Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:13:21 -0400
Reply-To: Roger Sisler <rogersisler2000@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Sisler <rogersisler2000@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Friday- Time off (NVC)
Very nice. Measure twice,cut once on the wood. Good advice.
On the other hand, my Vanagon has taken me to a place where I had never
been before.Selling stuff. Never sold more than an occasional used car I
was getting rid of.I never knew how much I liked selling.I thought that
was for capitolist overachievers or similiar such.Got to help the kids get
estabilisted, and feed the dog.I can let my personal needs slide. I have
enjoy helping people, and bringing them the parts they need.
It is very rewarding and interesting.I see the Vanagon world
differently.My world ,too.I think the Vanagon list represents about 4 or 5
percent of total Vanagon owners in north america.(My estimate). I begin
by acquiring a part to sell. In the end ,I sell it(hopefully).I do
everything in between, all myself.I fix it( I ditch lots of bad stuff that
looked good at the junkyard), or paint it.I photograph it,I wrap it up,I
write a sales ad,I market it, I list it,I answer many questions.I deflect
or refer customers(sometimes to bonified venders) I go to the post
office .Blah blah blah. Many times I get very uninterested in going off to
the junkyard and crawling under wrecked cars.Sometimes I get writers block
and cannot ,for the life of me,write a good sales ad.Sometimes getting the
spray gun out and painting seems so difficult.Why bother at all? Ect ect
ect.
Interesting here,is that if I am in a doldrumitic rut for spary painting,
I may be in a good spot for writing,and I concentrate on that-till I
runout of stuff to write.I am happy. Same thing for all other areas of the
operation I need to maintain.When one area goes south,concentrate on
another. Sometimes I am in a rut for all the areas of this operation
(small as it is).That is bad.When that happens. I need to shake things
up.I cant do this by going on vacation ,everytime. Have to pay those steep
ebay listing and sales commissions.I usually make a general drastic
change of somekind and this loosens up the rutted muck. The rest seems to
work itself out for me, that painting and gathering up new parts and such
is not such a chore, anymore-for awhile. I consider making money as
secondary,and many times I loose money.I dont care that much. I say treat
people as you would want to be treated,and profits will happen.They
usually do.
Modern work place job discriptions can be so narrow so as to not let one
very their daily routine enough.Only working on a car day ofter day can
get to anyone. Same with account managment of anykind,ect.Just dont want
to face it.
On ebay in particular,I like the "wild west" athomsphere Ebay has created
by abandoning their sellers to one another. You can see how litle Ebay
moniters the goings on by looking at my ebay store.I am selling a product
that dosent even exist(a no-no).Done it for 8 or 9 months. I list stuff I
am not selling (technically).
On the other hand, I am constantly trying to avoid or determin who the bad
guys are.LOTS OF FUN!! ALWAYS !! This part never seems to get dull and I
dont have problems turning the computer on in the morning. Maybe I will
have 15 new negative feed backs I have to deal with tomorrow moring.Each
one reflecting me,in total.I mean that it is I, and I alone who takes a
part from the junkyard , and eventually to the buyer.I cannot pass
anything off as the doing of another employee. I have to say that this is
my favorite part of the whole shabang.This is the part my Vanagon has
brought me .A place I would have never have voluntarily gone. Sometimes I
win and sometimes I loose. Same coin,just a different day.
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