Tag Archives: Entrepreneurs

eBay a wahahey!!!

eBay has allowed me to learn many things about how to present items well, so that they are saleable.

I have practised my product photography.

Coped with changes to payment services, when PayPal was ditched.

Worked out the quickest way to relist everything, … is on a laptop

And spent lots of money too, and improved my ability to research and obtain the exact item I needed.

I’ve got my own home printing set up, using a brother label printer.

And I post items on my way to work, or during my spare days off.

Friends have donated packaging to me, so this saved me buying it.

I was pleased with the opportunity to reuse items, or recycle them for cash.

The art to a good present, is in… the presentation of the product!!!

Another learning point, was helping the customer to continue to experience the joy of shopping.

Sounds cliche, but most of us feel glad when we buy our product, followed by disappointment if it doesn’t meet our expectations.

Overall my customers have been happy the item was shipped promptly and arrived, when opened it was, what they expected.

Honesty in business can win sales, as it builds customer trust.

Not all of my sales are big, much more small orders, however I’m starting to try with more bespoke items. So I hope to continue to sell ‘en masse’ and possibly more bespoke.

I’ve even sold abroad, using eBays global shipping programme.

Have you been doing e-commerce, maybe you can like my post, reshare, or leave a comment below.

A Magazine inside a Magazine —oooh!!!

I wasn’t sure what to follow up my last Matt Hanock article with, perhaps further investigative ideas on the CCTV contractors.

Then I found an article I submitted to my local area magazine stating that I find my inspiration for life from the very words Matt Hancock utters.

At least I didn’t get duped into painting some marketing images onto the student accommodation which has been set up here.

I don’t know about you, but given that having walked inside the university this year and been told the only thing open is a hotdesking study space.

I think they’d all be better going on an apprenticeship and staying at home!

Fundraising & Research Project

I have been pen friends with an entrepreneur based in Nairobi and Kenya, who I met through the Facebook Developer Circles Nairobi.

Charles works in real estate in his area, although lately business hasn’t been great. Me and Charles tried a number of fundraising routes to see what might be possible.

  1. We tried GoFundMe by setting up a fundraiser to help Charles request funds for his business.
  2. Charles reviewed the options for importing products to him from overseas and it didn’t seem very user friendly to fund-raise by reselling products. Because of the high cost of sending post based on weight.
  3. Another challenge was the limited banking available in Charle’s community. Although we found that SendWave seems a viable way to send money directly to him.
  4. Charles and I looked at what work he can offer as a remote worker. He has very good access to Facebook, Instagram and communication by messenger.
  5. I have hired Charles on an adhoc basis to increase the conversations on some of my content, he added thoughtful comments to my posts, this should encourage others to engage further in the online content.
  6. Charles joined in our team meet up by zoom this month and other team members sympathised that due to fear of online scams, that it is even more difficult to fundraise if you are an overseas entrepreneur.

GoFundme – awaiting a sponsor- link gf.me/u/x9bx5g

Overseas payment app https://www.sendwave.com (should you want a recommended app if you were to import or export services to Kenya).

boy in yellow crew neck t shirt sitting on chair
Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

I think me and Charles get on well because we enjoy researching topics like geography and finding out things like ‘how to…’ and ‘is it possible to….’

I think Charles should pursue his skills in local global trade and I wish him the best. If you want to ask any questions to our overseas developer based in Kenya, please drop a comment below. And lastly…well done Charles for doing all this great work, whilst we have all been in such a challenging time!