2015 New Years Resolutions Reviewed / 2016 and beyond

Here we are again, making new years promises. We will review last years and make some new ones.
1) Write a blog entry once a week  – FAILED – I got caught up writing extremely lengthy entries that I never posted. I posted three entries. Wrote another seven that aren’t quite done.

2) List more items: goal eight items per day; four for Ebay, four for Etsy – Failed – If I had hit my goal, I would have listed 2,920 items. I roughly listed 600. It was a lofty goal, it would have been nice to hit.

3) Knowing when to say NO – Passed – I did pretty good about not taking on extra projects this year. I did re-visit an old art exhibit with a friend that turned out great. It did not require too much time to refresh / setup again.

4) Buy new camera –  Passed – I ended up purchased two cameras, the D40X and the D300S.
I got discouraged that I wasn’t going to find a D300S within my budget anytime soon, so I purchased a D40X very inexpensively off of craigslist. And with my luck, days later, I found a D300S on ebay. I pulled the trigger and got that as well.
I use the D40X as my day to day camera/listings, and the D300S for photography stuff.

5) Grow by business by 25% – Failed – Ebay took a nosedive this year. A lot of my peers complained about the same thing. Several policies put in place by Ebay this year, acted as a hindrance. Thankfully, they are dropping come February.

So overall: Completed only 2 out of 5. Not very good.

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2016 Resolutions

1. Write a blog entry once a week – I would like to try this again. I think it’s possible. Just have to get a bit more organized. The feedback I have received on my posted entries has been very positive. I have written several more entries that almost ready to go. I have a follow-up to my Syroco article, one about Levis jeans, another about Farberware, maybe one on the styles and cuts of Lee denim jackets.
2. List more items: goal eight items per day; four for Ebay, four for Etsy – Needs to happen. It’s not an unrealistic goal, its just a matter of discipline. I have enough stock. I just have to lock myself in the basement and emerge a month later once everything is listed.
3. Grow business by 25% – See above. Totally possible if I hit at least 75% of my above goal.
4. Use Evernote more effectively – I LOVE evernote. I use it everyday. I plan to make better use of their alarm features, to remind to revisit certain items.
5. Find new sourcing areas – A lot of our items are sourced from thrift stores and this one auction we visit. The thrift stores in our area are astronomically increasing their prices. I’ve heard fabled stories of thrifting in the south and buying items for pennies on the dollar. They would faint from sticker shock up here in the north.It is now forcing us to find new avenues of acquiring stock.
   We are working on a lead for a warehouse stocked with over 10,000 LPS. Also we are planning on visiting some more out of the way locations, more junk shops.
6. Flea markets – We are working on tabling / shopping at some flea markets in 2016. Most notably, Bouckville and Stormville.

That’s 2016 in a nutshell.

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