Expert on doing business on Ebay
www.janelleelms.com

Maybe today’s the day when you’re going to make the big breakthrough in starting your own business or expanding your existing one.

That’s because you’re about to get to know Janelle Elms, who helps entrepreneurs to build businesses selling on eBay. One of the premiere experts on eBay, Janelle travels the country teaching eBay University classes and has co-authored popular best-selling eBay books including, “The 7 Essential Steps to eBay Marketing” and “eBay Your Business” (both published by McGraw-Hill Osborne Media).

Meet Janelle at the upcoming Ladies Who Launch LIVE events in Portland, Seattle, New York and Vancouver , and learn more below about how she launched her eBay business with some unusual stuff and became a Silver Powerseller (someone who sells $3,000 or more a month on eBay).

NOTE from Editor: Ladies Who Launch will be opening their eBay Shop on September 15, 2006! Look for details coming soon.

Old Valentines Spark New Love

“Eight years ago, I was working for large companies helping them retain their current customers through creative marketing. Back then, I collected late-1800 and early-1900 Dutch Valentines with a cowboy theme. You could always find old Valentines in antique stores, but the Valentines I collected are rare. When I first spotted eBay, I saw that there were about 10 types of these Valentines each month, so I was in heaven. I was thrilled.”

From eBay Buyer… to eBay Business

“I started buying on eBay, which is how most of us start doing business on eBay. Then I started selling things in my house that I didn’t want anymore I sold nine Star Wars patches. They cost me $9 and I sold them for $212. That kind of gets you hot to sell more.”

Staying Home, Setting Goals

“Friends started asking me, ‘How do (you) stay at home and make money on eBay?’ So I started my consulting business. I made six-month goals and a five-year plan. If I hadn’t made those plans, then when I met people who could help me to fulfill my goals, I wouldn’t have recognized them.

“My goal was that I wanted to teach about eBay, but I wasn’t sure what that looked like. ‘I want to replace a $3,000 per month income’ is a goal. If you start making goals too broad, you don’t know how you’re going to get there. My first goal was to replace an income and live on what I sold on eBay.

“Three years ago, eBay University ( www.ebay.com/university) asked me to tour with them, because they heard about my eBay classes. A group of about a half dozen of us tour around the country and teach about eBay. eBay used to be a place to trade collectibles – a garage sale. It’s now a channel for people who want to try their hand at selling online.”

Top Secret to Selling On eBay

“One of my favorite sayings is, ‘Fish don’t like pizza.’ When you go fishing, don’t put on the hook what you like to eat.. You put on the hook what the fish like. So many people come to eBay and sell what they like. But if you want to sell to buyers, you need to sell what the buyers are asking for, and you need to put it online at the time buyers are shopping for it. Provide excellent customer service as well.

“The most successful sellers on eBay are looking past selling sparkly things (like consumer electronics) and focusing on niche areas. There are a lot of niche areas on eBay that are unfulfilled right now. At www.janelleelms.com/ebay, one of the sections is on sourcing… how do you find the products that buyers actually want?”

Who Knew a Clearance on Hello Kitty Could Deliver Big ROI?

“Most of the things I sold weren’t things that I would have bought myself. I did phenomenally well with a product… Payless Shoe stores had a line of Hello Kitty women’s tennis shoes. If people are paying attention to trends at all, they know that anything adult-size Hello Kitty is hot and has been for years. I waited until (the shoes) went to clearance. I walked into pretty much every single Payless (in the Seattle area) and had them cut me a deal if I would buy every single pair. (The shoes) cost me $5 a pair, and I sold them on eBay for $40 a pair.”

Most Unusual Items She Ever Bought or Sold on eBay

“I have sold numerous things on eBay – from a huge art collection that was sold to a collector in Germany, to Hallmark ornaments, to golf equipment, and even AOL CDs. Now I focus my niche on selling my eBay educational products.

“It always amazes me what you can purchase on eBay. I just finished building my house, and most of the inside was furnished from eBay… beautiful waterfall sinks, shower towers with 14 water heads, wrought iron tables… it was a lot of fun. I even stocked my pond out back with fish I bought on eBay!”

The Call Most People Never Get

“(Writing books) was just pure insanity. My first book almost coincided with the first class I taught because my students needed some kind of a textbook. So I self-published my first two books. Then one day, out of the blue, I got a phone call from McGraw-Hill and the woman said, ‘Hi I’m an acquisitions editor and we want you to be our eBay author.’ I made her hang up, then I Googled the number and called her back. You just don’t get these calls out of the blue.”

Greatest Challenge

“The hardest thing was not having a support base. I was one of the first people who were doing what I was doing, way back when not a lot of people were doing eBay as a business. I was winging it without any business model. One of my frustrations was constantly feeling like I was the Roadrunner, running off of a cliff with no safety net below me. Now I’m trying to make sure that doesn’t happen to other people, with my eBay support groups (www.janelleelms.com/free-ebay-meetings), and I’ve formed a women’s entrepreneurial group, too.”

Greatest Success

“I think that’s still to come. I’m working on a foundation that will send groups to South Africa and teach women there how to run their own businesses and sell goods online.”

A Little Story that Might Give You Goosebumps, Too

“Last fall I had gone to South Africa as a vacation and it truly was supposed to be a vacation. I remember going out to the townships where the shacks people live in are 10 feet by 10 feet. You can’t even call them houses. They’re put together with pieces of scrap metal, have dirt floors, no electricity and no running water. Usually families of six to eight people live in them.

“I was out there talking to people and this guy came up to me… he had no clue who I was. He made crafts and he showed them to me. I asked him, ‘Do you sell these online?’ And not knowing who I am or what I do he said, ‘No, but someday you will teach us.’
I instantly knew I wasn’t in South Africa for vacation at all.”

Words of Advice: Give and You Shall Receive

“No matter what business you’re in, the most important thing is giving back. It’s vital that you give back so that you can continue to receive. It seems like the more I give back, it returns in blessings in my life 100-fold.”

Words of Advice: Don’t Make Excuses

“The people who make excuses at different levels… will never become an entrepreneur.
I think I’ve heard every excuse in the book. ‘The Internet is so saturated.’ That’s a lie. There are a ton of niche areas that can be explored. ‘I don’t have time.’ Yes, you do, it’s just a matter of setting your priorities. If you think sleep is included in being an entrepreneur, you’re wrong.

“One of the things I teach in my women’s groups is ‘Be honest with yourself.’ Just be honest. Don’t make a lot of excuses that are covering up how you feel and stopping you from being successful.”

Words of Advice: Take Care of You

“One thing I want to stress to people – you have to have a balance to your life. Every entrepreneur struggles with this. You have to take care of yourself. There’s a good selfish and bad selfish. Good selfish is when you take care of you, and then everyone else will be taken care of. Every month I require myself to have one spa day and one culture day, which is usually opera because that’s one of my passions.”