SecondMoonshot

  https://www.facebook.com/SecondMoonshot I find Facebook to be counterintuitive most of the time, but muscle memory is kicking in and getting the hang of it via repetition. Even have my first follower! John

Some minor upgrades to warehouse (storage unit) courtesy of One Man’s Treasure (OMT).  Cool vintage toolbox for my framing tools.  Nice Modelo wall decor. Need to find a mini fridge next I guess. Tape moistener not from OMT, but from Amazon (cheapest one they had, not cheap), so I can use the branded moisten and stick reinforced tape that my VP of Branding and Marketing got. That’s water, not Vodka (any more)…Burnett’s rules.  Got these little stackable metal shelves for simple storage. Got the table for $1 and with some reinforcement underneath and hardboard covering, will do nicely and like the added height over the folding table. Some recent overall pictures: I go through a lot of bubble wrap. Each shelving unit gets a letter assigned and combined with shelf number, becomes the location I store at the end of the item description, I.e. “C3”. Notice everything is lightly wrapped to prevent damaged costs a little more, but worth it to me. I don’t have WiFi at the unit, but the HP direc

When I started this whole endeavor, I tried to apply simple math in the projections. If I was selling $3000/month with 1000 listings, that if I double my listings to 2000 with quality products, then my sales would double to $6000 (fake numbers, but you get the point). My flaw I have realized is (I think) that the good quality items will normally sell faster given a competitive price and the weaker items will hang around for longer (often much longer) and will slowly trickle through sales.  So, even through I have double my listings, the good items are selling faster I am only seeing small % increments in sales as a result. This makes me things that I will soon if not already, be the bottle neck based on how much I can acquire and list quality desirable items. I knew that this would come eventually, but now I am thinking that I am going to hit this wall sooner than later.  I need to think about this a more and revise my projections and strategy. John

I decided to just dispense of the handling charge for everything from books, posters, and pictures. EVERYTHING. Even insurance when needed (at my sole discretion since I alone carry the risk) is included.  Maybe one day I will go for free shipping, but not any day soon.  John

About half of the artwork and framed pieces are in climate controlled storage and half is hanging in my office and in spare bedroom. The other works in storage are bagged and sealed with silica gel packs. No real rhyme or reason what goes where and driven by what fits in a spot on the wall and my desire at any given time to hammer a nail. All signed books stay in the same two rooms but non-signed books (a few exceptions, mostly some leather books) stay in the attic right now; moisture and sunlight isn’t an issue but keeping an eye on them for a future move.    John

I am always looking for new opportunities for sourcing and revenue, here are my primary directions:  Present: eBay and Sourcing: Less known in-person auctions where the bidders don’t congregate in such huge masses and drive the prices up. I have found one in a small rural town outside Raleigh 30 minutes where people are nice, prices usually fair or better; I continue to seek out more. eBay and Sourcing: Estate sales are still a big staple but I am getting pickier on which ones I attend and continue to build relationships with a few key ones. They aren’t as fun as auctions, well…maybe a few, but finding in-person auctions fun….and at the end of the day, I am in this to do something I enjoy.  eBay and Sourcing: Thrift stores. Me and Z will still hit a thrift store if we pass one that we haven’t been to before. As our experience builds month over month we are able to find things we might not have picked up on in earlier days.  Consignments within my social network and customer requests. E

What a day. We got snow last night and was scheduled to move to the new 400sq ft climate controlled storage unit. We stuck with the plan and moved about half of the unit and will maybe finish tomorrow.  Size is good and love all the space. Spent about $500 on 8 more shelving units. Zabrina threw in some plants behind my back, I’ll talk to her later. Did a healthy dose of insecticide spray as well and will continue to do so monthly. Every item is wrapped in stretch wrap just in case, with the exception of some cast iron and china sets.   Every item gets the listing updated with a shelving unit and shelf location when brought to the warehouse…shelving units ge from A to Z and shelves from 1 to 5. So A5, etc. I just put it at end of the listing description.  Update: 1/23/22: Ok, the move is now complete. There was a lot of ice at the old unit and a slope so grateful I didn’t break any bones. Only damage was the knees of a resin Buddha, so removed that listing and Zabrina decided it would