It was an interesting first week. Honestly, if I look back to last week when we kicked off the project, I didn't have any short-term expectations (or plan!). My mind was focused on the big picture of starting the journey to find great ways to independently make money; to find some value to provide.

The site went live, and friends and family posted and shared and tweeted and liked and congratulated me on a "great idea". My phone was lighting up with votes of confidence, suggestions, and all around support. I heard from friends I hadn't talked to in years, reaching out to share in my excitement and offer help. It was awesome, I was confident, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I reached this goal and beyond. I had committed, it was destiny at this point. 

Feelings can be distracting... discouraging... misleading. Once I could shake them off just enough to focus a little, I reminded myself of how and why I started the project. This project isn't about executing a plan that already works, that's already a proven success... Lots of people are already doing that. It's about exploring and developing new ideas that might work. Trying them out. Seeing what sticks, what I enjoy, what I can do well. By design, it's going to be tough to work it.

Not only that, but knowing that these "feelings", this fear, is the reason that many people quit (or worse, don't start), I framed this project to limit the pressure on myself. I didn't quit my job, I'm still working a full time career, my family is provided for and my bills are current. I didn't cash out my retirement or take a loan against my house, and the $250 I've risked amounts to few times through a restaurant.  I'm doing much of this with my wonderful and supportive family, doing things I enjoy doing and spending time with the ones I love. 

Because of the way I've started, I can focus. I've removed most of the risk, which limits the pressure and the fear. It limits the "feelings", at least the distracting ones, the discouraging ones, the misleading ones. 

It's going to be a long road, and it took only a number of hours to remind myself of what I knew starting the project: That it's not all going to work perfectly every time. It's going to take work. It's going to take time. It might even take some failures, and maybe some feelings...

But that's ok, I'm still going to crush it, one week at a time.
​

During the first week, I launched the project and the website (something I've never done, still a learning process). I went to two auctions for re-sellables, one fun one with family and friends, and one liquidation auction selling returned/overstock merchandise. The first one was a great time but didn't fit the mold of what I was looking for, meaning I need to a) keep looking and b) look at my "mold" to see if it can be expanded to include more opportunities. The second was a bust, things were too expensive to allow big margins like I need right now. 

This week, I've done some research in the liquidation products form the second auction to try and learn that "system", and I'm starting to piece that together. I may have a longer post on that in the future, something to watch maybe. 

Coming up, there are a couple more auctions I'm checking out, as well as investigating a couple more "small" ideas to get started. I'm still firmly in small/quick cash stage, but it's nice to feel even the smallest traction, I don't think I'll be stuck in this phase too long!

Stay tuned, I'm in for the long haul, and this is going to be awesome. ​

So, in th beginning of my journey, I'm thinking I need to start small. $250 isn't much to play around with, so how can I increase that a few hundred, or even grow it to a couple thousand?

Naturally, I look to my past experiences and "what I know", and something I've always enjoyed doing is shopping for great deals at local auctions, looking for tools/furniture etc. In fact, a couple weeks ago we were at an auction with TONS of good items, not a big crowd, and I just sat there shaking my head at the grossly low prices things were going for. Low enough I could buy and re-sell items, even at a great deal to whomever bought them from me.

As a guy trying to turn $250 into a couple thousand to get things moving, I figure I'd go buy some of those things and flip them closer to their real value for some quick and easy dollars. Plus, we had some friends from Indiana in town and one set of parents already wanting to go, so it would be fun as well as profitable.

It was a bit ominous pulling up, the crowd was noticeably bigger, clearly with dealers similarly shopping for re-sellables. The stock of tools, one of the things I'm a little more familiar with, was pretty limited on power tools and other medium-dollar items, and had hundreds of wrenches and other hand tools. The furniture was pretty limited and not especially re-finishable. Long-story-short, it wasn't nearly the low hanging fruit I saw a couple weeks ago, and while there might have been some buys good enough to have a margin, it wasn't on things I was very familiar with.

My haul was a paltry lot of two tools, a power stapler and a small sander. Total investment was low at $7.50, and it looks like it might be about $25-35 total value on ebay. Nothing devastating, but I was hoping for larger margins and about 20-40 similar items. Oh well, the family had a great time and bought a few things for the house, so the time was well spent. I'll list the things on ebay and craigslist and hopefully move them.

I still think these auctions can be a good source of some easy dollars (at least at small volume/$$ amounts), so I'll keep looking for another home run sale. What I did notice, though, is that even though it was mostly a bust for the project, we had fun and spent some good family time... pretty solid day!