Sunday, February 28, 2016

How bundles changed my life (in a round about sort of way)


I've had a few people asking about where I learned about bundles and what bundles are. In April it will be a year since I sent in my first bundle. If you have been reading my blog for the past year, you will also be familiar with some of the things that have happened in the last year. If not, please read this, and this, and this.

Last year about this time is when my Hubby come home one day and announced he had quit his job (surprise!). I now know many of the contributing factors were caused by my husband's TBI (traumatic Brain Injury). But at the time I had no idea what was going on with him and I became really depressed. I had a hard time getting up enough energy to shower, change my clothes,  and eat and sleep was something that alluded me all but a 2-3 hours a day. The only way that I could sleep at all was to have the audio version of the bible or Christian Music playing thru headphones on my ipad. If it was quiet I couldn't keep my worrisome thoughts at bay and I couldn't sleep. 


My parents were very worried about me and there was really nothing I could find in my life to look forward to or enjoy like I did before. I was in counseling and had tried 3 different meds, but hadn't found anything that was helping.


Then one day my mom was over at my house.  I was telling her about this youtube video I had watched about a woman who was making bundles and selling them on Amazon. I told her that I would really like to have the money for my birthday (in April) so that I could buy the course. I thought bundles would be a great way to add items I could replenish to my Amazon inventory.  As she was leaving, she hugged me, whispered in my ear, "I believe in you" and pressed the money for the course into my hands. It took me about a week to watch all of the videos in the course, but it gave me something to look forward to each day, it made me feel more like my old self again, and I haven't looked back since!  The higher numbers in sales I have been showing you are in direct correlation to what I learned in this class. I have not even told Katharyne that I am writing this post and I have received no compensation, it it just truly the best course I have ever taken. 

Here's the link to the class:

http://katharyne.com/bundle/

The thing that I love most about it is the facebook group you can join after you take the class. It is sincerely the nicest group of people I have ever worked with online, and if there are any issues Katharyne has always taken care of them right away. It is a positive, caring group where you can vent, share, ask for ideas, resources, where to find items, advice etc. We cheer each other on and help when needed. I also love that access to the course videos is always there, so you can watch them again if you forget something. There are also new videos added for the seasons that only bundlers can have access too. 


If you are looking for a bundling class, this is the only one I would recommend! 

Friday, February 26, 2016

10 minutes of my time and I got an extra $375 from Amazon this month. I bet you can get some extra money too!

I double checked my reimbursements from Amazon and discovered that there were some items they needed to reimburse me for, but had never sent the payment. I was able to get $375 dollars this month from the money Amazon owed me. It only took about 10 minutes to do the last 365 days. It's something I'm going to start adding to my monthly checklist. Here's a great blog post and video from the selling family to show you how to do it.

http://thesellingfamily.com/amazon-owes-you-for-damaged-inventory-get-it-back/


I'd love to hear how much money you got back. It was money they owed me, but I wasn't planning on and it covered my long term storage fees that hit on the 22nd of this month and left me with about $100 left over, Yay for surprise money!

Don't forget to check out my new products I recommend page right under my picture on the right hand side of the screen. If you purchase any of these products, please use my link, so I'll earn a few cents for referring you.

And please vote (at the top right of the screen) about what you'd like to see more of on the blog. I'm trying to figure out things to write about that you're interested in!





Monday, February 22, 2016

Valentine's Sales Numbers (FBA)

This is the first year that I really made a plan to list things with Valentine's Day in mind. In past years things are usually really slow between January and about Mid March. So, I thought I would try out some Valentine's Bundles and see how they did, and boy, am I glad that I did!


I forgot to take a screen shot of my Valentine's sales, but here is my Amazon FBA sales information from January 1st- when my first Valentine's Shipment went live to February 11th, when my sales dropped significantly (which I expected with Amazon prime's two day shipping)


As you can see, definite improvement from last year's sales and numbers! 

Here's what I posted to my Bundles Facebook group  a few days before Valentine's Day 


and I actually did end up selling out of all but one of my 24 bundles! The bundle that did not sell out I only had 3 of to begin with and it was a paper good item that was really best for a classroom party or party at home and it got checked into the warehouse too late for people to purchase it in time. I was able to sell one before time ran out, I will leave it and it will be ready for next year. 

I have been busy this week purchasing items for Valentine's Day next year and I plan on getting them all sent in by the first week of January next year. I picked up a bulk order I ordered online for Easter that filled up the entire back of my SUV (and my children may or may not have also been surrounded by a few boxes :) I've also been cleaning, organizing and purging a lot of stuff in my metal shop building so that hubby could work on finishing insulation in the ceiling. We were able to get about half of one side done today (which only leaves about 1/3 left to do!) Tomorrow we are supposed to go get some more metal shelving from my parents (they used to own a lumber yard when I was a kid and they still have all of the metal adjustable shelving they are going to give to me!) The area I am working on now will hold ebay inventory waiting to to be photographed and listed and also bundle inventory I am holding for next year. I cannot wait to have some shelves to put things on and have room to walk again. 
So, this week's plan is Easter Bundles (which I hope to have bundled, listed and on their way to Amazon by March 1st) photographing 50 items for ebay and listing 10 items a day for ebay. We'll see how that goes. 

Later in the week I will post information about the class I took to learn about bundling. 

Hope you have a profitable and productive week!





Friday, February 19, 2016

Quarter 4 Results

I posted yesterday about how life and work has been too busy to do much blog writing and today I'm going to share with you my numbers, so you can see just how busy I was!

I wrote up approx 100 new listings on Amazon for Christmas and sent in approx 2,000 items some of which didn't sell, or which where not specifically for Christmas. I also listed approx 100 new items on Ebay/Etsy. 
 I spent roughly $1806.00 on Amazon inventory, $84 on ebay inventory and $15 on Etsy inventory $24 on packing tape, $145 on shipping/packing boxes, $100 on polybags, some of which I am still using. I sold mostly bundles and I was able to send some of the bundles that didn't sell back and revamp them for Valentine's day. I will post my Valentine's Numbers next week. 

Etsy and Ebay sales were also way up!  Between Amazon, Etsy and Ebay I was able to more than triple my best sales month from last year. I am very excited about the opportunities bundling has opened up for my business, and I am hoping to triple my sales again for next year. Right now the only thing holding me back is not being able to get more inventory sent in time for the selling season. I have a few plans in place to make that easier for next year- one of which is getting my processing center out of our living room and into my shop! 


I started out getting enough supplies for 3-4 bundles, but for Christmas and Valentine's upped it to 6-9 and from here on out I will only purchase items that will make 12 or more bundles. By next Christmas I hope to be able to purchase a lot of bundle items in bulk, and make 50-100 of the same bundles at a time. It takes the same amount of time to write up a listing for one item or 100 items, so I'm trying to make better use of my limited time!



Thursday, February 18, 2016

Hello again, it's been a while

I've been taking a blogging break since the busy season started in October. There has just been too much to do at home and for my business for me to feel like I had time to blog. So, let me catch you up on what's been happening here at Granny's Hoard. Sorry for the lack of photos, this will be a quick post today.

Family-
We are still getting used to my hubby's TBI diagnosis and working on ways to make it more manageable for him and the rest of the family. He has made some great progress and is able to remember a few things from his short term memory- like where he put his keys (a couple of times, the number of times they are lost still outnumber the found.) He has been able to help my son with his first grade math homework while I cook dinner. He remembered that I said I was out of dish washing soap and got me some (for Valentine's day, but it's ok, at least he remembered.) He business is picking up and he has two steady customers who have construction/remodeling type work for him that should keep him busy until spring. He was also able to discontinue his vestibular therapy and his balance is greatly improved and his dizzyness has gone, except when he overworks himself too much. We are still working on ways for him to realize when he has neuro-fatique and needs a break. I am thankful for any progress and for the peace that is finally returning at least a little bit to our family life.

I am also now a proud grandma. My stepdaughter had her baby girl in December, which was a month early! Our grandaughter is doing well, and gaining weight, but having some colic/acid reflux type issues. Both of my kiddos had gerd and colic, so I'm thinking she will probably end up being diagnosed with similar issues. We were able to make the 10 hour drive after Christmas and be able to see the new baby and help mom out a little bit. We also heard yesterday that they have decided to move closer in April and will be only about an hour away. I hope everything works out and they are able to. I would love to be able to help out with the baby more and be able to see them all more!

My storage building-
My hubby surprised me at Christmas with a large furnace for my shop. He spent about 2 weeks dropping the ceiling and installing the insulation and now my work space is heated (and will be cooled in the summer as well) I have been able to work out there several days even when it was chilly. On the really cold days it's not the warmest, I still have to dress in layers and sometimes wear gloves, but it's so much better than it was! I am looking forward to converting the little room I used to work in into half photo space and half kid's play area, as this room is small enough to easily heat and cool so they will also be comfy. And I have a whole summer ahead of my that I need to still get some work done, so hopefully they will have enough space and things to do to keep them occupied a few hours a day out in my shop. I have been clearing out old inventory and organizing things so hopefully by summer I will have new shelves for all my listed, unlisted and amazon inventory and everything will be off the floor! Can't wait to get organized and streamline my whole process.

Christmas sales were spectacular and I can't wait to share them with you all tomorrow. (I promise I will write the post right after this one, so I don't forget!)



I'm back......

Whoa Friends, has it been a long time! Hard to believe my last post was over 3 years ago- but here I am. A few things have changed- I am now...