Grateful is the word of the month. Last year the economic challenges surrounding our nation hit my own family, forcing the action to close my very young brick and mortar bookstore/activism center. At that time, the situation left me with no choice but to let go of dreams connected with working for myself and helping others. Following this situation I was left with much stock in a stuffed storage unit. Christmas came around I realized money was needed to get family gifts, so I proceeded to let go of some items in my own home, borrowed a digital camera from a friend, and placed it all on eBay. To my wonderful surprise I sold approximately 90% of my own personal items, had good feedback, let go of unneeded items sitting around in my home, and the joy of seeing a happy daughter on Christmas day was priceless. A new business was surprisingly born. As I plunged into this opportunity, I still felt the quiet anxiety of how would I ever activate my dream with making a difference. eBay was a great way for me to do business but I pondered how it was going to be possible in integrating all I wanted to do. As my eBay business grew along with my excitement of financial stress slowly disapating, I decided to attend the big eBay Live 2008 in Chicago. I saved up money, booked my tickets, youth hostel room, and with great family support I was flying out on June 18th, 2008, West Palm to Chicago on a 3pm flight, fresh from quitting a five year day job. The slate was clean. As I struggled humorously with Chicago buses, schedules, and taxi drivers, I finally arrived at the convention center Thursday morning. I was literally dumped into inspiration. Education surrounded me and it was just the beginning. What was discovered from time spent here was that the wonderful dream of The Knowledge Tree Bookstore is now able to come to life as an eBay store, full of Eco-friendly, reusable, recyclable gifts, fantastic books to educate people on environment and human rights, and best of all I can give back to great organizations and help locally as well. I submerged myself in hearing fantastic educators teaching on many subjects, my favorites being how you can care for people, the earth, run a green business, and enjoy your work on deep levels. I witnessed wonderful eBay hall of fame sellers living their dreams and helping others. It was incredibly uplifting and my gratefulness in discovering eBay was growing. I mean, how much fun it is to find out your dream is just manifesting into a better way? What I took with me was:
- I can give back to organizations through eBay giving works program.
- I can add into my online store Eco-friendly and human rights products.
- I can green my office and my supplies.
- I can help my own community in many ways through eBay education.
- I can spend time with my family and have a more stress-free way of living
- The skies the limit with eBay.
I want to give thanks to all eBay members, educators, and leaders for teaching and supporting us all. Helping people like me to believe, to be able to take care of family and to begin giving energy to dreams again. All I do now is think of new ideas non-stop. I realize that eBay is a corporation and imperfections do come along with all this, but on the whole, I feel the power to create a business and making a difference, even if a small one, is one the best situations that could have been handed to me. This journal is just a tiny beginning of the knowledge I took with me from Chicago. Blogging, talking with others on net, joining into a great community. It is all the new e-commerce way of living. Look for more blogs from The Knowledge Tree dealing with Eco-friendly subjects, human rights, being a work from home mom, selling on eBay, and education discoveries with e-commerce marketing. Chicago eBay Live was one of the best business decisions I ever made. I will never forget the clapping tunnel and celebrating with such a multitude of people, all with much of the same story as me: Needed extra money, placed items on eBay, sales took off, quit jobs, grew business, began helping people and the earth in new ways. What a way to live! Kudos to eBay!
Debbie Welch
Seller and Trading Assistant, At Home Mom
Visit www.ktbookstore.com or www.stores.ebay.com/Knowledge-Tree-Books-and-More
