On the serious side.....

     I know it's been awhile, things have been rather crazy around here lately.. but I wanted to take a moment to send out thoughts of comfort and caring to those directly affected by the recent bought of horrible tornadoes and storms. The areas that have been flooded and that are still being flooded throughout the Midwest AND to the Joplin community and surrounding areas.
     I have seen many posts with different takes on "why" this happened and who or what to blame or thank and I just wanted to say that I think it is important that we focus on the PEOPLE and FAMILIES that have been affected and forget the politically correct and incorrect. In my opinion this is not really the time or place to argue, sermonize or criticize.. those people need our help and kindness and whatever else we can give; they have all suffered devastating losses and terror beyond belief. Let's show some compassion and save the debates for later.

Overwhelmed is putting it lightly

     So.... I recently looked at all of my "stuff" that SHOULD be in my store.... and then I decided to sit down and take a break, lol. Just looking at all of the things I have that need to be listed exhausted me! To top that off my "other half"  (he likes to think better half- HA HA!)  keeps enticing me with announcements in the paper about upcoming auctions (which I LOVE to go to and where I often find some great treasures) remember that blog entry about the definition of "stuff" ? See- enabler- yep that's my husband!

     Just think if what I have now exhausts me- I'm going to be completely destroyed if he gets me to an auction.....lmao! 

     So I guess it all boils down to self control- wow I'm in trouble because I have none...... sigh. 

Oh well- see ya on the flip side! In the meantime you can check out what I have actually managed to list in my booth at:  

www.Bonanza.com/Breezers

Weather and Sales... are they related?

     So if you didn't already know- weather directly affects the mood, attitude, temper and even health of people, and so far the last couple of weeks have been a real bummer."Spring, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!"        I know I'm not the only one wondering.

     Between the Midwest storms (which are KINDA springish) and  the SNOW several areas have experienced lately- Spring seems to be playing peek-a-boo in an unusually coy  fashion this year.

     How does this affect online buying and selling?  Well for some people it may be no change and for some   people it may signal a drop in sales. I have been keeping an eye on the trends of sales in my booth and the "possible" connection of the weather and I gotta tell you it may be a fluke but it seems to me that when the weather is beautiful, in a large area of the US, my sales are GREAT but as soon as the weather starts going a little haywire WATCH OUT- my sales dwindle to virtually nothing. .... now this could surely be a coincidence BUT, I know when the weather is gloomy or miserable I have absolutely no desire to even look at items to buy. Granted I'm a bit er ......unique (crazy anyone? lol)

     Surely there is some connection- I mean when people feel good and cheery (and research has shown that good weather can often create good moods) they want to do something-unfortunately,  this can affect sales negatively too because our potential buyers (especially in the summertime) want to get out of the house (ie. offline) and go go go ; OR it can inspire them to get that extra special something they have been wanting but have hesitated to buy.
     Then again when the weather is gloomy, overcast, rainy or just plain nasty- it can go two ways as well... you have the buyer that likes to shop to cheer themselves up (what better way to avoid going out in that awful weather than to go to a www.   store?) or you have the type of people (me included) who find themselves mulling over bills and other gloom and doom topics (or just wanna stay in bed for the day, lol) rather than deal with anything constructive.

     I guess it really doesn't matter in the end, shoppers will shop when they want to and hold onto their money when they don't- except that if you REALLY think weather affects your sells- I suggest you capitalize on it. List a lot during bad weather- list items that are cheerful or have some kind of sentimentality toward youth and promise. List summer items , colorful items, funny items and even silly items. In fact, think about things that make people smile or laugh and "save them for a rainy day" .

     Nothing inspires me like a good laugh (or else I would be flat out looney--um... forget I said that) in fact sometimes the most heart warming, energizing thing in the world can be the knowledge that you have made someone else laugh or smile............ and maybe they will be inspired to buy, as well.

Until next time (don't hold your breath-your face will turn blue)

Catch my "stuff" at my Bonanza booth at:

www.Bonanza.com/Breezers

And don't forget to bring the umbrella, or snow boots or whatever................

Ahh the Perils of opening multiple booths....

Okay, so I have had second booth on Bonanza for a pretty good while- BUT I have never done anything with it. Frankly one booth keeps me pretty darn busy, BUT when I started adding all of the new "stuff" it seemed to me that I needed another booth to kind of separate some of my categories

 (silly me- what on earth was I thinking?!?) 

Anyway, I created another booth and then it just ..... sat there.... every once in a while I would look at it gloomily and it grinned back, as if to say "MWAHAHAHA you are L A Z Y....." Then I would go away for awhile and return to again look gloomily at that second empty booth and it would say  "I am still empty and you are still L A Z Y"   (kind of like that credit reporting commercial- but I can't change the word L A Z Y because my name isn't S T A N  lol!!)

So, finally late (LATE) last night I started working on it and suddenly.. I knew I was in trouble! I mean it's bad enough when I talk to myself constantly, yes I answer myself and often I argue with myself  BUT until last night I have never really.......lost myself.

Hmmmm you may be saying "what?!?!You? the crazy Breezers. have never lost yourself before- I do NOT believe it!" I nod embarrassingly- it's true I have never lost myself or for that matter confused myself with myself- but last night I sure did!

You see, there are several items I have in my original booth that I wanted to move over to the new booth (at this point I KNOW that there are other Bonanza users who are nodding because, surely, they know where I am going with this) So I had two separate browsers up so that I could cut and paste from one booth to the other and so forth and SUDDENLY.. I wasn't sure who I was anymore. 

Seriously, you  may think this is just another manifestation of my lunacy- but truly- I couldn't figure out which one of me was which! In fact I posted in the forums thinking I was one me and then after I hit the enter button- realized it was the other me! Of course it doesn't help that I use the same profile pic for both booths (THAT will be changing soon after last night)

In any case- after much arguing with myself on the thread and cracking up other Bonanza users (who by the way only reveled in my confusion  lol@TT, Sofy and Antiques!!)  I decided I needed to go to bed and tackle my identity crisis another day. 

By the way did I mention I was doing all of this late late at night whilst my husband lay snoring in the bed next to my desk? 

It is very hard to be quiet when you laugh so hard, you blow ice water out of your nose.... and it kind of hurts too...........

In any case- I am working on keeping me straight so that I can at some point.....eventually... in the near future....maybe... open that darned booth!

:)

Until then you can check out my "stuff" at

www.Bonanza.com/Breezers

Monday.. seriously I do NOT like you!!

Today is Monday, and in all of it's monotonous, gloomy glory- I simply can't seem to get up the courage to meet it head on. I know, I know, Monday is the beginning of a bright new week- or it's okay the "sun will come out tomorrow"

Hey Annie, sit down and be quiet! (lol, sorry  it's the cranky in me)

:sigh: Well I have to admit, if you already haven't guessed- the motivation monster has not caught me yet today and I have tons to do- around the house and in my booth. I know I'm not alone, come on let's hear it... 

"Hi I'm.... and I'm a cranky Monday person"  (scattered applause) 

I guess I just have to do like my friend John always says and "put my big girl pants on and get over it!"

If ANYONE brings up Barney they are in HUGE trouble- that purple dinosaur is the bane of humanity's existence!

(runs to the lab and gets her dose of "Dr Jekyll juice")

Ahhhhhh, there we go.. hello friends and neighbors- let's change our tennis shoes, put on a new sweater and get down to business today ... hehehehe

Yes I know- this post is completely eclectic today but hey it's MONDAY... so get busy because you have a whole week before the weekend and somehow we have to get something accomplished-- besides I need a partner in crime LMAO!

Toodles :O)

It's not you, it's me.... or is it??

I know many on Bonanza repeatedly talk about lack of sales or buyers, and on some days I'm inclined to agree wholeheartedly that things are not progressing the way I would like with regards to sales. While I have some pretty specific feelings about how and where we need to go in order to get more traffic, I also recognize that in some ways, I have fallen short of my own expectations. Let's be honest, I don't advertise and promote myself as much as I used to, I don't regulate my time as well as I should and I definitely don't keep to a dedicated schedule. No, though I do spend a lot of hours of everyday on my booth, listing and reading forums and sometimes even tweeting - the more I think about it the more I realize I don't use all of the tools I already have at my disposal as well as I could, so ultimately a large part of my own problem- is me. 

Now this is not to say that everyone is their own problem when it comes to lack of sales- by no means do I believe that; but what I do believe is that those that seem the most successful on Bonanza do some serious advertising and self promotion. Then there are some that do all the typical types of promotion and still say they have no sales- that leads me to wonder, if Bonanza jumped in and advertised for them would that really bring them more sales? Is it the lack of promotion- self or otherwise? Is it the economy? This would seem to be a definite factor. Is it the items that are listed in the booth? After all , many are niche sellers and some have items not everyone would buy. Is it the pricing or even shipping policies and costs? And let's not forget the all important search engine optimization, traits and attributes (yeah I know I always groan in despair when I have to mess with these over and over) Yes, we have all heard how the "other" place advertised for us (I was once a Sith apprentice too) but when did you really feel your store or even your general old seller account was truly YOURS over there? I never felt ownership of my own account- I tried but every time I wanted to do something different or even something that would clearly have benefited me- the "Dark Side" jumped in and made things even more complicated and harder for sellers and easier for the "evil galactic empire". I laugh now but I definitely wasn't laughing then!

I guess my point is, while advertising is very important and advertising by Bonanza itself would be great- it is by no means the end all and be all of making your booth (or business) successful- when it comes down to it- it's YOUR booth and YOUR business- so do everything you possibly can and then some to make it successful- count on yourself because you are the only one that can truly control your online selling "destiny". 

Click follow for my next post- hopefully a more humorous one lol, and check out my booth on Bonanza at

www.Bonanza.com/Breezers

The definition of "stuff"

When it comes to four letter words one should not repeat- in our house 

"stuff" 

is one of them.

This word has  become the bane of my husband's existence- as he generically categorizes everything I have for sell, everything I hand craft or yes even those catch all items that tend to gather among the shelves as "stuff"

It's not "merchandise" to him- it's simply "stuff"

as in "Honey, did you sell any of your stuff today?"

or

"Hey when are we gonna get rid of some of this stuff?"

Yet despite all of his woeful and verbose opinionings on the evils of "stuff" he still takes me to auctions and shows, and once in a blue moon, if I bat my eyes just right, he still signs the checks for payment when I am just "a little short" on cash to get this or that  :)

Then once we get home and he starts unloading the car it decidely becomes "stuff" again
 as in

"why in the world did you get all of this stuff"

"We don't need this stuff"

and the ever popular

"we have enough stuff, you don't need to get anymore stuff"

and the not to be forgotten

"from now on, no more stuff until you sell the stuff you already have"

Then he reads the Sunday paper and says "Hey,  there's an auction at ..... wanna go ?"

hmmmm maybe he's is an enabler and doesn't know it? LOL

So while the other members of your household may go on and on about all  the "stuff" you have, deep down (and in my husband's case deep deep DEEP down) they know that all that stuff has a purpose somewhere and they are just giving you, well- "stuff" about it!

Check out my store full of "stuff" at

www.bonanza.com/Breezers

You never know what you might find and if you decide to buy, well my husband sincerely thanks you!

:O)