How to Stay Motivated

[Nookin]

Personally, I find it hard to lose motivation with so much going on. However, when I feel down I find YouTube motivation videos great, just go there and type "motivation video" or something similar.

The Rocky video in particular captures my imagination!

On second thought... I'm going to watch it right now...

YouTube

YouTube

[zenohki]

Sounds like your in the wrong business if you can't stay motivated. That was my whole reason for going self employed, there was no motivation to work my arse off for someone else. (Especially when they were idiots, and I'm not even joking)

For me, all my products is things I've made. So when I see a sale I get great joy out of knowing someone likes my work. Even more joy when I see its a returning customer, or I see something I've made when I go out into the real world.

Plus I have fun sitting around my friends and hearing my phone go "Chaching!" whenever I make a sale. Make's the deadness in their eyes look even more lifeless as I get paid while playing video games.

Oh yeah, bills and debt are a great motivator.

[yaBeh8ater]

im completely opposite. i find it very very difficult to stay motivated. last 12 years of my life i have done pratically nothing.

[aking]

Originally Posted by zenohki

Sounds like your in the wrong business if you can't stay motivated. That was my whole reason for going self employed, there was no motivation to work my arse off for someone else. (Especially when they were idiots, and I'm not even joking)

For me, all my products is things I've made. So when I see a sale I get great joy out of knowing someone likes my work. Even more joy when I see its a returning customer, or I see something I've made when I go out into the real world.

Plus I have fun sitting around my friends and hearing my phone go "Chaching!" whenever I make a sale. Make's the deadness in their eyes look even more lifeless as I get paid while playing video games.

Oh yeah, bills and debt are a great motivator.

Unfortunately I'm still working my ass off for someone else bc I need the health benefits. I don't think I can support a family of 4 and pay benefits out of pocket with eBay profits. eBay is too unpredictable month to month. Especially when you have items that were selling off the shelf last month and all of a sudden I can't sell one to save my life this month. Not to mention buyers who buy your item then a week later want to return a $300 item. Makes absolutely no sense.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by aking

Unfortunately I'm still working my ass off for someone else bc I need the health benefits. I don't think I can support a family of 4 and pay benefits out of pocket with eBay profits. eBay is too unpredictable month to month. Especially when you have items that were selling off the shelf last month and all of a sudden I can't sell one to save my life this month. Not to mention buyers who buy your item then a week later want to return a $300 item. Makes absolutely no sense.

Are you selling on Amazon yet, amazing profits to be made on that market.

[yotano211]

Originally Posted by yaBeh8ater

im completely opposite. i find it very very difficult to stay motivated. last 12 years of my life i have done pratically nothing.

You need a better life.

[empirestate]

Originally Posted by yaBeh8ater

im completely opposite. i find it very very difficult to stay motivated. last 12 years of my life i have done pratically nothing.

If money doesn't motivate you, you might as well be dead.

[zenohki]

Originally Posted by aking

Unfortunately I'm still working my ass off for someone else bc I need the health benefits. I don't think I can support a family of 4 and pay benefits out of pocket with eBay profits. eBay is too unpredictable month to month. Especially when you have items that were selling off the shelf last month and all of a sudden I can't sell one to save my life this month. Not to mention buyers who buy your item then a week later want to return a $300 item. Makes absolutely no sense.

I can understand that with you being in America, health benefits are not something we even need to consider with employment here.

It might be worth you looking into the six figure boss, with the right idea or ideas you can make it worth going self employed

[rsot]

Crepe Erase Reviews - Is it a Scam or Legit?

[dan_ebay]

only the money that motivates me. I literally hate selling on ebay/amazon and even my website. Literally makes my blood boil when someone tries to scam me.
I just think of the money, was absolutely skint at 23-24 living at my mums now I'm 26 with a huge farmhouse and my mum working for me lul

[rsot]

Solid approach dan

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

only the money that motivates me. I literally hate selling on ebay/amazon and even my website. Literally makes my blood boil when someone tries to scam me.lul

I hear you the scam bit.

Have to believe in Karma.

[aspkin]

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

only the money that motivates me. I literally hate selling on ebay/amazon and even my website. Literally makes my blood boil when someone tries to scam me.
I just think of the money, was absolutely skint at 23-24 living at my mums now I'm 26 with a huge farmhouse and my mum working for me lul

It's like anything that was once fun and just a hobby of yours.. once you start making it your job.. it will start bothering you more and more until you strongly dislike it.

The solution is to take yourself out of the picture as much as possible.. instead of having a job, try to automate things instead (as much as possible.)

Automation will help give you more free time to do more productive or fun activities.

What you can't automate, try to outsource.

What you can't automate or outsource.. eliminate.

You want to focus on building a machine that runs the business..

At least that's how I try to do things.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Good advice....reminds me of the Four Hour Workweek. Hell of a book!

[aspkin]

Ha! It's probably my favorite book.



It changed how I did business online.

And whenever I need new ideas I can pick it up and within a few minutes of reading.. the ideas just flood in..

I strongly recommend.

[orient]

My competitors make me motivated when i start losing wish of working hard.Seeing they make good money and selling more than me gives me an ambition and makes me stronger so i take a step to do something better than them to be one step ahead of them.Competitors always good to have to sharpen your trading skills.

[UKGiftWarranty]

Fantastic thread! I've worked soley online more than 10 years now and I've always been vunerable to the ebbs & flows of motivation, dependant on personal pressures and levels of success online at any given moment. I wish I had more to add to this thread but for now, at least, I'm just gunna try and steal some of your suggestions!

[aspkin]

As cliche as it sounds, exercising first thing in the morning really keeps me focused and motivated for the day. Exercising 45 minutes to an hour a day, bringing the heart rate up and gets you sweating a bit.

Also chasing Pokemon while I jog around the neighborhood is a good relaxer.. Lol.

http://www.instagram.com/p/BIEMT1GD0jd/

[rsot]

Aspkin your goal is to have a pokemon named after you...

[Haidukken]

Originally Posted by aspkin

As cliche as it sounds, exercising first thing in the morning really keeps me focused and motivated for the day. Exercising 45 minutes to an hour a day, bringing the heart rate up and gets you sweating a bit.

Also chasing Pokemon while I jog around the neighborhood is a good relaxer.. Lol.

http://www.instagram.com/p/BIEMT1GD0jd/

I don't know if I should laugh or cry, Bigboss.

But I agree with the exercising part- I wake up and make myself a cup of tea, sit in my garden for a minute and "wake up" and once I've drank my tea I spend about 20 minutes just stretching and doing some ****ty version of Yoga- I've never done yoga, but I'd like to think that my stretching is similar to it!

Just to get the body moving, you know, just to crack some joints and get the body moving. Few kettlebell swings just to loosen up and perhaps a bit of a jumprope IF I'm awake enough. Most days I'm not.


People drink coffee, tea and redbull to "wake up" and get going, but never focus on the physical side of how they feel- Body itself needs to be feeling good also, its super important.


Oh, once all of that is done I usually have a seriously cold shower and hate myself for it. I do a bit of breathing excercises and then I'm ready to take on the world.
**** Rocky, I've got that ancient samurai mindset going.

[Haidukken]

Also, one of the cool things I did this summer myself was change my selling category.

The category that I sell in, I'm pretty good at- I have suppliers, I make steady money and I keep it ticking over without major problems.
After a while, it gets kind of boring- There is not that much excitement involved anymore and it felt like a real job.... I hate real jobs.

SO, what I decided was to find myself a hobby that I can profit from and so I decided to sell on Etsy.
Handmade goods, everything made from scratch and all original ideas.
Totally different from my eBay selling ways, as I make everything myself and its totally different market and a product.

Instead of trying to find suppliers who sell me something for THE lowest, I now need suppliers who can provide me with BEST raw materials.

Instead of trying to compete with competition prices, I now need to create my own pricing system.

Instead of trying to process(Clean, check for condition, take photo, create listing) 20-60 unique items a day to get everything up ASAP, I now focus on ONE item at a time and make sure that I represent myself as well as I can.

Instead of having "those Monday mornings" after weekend sales, where I need to send invoices and pack/ship 80 items, I now pack couple of things from weekend sales and write personal note to each buyer on a "thank you" card.


I still have my eBay business ticking over nicely, it hasn't gone anywhere but starting Etsy has really given me something different to work on and what started off just as a hobby, is not generating me profit and whats most important: It doesn't feel like a job. It feels more personal, more rewarding and because I do it all myself I feel that I can take my "brand" further than I would be able in eBay- The ceiling is a lot higher when I do something myself, rather than just re-sell on eBay like many others.

For me it wasn't about money, it was about change and somehow I'm now making quite a bit of money doing it as well!
Change is always good, change brings new ideas. If you put yourself in new situations as a person, you can only grow- Keep pushing yourself and set yourself up to fail, only to learn how to come out of these situations and learn as you go along. Don't be afraid to try something new- New is scary because its the unknown.

[tattedupmike]

i don't get why everyone is saying money shouldn't be a motivator. when my sons mom left me it was because my business at the time wasn't making **** and she was making 50k a year at her job and he mom would tell her daily that i wasn't good enough for her. well she got married to a coworker so i made myself a goal of making more money than both of them combined. 2nd year of online sales and i pretty much did it between ebay sales and private sales on paypal. made me feel good. plus taking my current girlfriend and her daughters to Disneyland 2 times within a year was very rewarding. might sound shallow but to me money is the only motivator, but then again i make my own products and i am pretty selfless with my income. as long as my woman and her girls are taken care of i am happy. we are expecting a baby boy in December and ive been banned from paypal for 2 weeks now with no income and 3k locked up for 6 months.