I have worked at the public library in my town for nearly 16 years, starting in the Circulation department, then working in the Administration office while I was getting my graduate degree, and eventually becoming an actual Librarian. I worked in libraries in high school and college too, so it’s kinda in my blood. I enjoy it. But after my oldest son was born I moved from full to half-time, and after a couple months dropped down to a sub status. I will always feel lucky that I had that option, and appreciate that I was a mostly-SAHM while my boys were young. I started dabbling with eBay shortly after my second son was born (6ish years ago?) and for a long time I thought of eBay as a hobby or a “fun job”. And it was, and still is. But over the last couple years (as my boys are in school more and my time has become more my own) things have started to shift, and I have taken it more and more seriously.
A couple weeks before we went on our Disneyland vacation I found out that one of my coworkers at the library was retiring. I was asked if I could work more hours through the end of the school year. The good news is they are totally working around my schedule, so all of the extra hours worked have been when my boys are in school. Which is great! And … not great. Great, because I am able to help out my coworkers (they definitely need the extra help), and the extra money in my paycheck is nice too. But not great, because the majority of shipping and photographing and listing hours are now being used in other ways.
I like working at the library, but I have come to realize that the more I do it, the less I enjoy it. When I am just subbing and working a couple 4 hour shifts each week it is a fun time to engage my brain and get out of the house. But now that I am working four or five days a week I am really, really, REALLY missing the fun and flexibility of eBay. Having ownership of my own time is HUGE. So, if nothing else, working all of these hours is a stark reminder to appreciate the things I love about eBay. And they greatly outweigh any of the drawbacks or annoyances that come with it. How lucky are we to live in a time to have opportunities like this outside of the mainstream to make an income. So lucky!
So for the next few weeks I probably won’t be hitting my listing goals, which means I probably won’t be hitting my sales goals either. And in this situation, that’s just the reality of the time I have, and I’m (mostly) okay with it. But it is also motivating me to set some big goals for the summer, and gear up for the fall and holiday seasons.
Did you set some eBay goals for this year? I would love to hear how they are going!
