WIN Meeting 7.26.06

2:10

 

Announcements:

Laura Bronson joined the meeting via telephone.

September’s Discover U eBay classes will be the last that Janelle will teach (www.discoveru.org) Kevin Boyd will teach Janelle’s eBay 101 and 102 classes later this year.

Check www.janelleelms.com/freeebaymeetings for meetings, outlines, information for all meetings. It is your responsibility to read the site and come prepared for the meetings.

www.janelleelms.com/eBay is your resource site for you to find all help related to eBay. (Editor’s note: this is an incredible site…take a moment to check it out!).

Member News: 

Laura gave an update on some homework Janelle gave her: 
She was to call 10 vendors and learn how to set up an account. This homework was to help Laura overcome her fear and kick her out of the nest. 

The homework went well. Laura spent time figuring out who she wanted to call: The Grape Co, Manta Ray, Fiskar, Dritz, Verilux. She actually started calling about 3 hours prior to the WIN meeting and found it only took about 2 seconds. It was very easy because she kept in the back of her mind that she wasn’t going to let vendors prevent her from her retirement plans and personal goals.

It’s easy to build up in our head the scenario we think is going to happen. Even men entrepreneurs struggle with cold calls. Laura’s next step is to find more vendors she wants to call as she waits for the account applications. She can also do eBay research to find out which products are selling well. Laura knows she wants to sell in the sewing category. WIN members suggested she ask if companies have a hidden wholesale catalog. Most do and can grant access after business and financial info is faxed over.

Janelle is going to draw names for each area. Whomever’s name is drawn will be responsible for running that section for a certain amount of time. All future meetings will be run this way.

New Women Introductions led by Diane:


Lisa Stephens from Somersault Media designs websites and eBay Stores. She is attending at Janelle’s invitation. She designed Carol, Debbie, Rebecca and Janelle’s stores. (www.janelleelms.com/smedia) 

Donna Clark, attended Janelle’s Discover U class. She opened a seller’s account on eBay.

Nicola Davidson came with Donna. She’s been a trading partner for her grandmother and wants to do that with other people. She wants play “big” in business.

Suzanne Harrison has been selling on eBay for 6 months. She just set up her store, Gregory Harrison’s eBay Store, and specializes in Children’s Clothing and girly products. She met Laura at eBay Live and knows Janelle.

Meeting Guidelines by Janelle:


To attend the meeting you’re required to turn in the Mastermind sheets. You’re responsible because all the info you need is available online. Please spend time on the Mastermind sheets so that when it is your turn for a Mastermind you will get all the focus on your business that you need to succeed.

Janelle is turning over portions of the meeting to other women to run so she can facilitate the meeting and allow others to participate more fully. If you want help, stop before you shoot an email off to Janelle. We all need to reach out to each other more and gain/offer support from each other.

Laura gave a great analogy about how this works. When Laura and her husband throw a party, it’s up to the people who attend to have fun at the party (i.e. it’s up to you to participate and get the most out of what’s offered).

Janelle loves this group and is very proud of all of them. However, between PowerSellers, WIN and eBay Success Group she spends 30 hours a month on preparing and running the groups. This is too much and she needs to change the meetings. Perhaps WIN will be a group with a membership fee. She is open to suggestions about how to change the meeting because she is struggling. Please email your thoughts to Janelle. She doesn’t want to lose the group and is open to suggestions about how to best organize, prepare and run the meetings. 

Quotes:


The first quotes on the handout have to do with listening. If you choose to not listen, that is your responsibility. All of you have the same opportunity to choose what you want to hear. The one who says nothing good came of this is not yet listening.

The second set of quotes has to do with responsibility. You make choices in your life. You could blame society, your parents, etc. Don’t blame other people for your situation. It’s not their fault, it has to do with you and your lack of boundaries. You can control what’s in your life. If you don’t like it, change it. You don’t have to be in the situation you’re in if you don’t like it. Work towards getting out of it.

Exercise:


Write down 3 header areas: your business, you, finances, and write a list of successes under each header. We tend to beat ourselves up for the things we didn’t get done as opposed to the things that you did get done. Take responsibility for your successes and give yourself credit for them!

WIN members found the “me” column the hardest to fill. If you don’t take care of yourself you can’t be successful in your business. Next month we’re going to pick something to be unstoppable about. Be able to fill out a whole sheet about how you’re going to take care of yourself. Learn how to be “good” selfish. 

  • Rebecca: returned to her art

  • Debbie: hired a Rebecca as her business consultant

  • Donna: gets massages 2x a month

  • Alice: listed 700 items in her store

  • Constance: lost 25 pounds and it working on her awesome business plan 

  • Debbie: paid off a large debt from when her business closed

  • Suzanne: made PowerSeller before eBay Live and gets up early before her children so she has quiet time to herself.

  • Deane: exercises every day and sticks to it

  • Annette: got over her fear of calling herself an entrepreneur and is now helping her friends

  • Harriet: started exercising again and feels a lot better

  • Mary Lou: took time to get physically organized, sorting through her records, and using Feng Shui for Dorm rooms to create a difference in her space. She’s hired someone to help her achieve the goals she sets

  • Nicola: purchased a laptop so she could get her work done and not use the desktop computer as an excuse to avoid sitting down and getting work done

  • Donna: is getting more sleep

  • Rina: worked out a plan to pay off her credit card debt
    Rina has homework to brag better about herself. She needs to bring a list with 20 items under each header to share with the group.

  • Grita: She used to write 3 pages in a daily journal and stopped. A few months ago she picked the habit back up because writing gives her clarity and puts her in touch with herself

  • Shirley: put in an expectation for her husband so he helps more around the house and with the children so she has time for herself

  • Lisa: attends a variety of social groups to help her not feel isolated and have more community in her life

  • Carol: spent too long being superwoman and not taking time for herself. About a year and a half ago, she joined a gym and now she works out with a personal trainer. She hates every minute but feels great when it stops. She’s taking time for herself and is almost brave enough to walk by herself outside without fear of falling. 

  • Laura: she and her husband are reading Rich Dad Poor Dad together and shifting their financial paradigm, making sure their money makes money for them. 
    Laura’s homework is to email her list to Janelle.

Retro Manners by Shirley:

  • Shirley is helping someone visiting the US from Japan who is going to school here. 

  • Lisa paid for 2 hours of parking and didn’t use it all so she passed off her parking pass to someone.

  • Deane was in Mexico and helped a lady with her groceries without speaking English.

  • A woman at Costco invited Mary Lou to cut in line in front of her because she had a few items.

  • Carol invited someone to go in front of her in line. The guy was so shocked he refused.

  • Constance found that one of her doctors was picked as 10 best physicians so she wrote a really nice note and offered her congratulations.

  • Alice opened her eBay blog this month and has tried to give tips to others learning how to post.

  • Rina gave the postman a cold bottle of water on a very hot day. (and in return he now delivers her mail to her door!)

Constance’s Mastermind by Rebecca:


This last month Constance fine tuned her processes and procedures and putting her product together. She’s very proud of her product and business. She says the still photography, the video and the booklet give clients valuable information. 
She just made the appointment with her first client to turn over the completed information packet. She purchased a small portable scanner so she can record important documents. 
She has four customers who want her service now. She’s learning a whole lot about insurance companies, too.

Rebecca’s Mastermind by Harriet:


Rebecca’s new business idea is not an eBay Store!
www.artonion.com is a visual web site for women artists to share information and find support. 

Rebecca developed the idea because women artists are looking for validation and value in what they are creating. Art Onion gives women permission to call themselves artists, place to be seen, membership, resources to build their business, links to services, ideas.


Art Union turned into Art Onion with the idea of peeling back the layers. The dream is to have 1 million women artists register on the site. They need to register with a title giving them ownership in who they are. Information is recorded in a private database and registrants receive a significant certificate giving them validation. Name, title, art, certificate will be automated. 


Most artists are creative but lack business skills. Rebecca’s working on a book to tell artists how to sell their artwork with all types of direction in getting legitimate business up and running with all the tools needed for the process and resources to keep them moving forward.


Rebecca would make money via affiliate marking and taking a commission off any artwork sold. She would like a profit of $5,000 per month to start. Her goal is to provide support and allow her husband to work from home and pay for her son’s college in 6 years.


Rebecca’s job will be marketing to art galleries and other related art institutions.

Newsletter? Who, how?
Affiliate programs, need to learn how they work
How will women be influenced to participate in the 2nd layer

Comments:


Send the first email and give registrants a chance to opt out.
Take a 15% commission
Free stores for women being offered on the net, she will send the web link
The name, Art Onion, fantastic, don’t change
Bellevue Arts & Crafts Fair: What is your # 1 challenge, what do you need help with, are you selling on the internet? Possibly developing name recognition, how do you do that? 
Hosting would be a profit center, eventually a job for her husband would be hosting and running that part.
Should she charge $5 per month? A nominal fee shows commitment, affordable
Template pages for them to fill out
Blogs are interesting, understanding what the artist is going through
Offering a gallery is essential
Keep it simple
Your job, marketing the art on the site, create exhibits
Newsletter: have women submit articles, Rebecca compile
How do you deal with people who are unhappy with art they purchase?
Promotion – first Thurs of every month in Seattle, also independent galleries
Rebecca sees this as global, not local
Quality, would this be juried? 
How do you determine what is legal and appropriate? 
Box to opt in for “selective” art
Feedback system for ranking artwork, possibly presented in a select format, could be a section for mature audience
Jury room or possibly a “Rebecca picks” section
Original purpose is to make this available to as many women as possible.
Different categories such as older novice, beginning section, children artists 
Concern over categorizing that it is in conflict with the original vision, discussion over having separate categories. As it gets bigger it needs to be categorized so different galleries/artwork can easily be found.
Women artists have been overlooked both dead and alive
Organize regionally like Craig’s list and build into national profile
Could see it morphing into an alternate eBay for artists
Big, powerful idea 
Using My Space is a good idea
Estby??? Competition??
Amazing to include music and dance – calling card for an artist that they don’t normally get. Music clip so folks can hear what they are about
This is about community, have a bulletin board to allow them to encourage each other would be powerful. Benefit, look for ways to use moderator to control the “griping” Look for a member in the community to serve as moderator.

She’s also a painter and is setting up a new eBay store: Rebecca Shapiro The Artist. She is working on paintings to get her art updated and posted. She will also have ACEO cards, miniature cards that can be originals or limited edition prints. Her first set of ACEO cards will be a series on teens with an eBay blog.

Pig and Panda moved to Infopia for better inventory management across a variety of internet stores, eBay, Yahoo etc.

Art is her main love and she feels she is coming home. She feels really good about how her triad has come together:
Pig and Panda: Arts & Crafts Store
Giving Back: www.artonion.com  
Rebecca Shapiro The Artist: eBay Store

Homework Step 1 by Donna:
Sign up at Cynthia Kersey’s website (www.unstoppable.net) and get her daily inspirational quotes. 

August Homework by Lisa:
Smart Women Finish Rich – Read Step 6, Mistake 6-10. If you are currently doing any of these, write down your actions steps to stop in your tracks and fix it. 

Read the Invitation & Part 1 of “Unstoppable Women – Achieve ANY Breakthrough Goal in 30 days” by Cynthia Kersey. Fill in/Do all of the exercises for that chapter. 

Women’s Business Mastermind – Take another look at Rebecca’s business plan/online business and recommend 5 things for her to consider in her business. Homework for next month is hard core. Start reading a couple pages every day and start now instead the day before. 
Mastermind for August: Diann
Mastermind for September: Debbie

Baby Shower by Grita:
Everyone enjoyed lovely munchies, cake and giving Annette beautiful baby gifts for the shower. We all can’t wait to welcome our newest and littlest WIN member!