence…
For the past two weeks I could not figure out why my customers weren’t responding to my emails. After days of not hearing back from them I’d finally hear from them, asking for the bank details I had already sent… I discovered that my emails were going directly to their spam folders!
I had been providing them with a link to these blogs as a shameless act of self-promotion but it ultimately worked to my detriment because the title, Pimp My Twenty Bucks, was considered junk mail.
Shame!
Embarrassed I changed the link to my entry from a few weeks ago – How to Turn $20 into $100 in Ten Easy Steps. Hopefully that will produce the desired effect.
I hope people understand that I have used the word “Pimp" in my title to resonate with the modern MTV generation who think the word has more to do with sprucing something up as opposed to the other meaning of the word. I’ve been assuming my readers are more intelligent than a spam filter!
On the other hand, not only have I not lost the money I started with but I am now the owner of 50 plus books which create the illusion that I am a well read and cultured individual who lives in a house full of dusty books... although I’m not sure how much more of this my wife is going to be able to take.
In any case here is what the week gone by has left me with…
Last week I sold:
Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky for $4
Eagle has flown by Jack Higgins for $6
Naturally I replaced them right away with four books, at the cost of $3, and listed them with the rest of the books from last week that did not sell – putting me at 51 books in stock and now $92.66 to show for it!
That figure should be $94.66 but alas, the customer who purchased Around the World in 80 Days last week decided they didn’t want to pay the specified postage and tried to negotiate a cheaper price. I declined, leaving me $2 out from my goal and with a slightly annoyed conscience…
So the big $100 question is – will this be the last time I have to relist these books before I land on the moon of my fortune?
We’ll just have to wait and see…
In the meantime, if you have enjoyed this series, you can prove it by hitting the “like” button down below or sharing it with your chums on the internet, which would be marvelous!
Click Here to read Part One in this series!
Or
Click Here to read the stunning final of Pimp My Twenty Bucks!
Or
Click Here to see this week’s listings!
Or
Click Here to join my Fan Page on Facebook
UPDATE: I'm not writing this blog anymore, but please visit my YouTube channel The Vocabuverse and subscribe for more great things to come!
Ahh so the postage question gets answered here...you add postage on the sale.
ReplyDeleteNice
Good business ideals going here. Just think Kerin, instill this into higher profit margin goods and you are on your way to being a tycoon.
On a sidenote your strategy is very similar to a game you can play on your phone called Lemonade Tycoon. Great one for kids as it helps them understand the same lessons you are teaching yourself now. Kudos My Good Friend
Dan