Forum

When are your days off?
 

I was at a local goodwill, flipping threw some clothes and it hit me, this is starting to become really tedious. I love my job (eBay) and the potential it brings to me in other aspects of my life BUT I never really take a day off.

Before this I was a server, and well...I had days off, haha. I realize I determine weather or not I want to work, its part ambition, and part I'm in the building phase of my business(es). To all the vets (GreenBean, Rsot, Dmshark..etc)

Just for kicks, do you guys have a set schedule or limit on when you work and when you DON'T? For instance, no shipping on weekends...not answering messages past a certian time? I really need to set myself some limits. I really don't remeber the last day I had a complete day without doing one thing related to eBay, crazy enough.

Re: When are your days off?
 

Days Off: Monday - Sunday from 3pm to 2pm Next Day!

Re: When are your days off?
 

I usually work everyday because i like it but when i feel like i want to take a day off it's usually just 1 day or a maximum of 2 days because i can't let my customers wait longer. If i'll ever feel like i want more than 2 days i'll just close couple of stores and write that im on vacation on the others.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I have always said to my friends and family..

"eBay is a Part Time job that you work Full Time." :)

Re: When are your days off?
 

I typed something earlier and decided to delete it.

The only way to escape is to hire. If you don't do this then you are always going to be torn and work looses it fun and fun has regrets and consequences.

Re: When are your days off?
 

Exactly how I feel. A big part is all my emails are on my Iphone, which I end up checking all the time :(

The days I want to take a day off, I end up working. Its like I can't allow myself to take a day off. Do any of you have restrictions like not shipping or working on weekends? Is this a fantasy? What about not answering messages after 5:00 pm? Big retail websites don't, why do we have to :pout:

(I say that knowing I answer messages at 3:00 am sometimes)

Re: When are your days off?
 

The only days off I get is the day or 2 I have no sales, lol.

But I usually only go to the post office on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays so I get a bit of a break in that aspect.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I always try to ship same day. I know going above and beyond is great and all...but most these ebayers don't even care. I might need to start doing something like that. Simple enough.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I'm more like a binge seller......I do some every week......but then I'll go crazy and sell 3 times my usual amount in a week...then take 1 or 2 off.......

Re: When are your days off?
 

One thing I do on the stealth accounts I work with is try to make all my busy work take place on Monday or Tuesday. I try to have all auctions end Sunday night(mostly because it is a great $$$ night) and then everyone is busy shipping a day or two only. It is fact that if you are shipping/servicing, you are not selling or growing your business.

Re: When are your days off?
 

In my few hours of sleep I set my phone to "night night" Its first thing I check getting up and last thing I check going to bed.

This year though I set all my stores on vacation during black Friday and from Dec 20th...

Most time ive taken off in long time and during critical sales. However the numbers are still up and less crabby people messages. It seems those buyers at those date are the worst...

Opened shop again and been online for almost 20hrs....

I know I cant do it forever, but working on end game is the point right now...

Re: When are your days off?
 

I need to be better then BIG RETAIL.... Its best way to sell higher.... and yes without phone id be stuck no movement.... I get about 200 emails a day

:deadhorse:

Re: When are your days off?
 

For people who want to increase the efficiency i would suggest writing answers to all possible questions(Late arrival, broken, not as described etc...) if you got 10 accounts just change couple of words to make it look different so you won't get linked and just always have a prepared answers to 80% of the questions, that way all you do is copy paste. Another suggestion is to establish a working hours, if you work 5 hours a day you can work 10 hours the next day or 15 hours the next day. This way you can fill orders and answer messages 2-3 days a week and save your energy for new projects on the rest of your time.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I constantly try to improve efficiency / automate a lot of the process through hiring friends. I used to work 24/7, now I only work in the mornings for a couple hours and in the afternoon for a couple more.

Re: When are your days off?
 

My full days off tend to be when im out doing really important real life things, such as going the pub.

Other than that, TGMT's quote sums ebay up perfectly.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I could be laying out at a pool in las vegas, and guess what? I'm checking my phone(s) responding to emails.:ranger: and seeing what shipped(fba).

Re: When are your days off?
 

Plenty of days off in the grave... :FF:

Re: When are your days off?
 

I don't have days off via "limitations" like the OP suggested. But I LOVE the freedom I have because of my ability to work from home and set my own schedule. I also LOVE what I do. For me, research is FUN! I LOVE finding new items to sell.

For the more mundane tasks, like shipping, I automate as much as I can through things like ShipStation, Family members help and I also have a business partner. I have also hired (on and off) and there is no reason NOT to hire help, as long as you actually have enough work for them to do on a consistent basis. But I have tried to avoid that as much as possible by using things like ShipStation. Shipping used to take me between 4-6 hours each day. But I have reduced that by 80%. I always try to answer emails as they come in. If you answer right away, it not only creates TRUST, it also lessens the amount of B.S you will have to deal with later on.

I even have my own form letter library which I use to answer buyer questions and complaints. This has saved me a ton of time as well, because it is USUALY the same questions, of the same TYPES of questions that buyers tend to ask. I can either simply cut and paste my response, or edit something. But most of what I need is already written. The only caveat is that you MUST know your responses INTIMATELY to avoid responding in a way that does not make sense. But once you have it down it is a HUGE time-saver.

Re: When are your days off?
 

Love all the responses!

I just woke up, eating cereal and drinking coffee about to start taking pictures. :s

Haha.

I think with me its the hunger to keep growing my businesses. For instance like someone else said, I woke up and had checked my phone and got good sales, that makes me want to list more! I have about $700-1000 in clothes I bought yesterday waiting to get listed (profit not what I spent).

The great thing though is, I still have the rest of the day to do WHATEVER I want!
Thats the thing, knowing we have the desicion to do what WE WANT is really the greatest feeling anyone can have. No boss, no "I'm going to be late" ..none of that anymore... can't ask for a better job. Obviously you have to be built mentally for it, its not easy, but worth it imho.

Not to mention anyone on here that is successful on eBay, nothing but respect. When your your own boss and your successful that alone shows character. Hard work always pays off in the end.

Life, I win. :d

When are your days off?
 

The toughest thing for me is trying to balance a full time job and family with ebay. I usually work after I finish home work with the kids and get them fed and to bed, which is usually after 7-8pm.

I try to get as much done early in the morning as I can.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I usually do not schedule days off. I sell onmy stealths on certain days only. My real accounts are selling everyday, but they are a lot of trinket things. I may sell a couple to a few a day.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I had pretty much the same situation in my job, with the exception that I was BUSIER than I am now. But if I was having lunch with a friend, I could take as long as I wanted to, within reason. But I worked a lot more hours overall. It is kind of hard for your boss to tell you that you cannot take more than an hour for lunch when you are averaging between 60-80 hours a week.

But I LOVED my old job too. It was always a challenge and I was able to research to my hearts content and write algorithms for business processes. For this I was highly praised and highly prized. Competitors were CONSTANTLY trying to lure me away. It was a good EGO-BOOSTER, but I never would have left where I was at. I had known everyone for years and I still talk to everyone.

It does not really matter so much if you are working for yourself or for someone else. If you are a go-getter who goes above and beyond the call of duty, you will be successful. If you are a clockroach (someone who watches the clock constantly and starts getting ready to leave at 4:57pm) then you will be average, at best. And enjoying what you do is the best way to make sure you never fall into that second group.

Re: When are your days off?
 

If I didn't have a family I would be online super crazy.... they keep me in check often... I love my family life and the life this place has given me.... Its sad that much of my profit goes to medical (brain cancer)... But I truly think I would be dead by now if it was not for all you guys.... I love you all!

God Bless!

Re: When are your days off?
 

I don't know anything about your situation, of course. And I want to say in advance, I mean no offense in any way because I know everyone has different beliefs and I totally respect that.

I think maybe that there is a REASON you got into this and it gave you the ability to profit. I believe that many things - and I don't know HOW - happen for a reason. Some people would call it God, others would call it fate, kismet or even the force. But it seems that the universe might be looking out for you somehow. I know it might sound corny, but I have had things happen in my life that I cannot explain. And honestly, I don't know if God exists or not. But I believe there is SOMETHING out there that we probably will never understand. Or at least we won't understand it in my lifetime.

Best of luck to you.

Re: When are your days off?
 

It's a trade off between being your own boss but working a lot more than in a standard job and it interferes with your personal life a lot more.

But it depends on what your goals are, we know that if we sell more, (work more hours) we will have more money, but it might take away from your happiness so you have to find a balance.

Now on the practical side of things, you need to automate as much as you can like Jeff says. From emails to shipping to listing etc. Many things we do are repetitive so you need to be as efficient as possible in each area, once that is done it's even easier to deligate or hire since you will know how much time each area takes on average.

Re: When are your days off?
 

Exactly!

Its about being the most efficient as possible. It comes with time obviously. Some of the things I did early on wasted to much time but I didn't know any better. From listing to taking pictures to managing all stealths (if you have alot) takes time to learn. We all sell different items so its hard to have a universal approach.

Just for the record that easy adjustment on not waking up and going straight to eBay really does help! I don't answer emails, or work on eBay until I shower and eat...haha. Might sound silly to some but I have a laptop so I wake up and can start working in bed, can't do that though.

Its all about the balance, working more does make more money but obviously if your making money, your most likely doing it for a particular reason right?

(I finally got over the hump where limits aren't affecting me anymore. I have back up accounts, and now can make more stronger back ups without any "need" to have them but obviously its good to have them just in case. :spy:)

Re: When are your days off?
 

Wow I really enjoyed this thread and all the responses.

For me its like I see a few others say, I work 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
I am always thinking about it lol.

Occasionally if I absolutely am wiped out I will give myself one day off...usually winds up with me still checking and seeing if there is anything important.

I have all my stealth accounts emails forwarded to one main email so I do not have to log onto multiple emails to check.

I do usually go on vacation with family for 5-8 days what I do is go on all accounts about 2 days before I leave. Make sure everything is good and taken care of. Then I take all buy it nows down and list AUCTIONS only for 7-10 day listings. Then I set my email to answer all emails with I am out of town will answer when I get home type thing.

That way I am technically still selling while I am on vacation, it breaks my heart thinking about the sales I miss out on but its still better then what I used to do which is either not sell anything OR I take the laptop and the mifis with me and actually WORK on my vacation...actually that is exactly how I always did it. Just this past vacation did I not work!

We ebayers are a little obsessed with sales!

Re: When are your days off?
 

I hate "days off".. it's like I've lost a limb haha.

My days are as follows;

8am -Get up and shower.

8:30 - At my desk sorting the emails out

9am > 5pm - Making & packing orders, answering emails as they come in etc.

Postal collection from my house at 5:10pm

5pm > 7pm - Design new products in Corel Draw / Photoshop etc.. browse the news, cook dinner, chat to boyfriend etc..

7pm > 8pm - eat dinner, digest, read iPad, chat.

8pm > 12/1/2am - Design and list new items, first on eBay and then copy and paste info across to Amazon, then website.

I get between 20-40 new items on each evening, the more I get on the happier I am.

I get a sense of achievement and success running my business, it's nearly been going 4yrs now and it works out so well for me in a lot of ways. I get bored easily, but with my work, if I'm bored, I pick up the laptop and do some work! Perfect, although this may not suit everyone.

I'm an introvert by nature, and really get tired of people (looking at you dear sister!), telling me to "put the laptop down and get a life", go out and do something" etc etc... "there's more to life than work".... Shuuuuuttttt uppppppppp.... No matter how many time's I say "but I love my job", "I enjoy designing new products"... yada yada yada.. I still get the same replies... No, I do not feel better for going for a walk, or getting p1ssed and puking up in the street.. My job makes me happy! My boyfriend is fine with is and is usually asleep my 9pm as he starts work early, and I'm in the living room in the evenings, so I still watch TV.

Disclaimer: This year I went to 3 NFL games (I'm in the UK), 3 high profile comedy shows, 2 rock concerts, holiday for a week in the forest with a hot tub, been cinema a gazillion time etc.. but because I work hard I'm deemed to be "sad" to some.

Find what works for you and screw what others think.

I have family staying for 3 days this week and won't be able to work much, my nervous twitch and stress levels are high :D

Re: When are your days off?
 

wow GeeGee83 Impressive!
I have one question though. What happens when you get sick? Or tired? Or old? Or a day just comes that you say, "Screw it! I don't want to do this anymore!" ?!? Happened to me.

My only suggest for all of you is HIRE. All sorts of ways to hire. I prefer reverse hiring and paying on performance.

Re: When are your days off?
 

I think the only "true" way for me to feel like I'm on a vacation is to end up buying a seperate phone that is strictly business, and leave town and go somewhere like hawaii...haha. Like most people, if I'm near my laptop, (always have my phone) ..I'm constantly connected to my business. Its great it really is, but its also a negative sometimes. Like geegee said, a day off does feel like "a lost limb". The more I list the happier I am to. Self motivation is really the only way we ebayers thrive in the market anyways, without it we stand no chance again our competitors (if you have any, most likely you have some sort of competition).

Its also super rewarding to know your own hard work pays off on your bottom line, nobody else (besides paying fees). When working for a corporation your making money from the company generally speaking. I love the feeling that my hard work pays off while I'm sleeping :)

Waking up to sales is seriously one the best feelings to have! Making money while sleeping, can't get much better than that! :thumb:

Re: When are your days off?
 

At the end of the day, you simply have to find a system that works for YOU. Because what works for one of us may not work for another.

But if you are going to be in business - ANY business - you have to have some self-discipline. Because there will be days when you DON'T feel like working. And the damage that is done and the money you lose will come directly out of your pocket.

Again, coming up with something that is ENJOYABLE is, IMHO the best way to approach it. Not that you are going to enjoy EVERYTHING 100%, but the more you enjoy your job, the happier you will be.

Re: When are your days off?
 

eBay and selling online is pretty much non stop. Even if you think you can take time off you still have to answer questions ans deal with buyers. I started over 10 years ago now when I was 16. I haven't taken a real vacation one time. I am lucky if I can take a 3-4 day extended weekend. It comes with the territory.

I sacrifice that aspect but it allows me to go the gym for an hour at noon and do things other people can't. Granted I have to make sure order get filled, list new items. Look for new inventory etc. Over the past 10-11 years I have had really good years. I have had a few years I wanted to seriously quit. I have stayed the course. Knock on wood it has worked out thus far.

I take off Sunday mornings to go Church. I still package and try to drop things off in the evening. I am big on the 24 hour drop boxes for USPS where they have them. Part time or full time eBay is usually ends up becoming a lifestyle. Especially if you have large number of items listed.

Re: When are your days off?
 

If I'm tired I have a nap, or sleep in one day.. I do try to take Sundays off, but that usually means designing new stuff.. I honestly don't see any difference from doing that and playing Call of Duty or something, I do feel better for it.

Sickness - Yeh, well a cold I can work through, I get vertigo now and then too which is a real pain, but I just then go into survival mode and do the bare minimum of just the orders, no new designs. Real illness, and old age isn't something that's a problem right now, and I'm working this hard to hopefully be able to afford to employ staff in the future. I don't want to work like this forever, but I keep thinking just to keep going for now, and build up a bit of money for the future. :thumb:

Re: When are your days off?
 

Re: When are your days off?
 

It seriously happens. I do sleep in some days eBay and online sales will wear you out. I don't play video games I go for long jogs to get away from it. None the less it is important. As much as I enjoy this all I do know it may not last forever. I also understand money is not everything. However, as long as I can sell on eBay & online and be my own boss. I will definitely keep on this path.

Re: When are your days off?
 

Yes, I agree, you can't work flat out forever.. hopefully I'm just at that pivotal point where all this hard work will mean hiring people and then I can relax a little more.

I've got a long term plan for when I have kids, as I won't be able to keep this pace up then, especially being female and having to actually "have" them lol.

I think of my business 2-3 yrs ahead of time, and try to aim for that.. 2 staff members hopefully and a huge log cabin garden office haha.. :)

Re: When are your days off?
 

Best time to hire is Yesterday, lol

The sooner you hire, the sooner you can grow and the faster you reach or exceed your goals. :))

Re: When are your days off?
 

Haha, exact opposite of me. Always thought if I got married and had kids. Putting the wife on eBay/Amazon duty for the most part until further notice. Has worked wonders for friends in similar situations who still needed a boost in income but had to work regular hours.

Re: When are your days off?
 

The trophy wife :FF: vogeltron

Re: When are your days off?
 

That would be nice. Lol. But in all honesty. My friends who have had kids. Those early years having their wife be at home, having someone who could answer eBay questions and help out in the spare time. Made life a little easier. For most working people if you go from two incomes to one it can become problematic.