Auctions are a wonderful way to enter the world of online business and Internet marketing. We have become veterans at selling through online auctions and it has allowed my wife to stay at home with our son.
However, with increasing fee schedules, competition that enters the market easily, and the low profit margins on various items, it becomes tougher and tougher to really build a true business. You know it's easy to say, "We sold $25,000 last month or we are on track to do $500K this year with online auctions." As an accountant, I know that the sales number is only part of the story. I have seen companies go out of business that did well over $1m a year in sales.
It was the rest of the numbers - costs of goods, expenses, etc... that they don't tell you about.
Anyhow without getting off on a rant about stories that look like success and aren't, we want to show you how to use auctions to your advantage and not fall into the trap of search for products, list, package, ship, and do it all over again. Even with all the best tools, in order to make more money, you have to work harder. The point of starting a business is to make more money while freeing up time - not the other way around.
Speaking of tools, that is what this article is about. Tools provide us leverage and leverage is what will give us more money and free time - if used properly. Ron Legrand has a saying, "The Less I Do, The More I Make." Sounds like a good thing right?
So, what am I getting at? The key to online success besides persistence and such is the use of tools to expand your business. Using auctions is a great way to start, but to sustain your business, you must look outside of auctions to succeed.
Have you ever noticed that the people who teach about successful auction selling do so through their own websites? This is what you need to do. I'm not talking about teaching others how to sell online because that is a tough niche to conquer.
I am talking about building your own brand, your own niche website that will allow you to make money through multiple streams. From this you can set up a store, provide information products, sell other people's products, sell advertising, and more and utilize auctions to drive traffic to your site where you can sell products at better prices and make more money because you sidestep all the fees and such.
You can also do things like build a list of followers who seek your advice. You can do so many more things with your own online business that you can't with just auctions.
You know what the beautiful part is? It doesn't cost much to start. In fact what you probably pay in fees per month with auctions is more than what building a website will cost you.
The key is to know where to start, how to do it correctly from the start, and how to stay on top of the ever-changing world of the Internet to keep ahead of the competition. It all comes back to the tools you use to build your online empire.
There are many out there and many we use. Some are great, most really stink, so do your homework, ask lots of questions, read how others are doing it (be weary of certain testimonials as most are just a ploy to sell their own products), and go out there and build residual income so you can spend more time doing things you love.
Freedom!!
