Entrepreneur Jason Fried is co-founder of 37signals, a successful Chicago-based software and design firm that has doubled its sales every year for the past decade. Although Fried has a degree in finance, making money isn't a skill he picked up in the classroom or a book. Practice makes perfect, and Fried's experience has taught him that excelling at making money is separate from the product or services provided. Understanding the buyer and experimenting with price models are two of Fried's key lessons—and here's a quick way you can practice his advice:
"So here's a great way to practice making money: Buy and sell the same thing over and over on Craigslist or eBay. Seriously.
Go buy something on Craigslist or eBay. Find something that's a bit of a commodity, so you know there's always plenty of supply and demand. An iPod is a good test. Buy it, and then immediately resell it. Then buy it again. Each time, try selling it for more than you paid for it. See how far you can push it. See how much profit you can make off 10 transactions.
Start tweaking the headline. Then start fiddling with the product description. Vary the photographs. Take some pictures of the thing for sale; use other photos with other items, or people, in them. Shoot really high-quality shots, and also post crappy ones from your cell-phone camera. Try every variation you can think of.
I love doing this, because there's no real risk involved. If you already have a business, you don't need to dream up a new product line or rock the boat with crazy experiments. If you don't have a business, it's a perfect way to work on your chops."
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SOURCE Inc.com VIA Kottke
4 Comments
love the idea. no comments i see. i guess everyone is now on craigslist and ebay preforming a task such as this.
I don't really understand why/ how this works... Would someone be Awesome and explain it to me please? sorry i'm not the most brainy guy xD
It's just an excersize for you to do to learn by example how to read your customer's likes/dis-likes and the methods you use to market whatever you're selling. If you're serious about it, and you keep your smarts about you, you can even observe when it's best to sell and to buy.
Kinda lame, but I play World of Warcraft where there is an Auctioning system. Players can auction items that they obtain when playing for WoW's currency. Not a very accurate example, but I've taken a particular interests in the auctions, and have learned when to buy materials and items, and when to sell them again on the auction for profit.
Kinda the same thing here. After a while, you'll learn when it is the best time to buy something at it's lowest cost, and when to sell it for maximum profit. It may be only a difference of a few dollars profit, but not only is it a monetary profit, it is also an great way to gain this type of knowledge.
it's a lot of useless words...I'm on ebay from 7 years, it's not easy earn money believe me,competition is high,and there are far more aggressive buyers of a fool who buys a single object like you! Also need to keep in mind the shipping costs and sales commissions ...Perhaps to make money you must trade a lot of pieces, extracting small gains in order to be competitive and sell more, gaining credibility and visibility ....It is not easy, remember! Observe the sales is crucial to understand who sells so much and how! Can not be improvised on the market!
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